For those tasks you could just roll out some red rosin paper (keeps the floor clean, at least), topped with cardboard for high traffic and work areas.

Yes, you need to use a clean kraft paper and then something, such as cardboard, on top of that. Cardboard by itself is abrasive and will leave minor scratches in the finish. However, you said that the floor is being stained, so I assume that the floors will be given a finish sometime after all the work is complete, is that right?

Professionals use protection products made specifically for them. I get mine at my flooring products distributor.

Thank you all. We bought some of the paper and some cardboard to put down. What tape would be the safest to use? Our floors were stained today and then a poly coat was put on, so they are completely done. Will the easy release blue painters tape be safe if they've been poly coated?

No. Do not use tape at all. You can tape the paper or cardboard together, but no tape whatsoever on the floor.

Thanks so much! We did just as you said and kept the tape off the wood and only taped the paper and cardboard together. We laid down heavy duty construction paper that we found on a big, wide roll in the paint department and then clean cardboard on top of that. Seems like it will protect it nicely over the next week or two as the work is finished and while we move in. Thanks again for your input.

I was wondering if it would be ok to cover pre finished hardwood floors with roofing felt paper because it is thicker than craft paper or will it discolor the floor

Although the finishes on prefinished hardwood flooring usually is stain resistant, the high tar content of roofing felt would concern me.

For future reference, our construction guys put down clean paper, then tarps, then cardboard on our wood floors while they were working. They had ladders and scaffolding and lots of heavy things, so the multiple layers really helped cushion some of that too.

We just went through a major home remodel. We had some of those foam squares, the kind that fit together like a puzzle and are meant for kids play areas. We pretty much covered our living room hardwood with those so that the guys didn't have to worry about walking on the hardwood with their shoes. It worked very well for us, and was cheap. ($25 a pack at Sam's Club) We moved them around as needed to other areas and they kept the floors clean and undamaged.

Cj

I posted on a similar topic about this. Woodfloorpro is right...red rosin can stain if it gets wet and it is too thin to protect the floors from any impact. For my construction projects, we use something a lot stronger called Ram Board. I'll put a link to their site below. Hope that helps...

Here is a link that might be useful: hardwood floor protection

I cut Masonite to fit the treads and the risers and taped them together but they slide when carrying anything heavy up. I taped 13 day painters tape down on the hard wood but. I'm nervous about leaving it too long so I've pulled it up and retaped it twice already. Looking for maybe a product made specifically for this

How much time do you have to wait after the polyurethane is completed before you can put something n the floors for plumbers, etc to complete the job

That depends on the poly. And what something you want to put on the floor.

Example: The oil based poly I used on our maple flooring needed 72 hours of cure time for light traffic, 7 days for furniture, and 30 days before area rugs were used.

If you want to put rosin paper or kraft paper down for protection, I'd say wait the three days first.

Ours is as you described (72 hrs). So I'd have to wait 72 hrs and then put protection on floor to have plumbers, etc finish the job?

My husband bought fast drying.

Some polyurethanes have minimums (all have minimums - you have to find the document that states what that is). I sell a "fast drying" polyurethane (full cure in 5 days....that's almost as fast as it gets). Rugs and FULL USE are allowed after 5 days. That's 23 days SOONER than the polyurethane mentioned above.

And even with that, we tell EVERYONE: wait 5 FULL DAYS before covering up with Ram Board. Anything you put down over your fresh poly = potential to "dry into the finish". It's like paining your windows shut! Very annoying and can require COMPLETE REDO.

Read the documents. Call the manufacturer if you are unsure. There are so many versions of "fast dry" that I could just choke. Each has their own requirements. I normally like to see the "wait" time for Ram Board to be the same amount of time as "furniture" or "rugs". Which could mean you are waiting MUCH longer than you could imagine.

Find out from the manufacturer. And find how how to manage the covering (is it allowed to be taped down? With what? For how long? Do you need to remove the covering after X amount of hours to continue the cure process?).