When it comes to home remodeling, the order of tasks can make or break your project’s efficiency, timeline, and cleanup time. One of the most common debates among homeowners is whether to paint the walls before or after flooring installation. While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, understanding the pros and cons of different approaches will help you make an informed decision.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the ideal order of tasks during a remodel, minimizing the chances of damaging newly done work and reducing prep and cleanup time. We’ll also answer specific questions related to different types of flooring, such as vinyl, carpet, and hardwood floors, as well as considerations for sanding.
The ideal remodel task order: a step-by-step guide
Before diving into specific flooring types, it’s essential to outline the general order of tasks during a remodel. Following this sequence can save you time and prevent costly mistakes:
- Demolition and prep work
Before any new work begins, you’ll need to strip down the space. This includes removing old flooring, patching holes in walls, removing baseboards or trim, and ensuring the subfloor is prepared. If any structural work is required, this should also be done at this stage. - Plumbing and electrical work
If you’re planning to install new light fixtures, outlets, or plumbing, this is the time to do it. The walls will be open and accessible, and there’s no risk of damaging freshly painted walls or newly installed flooring. - Wall prep: patching, priming, and painting
With the floors removed and the electrical work done, it’s an ideal time to patch, prime, and paint the walls and ceiling. This will minimize the need to protect new flooring or trim from paint drips and splatter. - Install flooring
Once your walls are painted and fully dried, it’s time to install your flooring. Whether it’s hardwood, vinyl, or carpet, this step should follow painting to prevent unnecessary cleanup or potential damage to freshly laid floors. - Trim and baseboard installation
After flooring is in place, the next step is installing baseboards, molding, and trim. Installing them after flooring ensures a clean, professional finish and avoids gaps between the floor and the trim. - Final touches: fixtures, hardware, and décor
The last step is to install any final fixtures, such as new switch plates, light fixtures, or hardware. With the walls painted and flooring installed, you can focus on finishing touches without fear of damaging your hard work.
Now that we’ve covered the general order of tasks, let’s look at specific flooring types and when to paint in relation to each.
Should you paint before or after vinyl flooring?
Vinyl flooring is an excellent option for homeowners due to its durability, affordability, and wide range of styles. However, deciding when to paint your walls in relation to laying vinyl flooring is a common dilemma.
Why you should paint before installing vinyl flooring
- Avoiding damage: Installing vinyl flooring can be a dusty and rough process. Moving furniture, cutting flooring, and installing baseboards after the fact can cause dings or scratches on freshly painted walls.
- Easier clean-up: Painting involves drips, splatters, and sometimes even drops of paint accidentally landing on the floor. By painting first, you won’t need to worry about damaging your new vinyl floors with errant paint splatters.
- Less prep work: If you paint before installing vinyl flooring, you won’t have to go through the extra step of protecting your brand-new floors with drop cloths, painters’ tape, or plastic sheeting.
When to paint after vinyl installation
- Touch-ups: If your vinyl flooring requires installation of baseboards or quarter round, you may want to wait to do touch-ups after installation. This way, any scuffs or marks made during flooring installation can be repaired easily.
Should you paint before or after carpet?
Carpet is another flooring material that presents unique challenges during a remodel. Carpet installation can be bulky, requiring large rolls to be moved into place, as well as heavy furniture or tools that could mar newly painted walls.
Why you should paint before installing carpet
- Fewer obstacles: Painting an empty room with no carpet is a much simpler and quicker process. There’s no need to worry about damaging or staining your carpet, which is a risk when cutting in around baseboards and corners.
- Easier wall access: Installing carpet can involve moving large objects and using tools like tack strips, which can inadvertently scrape against or smudge freshly painted walls. Painting before installation ensures you’re not working around the challenges posed by freshly laid carpet.
- No carpet prep required: When you paint after carpet installation, you’ll need to take extensive steps to cover the carpet with drop cloths or plastic sheeting, taping off edges to protect it from paint.
Painting after carpet installation
In some situations, painting after the carpet installation can make sense:
- Waiting for final wall adjustments: If you’re adding trim or baseboards after the carpet, you might want to wait to paint any areas that need finishing touches or repairs.
Should you paint walls before or after sanding floors?
If your remodel includes sanding and refinishing hardwood floors, the timing of your painting is even more important. Sanding floors is an intensive process that creates a significant amount of dust and debris, which can settle on freshly painted walls.
Why you should paint after sanding hardwood floors
- Dust-free surfaces: Sanding wood floors generates fine dust that can cover freshly painted walls. If you paint first, you’ll need to clean the walls extensively before sanding, and then again after the sanding to remove any dust. By sanding floors first, you eliminate this added cleanup step.
- Protection from equipment: Floor sanding equipment can easily nick or damage baseboards, trim, and the lower parts of walls. By waiting to paint, you ensure that any scuffs or scratches can be covered up later.
Painting before sanding hardwood floors
- Priming or ceiling painting: If you plan to paint the ceiling or prime the walls, you may want to get this out of the way before floor sanding. Sanding can be messy, but it’s usually confined to the lower part of the room. Getting the upper portions done first reduces the risk of dust settling on these areas later.
Balancing prep and cleanup time: practical tips
- Use drop cloths and tape: No matter when you choose to paint, using high-quality drop cloths and painter’s tape can save time on cleanup and prevent damage to floors.
- Allow for drying time: If you paint first, ensure that walls are completely dry and cured before flooring installation begins. This reduces the risk of scuffs, dents, or smudges while moving flooring materials.
- Consider using primer first: If you’re sanding floors or dealing with extensive prep work, consider applying a primer coat first to seal the walls and prevent dust from embedding itself into the surface. You can then apply the final coats of paint after flooring work is complete.
Additional considerations for painting and flooring installation
- Baseboard and trim timing: If you’re installing new baseboards or trim, it’s generally easier to paint walls first, followed by floor installation, and then adding baseboards. You can touch up trim paint after it’s in place if needed.
- Room access: Consider which areas of your home will be accessible during your remodel. If the room will be in use, you might prefer to install flooring first to avoid any downtime from the remodel.
- Professional help: For complex remodels that involve both painting and flooring installation, hiring professionals can ensure that tasks are completed in the correct order and with minimal risk of damage to your home.
Conclusion: paint before or after flooring?
In most cases, it’s generally best to paint before installing your floors. Painting first allows you to avoid potential damage to newly laid flooring and makes the painting process faster and less cumbersome. However, touch-ups and detail work should follow the installation of baseboards or any final adjustments.
For specific flooring types like vinyl, carpet, and hardwood, painting beforehand simplifies the process. Sanding hardwood floors should ideally be done before painting to prevent dust from ruining your paint job. Whatever order you choose, careful planning and timing are essential to minimize headaches, protect your investment, and ensure your home remodel looks polished and professional.
By understanding the nuances of when to paint and how to coordinate it with your flooring installation, you can reduce unnecessary delays and stress, allowing you to enjoy your newly renovated space faster and with fewer surprises.