When we moved into our house, it still had its original pink laminate bathroom floors. While they did a great job in keeping moisture out of the floorboards, the last thing I wanted to look at every morning was this hideous off-pink white swirl. And so it became one of the first projects we took on – getting rid of the floor and replacing it with something new, decorative, and functional.
We looked at a variety of things on the market and narrowed things down to our final list of choices:
1) Laminate – While I hated the color of the original laminate flooring, we strongly considered replacing the floor with a new, nicer laminate. These days you can find decent looking laminate with a variety of hard wooden floor looks, such as oak or pine, or stone colored. The wide variety alone made this option a very viable one for us, as well as the price. But it can be good to remember that while laminate floors deal well with moisture, if any does manage to seep under the flooring, you will have to rip the whole thing out.
2) Stone – I love the look of a stone floor in a bathroom – and the sound it makes as you step onto it every morning. Stone flooring is ideal for a bathroom, because moisture is not a problem. On the downside, it isn’t very nice to put your feet on a cold stone floor every morning when you get up to brush your teeth. Stone can also be pretty slippery when wet. Also, the price. If budget isn’t an issue for you, then stone won’t be a problem, but the price tag can be pretty steep.
3) Vinyl – Another option for bathroom flooring is vinyl, which is an option for someone looking to install their own bathroom floor. Vinyl is also not very expensive, but in many cases it looks like it.
4) Ceramic tile – One of the most common options with a great deal of flexibility is a tile floor. There is such a wide variety of tiles, you can easily design your bathroom in any style you would like. You can use pre-mounted tiles, lay them yourself, and you can use a variety of different grouts. The downsides of ceramic tile are similar to stone – it can be quite cold, unless you order special kinds of tile, which retain warmth, and it can be quite slippery.
In the end, we decided on ceramic tile; it seemed to be the best value for money. While we did a lot of the work in our house ourselves, we decided to have a professional lay the bathroom floor. As it is such a sensitive area, at risk for moisture damage, we wanted to make sure we took every possible precaution to prevent moisture damage.
