Home Improvement Painting Interior Painting

Should You Paint or Refinish Floors First?

Can of paint on unfinished floor

The Spruce / Margot Cavin

Developing an orderly process is crucial in home remodeling. Process is an easy call for some tasks: insulation before drywall, for example. What about interior wall painting and floor refinishing? Should you paint or refinish floors first?

Generally, you should paint first, refinish floors second. By painting first, you avoid dripping wet paint on a refinished floor.

But as with so many home projects, this is a shifting target and there is no single right answer. So, look at both sides and come to the conclusion that works best for you.

Paint First, Refinish Floors Second

Pros
  • Light paint on floor is sandable

  • Subfloors fine to drip on

  • Avoid damaging walls

Cons
  • Sanding dust sticks to walls

  • Wall damage from sander

  • Flat paint must be repainted

The chief reason to paint the walls before refinishing the floors is to avoid dripping paint on a new finish.

Light paint splatter on raw wood can be sanded out. Heavy paint drips may stain the wood, though. Heavy paint is easier to remove from a good wood finish than from raw wood since it is so porous.

Any floor that is still in the subfloor stage (no floor covering installed yet) is perfectly fine to drip on. The drips can stay on the subfloor since they will be covered up.

The downside of painting before refinishing the floors is that sanding dust will gather on the walls. The type of paint gloss or sheen can compound the problem. Eggshell and semi-gloss sheens can be wiped down.

But flatter sheen paints attract dust. Flat paint, too, is difficult it is to clean. It's usually easier to clean dusted flat gloss walls with a vacuum and then repaint.

Refinish Floors First, Paint Second

Pros
  • Avoid major wall cleaning

  • Easier to fix wall damage

  • No repainting for flat paint

Cons
  • Full floor coverage needed

  • Paint may still reach flooring

  • Pigments can stain

Sanding floors creates a huge amount of dust. This dust settles not only on horizontal surfaces but it clings to vertical surfaces such as walls. Sanding first means that the dust clings to bare drywall, which can be cleaned off with a vacuum.

The lack of baseboards and other floor trim means you can paint down without any masking. In new-construction homes where no flooring has been laid yet, this is the way it works: walls are put up first, then the floor covering comes later.

When you run a floor sander around a room, there is the possibility of scuffing up newly painted walls. Even though you will have removed the baseboards, it's still possible to scrape or gouge perfectly painted walls.

Paint drips are a major concern. If you drip on a fully finished, sealed floor, as long as you get to the drip within a few seconds, it's almost like the drip never happened. If the latex paint dries, pry off the drop with a fingernail.

Even so, the pigment can stain the finished floor's surface. If you do take this route, use a chemical floor protectant to further protect the floors against damage or discoloration from paint.

Which Is Best for You: Walls or Floors First?

The final decision is relative and it depends on your situation, as well as your likes and dislikes.

If you paint the walls first, then refinish the floors second, you get a major part of the remodel out of the way. If you're lucky enough that the floor covering hasn't been installed yet, you can paint the walls without worrying about mess at all. But you will need to be mindful of sander dust collecting on the walls. With flat gloss walls, you're pretty much back to square one: the walls should be re-painted.

If you refinish the floors first, and then paint the walls second, paint drips are a concern. The best way to make sure that your flooring stays clean is to avoid spilling paint on it in the first place. Since accidents do happen, cover the entire floor with a canvas drop cloth.

Paint drips on a fully cured, finished floor can be wiped off quickly. Dried paint drips can even be pried off with a fingernail. But paint drips on raw wood may soak in and be difficult to sand out.