Getting Ready for New Timber Floors: A Homeowner's Checklist

Quick answer: To prepare for timber floor installation, confirm the product and dates about four weeks out, book other trades in the right order (painting before floors, joinery around them), clear the rooms of furniture and fragile items a day or two before, arrange care for pets, and plan where you'll cook and sleep on strip-out and grinding days. After installation, use felt pads and hold off on rugs for a week or two.

A new floor is one of the most satisfying upgrades you can make to a home. It's also a job that touches every room it runs through. Furniture has to move, there's noise and dust, and the order of trades suddenly matters.

The good news is that almost every stressful moment on a flooring job can be avoided with a bit of planning. This checklist is what we'd give a friend who'd just booked their new floor with Nulook Timber Flooring, organised by when each task needs doing.

Four Weeks Out: Lock In the Decisions

☐ Confirm the product in writing

Species, colour, board size, grade, wear layer and finish. Once boards are ordered, changing your mind is expensive. If you're still choosing, our engineered vs hybrid flooring guide and Blackbutt timber flooring guide are good places to start.

☐ Confirm exactly which rooms are included

Robes? Hallway? Laundry? Where does the timber stop and the tiles start? Walk through the house with your quote and check every doorway. Most "we thought that was included" disputes start here.

☐ Decide on skirting and scotia

New skirting gives the cleanest finish but adds cost. Keeping existing skirting and adding scotia is cheaper but more visible. Removing and refitting skirting sits in between. Make the call now, because it affects the quote and the order of work.

☐ Check your contract and deposit

For many home building contracts between $7,500 and $500,000 in WA, the Home Building Contracts Act requires a written contract and caps the deposit at 6.5%. Make sure you have a signed, written quote with the scope, price, start date and warranty.

☐ Ask about asbestos if your home is older

If your home was built before about 1990 and has old vinyl tiles, sheet vinyl or older underlays, they may contain asbestos. Ask your installer how they'll handle it. Suspect material should be tested before strip-out starts, and asbestos removal is a job for licensed removalists. WorkSafe WA has the current rules.

Two to Three Weeks Out: Get the Trade Order Right

This is where a lot of renovations go wrong. The general rule:

Trade	Before or after the floor?	Why
Demolition, wall removal	Before	Dust and debris damage new floors
Electrical and plumbing rough-in	Before	Especially anything in or under the floor
Plastering and ceiling work	Before	Heavy, dusty, messy
Painting (first coats)	Before	Paint drips are easier to clean off concrete than timber
Kitchen cabinets	Usually before (for floating floors)	Floating floors shouldn't be pinned under heavy islands
Kitchen cabinets	Either (for glue-down floors)	Talk to both trades
New internal doors	After, or trim after	Doors may need trimming to the new floor height
Skirting final coat of paint	After	Covers any marks from laying
Carpet on stairs or bedrooms	After	Carpet finishes against the timber trim

If you have a builder running the renovation, they should manage this. If you're coordinating trades yourself, share the schedule with everyone. A quick call between the kitchen installer and the flooring installer can save a week.

☐ Check door clearances

New floors are often a different height from what's there now. Internal doors may need trimming at the bottom. Ask whether door undercuts or trimming are included, or whether you'll need a carpenter.

☐ Think about appliances

Fridges with plumbed water lines, dishwashers and freestanding ovens need to come out and go back. Check whether your installer moves them. Some do, some don't, and plumbed fridges may need a plumber.

One Week Out: Plan Daily Life

☐ Work out where you'll live during the job

Most pre-finished timber installations can be done room by room, so many families stay home. The hardest days are strip-out and slab grinding, which are noisy and dusty. If the whole ground floor of a single-storey home is being done at once, you might prefer two or three nights elsewhere. Our timber flooring installation guide explains how long each stage takes.

☐ Plan for pets

Dogs and cats hate grinders, open doors and strangers. Book a few days with a friend, family member or boarding kennel, especially for strip-out and grinding days. It also keeps paw prints off fresh levelling compound.

☐ Plan for kids

Tell them what's happening and which rooms are off-limits. Fresh levelling compound and freshly glued boards aren't something you want little feet running across.

☐ Arrange parking and access

Installers bring a van, grinders, dust extractors and dozens of boxes of boards. Clear the driveway if you can, and tell neighbours if the street is tight. Apartment dwellers: book the lift and loading bay with building management.

☐ Confirm power and water

The crew needs power for grinders and saws, and water for clean-up and mixing levelling compound.

One or Two Days Before: Clear the Rooms

☐ Move all furniture out of the rooms being done

Check your quote to see whether furniture moving is included. If it isn't, now's the time to move it, or to book help. Empty rooms mean faster work and a lower risk of damage.

