How to Protect Your Floor When Painting

When you are painting a room in your home, you want to make sure to protect your flooring. It doesn’t matter if the floor is carpeted, hardwood or laminate, you want your floor to be clear of paint. In this article, we’ll explore how to protect your flooring during interior painting so that you can be sure to keep your floors in pristine condition after they’re painted.

Preparation is the first step in how to protect your floor when painting. That includes removing all other items from the room, especially furniture and pictures on the walls. If at all possible, just have the floor bare in there.

Sweep the floor or clean your carpet with a vacuum. Make sure it’s clear of debris before the painters paint. You don’t want to risk scratches in the floor from foot traffic pressing down on the debris. If you have no other place to store the furniture, move it to the center of the room and cover it with a plastic sheet or a canvas tarp.

Your best bet is to lay a canvas drop cloth or canvas tarp on the floor, up to the edge of the wall. Several drop cloths or tarps may be necessary to protect your flooring during interior painting but it’s worth spending the extra money to keep the floor clean. If a canvas tarp or drop cloth isn’t available, use old bed sheets, blankets or other large sheets of cloth.

It is not advisable to use plastic because the plastic drop cloths tend to move, slide and lift. They will also not be able to be washed and reused. They will not protect your flooring adequately. Plastic does not absorb paint splatters. This increases the likelihood of your carrying wet paint on your shoes to other surfaces. (Or the painters)

You should use a light tack masking tape to tape the tarp to the floor as close to the base trim as you possibly can. Tape the tarps around the entire perimeter of the room. If you don’t have enough tarps, then pain the room, one wall at a time an cover the floor surrounding that wall with the tarps. However, if you use a professional painter like the ones at 21^st Century Painting and Roofing, this is not something you’ll have to worry about. We work hard to protect your flooring at all times and come with enough tarps or drop cloths to cover everything.

If your drop cloth is too large for the room, don’t cut it. The frayed edges that result could interfere with the paint finish. Instead, fold the drop cloth to fit into the space.

Finally, you’ll want to keep an old towel, doormat or rags near the door to wipe the bottoms of shoes on before leaving the room.  You want to avoid paint being tracked to other parts of the house, like new siding.

It is not suggested that you use newspaper to cover your floors because it is too thin and doesn’t offer the right amount of protection.

To have your paint job done right and with the security that your flooring is fully protected, contact 21^st Century Painting & Austin Roofing contractors today. We can be reached at 512.219.0342.