I will be adding hardwood to match the remainder of my first floor, mine is in 2 weeks. I was told that the kitchen flooring would be installed, sanded and 2 coats of sealer applied. Then the floor will be covered with ram board. Then my cabinets and appliances, etc will be installed, then they will come back and remove the ram board and sand the rest of the first floor and seal it and add final 2 coats of sealer to kitchen.
I have several friends who have had this done within last 5-7 years and all have followed same process, so I feel comfortable with it. I was told I could leave the ramboard down for up to 6 months without worrying too much, after that they said I would get stuff under it and risk needing the kitchen resanded too.
I have two tween/teen boys, a frequent youth football team that visits, a corgi/rottweiler mix(whose paws are rottweiler sized), a border collie mix, a rabbit, and chickens which are technically not allowed in the house.

Technically not allowed? Your house sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for the guidance. I think our GC wants to finish the floors toward the end as we have so much other work going on with trim and wainscoting.

maybe others who've had raw wood down for a while will chime in to help me.

On my travertine floor, I put down rosin paper first and then covered it with 1/8" masonite (aka hardboard). Worked very well.

We have existing hard wood floors that were going to be sanded and refinished. My GC didn't cover them for demolition, dropped spackle and little bits of paint and used a shovel to clean it up!

They were sanded yesterday and look terrific. There also was no reaction from my floor guy, so I guess he expected that mess!

"Water stains" from small amounts of water will not matter, as long as it's not large amounts of water as that will warp the boards. Better to have it exposed so you can dry any water. HTH

Localeater- "technically not allowed." LOL!

Partyof7- thank you!!

And AngieDIY- that's what I was thinking of doing, but with the cabs going in Monday maybe I'm being silly.

I'm so excited!! It looks beautiful.

And localeater- would love to see a pic of your chickens. In the house, preferably.

Secondhalf - it doesn't sound as if what you were told was wrong; you just have to layer it with knowledge of your household. Technical chickens and all. For sure if liquid gets on ramboard and it is not cleaned away, it can hold moisture on a wood floor and be more problematic than if it weren't there. If the football team decides to test out their new cleats on this groovy surface, you might wish you had ramboard present. We'll leave the chickens out of it ;) But probably scattering feed in between floorboards isn't recommended.

So YMMV, depending on what you actually *do*. The GC is making some random generic recommendation for what seems to work best in general. You happen to know what will be happening specifically, so you can modify accordingly!

Also, quite frankly, because you've asked the question at all suggests a certain level of nervousness about it and so you might want to consider using the ramboard just for peace of mind. But keep an eye out for trapped moisture. And ban cleats, claws and the un-housebroken of whatever kingdom. :)

Sorry, no photos of chickens in the house. It only happens when I leave the door open because I am just going to the garden a second but then get distracted. I usually shoo them out, instead of picking up a camera- call me crazy!

Localeater- is that a Rhode Island Red? And your dog is adorable - he looks like he's got beagle and shepherd in him....

Alaris- very good advice, and I will do that.

Someone asked this question just last week. I'll link the thread below which includes my answer. We had our hardwoods covered in ram board for about 5-6 months before the final finish.

Here is a link that might be useful: Other thread

Breezygirl- I don't know how I missed that thread- thanks so much.

I would have thought your contractor would get one coat of poly on the wood floors before the cabs. Ideally you want the floors under the cabs sealed, in case there is a leak of any kind. It may be too late - but I think that's the ideal solution.

We did one coat stain, 2 coats poly and will do a 3rd coat when everything is done.

That said - you can protect with masonite, cardboard, and/or what the cabinets come wrapped in (furniture blankets perhaps?).

good luck!

Sometimes things move so fast around here its hard to keep up. :)

Technically my chickens aren't allowed in the house either but Sweetie Girl waits by the french doors and will flap right in and up on my lap begging for meal worms.