Looking for a cost-effective way to upgrade your flooring? Painting your plywood floors can give them a clean, modern look—without the expense of hardwood or tile.
If you’ve ever wondered how to paint plywood floors? This is the post for you. Here’s how we painted the floors and how they held up a gear later.
|| rug || bench || tassel throw || curtains ||
Today’s post is going to be a little bit different.
Two years ago we ripped up all the carpet in this bedroom and hoped for old vintage wood floors. But instead? We found plywood. So we did what any plywood floor discover does.
We painted it. It was supposed to be a temporary solution until I saved up a small fortune to have wood floors installed.
And then?
Last year about this time these plywood floors went from plain to checkered and something amazing happened.
I decided I never wanted wood floors in this room again. Plywood was my new favorite thing. But here’s the thing. Would the floor hold up? Would the checkerboard hold up? Would I have to repaint it?
So I thought today I’d report back on the floors after a year.
Kind of a state-of-the-floor address along with all the details on the project—the paint we used and how we did it and things to do and even a few things not to do just in case you had plywood floors that needed to be painted.
Ready?
Let’s discuss.
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Q: Can you paint plywood subfloors?
I decided to go all Julie Andrews and start with that question. That’s truly at the heart of the matter. And the answer (hello Captain Obvious) is yes—but with a disclaimer.
And this disclaimer is a big one.
If you are sitting at your house and trying to decide if this is for you—you want to judge the health of your plywood floors—because while you can paint a plywood subfloor—it’s actually very challenging to paint a plywood subfloor that’s damaged. It’s okay if parts of it are slightly damaged–you can replace those parts. But if the entire floor is damaged, you’ll probably need another flooring solution. Ours was in great shape once we removed the carpet, so it was perfect for a painting project.
Quick tip: peel back the edges of the carpet in the corner and look at the plywood flooring. This is a good indicator of what your plywood looks like before you peel up the entire carpet.
Q: Did the paint on the floors chip or wear?
No.
Not even close.
Just between us? I was actually a little surprised. I expected that the paint might chip up around the edges or wear away in spots.
Kind of like the finish on real wood floors sometimes.
Instead?
It looks almost exactly like the day it was painted. I think the key was using two coats of sealer (more on this down below) to make sure the pattern stayed intact.
|| rug || curtains || curtain rods || curtain rings ||
Q: where do I start with painted plywood floors?
Great question. You’ll want to start with pulling up the carpet. This is actually a lot easier than it sounds. We pulled up the carpet in this room in about 10 minutes. Pulling up the carpet is the easy part. Then you are left with these things called tack strips that are used to hold the carpet in place. If you are lucky (which we were with this room) the tack strips will only be placed around the edges of the room. Then you just pull up the tack strips and the occasional nail before you paint.
But sometimes?
Sometimes you have an overly exuberant carpet installer like we did upstairs at the farmhouse where they put tack strips down the middle of the room in rows and they run across the middle of the floor. That makes the job much more challenging. With that room we actually called in a professional to help and it made it easier.
|| rug || curtains || curtain rods || curtain rings ||
Q: How did you hide plywood seams?
This is an easy answer. You don’t. Or at least we didn’t. If you wanted to apply wood filler to all the seams and sand down, you could, but that is a LOT OF WORK.
I just decided to let the plywood be.
Just as it is.
Imperfections and all.
You can see where the tack strips were along the edge of where the plywood meets the pine flooring. All those little holes are nail holes. We put molding down to hide the nail holes at the edges of the room. This covers up the nail holes, but the seams are still there. I don’t mind them at all. If you paint a checkerboard pattern on them they become even less noticeable.
Quick tip: if you want another idea to hide the seams, an overall stenciled pattern is an easier idea than patching all the seams.
Q: How do you clean painted plywood floors?
I just use regular old floor cleaner and water.
You don’t want to use a lot of water on the floors, so I basically just mop the floors with a slightly damp mop—just damp enough to swipe away dirt.
I check the floors to see if there are any scuff or dirt marks and squirt a tiny bit of cleaner and wipe it with microfiber cloth. Then I damp mop the entire floor.
Q: how do you prep the floor for painting?
After you pull up the tack strips, you’ll want to sand down any rough places and replace any plywood boards that have damage. In this room, all the boards were in really good condition (and in the farmhouse as well). You can use wood putty to fill in any big holes and sand down.
And then?
You want to clean it all thoroughly.
We actually cleaned and swept this room for dust several times.
It’s worth it. Trust me.
No one wants to paint dirt and dog hair into their floor.
|| rug ||
Q: what is the best paint to use?
I like to use a really good floor paint.
This is where to put your money in the project.
Truly.
For this room, we used Sherwin-Williams Porch & Floor Enamel in Extra White SW 7006 and SW 7651 Front Porch. When we painted the floors in Kentucky, we primed the plywood first, but with this paint? You don’t need to use a primer. You can just paint directly onto the plywood floor that is prepped and ready. It delivers exceptional block resistance as well as resistance to dirt, especially in high-traffic areas like the entrance to this room.
We used two coats of paint on the floor. One ALMOST covered it, but I wanted the durability of two coats.
Q: do I need to use a floor primer?
This totally depends on your floor paint. We didn’t use a primer with our floor paint. I would recommend using a floor paint designed for floors to make sure your plywood floors hold up over time.
Follow the manufacturer’s directions on the paint can and check with the paint professionals at your local store.
|| rug || curtains || curtain rods || curtain rings ||
Q: what if there’s a gap on the sides with the molding?
Many times when you pull up the carpet, there will be a gap between the molding and the floor. This happens when people install floor molding with the carpet in place.
Do not be alarmed.
This is such an easy fix.
You can see here where we added quarter-round molding around the bottom of the floor molding. It hides the gap as well as slightly disguises the holes left over from the tack strips.
|| rug || curtains || curtain rods || curtain rings ||
Q: do you need to seal the painted plywood floors after you are finished painting?
To keep the paint from chipping or wearing away, it’s a great idea to seal the floors.
You want to seal the floors with a latex clear coat sealer designed to work on floors.
Sealing a pattern in helps preserve the painted pattern and make it more durable.
|| rug || curtains || curtain rods || curtain rings ||
Q: do painted plywood floors really hold up?
This is the NUMBER ONE question that I get about these painted plywood subfloors. And why I wanted to revisit it.
The answer is YES.
This floor has held up for over two years. We may eventually reseal the high-traffic areas next year to keep the checkerboard pattern even.
I also think the key to ensuring the longevity of the painted plywood floors is to add an area rug to the space like this one—much like you’d do with a wood floor. Then you have the pretty painted pattern peeking out around the edges, but you have the warmth and comfort of an area rug.
|| rug || tassel throw || flip flops ||
Whew.
That was a LOT.
I hope this helped a little bit if you are thinking about painting your plywood subfloor.
If you have any questions I didn’t answer, just leave them in the comments and we can discuss.
And now friend?
I’ll leave you with this decorating truth.
A project doesn’t have to be expensive to be beautiful.
disclosure: affiliate links are used in this post
With the right prep and paint, your plywood floor can look amazing for years. Just follow the steps, and don’t forget a good topcoat!
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