Home Remodel - correct order

[NinaBella]

So

 

[verleniahall]

I would say floors last becuase that way if anything gets on it, you aren't worried about it - it will be replaced in the end anyway

 

[NinaBella]

I

 

[ldo]

one thing to consdier is whether you would change any configuration of cabinets/layout. If ANY chance of that, consider before you do the floors. Are you pull cabinets out to put in floors? If so, do floors 1st, as cabinets can be damaged pulling them out. We are also redoing kitchen/floors and putting in darker HW and painting cabinets white. Paint cabinets 1st, then countertops, whether immediately after or later in time. I would paint before countertops, as you don't need to worry about damage from painting.

 

[HM]

If you do the floors first, get that plastic covering that is used in home building to protect it while you do the painting and other remodeling pieces. It's sticky and doesn't shift.

Do everything in your kitchen at once.

You can do the shutters and lighting in other parts of the house at a later time.

What kind of ceilings do you have? If it's popcorn....redo them first.

 

[barkley]

I would paint before countertops, as you don't need to worry about damage from painting.

the only issue with this (if you are talking painting walls vs. cabinets) is when you replace counters make sure that whatever is going up the walls (backsplash or decorative tile) from the current counters is the same height or lower than what is going in-otherwise you end up having to do touch up paint between the top of the new stuff and where the old stuff ended.

- Tile floors that look like wood for the entire first floor (all living areas, kitchen, master bedroom, hall bath, three bedrooms, laundry room) Plus upstairs bathroom.

- Carpet for stairs and entire second story because I think it would tile on the stairs is not a good idea.

- refinish all cabinets (kitchen and bathrooms) to be white or off white color (since the wood color on cabinet will not match floor).

- granite countertops, since current countertops won't match floors or look great with white cabinet.

- Upgrade appliances.

- take down blinds and get plantation shutters

- recessed lighting or new lighting in the kitchen/family room.

- if we can spurge, get rid of sliding door (which is huge) and get french doors with window panels on the side

we've done allot of this in our current house-did one or two items a year (wanted to pay in full for each project so it was save for it/do it, save for it/do it.....). here's what I would suggest from my experiences-

do anything that may impact walls/ceilings prior to repainting-replacing baseboards, putting in recessed lighting, pulling down cabinets to repaint, removal of any existing backsplash tile from kitchen walls, replacement of sliding glass door. reason being is some can cause the need to do small repairs-and the fewer times walls are retextured in areas the better it looks (less noticeable). it's also less expensive to get all wall work/painting done at the same time.

w/the baseboards and potential removal of slider-I would do those before flooring in case you have to make a choice depending on your new needs (don't want to have to try to retile after the fact or it may look visually off).

painting? I've had my entire interior and exterior done in recent years-a good professional company knows how to cover everything so there's not so much as a splatter.

do the appliances last so you're not pulling them out and worrying about damage with the other installations.


ooh-thought of another suggestion-when the cabinets are repainted consider having a piece of identical material painted so that when you go looking for flooring and granite you can take it with you (I had an extra cabinet door sitting in the garage so I schlepped that with me to the granite yards).

 

[tvguy]

We did a top to bottom remodel of our house 2 years ago, and top to bottom is exactly how they did it. One contractor did it all. Scraped off the cottage cheese ceiling, textured and painted, did cabinets, then painted, then did the floor, and then the baseboards. Last thing I would want is all those tradesmen trampling over my new floor while they work.

 

[ronandannette]

I build houses for a living. I've ordered your stages in red in the body of the quote (click "expand" to see them).

So we are looking at some home remodeling in the next few years. Yesterday DH says he would like to get the new floors next year. Well, I don't think I want them next year. I think I want to do "everything at once" instead of one thing each year.

So I am wondering the correct order to get things done as I will be hiring different companies for the jobs. For example, do I get the floors first or have them paint first? I am considering new baseboards so I see pros and cons for both ways. I would like to do everything back-to-back if possible. We also considered getting a townhome or condo in the future, but the mortgage would be the same as our current mortgage now, so I think just remodeling our home is the better options.

These are the items on my list. I suppose the main question is to put floors down or paint first.

#5- Tile floors that look like wood for the entire first floor (all living areas, kitchen, master bedroom, hall bath, three bedrooms, laundry room) Plus upstairs bathroom.

#6- Carpet for stairs and entire second story because I think it would tile on the stairs is not a good idea.

#3- refinish all cabinets (kitchen and bathrooms) to be white or off white color (since the wood color on cabinet will not match floor).

#4- granite countertops, since current countertops won't match floors or look great with white cabinent.

#8- Paint walls & trim

#9- Upgrade appliances.

#7- take down blinds and get plantation shutters (note: install shutters after painting)

#2- recessed lighting or new lighting in the kitchen/family room.

#1- if we can spurge, get rid of sliding door (which is huge) and get french doors with window panels on the side.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We are doing a slow home remodel. There is no way I could handle dealing with one thing after another right away. Too much moving of stuff in a short time frame for me!

We did the granite countertops in the kitchen first, then the wood floors, then the tiling of a the mudroom, half bathroom and kitchen backsplash, then the painting of the kitchen and mudroom and half bathroom. We just installed a new sink, mirror and light in the half bathroom yesterday. The new toilet we did right after the tile was done. So that room is 100% remodeled.

