Home owners often ask, should we be doing the flooring first or the painting first?
Painting is Finish trade and should be the last trade man in on any project.
As a painter I want to be last so I don't have to come back to paint newly installed baseboard quarter rounds. Also, most flooring contractors will leave a film of dust everywhere.
However the floor contractor prefers to come last because floor finishes take a while to fully cure. They don't want anyone walking on them even when they're covered. They also think painter may damage or spill paint on a finished floor.
A lot of sources advice to get the floors done first and to paint last but there are plenty of other sources that will suggest the opposite.
However depending if you need to make big changes to the room, like knocking down a wall it make sense to do that first.
To some people it seems best to paint the walls first so you don’t have to worry about getting drops of paint on a beautiful new floors but accidents can happen both ways. Sanding and cutting for new floors puts a lot of dust into the air. Dust particles can settle on a freshly painted surface which is not good news.
To reduce dust problems, get all the sanding out of the way by preparing the walls. This way the dust may be bad but once it’s settled and gotten rid of it’s gone for good.
A lot of home owners wrongly think that they should have the floors done after the painting because they don’t want the painters to spill paint on their brand new floors. If you hire a professional painter that should not be a problem.
Removing and replacing floors or carpet is dirty work. If you paint first, and then do floors, you will get a lot of dirt, sawdust or tile/stone dust will end up on your freshly painted walls and trims.
After putting in new hardwood or tile floors, the baseboards need to be replaced joints caulked and the nail holes filled. If you paint the walls before the floors go in, you will need to have the painter returned just to paint the baseboards. That will just cost you more money.
