Doors or floors

msaeger

Drywall is up and I am trying to decide what to do next.

Should I put down the flooring or install the doors next? The area I am finishing is two bedrooms connected with hallway. I am either going to do wood on the whole area or wood in the hall and carpet in the bedrooms.

sdsester

I would put the floors in first. Then protect them while you hang your doors. You are no doubt going to have to trim door bottoms to match whatever flooring you pick.

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mnp13

Personally, I would do floors last. It's the first thing I did in my last house, and it was really stressful trying to keep them clean and protected.

But it's all personal preference.

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Michelle

Fixing the re-muddling one room at a time...

msaeger

I was thinking doors first then undercut them when the floor goes down. Now I am thinking it would be easier to do the floor without the door in there but I think it would be harder to undercut the doors then.

msaeger

Probably should just do the doors first since that was the original plan and get it done :-)

ddawg16

Hopefully you have the door frames in.

I'm close to the same point....so my plan is to install doors (and frames)....once the frames are in place, remove doors and put in a safe location....they just get in the way and usually get damaged.

Once all the flooring is done....hang the doors.....then trim the bottoms if necessary.

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mnp13

You could hang the doors, get everything done and ready, then remove the doors and lay the floor. Then all you'll have to do is trim the doors down. I always look at the amount of tools and "stuff" that I will have to drag around for each project. Working over old floors is great. You don't have to worry about dropping things, spilling things, dragging stuff... but once that floor is down it's a whole other story. (can you tell I'm messy?? lol)

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Michelle

Fixing the re-muddling one room at a time...

Awoodfloorguy

I would do the floors first. It will make laying the floors a little easier.

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tacomahardwood.

The ole chicken or the egg , Well If you want to install the doors first .Put a piece of hardwood under the frame to shim to the right height . Then remove it , Then you won't run the risk of scratching the floor during construction ,or cutting the frames .Unkless you will have differnt height products on both sides of the door , Then I would shim the door to the lower height , And trim the higher height after install , If you don't want to mess around cutting and fitting under the door frame .Then install the doors last . Just remember if you install the doors first you will have to fit the wood under the door after ,
If you want to do the floors first , Use a good thick roll of floor protector . If you tape the floor protector to a newly finished floor then the tape adhesive will melt into the finish and bond . It will be a Pain to remove , When you install the doors , Be sure to have a helper and some good cardboard to pad the floor so the doors don't scratch ,
My best advice for a DIY home owner would be . Use pieces of hardwood to shim the doors/frames to height , Then remove the shims , Install the floor , The reason is , If you are a DIY yerself and asking , I would assume your a novice at setting a door , Therefore will be fiddling with it a whole bunch more than me , RISKING a scratch or dent . When you install the door , You will Use two nails on the HINGE side first, From there it will be easier to figure the rest of the dor install tacomahardwoodfloors.com

msaeger

If I do 3/4 inch wood floor and install the floor before the doors do you think the gap under the door would be too big? What size gap should I be shooting for?

msaeger

The bedrooms both have air returns in them by the way.

Hardwood Head

1-Lay the new floors......this will make the floor installation much easier and there is no need for making exact cuts to fit tight to the door jams. There should be a 1/4' gap left for expansionon of the hardwood on the perimeter ofall walls.
2-Install the door jams......install the door jams on to the new floor, if there is ever a need to change the door jams down the road from damage or for others reasons you will not have any issues or gaps when setting this new jam.
3-Hang the doors......leave 3/8" gap between the bottom of the door and the finished floors

sdsester

Not sure what this has to do with sequencing flooring and doors but you obviously have to cut openings for the returns. Find yourself some sharp looking grates to blend with the new flooring.

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msaeger

Because when searching on Google there are a lot of hits saying to have a one inch gap under the door so you get good return air flow if the room doesn't have a return.

sdsester

I see! Makes sense but since you have the returns, 3/8" as mentioned seems a reasonable target.

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