My mother is planning to paint the kitchen and get new flooring. The floor is original to the house (40yrs) and is vinyl tile. 1. which should be done first, the painting of the walls or the installation of the new floor? 2.If a new floor is going to be installed, should the old flooring be pulled up first? (old vinyl tiles currently on the floor, not in good shape) 3.Should the old sub-floor be redone as well? We have been advised that particle board would be placed over the existing vinyl tiles and then the new flooring put down or would it be better to pull up the old flooring and start from scatch? We plan to either replace floor with either vinyl tiles or ceramic tiles.
Answer:
The floor will be last to be done. You'll have to pull off the old flooring along with the underlayment but the sub-flooring should stay. Before the new underlayment goes in, you might want to snap a chalk line over each joist underneath the sub-floor and then not permit screws holding the underlayment to go into joists - just through the sub-flooring or you may end up with more squeaks than you know what to do with.
Courtesy of Ren Molnar, Construction Consultant at HomeFocus.com. I can also be reached at (613) 748-3003 and Home Focus – The Radio Show is broadcast live 8 to 10 A.M. (Ottawa, Ont. time) on Saturdays on www.cfra.com. In the interests of retaining credibility and in fairness to all, I cannot recommend prices, people nor companies for various projects.
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