New Jersey flooring rules
This site collects New Jersey state rules that can come up during a flooring job: sales tax, the construction code, health and housing. Each rule page answers one question, quotes the primary documents word for word, and says what those documents do not say. Nothing here is legal or tax advice. For a tax question about your own case, ask the New Jersey Division of Taxation.
Pick the situation that matches yours.
Getting a quote or an invoice
Division of Taxation guidance treats the charge for installing floor covering as taxable, whether or not the installation is a capital improvement. Which invoice carries that tax depends on who hired the installer. The sales tax page shows which lines of a quote or invoice the Division of Taxation's guidance treats as taxable, and what a lump-sum invoice means for the tax.
Replacing a floor
New Jersey's construction code lists the repair, replacement, or installation of any flooring material with a new material as ordinary maintenance, and the code requires no permit for ordinary maintenance. The permit page quotes that rule, the work the rule leaves out, a carpet rule in the code, and one town's floodplain ordinance.
Tearing out an old floor
The New Jersey Department of Health puts its warning this way:
Due to the hazards associated with disturbing asbestos-containing materials, removing it is not a do-it-yourself project. You should hire an asbestos professional to do the job.
New Jersey Department of Health, "Asbestos: A Guide for New Jersey Residents", page 5, box "Do I have to remove the asbestos?". Revision: no revision date stated by publisher. Read . https://nj.gov/health/ceohs/documents/asbestos/asb_in_home.pdf
The asbestos page quotes what state and federal texts say about old floors, who may do removal work, and how the waste is classified.
Renting out a unit built before 1978
New Jersey's lead-safe certification rule calls for rental dwelling units to be inspected for lead-based paint hazards, and units built during or after 1978 are among those it exempts. The lead-safe page shows where floors come up under that rule.
Read: Lead-safe certificates for New Jersey rentals: where floors come in
Last checked:
Disclosure
The publisher of this site is a flooring retailer. It sells flooring materials, including the categories these pages mention.