Installing hardwood flooring in livng area & tile in adjacent kitchen area (DIY job) -which shoud I do first?

Question

The hardwood materials will not be delivered for a few weeks but I am ready to go on the tile. Should I just go ahead and install the tile now, or should I hold off and do the hardwoods first? Or does it even matter? First time to install hardwoods myself...

Answer 1

We installed tile in the kitchen and entryway several years before I put down our hardwood floors.  Installing the hardwood floors will cause no damage to the tile.  I agree with everybody ahead of me.

Answer 2

do the tile first!! tile is messy and you really want to do it first.

Answer 3

It depends on what kind of hardwood floor you are installing. If you are installing engineered wood, you should install tile first because you have to glue down hardwood. Installing tile before hardwood would be good because it has to be clean after installation. If you are installing solid hardwood, you have to install hardwood first because it's nail down. It will be hard to install solid hardwood after installing tile because for tile you need to glue down either concrete or durak. Since you said it's concrete floor, you have to install tile first.

Answer 4

Use a scrap of wood that is the same thickness of the hardwood.  Tile up to that scrap.  Making sure you are perfectly level.  I'd tile first.  Thinset and grout are messy.  Leave the scrap in place until you lay the wood floor.  Hopefully, you are not buying that fake c**p, laminated flooring.  Buy the real thing.

Answer 5

If you plan to nail down the hardwood floor then I would do the tile last.

Answer 6

I agree...tiles first. You wouldn't want to get get anything on the new hardwood. We just put hardwood floors down ourselves and LOVE it! Good luck on the project!

Answer 7

Tile 1st as noted.. Even nailing a wood down will not hame the tile.. You ll DEFF need a small gap between the tile and wood anyway for expansion of the wood ( I usually do approx 3/16 inch.. Then fill w/ grout which will need touching up off and on because of the movement you ll get. Caulking that area is a help if you can get a matching  caulk.. What works best though is a "Tee"  mold between the 2 , it allows the movement w/o the unsightly cracking that ll go on.. Don t forget to let wood acclimate to room a MINIMUM of 72 hrs or longer  GL

Sure NOW you tell me it s a glue down wood LOL .. But same applies on acclimation .  Check for moisture?? Won t hurt tile but by taping down a 1x1ft pc of foil for 24 hrs you ll determine if any moisture is there . Thats a must for any wood product over cement  again GL