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Paint walls or refinish hardwoods first?

16 years ago

We just bought an 11 year old home that needs new paint, carpets, the fireplace mantel taken down and stone put on, and the hardwoods refinished (and we are taking up the carpet and adding hardwood floors to the master bedroom). I have never done this before and we close in a month! I have heard that you are supposed to paint first and then do the hardwoods. Does anyone know if this is correct and if so why? Also, when do I do the carpet?

Thanks!!

Julie

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Comments (6)

domesticah
16 years ago
Hi there. Congratulations on your new house! We have done several painting (and repainting projects) on our old house which we purchased 6 years ago. We refinished floors as well so I hope my observations can be of help. I was told that I should paint first but I found that the edges of the molding looked battered after I did the floors. I found that if you finish the floors first, you can keep the sides of your base moldings looking fresh and new BUT -- this is important -- have your painter (or you) cover the floors completely with paper and blue tape otherwise you will have little flecks of paint on the floor that will drive you crazy (or at least they drove me crazy). They sell rolls of that brown paper at Home Depot. Also I would recommend getting a good professional painter -- don't get the cheapest b/c you will just be disappointed -- hopefully someone can recommend one to you. We've had three different painters and you could definatly tell the difference between the professional and the johnny come lately painters. Regarding the carpet, it seems to make sense to remove the old carpet, paint and then put down the new carpet. Good luck to you on your new house and I hope you have a smooth closing. : )
chisue
16 years ago
I'd do the floors first, then cover them completely before you paint. Otherwise the paint will get dinged as you lay, sand, stain, poly the flooring. Even if you lay prefinished flooring, the walls will get dinged.
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In the 10+ years of refinishing floorsi've done, i've never....NEVER come across a painter who wasnt sloppy. not just spills, but sloppy work. You can sit there and tell them no tape what so ever, they dont care. I absolutely hate painters, hands down. Theres not a single thing anyone could say to me that would make me change my mind. I've painted before, yeah it takes alittle long to do things right, but craftsmansip and quality dont have time limits. That being said There's is not an adhesive tape thats on the market that is designed to be on freshly finished floors. You have a couple of options. have them paint before, but the sanders are going to mark up the base/shoe a little bit, if the sanders are good, they wont gauge the trim, but it make get marked up a bit, which then would require touch up paint. You could also have the floors done up the last coat, then have the painters do their thing and then have the floor guys come back and apply the last coat of finish, but the only issue with that is if the painters are sloppy then you run the risk of having some specks of paint being coated over. The third is if there is base shoe, have it taken off, painted, and then installed after the floors are done, this would only require a little paint touch up and shouldnt require a complete tape job from the painters. These are just some i can think of off the top of my head at the moment, sorry bout the long post but i really dislike painters haha.
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cheerit
Original Author
16 years ago
YES! I have paint flecks on my floors here in the foyer and they drive me nuts. I was worried about the dust from the sanding of the floors. Is that usually a problem when the painters go to paint?

Thanks!
Julie
Brewbeer
16 years ago
Paint the ceilings and walls first, then finish the floors, then paint the baseboards last.
chisue
16 years ago
Yes to painting the ceiling first. Yes to painting the baseboards last. I disagree about painting the walls before finishing the floors though.

Our house was completed and painted when we discovered what a bad sanding job the floor guy had done. The floors were re-sanded, re-stained, re-poly'ed. The walls then had to be re-painted due to the damage from the floor job -- flecks of stain, bumps and scrapes from the handles of tools, sanding dust on everything.
buzzoo7
16 years ago
Be careful about tape on newly finished floors though. A couple of weeks ago there was a thread on this subject on the flooring forum that may be helpful. I can't remember all the details but do remember that someone had blue taped on fresh finish and had pulled up pieces of finish with the paint. Make sure it's fully cured before sticking tape to the floor and don't leave it longer than the tape manufacturer says to.

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