I've seen large sheets of cardboard (flattened furniture cartons) taped down.

The company that installed my floors covered them for me. Maybe your refinisher can help you or suggest what would be best.

I went to the appliance store (where we bought our appliances) and got several big big boxes. We laid those down, and then extra pieces of carpet (we're renoing whole house, so we cut the old carpet into strips for this purpose)on top of that. (figured the carpet would give better footing while carrying heavy granite). Still have the cardboard and carpet, cuz we are having our granite replaced, so once that is done, goodbye and good riddance!

The kitchen installer brought some masonite with him and we also bought some at Home Depot. It looks like thick cardboard and we'd place it - along with hockey puck sized felt pads - under the appliances when moving them.

We didn't do anything, and when the appliances were put in today (yay!) they made a few small scratches... waaah. If your contractor or floor guy doesn't provide anything, be sure to do it yourself - wish I did!

Be careful and clear it wax it, just take care each time you it.

I hate to be the voice of doom, and maybe this is an issue in new construction rather than a remodel, but you must make sure that your contractors, installers, etc., don't get lazy or careless because of the cardboard or masonite layer of protection. A dropped tool will still do serious damage.

Also--and I can't stress this enough--if you will have something protecting the floor you must make absolutely sure that grit and small stones, etc., do not get caught under the protective layer and get ground into the floor. Someone should be checking the floor and sweeping it periodically to make sure it's okay. This is important after the floor is installed and even more important once they start sanding and finishing.

Good luck!

Very good feedback. Thanks for the heads up alanandnancy...sorry about the scratches. Like most of these small 'oops' they will most likely go unnoticed in the end (by everyone but us ;-)

Meg,very good advice about checking underneath for grit. As I was laying the rosin paper tonight, I walked the room with my bare feet feeling for any bumps under, and sure enough I felt out two little chunks (rice size) - removed them before finishing the paper overlay. And they were right in the center of the kitchen. Whew!

Masonite and carpet - good ideas. Thanks everyone!

My wood floors will go in after the cabinets so shouldn't be a problem.

Marla

meg711 is so right. We learned this the hard way. As I said earlier we had masonite covering the entire floor. As it happens, saw dust got under the masonite. I guess just the weight of the workers and their tools created enough pressure to grind the saw dust into the floor. Now we have small pock marks all over :-(

My advice comes too late for the OP, but for others reading this thread, what my flooring contractor did was to sand my wood floors but not put finish on. Then the cabinets, counters and appliances went in. The floors were protected by rosin paper, but as already noted, scratches can still happen. After the kitchen installation was complete, my floor guy returned to finish. Any scratches or abrasions that occurred during the kitchen installation were touched up at that point, and then he put the several coats of finish on.