Home Remodeling: What Comes First?

Q: A reader asks:

"I was reading your very helpful article about how to organize your home for a remodel, but had a question about when to do the ceilings?

"We are considering buying a home that has asbestos popcorn ceilings in some of the rooms. When should those be done?

"Just to give you an idea of what we are thinking:

1. Removing the asbestos popcorn ceiling
2. Expanding the kitchen: moving 1 wall back and removing a half wall
3. Painting the whole house
4. Reflooring the whole house (carpet in bedrooms, tile in kitchen and bathrooms, wood everywhere else)
5. Expanding the master bathroom and creating a walk-in closet

"We initially had been planning to tackle the ceiling, paint, then floors because we figured those would be quick jobs and the house would look a million times better, and then we would do the kitchen (budget permitting) and eventually the master. The more we thought about it though, we realized we would have to refloor the kitchen and master when we remodelled those..."

Name Withheld

A: That's the funny thing about home remodeling, isn't it?  Ceiling before floor, floor before ceiling?  One person strongly advocates one thing and another person strongly feels otherwise.

Personally, I would do:

1. Ceiling.
2. Expand kitchen and master bedroom & create closet.
3. Painting.
4. Reflooring.

But then again, that's just me.