If your hardwood is prefinished, then you can paint the walls. If it'll be finished onsite, which creates tons of dust that settles everywhere, then the walls will need to be cleaned of the dust before painting. The baseboards are always installed after the floors are done. Make sure to cover the floors with paper after they're done to protect them.

The floor in the kitchen should be done before cabinets are installed. Cabinets can always be covered with plastic to protect them from construction dirt.

I would do bathroom first. It's a messy job and when tile is cut, the ceramic dust seems to get into every nook and cranny.

Hope this helps.

Refinish old floors, paint, install doors, install flooring in bath---then rest of house, install base molding.

Any molding painting should be done in a single clean room in the house.

Thanks everyone.

I talked to the contractor today and I think we are going to do this:

1)Have the Painter Prime the walls
2)Have the Tile guy start the shower pans
3)Have the contractor hang the doors
4)Painter start painting the walls/ceilings
5)Tile guy finish the bathrooms
6)Finally have the hardwood guy come in and install new floors and work on refinishing 1st coat
7)Install Kitchen Cabinets
8)Hardwood guy finsih
9)Install baseboards

Does this sound right??
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The baseboards are always installed after the floors are done.

Sorry, I always have the baseboards installed first and painted. Mouldings, if needed, are the last step. Followed by painter touchups of the damage done by the flooring guy.

How do you do that, worthy? What if the floor is uneven?

We're on our 3rd reno and we've always done the baseboards after the floor. I suppose it could be done either way, since quarter-round would hide the fact that the baseboard is not on top of the floor. But our current contractor also does it in this order so we didn't argue.

Personally I wouldn't hang the doors until after the floors were in. But that's because none of our trim will be up until after. ;-)

We are doing this order:
Spray prime all new plaster
Install wood floor
install tile floor in bathroom
do trim/baseboards/wainscoting
install doors
paint trim/baseboards/wainscoting/doors
poly floors
kitchen cabinet install

Or at least that's the plan ;-) The bathroom floor might get done later, since we're doing it ourselves and we don't live in the same town as our house (it's our vacation home.)

I assume you're talking about the subfloor. I'm dealing mostly with new homes so the floors are fairly level. In any case, the trim carpenter uses a sample of the flooring at the high point as a reference, allowing enough space for it to slip under the baseboard.

I have done it the other way too. But watching the carpenters work on top of a finished floor (laminate, no less) even with layers of paper laid for protection, was nervewracking. All they need to cause damage is one nail stuck in a boot heel.

But if your contractor is comfortable doing it in reverse order and will be responsible for any damage, no problem

All they need to cause damage is one nail stuck in a boot heel.

masonite or homosote is a wonderful thing. :-)

Especially with either tile or hardwood, where you want to have room for expansion at the perimeter, I've always seen it better off for the baseboard to go in last. I HAVE done tile after the baseboard was in, but I charge extra for it for two reasons-- first, the cuts have to be exact, which means more time. Secondly, the perimeter must be caulked, instead of grouted, so as to give the perimeter a little give, and again costing more time. Personally, I'd rather the tile go in first. It's a much cleaner look, and there's alot more room for expansion and contraction with an open perimeter joint under the base.

Personally, I'd rather the tile go in first.

Tile yes. And stone. They're tough. (And sometimes quite irregular.) But not wood.

Masonite's a great idea for big-time contractors with unlimited storage room. But somebody's bound to need just a piece of the masonite for something else. And someone will manage to damage the one spot that's not covered. It's an immutable law of homebuilding. :-)

I believe the voice of experience Law #1 states that wood floors are chosen first and installed last.

Thanks everyone. This is what we decided to do:

Painters primed the walls
Finsih Guys hung doors
Tile guy started
Hardwood floor guy installs new floor and sands/1st coat of sealer
We plan to hang trim/molding this weekend
Painter will paint after trim is up
Then install baseboards (maybe we should do this before paint??
Install Kitchen Cabinets
Hardwood floor guy does final coat

Thanks again everyone.

Hopefully we will be done this month, we plan to rent out our house and move in March 1 (or so we hope)

Hello, my tile installer is running into delays on another job. The hardwood refinisher and installer is concerned about starting on his hardwood installation work with the mason not yet started. Suggestions? I am living on plywood in my kitchen so I'd like to get rolling ASAP.

I usually paint first and hold 10% for the final touch up in new construction.

What should we do first, sand and paint existing kitchen cabinets and then lay hardwood floor or lay floor first? My husband thinks floor should be first.