Any possible way to do flooring before drywall?

tnis0612 · 02-09-2009, 04:38 PM

I managed to pull up my 100 year old heart pine flooring and keep it in pretty good shape. A vast majority of the pieces are 16ft long because they were put down before the walls (except the one load-bearing wall). If I wait to do the flooring after the drywall is up there is no way I will be able to get any kind of long pieces into the rooms. The floor still needs sanded and refinished but would it make sense to possibly put the floor down before the drywall and while doing the drywall do my best to cover the flooring to keep everything out? I really don't want to have to cut up these long pieces of flooring. Any thoughts? Thanks for the help.

Willie T · 02-09-2009, 04:56 PM

Drywall hangers and finishers are notoriously careless, and if you can get a crew to respect your wishes on protecting the floor, you need to teach the rest of the world how to do it.

If you can afford it, you could tape down sheets of the cheapest hard board product that you can find, and take it all up later. But this is no guarantee. I think they could still find a way to gouge your floors.

Bob Mariani · 02-09-2009, 05:38 PM

should be no problem especially since the sanding and finishing will be done after. Drywall work is not that destructive to floors.

Willie T · 02-09-2009, 06:46 PM

About the long boards.... This will take some time to load each room, but you can selectively trim the bottom of the drywall between two studs just enough to slide the flooring boards in above the sole (bottom) plate. It should still be hidden behind the baseboard. A pain in the rear, but it would only add a couple of hours, max, to the whole house job. Just choose your paths carefully and logically.

tnis0612 · 02-10-2009, 07:25 AM

Willie T, that's a good idea. I hadnt thought of that. I will probably just do the floors first. I'm not too worried about the floors. They are almost 100 years old and i'm in a historic district, people around here love the old stuff, they don't expect the floors to look perfect.