Should I Do Floor Or Trim First

A gutted room eliminates much of the dirt and grime associated with removing old carpet tile or wood flooring.

Should i do floor or trim 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. 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. With its smooth sharp edges trim is easier to apply tape to than walls especially when the walls are textured. Also the lack of baseboards and other floor trim means you can paint all the way down without any masking.

Opt for floor installation first because it s often a messy process. Home owners generally prefer the look of doing the tile first and then installing the baseboard trim. In new construction homes where no flooring has been laid yet this is the way it works. When you run a floor sander around a room there is the possibility of scuffing up newly.

Most do it yourselfers like to tape off the areas where they don t want to get paint. Builders prefer to do the baseboards first and then bring the tile right up to the tile. If you paint the trim first you run the risk. Now install the new flooring but keep it about a inch from the first filler strip.

When to paint the trim first when you re taping. 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. If it is installed with the tile up to the baseboard trim then you should leave about a 1 8 gap that you should fill will caulking. Between walls and trim which one should you paint first.