when to lay my floor?

[Spoony 2]

Looking to install jarrah floor on concrete in new house. Should the boards be put down before the cabinets , fitttings etc or after the last trade has been in.

[Bin J]

While this MIGHT be a sterotype, it is certainly a true stereotype in my experience with renovating our house. "Tradesmen don't care about wrecking anything". They are men afterall ;) .

Definately wait until almost last to put it down, I can't see the tradesmen taking off their boots so as not to damage your floor - especially if they will be going inside / outside all day.

That said, we didn't want a beading around the kitchen cabinets or the skirtings, so the kickboards and skirting will be going on last, after the floor is down. Hopefully I can control the cabinet guy :D . But the carpenter doing the skirting is a friend - they're much easier to boss around ;) , and they feel bad if they wreck your things.

[ThePope]

"Tradesmen don't care about wrecking anything".

Oi !!!
lucky for you I don't take on the ladies, else it be framing guns at dawn again :)

[boban]

Looking to install jarrah floor on concrete in new house. Should the boards be put down before the cabinets , fitttings etc or after the last trade has been in.

If you want it to look right, then definately before the cabinets. Anything else looks like an add on or cover up. You have the opportunity to do it the right way.

If you are worried about the other trades, then cover it up. For what its worth, I've found that after sanding, there is no evidence of any other trade having been present.

[glock40sw]

G'day.
Install the floor first.
Then do the cabinets.
Once they are in have the floor sanded and sealed.
A good operator on an edger will get close to the cabinets.The skirting and kickboards will cover the rest.

[elphingirl]

Laying the floor without all the fiddly bits is much faster - even if it uses a bit more timber. We laid first, put the cabinets in and then got them sanded by a professional before putting kickers and skirts on. The trades we had through weren't careless about the floor, although there was a fair few lumps of plaster on it.
Cheers, Justine

[glock40sw]

G'day.
Once the floor is down, cover it with drop sheets (Cotton, calico even cardboard) But never, ever use plastic sheeting. It will wreck your floor overnight...

[Spoony 2]

Thanks for advice. The builder seems to want the floor down but the impression from the layer is that he wants to do the floor last. It sounds like the floor looks more natural under the arcs, cabinets etc and this is how I would prefer to do it. The only thing is I'm not around all the time to ensure the covers are on the floor. Question being as long as oil etc doesn't get on the floor most things, dirt etc must be able to be sanded out?. Lastly the floor is throughout the whole house so the painting would probably be done before the sanding as it's a big ask of the painter to not scratch the floor with ladders etc. If you have a good operator how much sanding dust should you expect?, apart from a small amount which I accept is inevitable. I know there's a few questions but I want some independant advice as different agendas give different answers.
Thanks

[glock40sw]

lay the floor.
sand kitchen only.
Install cabinets.
Cover the entire floor.
Get all other trades finished.
remove covers.
sand and seal the entire floor.
sanding will leave a small amount of dust, but a good operator will clean up all dust prior to applying the seal. Otherwise there will be dust in the finish. This is NOT a good look.