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Best wood flooring for bathrooms


Best Flooring for Bathrooms: 7 Great Options (& 3 To Avoid)

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March 9, 2022

Looking for the best flooring for your bathroom, but not sure where to start? We totally understand. Bathrooms are a unique area in your home—they don’t typically get a lot of foot traffic, but they do see a lot more water than most other rooms.

So, how do you even begin deciding on the best bathroom flooring? We’re so glad you asked!  

Below, we’ll go over some of the essential factors you should look for when choosing your new bathroom floor. Then, we’ll talk about our 7 favorite bathroom flooring ideas, plus each one’s pros and cons. Finally, we’ll go over a few types of flooring that you should never install in your bathroom!

Ready to talk about the best flooring for bathrooms? Let’s jump in!

Table of Contents

How to Choose the Best Bathroom Flooring for Your Home

You have a ton of great options for your bathroom flooring. However, choosing the best bathroom flooring will be based on your particular needs.  

Think about your unique circumstances to help you sort through all the different flooring ideas. For example, is this floor going in a children’s bathroom that will see tons of water splashed on the floor? Is the person using the bathroom prone to slipping?

By focusing on what you need out of your bathroom floor, you’ll be able to zero in on what type of bathroom flooring most suits your needs. 

Durability is Important

How much traffic does this bathroom typically see? If it’s the main bathroom that the entire family uses daily, you want something like SPC flooring that can take a beating. On the other hand, a guest bathroom that is rarely used might be a good opportunity to cut costs with peel and stick vinyl plank flooring, or even experiment with different wood floor designs.

The point is this: the busier your bathroom is, the more durable your bathroom flooring should be. 

Choose the Right Installation Method

As always, we recommend spending a little bit extra to have a professional take care of the installation for you. But if you’re determined to make the project you’re looking to save some money, keep an eye out for DIY-friendly flooring (like DIY wood flooring, or click-together options like Shaw laminate flooring). 

Easy Maintenance Will Make Life Simpler

“Cleaning my bathroom floor is my favorite pastime,” said nobody ever. We all want to do as little cleaning as possible, so choose a floor that’s easy to maintain (or repair, if necessary). 

The best vinyl plank flooring brands are no-brainers on this front—brands like Doma and Karndean vinyl plank flooring specialize in products that’re stylish and great at handling spills. 

And speaking of spills… 

The Best Bathroom Flooring

Must Be Waterproof or Water-Resistant

The best bathroom flooring is going to be similar to the best flooring for dogs or mudroom flooring—it’s going to need to handle getting wet. Sadly, that eliminates some of the otherwise best hardwood flooring brands, and makes niche options like hemp flooring or magnetic flooring impossible.  

When you’re shopping for your bathroom floor, you also need to consider how much water is likely to wind up on your floor. This could mean the difference between needing waterproof bathroom flooring and water-resistant bathroom flooring. 

What’s the difference between the two? Waterproof flooring is just what it sounds like—completely impervious to water. Water-resistant flooring can still handle spills, but large amounts of water can cause long-term damage.

The Best Bathroom Flooring: 7 Great Options

Now that we’ve established everything you need to keep in mind when you’re selecting your bathroom flooring, let’s get into the 7 best bathroom flooring options!

#1. Luxury Vinyl Plank/Tile (LVP/LVT)  

LVP isn’t just the best flooring for kitchens—it’s some of the best flooring for bathrooms, too! But this isn’t your grandma’s vinyl flooring—it’s come a long way from the original, cheap-looking versions from back in the day.

What is Luxury Vinyl?

 Luxury vinyl is a form of PVC flooring that’s (generally) composed of 3 layers: 

And as a disclaimer, luxury vinyl plank is the exact same thing as luxury vinyl tile—you’ll see them used pretty much interchangeably.

Vinyl Sheet Flooring Can Be a Great Option, Too

The best vinyl flooring for bathrooms (or any room, really) is going to be vinyl plank. But there’s another option—vinyl sheet!

Remember when we said, “this isn’t your grandma’s vinyl flooring”? Well, vinyl sheet basically is your grandma’s vinyl—it’s one single sheet of vinyl that’s laid over your subfloor. It’s not as nice to look at (or as durable), but sheet vinyl does have some advantages! Since it’s a single sheet, there are no gaps for water to leak through when spills inevitably occur.

Look, we’d almost never recommend sheet vinyl over LVP, but it’s an option to consider when you’re looking for the best bathroom flooring!

Why Luxury Vinyl is Some of the Best Flooring for Bathrooms

Alright, now that we’ve gone into what exactly luxury vinyl is (and its differences from traditional sheet vinyl, let’s look at why it’s one of the best bathroom flooring options.  

