Covering furniture, doors, windows and floors

Painting, sanding filler or breaking off tiles can spread dust and paint through the whole flat, even into rooms nobody worked in. Covering furniture, doors, windows and floors before a renovation is work you will not see afterwards, but it saves you scrubbing plaster off the sofa and paint spots off the laminate.

What gets covered, and with what

• floors: corrugated card, protection boards or heavy sheeting taped at the joins, plus non-slip felt on stairs and entrances;
• furniture that cannot be moved out: decorator’s sheeting wrapped tight and taped at the bottom;
• windows, sills and doors: sheeting with masking tape, handles and hinges wrapped separately;
• sockets, switches and air vents: tape or covers so dust cannot get inside.

It is priced per square metre covered, and the protective materials are usually charged separately.

What to watch out for

Ordinary parcel tape leaves adhesive on lacquer and can pull paint off a door frame. The handyman uses masking tape with the right tack and removes it within a few days, before it bonds for good. Floor sheeting has to be fixed so it does not slide underfoot: loose sheeting on laminate is slippery, and dust gets under it anyway.

Covering as a job on its own

Usually the team that will paint or sand does the covering too. But it also makes sense on its own: when several contractors are working on a renovation, when getting a flat ready for sale, or before work in a shared part of the building. In the job, describe what needs covering and add photos of the rooms.

Common questions