Bathroom Flooring

About

The bathroom is the one room where the choice is genuinely narrow. Standing water, steam and temperature swings will damage any timber floor eventually, however well finished it is. Everything in this collection is fully waterproof rather than water-resistant, which is the difference that matters here. LVT and SPC vinyl handle a wet floor, a hot shower and a leaking radiator valve without complaint, and they are warmer and quieter underfoot than tile. Choose from stone and marble designs that give you the look of a tiled bathroom without the cold, or wood-effect planks that carry the floor through from the rest of the house. Free A5 samples, delivered next-day. Why wood and laminate are the wrong answer It is worth being direct about this, because bathroom wood floors are sold and they do fail. Solid oak and engineered oak are timber, and timber moves with moisture. A bathroom is humid every day and occasionally wet. Laminate is worse in this respect, not better. The core is fibreboard, and fibreboard swells when it gets wet. A splash wiped up promptly is fine; water sitting along a joint overnight is not. Vinyl has no timber in it at all, which is why it is the only flooring we recommend for a bathroom. LVT or SPC? Both are fully waterproof. The difference is the core. LVT SPC Core Flexible Rigid stone composite Waterproof Yes Yes Over uneven subfloor Follows the base Bridges small dips Underfoot Softer Firmer For most bathrooms either works. SPC has the edge if the subfloor is slightly uneven or the room gets significant temperature swing. Waterproof floor, not a waterproof room The boards themselves are waterproof, but water finding its way underneath through an unsealed edge can still cause problems with the subfloor. Seal around the perimeter, around the WC and around any pipework, and deal with leaks promptly. Choosing a design Stone and marble effect The obvious choice for a bathroom, and the one most people are after. Marble, terrazzo and stone designs give