Paint before or after laying wood flooring?

Painting walls inevitably involves occasional drips and splashes, even when working carefully, and that risk is much easier to manage on a temporarily protected or unfinished floor than on finished wood flooring, which is sensitive to paint stains that are hard to remove without damaging its finish. The usual practice is to finish painting, including touch-ups, before the floor is laid for good.

If painting is done after the floor is laid, the main risk isn't just paint stains but scratches from ladders, mobile scaffolds or inadequate protection dragged repeatedly over a sensitive finished surface. Thorough protection with sheeting and strong board becomes mandatory in that case, adding time and cost without removing the risk completely.

Some flooring, especially solid wood, needs a period of acclimatisation in the room where it will be laid so it adjusts to the local humidity and temperature. In that case the material can be brought in early, but the actual laying should still follow painting, not happen at the same time, to avoid needless exposure to dust and splashes.

If painting has to wait until after the floor is laid, full protection with plastic sheeting taped at the edges plus a layer of thick board on top considerably reduces the risk of damage. In any case avoid long direct contact between plastic sheeting and the floor without an intermediate layer, because condensation trapped under the plastic can affect the finish over time.