Bathroom Flooring Options

terracotta flooring in kitchen and bathroomsWhen choosing bathroom flooring, you have the same considerations as you do for flooring for other rooms in your house. Is it durable? Will it stand up to the kids? Does it look nice or tacky? How does it feel under bare feet. For best suggestion visit http://www.mysweetlife.info. But the main consideration for bathroom flooring is, of course, moisture.

Carpet- A horribly bad choice for bathroom flooring. Moisture and carpeting do not mix. However, if you still must have carpeting in your bathroom, we have pointers from a professional carpet installer

Solid Hardwood-  A slightly better bathroom flooring choice than carpet, solid hardwood looks great and feels warm under foot. But moisture kills solid hardwood. Make certain it’s perfectly installed, with no gaps for moisture. This likely means hiring installers–unless your day job happens to be that of a hardwood floor installer.

Laminate Flooring- Surprisingly, laminate flooring is a better bathroom flooring choice than solid hardwood. I say “surprisingly” because laminate flooring is no more than resin-impregnated paper atop a wood chip base. The surface of laminate plank is actually a photograph of whatever it’s supposed to be simulating: oak, cherry, slate, marble.

On top of that is what the manufacturers call the “wear layer.” The wear layer is a clear layer of melamine. But this wear layer is amazingly strong. DuPont Real Touch, for instance, warrants the wear layer on its line of laminate flooring for 30 years. Because the seams are glued together, it’s difficult for moisture to work its way downward.

Laminate Flooring Guide for Bathrooms- Oak is the most popular style of wood or wood-look laminate flooring. Dupont’s embossed-in-register feature means that the wood grain is imprinted in the product, giving it a more authentic wood-grain look (and better slip resistance).

 

Waterproof Laminate

laminate-flooring-bathrooms-800x800Waterproof laminate: it’s one of mankind’s greatest dreams, up there with landing on Mars and solving world hunger.  Moisture has long bedeviled the laminate flooring industry, and has been one of the major reasons why many homeowners choose not to install laminate in wet places.

The Core of Laminate Floor’s Problem

The problem is not with the top layer, but with the core. Laminate flooring’s core is little more than high- or medium-density fiberboard or particle board. If you’ve ever seen a sheet of particle board get rained on, you’ll know how it bubbles up and crumbles like a wet soda cracker.

Moisture During Manufacturing

One little-known aspect of this moisture-and-laminate issue is that the moisture problem actually starts in the factory, not in the home. Flooring manufacturers have found that high moisture content in the fiberboard particles in the factory can result in poor adhesion of the top melamine wear layer.

A Waterproof Option For Below Grade Installations

basement-flooring-installationThe basement provides you with a number of unique challenges when choosing a flooring material. This space is prone to mold, flooding, and cold, and is generally a harsh environment to try and make livable. Vinyl has a variety of characteristics that can help to offset these issues, however, it also has some inherent characteristics that make it susceptible to basement concerns.

Waterproof Vinyl Basement Floors

Vinyl is manufactured in a manner similar to plastics, which produces a material that is completely waterproof. This is especially important in below grade basement locations, which are prone to water damage both from moisture seeping up, and from flooding issues that can occur.

With a vinyl floor installation you don’t have to worry about the effect of moisture on the material at all. However with tile you may have to pay attention to floods or spills seeping down between the seams of the material, and effecting any under layment or sub-floor that may exist below. You should also ensure that vinyl installed in a basement has all of the proper vapor barrier guards in place so that moisture doesn’t affect any other part of the installation.

Installation: Another great thing about vinyl is that it is relatively easy to install, and even an amateur can usually handle the project in just a couple of days. With sheet vinyl you will have to do some accurate measuring and cutting to get the piece into the right size and shape. However with tile it is just a process of adhering the squares directly to the under layment or sub-floor.

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