☐ Empty wardrobes' floors and low cupboards

If robes are included, everything on the robe floor needs to come out.

☐ Take down pictures and fragile items

Grinding and strip-out cause vibration. Pictures near work areas can slip off hooks.

☐ Protect what stays

Cover TVs, electronics and anything you'd rather not dust in nearby rooms. Close cupboard doors. Take clothes out of open wardrobes near the work area.

☐ Turn off the air-conditioning

Ducted systems spread fine dust through the whole house. Turn them off during strip-out and grinding, and ask the crew to cover return air grilles.

☐ Lift existing carpet yourself (optional)

If your quote allows it and you're handy, removing carpet yourself can save $10–$15 per m². Leave tiles and glued floors to professionals.

Budget for the Small Extras

The flooring quote covers the floor. A few costs sit just outside it, and it's easier to plan for them now than find them on the day:

• Door trimming if your installer doesn't include it, usually a short carpenter's visit
• A plumber to disconnect and reconnect a plumbed fridge or dishwasher
• Painting touch-ups on skirting and door frames after the floor is laid
• New door stops and floor-mounted fittings that come up with the old floor
• Storage or removalist help if you're emptying a whole level at once
• Felt pads, mats and a proper microfibre mop for aftercare

None of these are big on their own, but together they can add a few hundred dollars. Our Perth timber flooring cost guide covers the main flooring costs line by line.

Surprises That Can Turn Up on the Day

Even with good planning, a few things can only be discovered once the old floor comes up:

• The slab is less flat than it looked. More levelling may be needed. A good installer will show you before doing extra work.
• Old adhesive is thicker than expected. Grinding takes longer.
• Moisture readings are higher in one area, often near a wet area or an external wall. A moisture barrier may be needed there.
• Cracks in the slab. Most are harmless shrinkage cracks, but they're checked and filled.
• Hidden timber. In older homes, carpet sometimes hides Jarrah boards worth restoring.

This is why an itemised quote with clear allowances matters. Ask your installer how they handle surprises and how extra work gets approved. Our guide on how to choose a timber flooring installer in Perth covers what to ask, and our floating vs glue-down vs nail-down comparison explains how the method affects prep.

During Installation: What to Expect

• Day 1 is usually strip-out. It's the noisiest day.
• Grinding and levelling follow. Levelling compound needs time to cure, so there may be a gap day with little activity. That's normal.
• Laying takes two to three days for most homes.
• Keep off freshly glued or levelled areas until the crew says it's fine.
• Ask questions early. If something looks different from what you expected, say so on the day.

After Installation: The First Two Weeks

☐ Walk through the floor with the installer

Check doorways, trims, skirting and transitions. Small touch-ups are easy to do before the crew leaves.

☐ Felt pads on every furniture leg

Put them on before the furniture goes back in. Lift furniture into place; never drag it.

☐ Hold off on rugs for 1–2 weeks

This gives the adhesive time to fully cure and lets the floor settle.

☐ Dry clean only for the first week

Use a microfibre mop or soft vacuum. No wet mopping, and never a steam mop.

☐ Put mats at every outside door

Perth sand is the biggest enemy of timber floors. It acts like sandpaper under shoes.

☐ Keep your paperwork

File the quote, invoice, product details and warranty documents together. You'll want them if you ever need to make a claim, match boards or sell the house.

New Build vs Renovation: What's Different?

On a new build, the biggest issue is slab moisture. New concrete takes months to dry, and builders often want floors down fast. Insist on a moisture test before laying. Our timber flooring over concrete guide explains why. Timber floors should also go in near the end of the build, after the heavy trades are finished. Boards generally don't need weeks of acclimatising in the house first. The ATFA explains why in its note on acclimatisation of timber flooring, but the house should be closed in, with windows and doors fitted, before the floor goes down.

In a renovation, the challenges are strip-out, dust, and living in the house during the work. The trade order and room-by-room planning above matter most.

A Quick Printable Version

• 4 weeks: product confirmed, rooms confirmed, skirting decided, contract signed, asbestos question asked
• 2–3 weeks: trades scheduled in the right order, door clearances and appliances sorted
• 1 week: living arrangements, pets, kids, parking and power sorted
• 1–2 days: rooms cleared, fragile items away, air-con off
• After: felt pads, no rugs for 1–2 weeks, dry clean only, doormats, paperwork filed

Ready to Book?

Nulook Timber Flooring starts every job with a free on-site measure, a moisture check and a fixed written quote, and we'll talk you through this checklist for your own home. One in-house team handles strip-out to finished floor. See our engineered timber flooring service, then book your free measure or call 0405 821 884.

Frequently Asked Questions