Having a new floor installed in your house is exciting and rewarding; however, there are a lot of homeowners who become overwhelmed as they soon start to realize, there’s more to installing a floor than just the floor itself. Preparation is key to establishing a new floor. The more prepared you are, the easier the installation process will be. This applies to DIY enthusiasts who want to do it themselves as well as for those who want to hire a professional flooring contractor like Brisbane Concrete Polishing.
There’s no doubt you’re going to have some work ahead of you in either case, but it’s so worth it in the end. Installing a new floor is an excellent opportunity to weed out any clutter and get rid of items you don’t need. This is also a great time to give the room that you’re flooring, a quick makeover with cleaning the windows, ceiling fans, light fixtures, and a fresh coat of paint. It’s always a good idea to paint the ceiling and walls after the old floor has been removed because you might be doing a lot of touch-up painting if you don’t.
Below, we’re going to talk about seven ways that will help to get your house prepared for your new floor. These methods are from the perspective of a professional flooring contractor who has been there and done that many times over. It will give you a more natural way to make it through the entire preparation process and provide accurate information on the correct order of steps.
Here are the seven easiest ways to get your house ready! In chronological order:
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Debris Removal
You can prepare your house for a new floor by knowing how you’re going to get rid of the debris and the old floor. If you’re hiring a flooring contractor, they can dispose of the waste; however, this may come at an extra charge. You can also have a small dumpster dropped off and picked up when the job is done or if you have the means to take it to the landfill, that’s also a great way to get rid of the construction debris safely.
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Empty The Contents
When it comes to installing a new floor, there’s no other way to get around this; you need to empty the contents. If you decide to give the room a quick makeover before it’s floored, remove all of the items off the walls as well and window dressings. Find another close room and can accommodate some of the larger furniture. You can also utilize other rooms, so you don’t wholly shut-off another room. It’s going to create a slight inconvenience no matter how you look at it, but remember this is only temporary, and a beautiful new room awaits.
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Access & Workspace
Whether you’re doing this yourself or hiring a professional flooring installer, you will need access to the room and workspace to cut materials. If you have a garage or an area outside that can be utilized for a workspace with a clear path to the room being flooded, it will make the job a hundred times easier. It’s also a good idea to offer your contractor, a safe place to store their equipment. If you can leave the tools and saws set up without interfering with your daily routine in a secure location, it will save time.
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Setup A Containment Zone
It’s a good idea to prepare your house with a temporary containment zone. What this means, use plastic to cover open doorways to keep dust and dirt from entering other rooms. This will eliminate unnecessary cleaning and dusting. There’s no need to make the job any harder.
Additionally, run heavy-duty plastic or red-rosin paper on the path to the workspace. This will protect your floors from heavy traffic and debris from the workspace. It also allows you or the contractor to freely go back and forth from the workspace to the room.
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Deconstruction
One of the first things you’ll want to look at is the condition of the baseboard in the room. If it’s in good shape and worth saving, you can try to slowly peel it away by using a small, thin flat-bar or 5-in-1 utility knife where the baseboard meets the door casing. In some cases, the baseboard can stay in place, and a variety of quarter-round molding can hide the crevices and provide the finished look. For carpet installations, there’s no need to remove the baseboard unless you want to change the look. Once a decision has been made on the baseboard, it’s time to remove the old floor.
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Prep & Paint
If you are installing a new floor, there’s a good chance that the room itself could use a fresh coat of paint. Once the old floor has been removed, you’re not going to have a better opportunity to paint the room. Start by patching holes and imperfections with a 6-inch drywall knife and lightweight compound. Once the patchwork is done, let it dry, and sand it flat with fine sandpaper or a drywall sanding sponge. Prime the areas that you patched and let it dry before you prime and paint the room.
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Flooring Installation Date
If you’re installing the floor yourself, you can set your schedule, but if you’re using a flooring contractor? It’s a good idea to have a set a date for installation. This means you will need to do any prep work and painting before the flooring installation date you set with your contractor arrives. You may have decided to utilize a painting contractor as well; in this case, you will need to make sure your painter is finished before the flooring contractor shows up.
Final Thoughts
If you follow these seven ways to prepare your house before installing flooring, you will feel much better about getting the job done right, whether you decide to do it yourself or hire a flooring contractor. The results will be worth the effort, and you can fully appreciate all of the hard work and fantastic transformation.
