Should I Do Floor Or Trim First

Home owners generally prefer the look of doing the tile first and then installing the baseboard trim.

Should i do floor or trim first. If you paint the trim first you run the risk. A gutted room eliminates much of the dirt and grime associated with removing old carpet tile or wood flooring. If you paint first and then do floors there is a good chance that a lot of dirt dust sawdust or tile stone dust will end up on your freshly painted walls and trim. Walls are put up first then the floor covering comes later.

Between walls and trim which one should you paint first. Much like the infamous chicken or the egg debate pondering the question of whether to paint walls or trim first can lead you to think in circles. With its smooth sharp edges trim is easier to apply tape to than walls especially when the walls are textured. When you run a floor sander around a room there is the possibility of scuffing up newly.

Also the lack of baseboards and other floor trim means you can paint all the way down without any masking. Most do it yourselfers like to tape off the areas where they don t want to get paint. Now install the new flooring but keep it about a inch from the first filler strip. Screw a strip of the same thickness to the floor next to the wall.

This piece should be at least 2 inches wide and about inch thicker than the total thickness of the flooring including any vapor barrier or cushion. Opt for floor installation first because it s often a messy process. In new construction homes where no flooring has been laid yet this is the way it works. There is a possibility that the walls or trim may be damaged by the installation of the flooring.