All Vinyl Flooring is Waterproof

Yep, you read that right—waterproof vinyl flooring is just regular old vinyl flooring! It’s what makes vinyl some of the best flooring for basements, and a rock-solid choice for bathrooms.

Vinyl Plank is Some of the Easiest Flooring to Install (and Maintain)

Whether you install glue-down, snap-together, or floating vinyl plank flooring, vinyl is some of the easiest flooring to install. And even if you choose to hire a professional installer (which we always recommend), the cost to install vinyl plank flooring is pretty low.

And when it comes to keeping your bathroom clean and germ-free, LVP flooring is incredibly simple to maintain. 

Why Luxury Vinyl Might

Not Be the Best Flooring for Bathrooms

Of course, LVP isn’t perfect—nothing in life is (except maybe Jeff Goldblum). It’s still a top bathroom flooring choice, but there are a few things to consider when it comes to luxury vinyl in the bathroom.

Some Vinyl Flooring Can Emit VOCs

Of course, no product is perfect—there are some disadvantages of vinyl plank flooring, too. Since vinyl is made of plastic, it can often emit high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are the chemicals that give off that “new car smell”, and they’re emitted by pretty much every industrial product.

That said, VOCs in small amounts won’t negatively affect your health. Make sure you install certified low-VOC vinyl flooring (and low-VOC flooring in general, since VOCs can be found in almost every type of flooring).

While It’s Easy to Maintain, Luxury Vinyl is Tough to Repair

Vinyl isn’t like hardwood—you can’t just refinish it when it gets scratched. With vinyl plank, repairing a damaged floor takes a lot of work, special products, and a bit of luck. 

More often than not, you’re probably going to end up throwing damaged vinyl out, which isn’t an easy task (nor an environmentally friendly one). 

#2.

Tile (Ceramic and Porcelain)

Now onto a crowd favorite: tile! Tile is very likely the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the best bathroom flooring, and it’s some of the best flooring for the job.

Ceramic vs. Porcelain Tile

Although they’re largely similar, there are slight differences that distinguish these two types of tile. Specifically, the distinction is defined by the temperature at which the tiles are baked and how much water they absorb. 

Both actually start as ceramic tile, which is natural clay heated at a very high temperature to make it incredibly hard. But porcelain is baked at a higher temperature, making it more durable and less porous (which means less water seeping in). That’s makes porcelain tile a slightly better bathroom flooring option, but ceramic is still pretty darn tough!

Why Tile is Some of the Best Flooring for Bathrooms

If you close your eyes and try to imagine a bathroom, there’s a good chance that it’s going to have tile flooring. And that’s because it’s some of the best flooring for bathrooms—let’s look at why.

Tile Comes in a Variety of Styles

Ceramic and porcelain tile can come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and designs, which really opens up the floor (pun intended) for your design skills to shine. Will you go with a classic white square look, or use something unique like wood-look tile as a fake wood flooring option? The choice is yours!

Tile Flooring
Can Be Waterproof

There’s a slight caveat to this. Tile flooring is completely waterproof, provided that:

  1. It’s from a quality brand that doesn’t cut corners.
  2. It’s installed correctly.

If there are mistakes in the grouting, water can seep into your subflooring and cause some real damage. All the more reason to work with a local flooring expert!

Plus, Tile is Kid-Friendly

Tile is great for families with kids. Its water resistance, combined with the fact that it’s super durable and easy to clean, makes this some of the most kid-friendly flooring out there. Your child can splash to their heart’s content!

Why Tile Might

Not Be the Best Flooring for Bathrooms

Tile might be the default flooring for bathrooms, but that doesn’t mean it’s without flaws. Now let’s break down why it might be a good idea to go a different direction with your bathroom flooring.

Installing Tile is Tricky

If you’re in the market for do-it-yourself flooring, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. Working with tile requires a lot of expertise, and installation mistakes can be costly. And if you’re thinking of installing snap-together tile flooring in your bathroom… well, let’s just say we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.

Tile Can Get
Really Slippery

Perhaps the biggest knock against tile is how slippery it is, especially if it gets wet (and since we’re talking about bathroom flooring, that’s going to happen pretty frequently). For older adults who might be less steady on their feet, tile might not be the best choice.

#3. Hardwood

You might have thought a genuine wood floor bathroom was a pipe dream, like world peace or a real-life Jurassic Park. But hardwood is versatile—it isn’t just some of the best bedroom flooring, it’s some of the best flooring for bathrooms, too! 

Solid vs. Engineered Hardwood: What’s the Difference?

First, let’s look at the two main wood flooring types: solid and engineered hardwood. Solid wood flooring is pretty straightforward—it’s a plank of wood that’s the same throughout.

So then, what is engineered hardwood? Engineered hardwood is genuine wood all the way through, despite what the name might suggest. Specifically, it’s composed of a thin hardwood veneer, layered on top of a high-performance base layer made of plywood or HDF. 

