Choosing the Best Flooring for Your Bathroom: 5 Options to Consider
Used by everyone in the family as well as visitors, bathrooms are the most frequented room in your home. It sees heavy foot traffic and lots of humidity on a daily basis, meaning it needs to be dependable, long-lasting and effortless to maintain.
However, where most rooms can get away with water-resistant flooring, waterproof flooring is a must for bathrooms. Otherwise, you can experience buckling and swelling due to trapped moisture. Without 100 percent waterproof flooring, you could end up taking a risk toward more serious structural issues.
Thankfully, long gone are the days when ceramic tile was the best choice. Thanks to technological advancements in surface materials, there is a multitude of flooring options perfect for our splash zone areas. Today, you have a variety of options–from vinyl plank tiles to even waterproof hardwoods.
So, if you have difficulty in choosing the best flooring for your bathroom, Twenty & Oak has put together this list of five options to consider.
Table of Contents:
- Vinyl Sheet Bathroom Flooring
- Luxury Vinyl Plank and Tile for the Bathroom
- Engineered Hardwood Bathroom Flooring
- Waterproof Hardwood Bathroom Flooring
- Laminate Bathroom Flooring
Vinyl Flooring for the Bathroom
Vinyl sheet, vinyl plank and vinyl tile flooring all offer many advantages. They can resemble hardwood planks as well as ceramic tile, but at a more affordable cost. They also offer easy installation and can be painless to replace should an accident occur.
Vinyl sheet flooring is perfect for a child’s bathroom or laundry area, as it can take on a lot of water from, say, kids playing in the tub. The roll widths are typically 12' or 13' which eliminates the need for seams in smaller spaces.
Luxury Vinyl plank and tile flooring share many of the same qualities as vinyl sheet flooring, but with a few differences. For instance, they have the advantage of a composite core that is able to flex smoothly and hide subfloor imperfections. Luxury vinyl planks and tiles are also a wonderful flooring option to increase home resale value. Not to mention, a wide range of styles, colors, sizes and textures are offered, such as rustic planks, realistic stones and even concrete visuals.
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Hardwood Flooring for the Bathroom
Most homeowners still love hardwood flooring due to its natural beauty. However, bathrooms may not be the best place since there’s an abundance of moisture. But if you’re hard set on installing that true hardwood character, there are still options.
Engineered hardwoods give that same authentic look with a top layer of real hardwood, while still offering a more durable, cross-layer construction. There are several differences between engineered and solid hardwood flooring, but engineered floors can reduce expansion should moisture penetrate. With engineered hardwoods, however, the core construction is also made of wood components and will not withstand moisture, which is why we recommend waterproof hardwoods instead.
Waterproof Hardwood for the Bathroom
The term waterproof hardwood seems like an oxymoron, but not any longer! With several modern advances, these floors offer the beauty of 100% authentic wood with the durability and performance of vinyl.
One fantastic option is Raintree. The Raintree brand offers an SPC-based rigid core beneath a real hardwood veneer. Using its unique NINJA H2O Core technology that reinforces the natural wood layer, these hardwoods are completely waterproof. This same NINJA tech can also resist indentations from heavy objects and high traffic areas.
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Laminate flooring is an excellent flooring for your bathroom. However, it is only considered water-resistant, not waterproof. So, should you wish to install laminate in a bathroom, there are some considerations and precautions to keep in mind.
For instance, laminate flooring works better in smaller bathrooms and requires a waterproof silicone caulk. You may also want to cover edges and seams with a tile border or moisture could make its way beneath and harm wood subfloors. Check out Beauflor’s Hydrana collection as a prime option for laminate flooring.
Finding the Perfect Floor For Your Bathroom
For your next bathroom remodel, it’s important to stick to waterproof flooring. It allows your bathroom to withstand any number of accidents, regular day-to-day shower steam and children who love bath playtime.
Choosing the best flooring for your bathroom doesn’t have to be complicated either. For more guidance, consult a Twenty & Oak trusted dealer to discuss your bathroom remodel project.