Last weekend I ripped all the carpet out of my daughters room, painted the walls and trim and installed a pre-finished engineered wood floor. It looks really good, however now I need to install quarter round trim to hide the 1/4" space on the sides. I am using pre-primed quarter round. Do I paint the finish coat on the quarter round before installation or after I install it? The thought of bringing wet paint back into the room after the floor is laid is troubling. Any ideas?
I would absolutely paint it first. Doesn't make sense not to. If you don't have an air nailer, here is a good reason to get one. An air nailer will speed up the installation of your 1/4 round and leave very little in the way of holes to fill. If you are painting it white, you can use caulk and you will never see the holes.
You won't know if you can do something if you don't try.
Paint before putting up. Put up the trim, set nails, fill with paintable filler, and touch up. This way you will not have to paint the troublesome edges after it is up and can have a nice finished look.