Not all engineered wood is waterproof, and even some of the most durable flooring shouldn’t be installed in bathrooms. But some brands (like Proximity Mills) offer high-quality waterproof wood flooring—a must-have in any wood floor bathroom.

Why Hardwood is Some of the Best Flooring for Bathrooms

Because waterproof hardwood flooring is constantly getting better, it’s already becoming a more viable bathroom flooring option. 

Hardwood is Naturally Beautiful

This one is obvious—who doesn’t love a hardwood floor? With a wide range of wood floor colors and designs, hardwood can add beauty to any space—including a bathroom!

Engineered Wood Won’t Warp as Easily

A major benefit of engineered wood: due to its engineered core, it’s more dimensionally stable than its solid wood counterpart. This prevents any shrinkage or swelling that occasionally happens with solid hardwood, and means you can install engineered wood where solid wood can’t (or at least, shouldn’t) go.

Why Hardwood Might

Not Be the Best Flooring for Bathrooms

Of course, there are reasons why hardwood isn’t as popular as some of the other best hardwood flooring options. There are some things you might want to consider before you commit to the wood floor bathroom.

Engineered Wood Can’t Be Refinished Often

One of the disadvantages of engineered wood: it can’t be refinished as often as solid wood because of the thin wood veneer. 

But here’s the thing: the best engineered wood flooring is so well-made these days, it doesn’t even need to be refinished more than once or twice (if ever). Which means you don’t have to worry about the cost to refinish hardwood flooring.

Hardwood Isn’t
Completely Impervious to Water

Keep in mind: wood floors are still pretty susceptible to damage from standing water. That makes them best suited for bathrooms that don’t get much water use, like a half-bath or guest bathroom.

If you’re going with a hardwood bathroom, make sure you install either water-resistant wood flooring or fully waterproof hardwood floors. Additionally, we recommend installing prefinished hardwood flooring rather than finishing it yourself—factory finishes are more likely to keep the wood completely sealed.

#4. Natural Stone Tile

We aren’t done discussing tile just yet! Ceramic and porcelain aren’t the only types of floor tiles on the market—you can’t forget about natural stone tile! 

What is Natural Stone Tile?

Natural stone tile is any tile made from granite, marble, limestone, travertine, etc. (you know, stones!). Because it’s carved from real stone and not fired from clay like ceramic or porcelain, natural stone tile can cost a very pretty penny.

Why Stone Tile is Some of the Best Flooring for Bathrooms

Stone tile is gorgeous, and gives your bathroom (or any space) an added touch of elegance. Here’s why it might just be the best bathroom flooring available. 

Natural Stone Tile Impresses Potential Home Buyers

Where natural stone tile gets an extra point when you’re comparing tile vs. laminate (and even tile vs. wood flooring): resale value! Natural stone is considered so luxurious that it will boost your home’s long-term resale value. It’s not the only reason to go with a natural stone tile bathroom, but it sure doesn’t hurt!

One of the Strongest Floors Available

Natural stone is also incredibly durable, as you might expect. Natural stone tile floors, when properly cared for, can last a lifetime. And when you’re looking for the best bathroom flooring options, it’s reassuring to know that you won’t need to be redoing your floor again for a very long time.

Why Stone Tile Might

Not be the Best Flooring for Bathrooms

Here’s the thing—there’s a reason stone tile isn’t as common as ceramic or porcelain tile. It’s a gorgeous bathroom flooring option, but stone tile doesn’t come without its own drawbacks.

Natural Stone Tile Is A Significant Investment

You probably won’t be shocked to learn: as a luxury item, stone tile also happens to be quite costly. Natural stone tile is probably the most expensive flooring out there.

But it isn’t material costs alone—stone tile installation is far from easy, so you will absolutely need to pay a professional to come to install it for you.  

Natural Stone Requires Frequent Maintenance

It’s also a high-maintenance flooring. Although it’s a very strong material, unlikely to break, it is also fragile in the sense that it is susceptible to scratches and stains. Therefore, you will need to reseal it every few years. This will help protect the surface and also maintain its waterproof nature.

#5. Waterproof Laminate Flooring

Laminate is one of your best bathroom flooring choices, as long as it’s waterproof and properly installed. The best laminate flooring brands don’t stand a chance as bathroom flooring if the flooring isn’t waterproof, and even a lot of waterproof laminate isn’t ideal for bathrooms.

Regardless, it’s reliable enough that we still consider it one of the best bathroom flooring options!

What is Laminate Flooring?

You may still be asking yourself what is laminate flooring? Totally understandable.

Laminate flooring is composed of a composite wood base, with a realistic image of wood grain or stone, and is finished with a clear protective wear layer.  

