What to do first??

[lilac05]

I just had the electrician come do an estimate for putting in lighting in our living room.  Ha!  That opened a huge can of worms!  Now I need help figuring out what to do first!

So, to do the LR lighting, it will be most cost effective to do it from the bedroom above (Master Bedroom).  That will eventually need new carpet anyway.  So rather than stretch crappy carpet, we will put down new carpet. (Which then means I'll want new paint.)  Then we need to do the hallway & stairs to the entry.  The entry way all needs new paint, too.  As does the formal LR/DR.  The carpet there currently matches the upstairs carpet & is different than the main LR carpet.  (Which I don't hate, but it's shaggy & the rest of the stuff is shorter.)  I have opened a can of worms and am at a loss of what to do first!  How do you decide what to do first?

Budget isn't a HUGE issue, but we likely won't be able to do it all at once.  The entry way will have to be professionally painted.  We can DIY the other rooms.

[downtoearth]

Hmmm. If budget isn't too much of an issue, maybe work on timing. I guess rip out the carpet upstairs and paint while the electrician starts on the LR electrical. Then add back in carpet upstairs.

Hopefully you can wait to paint downstairs/hallway (if the electrician is pretty good), and so you can take a break from living in renovations or just tackle that all then also as the next step.

[lilac05]

downtoearth, timing is my nightmare! Unfortunately, we can't paint while the electrician works, as he's going to have to cut through the subfloor inch. Is it a big deal to paint when we have new carpet?

I feel like I need to make notecards & just keep moving stuff around! It's a giant puzzle of if/then...

I do NOT have a future in general contracting!

[mrs.jacinthe]

Wait, why is your electrician cutting up the floor to install lights?

[lilac05]

Feb 9, 2016 16:22:02 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

Wait, why is your electrician cutting up the floor to install lights?

LOL.  Strange, I know.  It would be the floor of the master bedroom that is directly above the living room.  It was one of his options...probably most cost effective, considering the carpet is on the chopping block anyway.  Because of the way the floor joists run (and because my H wants recessed lighting and a celining fan) and the fact that there is currently no wiring for any kind of ceiling light, it seems to me to make the most sense.  He wanted to minimize damage to the celining in the main area, since it's an open floor plan.  We could go through the ceiling in the bathroom & mud room on the other side of the wall, too.  But then I'd be paying for ceiling repair & eventually flooring anyway.  He also mentioned that we could wire it behind the siding as another option.

Is there a better way to do it?  He did the electrical work in our basement finishing at the last house & we were really happy with his work.  But it started with open rafters, so none of this was an issue.

[downtoearth]

Feb 9, 2016 15:45:04 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

downtoearth, timing is my nightmare! Unfortunately, we can't paint while the electrician works, as he's going to have to cut through the subfloor inch. Is it a big deal to paint when we have new carpet?

I feel like I need to make notecards & just keep moving stuff around! It's a giant puzzle of if/then...

I do NOT have a future in general contracting!

I don't think I get it. You can't paint your master while he installs wiring in the ceiling of your living room/floor of your master? I mean all the furniture is moved and carpet up, so it seems like a good time to paint the walls of he is just working on the floor. Why wouldn't that work?

If he is taking up the entire subfloor and not just holes that he patches, I'd be surprised. But our electrical work has always involved additional drywall holes and repairs.

[lilac05]

downtoearth, I don't know...maybe we could? (That should be "subflooring" not "subfloor inch"...that might decrease some confusion!). In my mind, he's going to be removing parts of the subflooring to get access to the floor joists. So, in my head, there will be big holes in my floor. I could be very wrong, though. I'm really new at home renovations (if you can't tell, LOL!). I'll have to ask him if we could do that as well as how much time it'll take to complete.

[mrspez07]

Paint first, don't need to prep, because carpet is going. (This is awesome by the way, so freeing!
Rip up carpet and do electrical. Replace all carpet at same time.
Don't paint with brand new carpet, that's just asking for it!

[mrs.jacinthe]

Feb 9, 2016 23:41:11 GMT -5 mrspez07 said:

Paint first, don't need to prep, because carpet is going. (This is awesome by the way, so freeing!
Rip up carpet and do electrical. Replace all carpet at same time.
Don't paint with brand new carpet, that's just asking for it!

This. This exactly. I now understand why your electrician wants to do it this way, and if you're planning on ripping out the carpet anyhow, it makes total sense.

Just make sure you wear a mask and gloves when you rip up the carpet. Trust me.

[lilac05]

Thank you, mrspez07 and mrs.jacinthe! That's exactly what I needed. It seems so simple, but I just couldn't get it all to fit in a nice plan.

Now time to find a painter...and choose colors! My challenge will be that my tile & grout is more beige, but I really want to go more gray.