Should You Paint or Carpet First?

This is one of the most asked questions that we get. Like many things – there is no clear cut “right” answer, just advantages and disadvantages to each. Below we’ve outlined some of them for you …

Painting First / Carpet Second

Pro:
1. No concern about getting paint on new carpet (although rarely happens, and can always be removed).
2. Better job getting the bottom of the baseboards.

Con:
1. Very common that walls and/or trim are damaged by the process of putting in carpet. This can be a few minutes of touch-up (no cost to you). . . or it could include repainting nearly every wall and doing extensive repainting to trim. This can cost hundreds per room. The key to minimizing this is to let the carpet installers know that they will be responsible for all damage to walls. The glitch with this is that touch-up to them may mean painting just the spot that was damaged – in reality it is common that a whole wall needs to be repainted (then your stuck in the middle paying the difference).

Carpet First / Painting Second

Pro:
1. Damage to walls and trim by carpet installers is rarely an additional charge from us, since we have to patch and prepare the surfaces anyway.

Con:
1. Paint can get on new carpet and ruin it. Hasn’t happened yet (3000 jobs plus), but of course is a possibility. We do have insurance to cover this possibility.
2. Cannot paint the trim quite as well since the carpet is in the way. True, but not something you would notice – we typically pull back the carpet with a “blade” and paint behind. The lowest part of a baseboard will not be painted very well, but will never be seen.