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Old 02-17-2010, 03:20 PM
 
414 posts, read 908,181 times
Reputation: 591

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That's a tough one. I've always done my own painting (with a little help from DH) and also helped out my DDs but recently one of the DDs bought a house and hired out for painting her LR, den, hallway and 3 bedrooms. Let me tell you, what a GREAT job they did and so much faster than we could've done it. So I would go for the painter...yes, anyone can paint but not everyone can make it look professional. Sorry...I know I didn't help at all!

Last edited by SadieLu; 02-17-2010 at 03:25 PM.. Reason: spelling
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Old 02-17-2010, 04:03 PM
 
Location: Pomona
1,955 posts, read 10,952,654 times
Reputation: 1562
Another vote for hiring out the flooring, not so much for the labor aspect but for the tools aspect. At the minimum, a miter saw and a table saw with fine-tooth blades and a wet tile saw with a diamond blade.

OTOH, painting ... masking tape, paintbrushes, and rollers. If you don't finish in one day, no problem ... just continue tomorrow. It's a much more time-flexible task.
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Old 02-17-2010, 04:08 PM
 
Location: Martinsville, NJ
6,175 posts, read 12,898,411 times
Reputation: 4019
Quote:
Originally Posted by crisb22 View Post
Our new house desperately needs new floor and new paint. My husband and I can't take enough days off from work so we decided to hire a professional to do one of these jobs (we'll do the other one ourselves). He thinks we should hire a professional to get the paint job done (we have a two-story house with 4 br and 3 bath). I'd rather hire someone to install the laminate flooring and tiles. Which one of these two projects do you think should be done by a professional?
Neither job is terribly difficult, but both require sone precision to get them done right.
Evaluate your experience, skill sets, tools, and time. Get estimates from the professionals, so you know what the dollar cost of each will be, and how much you will be saving to do it yourself. The job you are best suited to do yourselves should become obvious.

By the way, are you painting the inside of the house or the outside? The inside you can do one room at a time, over a fairly long period of time, while the outside really should be done as close as possibble to all at once.
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Old 03-17-2010, 03:19 PM
 
1,173 posts, read 4,737,283 times
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Hmm...maybe I'm just cheap but I'd do both myself. With the money you save you can go with a higher end flooring or do another project (isn't there ALWAYS another project?) Plus you'll get to add some cool tools to your collection

I'd take the days off of work to install the new flooring and do paint prep work (the key to a professional looking paint job is all in the prep work, don't rush through it, this should be the longest part of the process). If you chose to prime then only do one coat of primer during prep and the second coat when your ready to paint so it will be fresh. Then once all the flooring is installed you can always finish the painting slowly.

If all the walls are smooth and taped off it won't take you long to do a room afterwork or on a Saturday morning. Set up a schedule of sorts to make sure your not living in a construction zone for too long. I'd do something like kids bedrooms first and ASAP, then work from the most visible area of the house to the least (example: Living room is right behind the front door, that goes first. Adjoining dining room goes next. Guest bedroom goes last.)

If you're dead set on farming one out I personally would do the painting myself because it's insanely easy and it's easy to fix mistakes. Not too mention how PO'd would you be if you paid someone to paint the room and then you got home from work and realized that baby turtle green seemed like a good choice when you did a sample but now that the whole room is green you realize you've made the wrong choice? You'll end up either paying to switch the color or painting yourself anyway.
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Old 03-17-2010, 04:22 PM
 
48,505 posts, read 96,551,406 times
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Well just about anyone that can read and do a good job on the house painting. The floors are a doable job also but if you don't have skills and tools; its harder to get a professional job.
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Old 03-18-2010, 05:15 AM
 
Location: North Texas
24,561 posts, read 40,117,089 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crisb22 View Post
Our new house desperately needs new floor and new paint. My husband and I can't take enough days off from work so we decided to hire a professional to do one of these jobs (we'll do the other one ourselves). He thinks we should hire a professional to get the paint job done (we have a two-story house with 4 br and 3 bath). I'd rather hire someone to install the laminate flooring and tiles. Which one of these two projects do you think should be done by a professional?
Flooring. It is easier to screw up and more expensive to fix.
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Old 03-24-2010, 07:50 AM
 
Location: The Republic of Texas
78,866 posts, read 46,373,182 times
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Laminate flooring has been marketed and sold as the next best thing, compared to sliced bread.

The home improvement shows, make it look so easy. Home owners think they just by it and come home and slap it on the floor. Far from it.

I have made a living the last 6 years, bailing homeowners that have got in over their heads, with laminate and wood flooring.

The substrate must meet strict flatness requirements. 1/8" in a 6 feet radius. You void all warranties if you disregard those requirements.

Undercutting all fixed items, that will not have expansion space trim molding or baseboards covering the gap that is required. Doorjambs, door casings, stone, vertical tiles, etc. It looks like crap, when someone tries to mill around a doorjamb, leaving a gap. The flooring is to slide under the undercut door jamb for a clean look.

All areas must float independently, to allow each area to move independently. This requires "Tee" transition moldings at all areas of transitioning installation less than 4 feet wide. All doorways, require a transition.

Laminates will still scratch, some more easy than others. They get "micro-scratched" especially in traffic areas, leaving a dull look to the flooring in those areas.


Good luck! What ever you decide on.
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Old 03-24-2010, 01:11 PM
 
Location: Niceville, FL
13,259 posts, read 22,692,629 times
Reputation: 16409
We're remuddling right now and wouldn't think of doing the flooring outselves- not only do we have a sunken living room and a whole bunch of angles (half hexagon of fireplace, quarter circle of built in stone planter, half hexagon bump out in dining room/library) but we also know going in that our slab is nowhere close to level.

It's basically not a good set up for My First Flooring Project, so we aren't even going to try. If we were talking easy rectangles over wood subflooring, we might consider DIYing at least the first room, but that's not our circumstances.

Painting on the other hand, is pretty much a long and annoying weekend task that we've done a fair amount of over the years.
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Old 03-25-2010, 05:15 AM
 
Location: India
9 posts, read 61,699 times
Reputation: 10
Yes of-course you have to hire professional painters & professional tile worker, bcoz you have to pay some one, then why not you are paying to professional worker for getting quality & good finishing work.
All the painting & tile work start from Friday evening you both husband wife are available for monitoring work.
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Old 03-26-2010, 04:44 AM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,111,316 times
Reputation: 10691
Painting is an easier stop/start kind of job. If you only get 3 walls done in a day, it is easy to pick up the next day-you can just wrap up the paint tray, rollers and brushes in a plastic bag for the next day so you don't even need to clean up. If you are laying tile you pretty much have to plan it out so it gets done in a day or plan out how much mud to mix for the time allowed. I would hire out the flooring and do the painting myself.
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