We still have all the light fixtures to change out from brass to brushed nickel and the upstairs carpet and the painting of the living room, hallway and upstairs hallway. And I need to strip wallpaper in the dining room so that can be painted at the same time.
The ceiling fixtures are next on my list.

And once the both kids are away at college, we will be gutting the upstairs bathroom and redoing that - 2 years down the road.

Doing the wood floors meant we had to move everything from the main floor to the upstairs - turned out *I* had to move it all because no one else helped. Then put it all back after with no help. And the same thing with the kitchen - it was just me doing all the work. The work was done the week before last in the kitchen and I spent all week getting the kitchen put back together. I'm exhausted so make sure you have help. I'd have hired someone if I'd realized my husband wouldn't be helping.

Basically in your case I would for sure save painting for next to last and get new appliances as the very last item.

 

[tvguy]

I build houses for a living. I've ordered your stages in red in the body of the quote (click "expand" to see them).

Painting last seems odd to me. They painted my bathrooms and kitchen before they put in the cabinets counters so that the areas behind the cabinets are painted, and they didn't have to tape anything off around the cabinets and counter tops, and of course the risk of getting paint on the cabinets, counters and flooring.

 

[ronandannette]

Painting last seems odd to me. They painted my bathrooms and kitchen before they put in the cabinets counters so that the areas behind the cabinets are painted, and they didn't have to tape anything off around the cabinets and counter tops, and of course the risk of getting paint on the cabinets, counters and flooring.

Yes - but the OP is NOT replacing her cabinets; just re-finishing the surfaces. In a new build cabinets are installed AFTER both flooring and paint. FWIW - when you paint at an earlier stage, a final paint touch-up needs to be done afterwards that required taping and masking anyway.

 

[tvguy]

Yes - but the OP is NOT replacing her cabinets; just re-finishing the surfaces. In a new build cabinets are installed AFTER both flooring and paint. FWIW - when you paint at an earlier stage, a final paint touch-up needs to be done afterwards that required taping and masking anyway.

Guess we were lucky. While there was some touch up work, it was in areas away from the cabinets and counters. Mostly missed spots in the wall texture. And my wife reminds me I am mistaken on the bathrooms, the shower and tub surrounds and tub were in when we painted, and the tub was damaged in the painting process and the painting contractor had to replace the brand new tub.

 

[Jake]

Just a thought, if you are doing electrical upgrades. What could mean pulling wires through walls and ceilings. That are times that the sheet rock must be cut in places to pull wires. Also you should think of any additional electrical circuits you will like in kitchen and other areas. Any wall removals or wall being added, doors and windows should be done in the first part. Floors unless you must go under cabinets can be done last. Baseboards and painting are last

 

[tvguy]

Well, I just spent more time than I care to admit browsing the home improvement pages, Angies List, This Old House, etc, and it seems that ALL the trades want to be last so they don't have to come back to fix damage caused by other trades. So it seems there really isn't a standard on who goes last.
I got four bids on my project, and I pulled those proposals out and all four contractors in their bids specified painting before cabinets and flooring were installed.
In reality, my remodel was done in 4 steps. Master bath, guest bath, kitchen and then laminate flooring in all areas but the bathrooms.
Master bath was painted. Guest bath wasn't started until master was 100% complete. When guest bath was painted, the painter touched up the master bath. When the painter came to do the kitchen, he touched up the guest bath after it was 100% complete. Nothing needed to be touched up in the kitchen, although I did have the painter back to bid on painting the exterior and he asked to inspect all three previous projects to make sure they didn't need any touch up.
The last thing done was the baseboards, after everything else was done.

 

[Green Tea]

We did all of these last summer. I vote floors first. Everything gets moved to get the floors in. The walls will definitely get banded with an entire room of stuff piled against them and being moved from one room to the other.

I also say floors before kitchen is redone incase they decide to run flooring under the cabinets instead of cutting it butt to the cabinet. You don't want to granite jostled and potentially cracked.

 

[havaneselover]

I did a minor remodel in 2013 before moving in to a new (to us) house. I did floors first (all carpet replaced, new hardwood, existing hardwood refinished, tile put in hall bath) followed by paint (all trim, walls and ceiling). I also had all of the chandeliers and flush mounts replaced before painting. I would definitely recommend painting last.

 

[StephMK]

I agree with floors before cabinets. We just had old tile removed and the cabinets got dinged up in a few spots. I am planning to repainted them this summer anyway but would not have been happy otherwise.

 

[tvguy]

Yes - but the OP is NOT replacing her cabinets; just re-finishing the surfaces. In a new build cabinets are installed AFTER both flooring and paint. FWIW - when you paint at an earlier stage, a final paint touch-up needs to be done afterwards that required taping and masking anyway.

I guess it depends on how you define refinishing. Refacing to me means leaving them in place and putting new doors and hardware on, putting an overlay on etc. Refinishing to me means taking them down and having them chemically tripped at the cabinet shop, restained or painted and reinstalled.
Our options were:
Resurface (cheapest)
Refinish (more expensive)
Replace. (most expensive)

 

[pampam]

We will be doing a huge room that has been added onto our home. Our plan is to turn it into a handicap accessible granny suite, to rent now and when we get older to use ourselves. Everything must be done: plumbing, ceiling, floors, walls, cupboards, bathroom with a roll in shower, and of course wider doors to accommodate wheelchairs and rollaters. and while we are doing this we will upgrade the electrical, and insulation. A ramp will be built outside too. What would be the order for these upgrades?