Flooring Before Walls or Vice Versa

May 14, 2015 10:47 AM

Is it advisable to frame walls in basement before installing click-together laminate flooring? I am trying to keep costs down, and want to do some work before a contractor comes in to do the walls.

I want to finish my basement, but I need to keep costs as low as possible. I don't feel comfortable framing the walls, running power, or plumbing, but I feel like I could install click-together laminate flooring. Can I put this in before he starts the walls, or do I need to wait until after. He is going to add the flooring to his estimate and I know it is going to be thousands more than doing myself purely because of labor costs. I don't begrudge him making his money, but I want to do what I can to save myself, and I like being hands on.

posted by MnMrMstrd7 to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

You would want to do the flooring after the walls are there. Click laminate floor is usually "floating", ie not attached to the subfloor. The wall framing, however, needs to go all the way down and be securely fastened to whatever's holding the subfloor.

On the off chance that you're talking about drywalling on existing studs, not framing in an entirely new wall, then yes, the drywall could go up after the floor, and the concern would then be scuff damage. And the complication that you'd have to measure exactly how close to the wall to take the floor, accounting for drywall thickness and baseboards. Basically still wouldn't recommend it.

Just tell him you'll do the floor yourself after he's done, and he'll take it out of his estimate. If there's a need to do it beforehand just to be sure he doesn't do it for you, then you need to find a contractor who knows how to listen and do what you ask for. (be sure it's written out of the estimate before you sign anything)
posted by aimedwander at 10:57 AM on May 14, 2015

Best practice is to work from the top down, i.e., finish floor is the last thing. He can do a line item estimate for the floor which you can then accept, or not.
posted by rudd135 at 11:00 AM on May 14, 2015

You absolutely can do the flooring yourself. It looks easy and it is easy and it goes together so fast you won't believe you are done already. But you really should wait til the walls are done, in part because the work on the walls is likely to damage your beautiful new floor, and in part because you need to space the floating floor away from the walls by a small amount in order to give the wood room to expand and contract, which is hard to do when the walls don't exist yet.
posted by Mars Saxman at 11:12 AM on May 14, 2015

Even when contractors claim they'll be careful on new flooring (or carpet, or painted walls), they always seem to find a way to damage them. When I had laminate in a room, I found it to be substantially easier to damage (and harder to repair) than other kinds of flooring, so I'd recommend extra caution (though to be fair, we were using fairly inexpensive laminate).

Regarding the ease of installation, it's been years since we installed it in a former house. But we were certainly able to do it, even as people who aren't very handy. That said, I disagree with Mars Saxman that it went together so fast we didn't believe we were done already. We did it in a small bedroom/office, and it took a whole very long day. Mostly because of cutting the pieces to deal with doorways, closets and other weird edges. If you have a perfectly square/rectangular room with no poles, closets, etc. maybe it will be really quick. But I'd alot a decent amount of time to get it done just in case.
posted by primethyme at 11:22 AM on May 14, 2015

I did two bedrooms in my house; one was 11x12 and the other was 12x12. Both had floor registers, closets, and oddball non-square corners; one had a sort of weird pop-out section of wall from a previous renovation. They each took one evening for most of the work, plus a couple hours of additional futzing around with edges the next day. Compared to the weeks I spent on carpentry, electrical, plastering, more plastering, trim, paint, more trim, more paint, and cleaning, the flooring felt like the easiest part of the remodel and it really did feel like it was done so quickly I was almost disappointed. Not making things up here. Sure, leave a whole day for it if you want, but my point is that snap-together floating laminate flooring is about as easy a job as you can find in a remodel project.
posted by Mars Saxman at 11:35 AM on May 14, 2015

He is going to add the flooring to his estimate
You are hiring this guy, so tell him not to add the flooring to the estimate.
posted by soelo at 12:08 PM on May 14, 2015

He is going to add the flooring to his estimate and I know it is going to be thousands more than doing myself purely because of labor costs

Yes, you can install the flooring yourself and you definitely, definitely want to do it after the walls. Tell the contractor not to add flooring to the estimate. If he does it anyway, tell him to take the flooring off of the estimate.
posted by desuetude at 12:59 PM on May 14, 2015

Do the click together as the last project. The baseboard should be the last-last. When you do the click together, they will want you to space it away from the wall a certain amount. You then get baseboard to cover that gap. The gap will allow for expansion and contraction when the weather fluctuates. They have installation kits for floating floor. As a beginner, I would suggest you get one. They have spacers you can place along the wall to keep your gap at the correct size. Also, it's surprising how much you can jiggle the floor, just by walking on it. Check the gaps as you go along.
posted by Foam Pants at 7:45 PM on May 14, 2015

ALWAYS frame first. Do not install the floor, your GC will think you're nuts and may have trouble working/damage your floor.
posted by annie o at 7:33 PM on May 17, 2015