Do You Do Walls or Floor First in a Bathroom Remodel?

When you’re tearing out an old bathroom and starting fresh, one of the biggest questions isn’t about color or fixtures-it’s about order. Do you put the walls up first, or the floor? It seems like a small detail, but getting this wrong can cost you time, money, and a whole lot of frustration.

Here’s the simple truth: you always install the floor after the walls. Not before. Not at the same time. After. And here’s why.

Why the Floor Comes Last

Think of your bathroom like a box. The walls are the sides. The floor is the bottom. If you lay the floor first, you’re stuck with it. Every time you move drywall sheets, haul tools, or drag buckets of mortar across it, you’re scratching, staining, or cracking the surface. Tile doesn’t heal. Vinyl doesn’t shrug off heavy boots. Even waterproof underlayment can get crushed under the weight of a ladder or a stack of ceramic tiles.

Professional remodelers in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch all follow the same rule: walls first, floor last. It’s not tradition-it’s physics. When you finish the walls, you’ve got a clean, protected space. Then you bring in the floor material and lay it right up to the base of the walls. No gaps. No damage. No second-guessing.

What Happens If You Do It Backwards

Let’s say you’ve already laid your porcelain tiles. You’re proud of how they look. Then you start hanging drywall. A worker drops a 4x8 sheet. It skids across the tiles. A crack forms. You patch it, but the grout line is now uneven. You replace the tile. Now the new one doesn’t match the batch from six months ago. The color’s off. You’ve wasted $300 on a tile that’s now unusable.

Or worse-you’ve installed a floating vinyl plank floor. You finish the walls, then realize the baseboard trim won’t sit flush because the floor is already there. You have to cut the bottom of the drywall to fit over the flooring. Now you’ve got a gap where moisture can creep in. Mold starts growing behind the baseboard. Two years later, you’re ripping out the whole thing again.

This isn’t hypothetical. I’ve seen it in five homes over the last three years. All started with someone thinking, “I’ll just get the floor done early so I can walk around while the rest goes in.” It sounds smart. It’s not.

The Right Sequence: Step by Step

Here’s the actual order used by licensed contractors in New Zealand:

1. Remove everything-fixtures, vanity, old tile, even the toilet flange if needed.
2. Inspect and repair subfloor. Replace rotted wood. Level the surface.
3. Install waterproof membrane (like Schluter-DITRA or similar) over the subfloor. This is critical for tile.
4. Frame or install new walls. Hang drywall. Tape, mud, and sand. Prime if needed.
5. Install plumbing, electrical, and ventilation. Test everything before closing walls.
6. Install wall tile or paint. If tiling, do this before the floor.
7. Install baseboards or transition strips along the bottom of the walls.
8. Finally, lay the floor material-tile, vinyl, or engineered wood.

Notice how the floor is the very last thing? That’s not a suggestion. It’s the industry standard for a reason.

What About Wall Tile? Doesn’t That Need the Floor First?

This is the most common confusion. People think, “If I’m tiling the walls, don’t I need the floor to know where to start?”

No. You don’t. Tile installers use a level line drawn on the wall, usually about 1/4 inch above where the floor will be. They install the bottom row of wall tile on top of a temporary wooden ledger board. Once the wall tile is set, they remove the ledger and lay the floor right up to the base of the wall. The floor then hides the gap.

It’s a standard technique. No guesswork. No mess. No risk.

If you’re doing a full tile job-walls and floor-you’ll often see the wall tile extend down slightly past the finished floor line. That’s called a “floor-to-wall overlap.” It’s not just for looks. It creates a watertight seal. Moisture runs down the wall, hits the tile, and flows harmlessly onto the floor-where it can be wiped up or drained.

What If You’re Not Tiling?

Same rule applies. Whether you’re using luxury vinyl plank, sheet vinyl, laminate, or even polished concrete, the floor goes in last.

Even if you’re painting the walls, you still want the floor down last. Paint drips happen. Drop a roller. Spill a can. You don’t want to be cleaning paint off your brand-new floor. You want to clean it off a drop cloth. Or better yet-you don’t have to clean it at all because the floor isn’t there yet.

And if you’re installing a vanity? You install it after the floor. That way, the vanity sits flush on the finished surface. No wobble. No gaps. No future leaks.

Common Myths Debunked

Myth 1: “Laying the floor first gives me a stable surface to work on.”
False. You work on plywood, scaffolding, or temporary boards. Contractors don’t stand on finished floors. They stand on protection.

Myth 2: “It’s faster to do the floor first.”
It’s not. You’ll end up doing extra work-repairing damage, cleaning debris, cutting around edges. The extra time spent fixing mistakes far outweighs the 20 minutes you “saved.”

Myth 3: “I’m doing this myself-I can be careful.”
You can. But you’re not the only one working. Contractors, plumbers, electricians-they’re all moving around. Tools get dropped. Bags get dragged. One slip, one misstep, and you’re out hundreds.

Real-World Example: Auckland Bathroom Remodel

A client in Ponsonby hired a team to redo a 1970s bathroom. They wanted marble tile on the floor and subway tile on the walls. The homeowner insisted on laying the floor first because “it looked better.”

Two weeks in, the plumber knocked over a bucket of grout. It seeped into the grout lines of the marble. Stains set in. The tile had to be replaced. Then the drywall installers didn’t realize the floor was already down. They cut the bottom of the drywall too short. The gap let water in during the shower test. The subfloor started to swell.

Three months later, the whole floor was ripped out. The walls were redone. The project went from $18,000 to $29,000. All because someone thought the floor should come first.

Pro Tip: Protect the Floor

Even when you do it right, protect the floor. After it’s installed, lay down cardboard or thick plastic. Cover it with plywood if heavy tools are going to be moved. Don’t assume your tile or vinyl is invincible. Even the toughest materials can chip or scratch under pressure.

And never, ever install a toilet or vanity before the floor is done. That’s a guaranteed way to create a leak path.

Final Answer

Do walls first. Floor last. Always. No exceptions. It’s not a preference. It’s the only way to avoid costly mistakes, moisture damage, and wasted materials. Whether you’re hiring a pro or doing it yourself, this sequence is non-negotiable.

Save yourself the stress. Save your budget. And don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.