Tile or hardwood for the bathroom floor?
Tiled flooring with pattern
Things to consider when making bathroom flooring decisions:
- Will it stand up to kids?
- Is it durable?
- How does it look?
- How does it feel with bare feet?
- How does it stand up to moisture?
A nice comprehensive list of flooring and their applicability in bathrooms:
- Ceramic tile. Provides a rich, solid feeling; waterproof and not too expensive; it cleans up well and resists small pools of water.
- Sheet or tile vinyl. Waterproof, inexpensive, easily installed. Comes in sheets or tiles.
- Stone. No moisture problems; is great, but very expensive. Must be textured or can be very slippery.
- Engineered wood. Has a plywood base that stands up well against moisture, and the top layer is real wood. It is best for the wood look.
- Laminate flooring. Red Oak laminate is most popular for wood or wood-look flooring. Pine laminate is also a good choice, as it reflects light well and has a cleaner look. Tuscan stone terra laminate will give your bathroom a richer look. Another pattern is Travertine laminate, a lighter colored stone product.
- Solid hardwood. This product looks good and feels warm on the feet, however unless it is perfectly installed, there is danger of moisture getting into cracks and causing problems. Must hire a professional to install.
- Carpet. The worst possible choice for a bathroom, for obvious reasons! That said, there are a lot of carpeted bathrooms out there. Select water, mildew and stain resistant carpeting.
The website, hgtv has an excellent article on bathroom flooring selection:
http://www.hgtv.com/bathrooms/selecting-the-right-bathroom-flooring/index.html
