When to paint the trim

Q: We are having hard wood floors installed in our living room, hallway and dining room. However, we have dark, shiny trim around the doorways and base/floor trim. we want to paint the trim white. Should the trim be painted white BEFORE OR AFTER THE installation of the hardwood floors?

A: The baseboards will stay in place during installation unless they are small, such as 3″, in which case it would be best to remove it and re install it or replace. The quarter round will not go on until after the floor is installed. You can paint the quarter round before installation and then touch up the nail holes and cut ends when it is installed. When the installer comes up to the wall/baseboards, he is going to have to pull the last couple of rows in using the wall/base as leverage. It would be a shame to ruin a new paint job at that point, over an issue he has no control over.