When getting ready to renovate any room in your home, homeowners often wonder, “should you paint or install floors first?” It’s common for people to assume they should paint before installing floors to prevent paint spills or stains on your new floor covering. It’s one of the most common mistakes made when updating your home. However, the professionals agree that flooring should always be installed before you start painting.
Why should flooring be installed before painting?
There are a lot of steps to installing flooring before the first drop of paint should ever be applied. To avoid more work for yourself or having to pay a professional painter extra, here are a few essential tips to remember:
1. Removing Flooring is Messy
Removing and replacing flooring or carpet is messy work. If you paint first, there is a good chance that dust and dirt will end up on your newly painted wall.
There is also a possibility that your walls and trim may end up damaged during the installation process. Dents, dings, and scuffs will likely occur which means you may have to pay an additional fee for your painter to come back for touch-ups.
2. New Flooring May Be a Different Height
Another reason to finish the flooring before you paint is that your new flooring may be a different height than the previous one. This could leave a stripe of unpainted baseboard that the old floor covered, but the new one doesn’t. You may have to adjust the height of your baseboards which could be quite a hassle.
3. Removing and Repainting Trim
Many times when putting in new hardwood, stone, or tile floors, the baseboards will need to be removed. Once removed, they’ll need some repairs and repainting. Likewise, once reinstalled, the nail holes will need to be filled, sanded, and repainted as well. If you paint the walls before the floors go in, then proceed to put the floor and baseboards in, you’ll need to have the painter return just for the baseboards.
4. Drop Clothes and Masking
With the use of painters tape and drop cloths, you’ll be able to completely protect your new flooring after installation. These inexpensive tools are great resources when it comes to keeping the mess to a minimum and avoiding damage. A good professional painting company knows how important this step is. With the proper precautions, you shouldn’t need to worry about spills or scratches.
5. Prepping the Walls
It’s always a good idea to complete any prep work on your walls before installing the flooring. If you need to patch, sand, caulk or texture, get it done beforehand. If you plan on having epoxy flooring installed, this step will be especially important.
Do I paint before or after installing epoxy flooring?
Epoxy resin flooring is becoming very popular. It once was utilized mainly in shops and industrial buildings but has since expanded into residential living spaces, basements, and garages. Epoxy basement flooring still takes priority over painting. Installing this type of flooring is a multi-step project with specific curing times between coats. The finished floor can be easily covered and protected from paint drips or spills.
Can the Type of Flooring Make a Difference?
Regardless of what type of flooring you’re having installed, flooring first is still the best method. Types of finished hardwood flooring can simply be installed as is, but unfinished hardwood will need to be sanded and stained. Dust from these projects can settle on tacky paint and stain can easily splatter on a freshly painted wall. If your home improvement project includes renovating existing hardwood floors, it’ll become very apparent that your flooring should come first.
Should you paint or install floors first conclusion
If you have an interior or exterior paint job in your future, give Boise Home Painting a call. We understand the value of choosing a painting contractor you can trust. You don’t become the best house painters in Boise by cutting corners. That’s why we use only the highest-quality materials and work hard to ensure you’re happy once the project is complete. We provide our epoxy and painting services to everyone in the Treasure Valley including Meridian and Nampa. Contact us for a free estimate today!
