Painting and a new floor in the same room: which to do first
Common practice is to do the messy work first: prepare and paint the ceiling and walls, then lay the new floor last, so dust, filler and drips never land on it. The flooring’s own instructions then decide how long the packs sit in the room before fitting and how wide a gap to leave at the walls.
The usual order
- Decide about the skirting. It either stays where it is, with beading or scotia to cover the floor’s expansion gap, or comes off and goes back on over the new floor.
- Clear the room, but leave the old floor covering down if it is coming up anyway. It is the best dust sheet you have.
- Prepare: wash down, fill, sand and caulk. This is the dustiest part.
- Paint the ceiling, then the walls. Drips run downwards, so work from the top.
- Paint the frames, and the skirting if it is staying.
- Lift the old covering and clean the subfloor.
- Bring the flooring in for as long as its instructions say before fitting.
- Lay the underlay, any membrane and the floor, with the gap at the walls its instructions give.
- Fit the beading or scotia, or refit the skirting, and the door bars.
- Touch up where the trim went on, with the new floor covered.
Old floor tiles, and the adhesive under them, can contain asbestos. Do not sand or scrape a coating you are not sure about; get advice first.
Where the skirting fits in
- Skirting staying: paint it before the new floor goes down, so gloss never lands on the floor. The beading or scotia goes on afterwards, painted before fitting or touched up after with the floor masked.
- Skirting coming off: take it off before the floor goes down, paint it off the wall if that is easier, and refit it over the floor so it covers the gap. Fill the fixings and touch up last.
- New skirting: the same as refitting, with the lengths worked out as in measuring for skirting, beading and scotia.
If the floor is already down
- Cover the whole floor, not just the edges, and tape the edges of the sheeting so dust and drips cannot creep under.
- Mask the line where the floor or its beading meets the skirting before you paint the skirting.
- Keep filler and sanding dust off it. Vacuum as you go, before it is walked in.
What the flooring’s instructions decide
The order above is common practice, not a rule for every product. The instructions for your floor decide:
- how long the packs sit in the room before fitting, and at what temperature and conditions;
- how wide the expansion gap at the walls must be;
- whether it needs underlay and a moisture barrier; see underlay and damp-proof membranes;
- whether new plaster or a new screed has to be dry first, and how dry.
Where the instructions and this guide disagree, follow the instructions.
Worked example
The example room is 4.2 m × 3.6 m × 2.4 m with one door and one window: walls and ceiling painted, and a new laminate floor in packs of 1.84 m². At the example figures, the batch’s lines fall into the order like this:
| Step | From the batch |
|---|---|
| Sheet the floor | 15.12 m² to cover |
| Wash down | about 49.6 m² of wall and ceiling |
| Caulk and mask | about 41.4 m of edges |
| Paint the ceiling | 3.326 L |
| Paint the walls | 7.586 L |
| Lay the floor | 10 packs, for 16.632 m² |
| Underlay, if needed | 16.632 m² to cover |
| Beading or scotia | about 14.8 m, not counting the doorway |
| Door bar | 1, for the one doorway |
The same three measurements and the same door and window give every line, so nothing is measured twice between the painting and the floor.
Do it with BuildBatch
Open the Room Refresh Batch and choose “Paint and flooring”. One set of measurements gives the paint, the floor and everything else on one list, each line marked Need or Check first.
What this guide does not cover
Trimming doors to clear a thicker floor. Levelling or repairing the subfloor. Plastering. Carpet, which is fitted differently. Kitchens and bathrooms, where fitted units and sanitaryware change the order. Anything electrical or structural.
Related guides
Questions
Should I paint before or after laying a new floor?
Usually before. Filling, sanding and painting make dust and drips, and the new floor is easier to keep clean if it goes down last. If the floor is already down, cover all of it while you paint.
How long should flooring sit in the room before it is laid?
As long as its instructions say. Many floors ask to be left in the room for a set time before fitting, and the instructions give the time and the conditions.