You might be thinking, “hey, that sounds a lot like engineered wood flooring!” But the major difference between hardwood vs. laminate flooring is what’s between the core and wear layers—because laminate uses an image layer rather than real wood, it can’t be refinished and is much less durable than engineered wood.

Not All Laminate Flooring Is Waterproof

Some types of laminate flooring aren’t waterproof, so be sure to do your research if you decide to go with laminate flooring in your bathroom. Brands like RevWood and AquaGuard flooring are specially designed to be waterproof laminate flooring—and some like Newton also carry waterproof options. 

A good rule of thumb here is this: bigger brands will usually carry some type of waterproof laminate. There’s a waterproof Shaw laminate flooring line, a waterproof Mohawk laminate flooring line, you get the picture. But again: waterproof is key if your ideal bathroom flooring is a laminate product.

#6. Stained Concrete

Concrete in a bathroom? What is this, a gas station?

Hear us out! Stained concrete is so much more than you might imagine—for instance, did you know that you can have concrete flooring that looks like wood? How cool is that?

Let’s get to why stained concrete is some of the best flooring for bathrooms.

What is Stained Concrete?

Stained concrete flooring is almost exactly what it sounds like: a solid slab of poured concrete. But with stained concrete, a colored stain has been added to the surface layer, which makes the surface difficult to crack or chip.

Stained Concrete Is Durable and Affordable

Concrete is some of the toughest, longest-lasting flooring you can have—even the most durable wood flooring doesn’t hold a candle to its durability! On top of that, it’s not nearly as expensive as other types of flooring. That means you’ll save money in the short-term on installation, and in the long term due to its durability. It practically pays for itself!

Concrete Requires Sealing to Protect from Water

This might surprise you: concrete isn’t actually totally waterproof. At least, not on its own. 

Concrete needs to be sealed to keep out water, which is something you’ll absolutely need if you’re looking to install concrete in your bathroom. 

Concrete isn’t the Most Comfortable Flooring

Similar to tile, concrete can often be cold and slippery when wet. You can reduce the slipperiness of your concrete floor by adding some texture upon installation, but there’s not much you can do about the cold. Concrete flooring isn’t a candidate for radiant heating that you see in heated wood flooring—if the cold really bothers you, the best you can do is install a few bathmats.

It Could Negatively Affect Your Resale Value

Future buyers may not understand that concrete can often be the best bathroom flooring, so they may be turned off if they see a concrete bathroom. But it’s becoming increasingly with modern home design, so this might not be the case for long!

#7.

Engineered Bamboo Flooring

There’s a lot to love about engineered bamboo! Of course, this comes with the caveat that the best bamboo flooring for your bathroom needs to be (drumroll, please…) waterproof. 

What is Engineered Bamboo Flooring?

Bamboo flooring isn’t wood at all! It looks remarkably like hardwood, but bamboo is actually grass. 

Engineered bamboo (which is what you’ll want to use for your bathroom) is constructed the same way as engineered wood: a solid bamboo veneer layer, supported by plywood or HDF core. That means most (if not all) engineered wood disadvantages we broke down earlier apply to bamboo as well.

Engineered Bamboo is Extremely Durable

Engineered bamboo flooring is among the best flooring for bathrooms because it is durable as all get-out. Should it take some damage, you can refinish your bamboo flooring—but just like engineered wood, don’t expect to be able to refinish more than once or twice.  

And also just like engineered wood, make sure any engineered bamboo flooring you install in the bathroom is waterproof (or at least water-resistant). 

Plus, Bamboo Flooring is Ultra Sustainable

Looking for a sustainable wood flooring option? Then bamboo should be at the top of your list. When you compare the sustainability of something like bamboo flooring vs. laminate (or really most other flooring types), it’s basically a no-contest. Bamboo is just that sustainable.

High-Quality Bamboo Flooring is Expensive (But Worth It)

One of the big negatives in the list of engineered bamboo flooring pros and cons—the cheap stuff is really cheap. Quality falls off pretty drastically for cheaper, poorly made engineered bamboo. 

In short: if you’re going to install engineered bamboo, it’s worth investing a little extra for high-quality flooring. It will save you in the long run! 

The

Worst Bathroom Flooring Options

Some flooring should just never be used in a bathroom. Not all flooring is friendly to water, so it should stay far away from bathrooms. Let’s look at 3 of the worst bathroom flooring options. 

Carpet

Yeah, we really love carpet; we even like to layer a rug on carpet! But in the bathroom? That’s a hard no. Cut pile carpet, loop pile carpet,, nylon, polyester, it doesn’t matter—not even the best carpet brands are suitable for a bathroom. 

Water is really bad for all types of carpet. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t dumping water on the floor, either, because it is in the air of your bathroom. All that moisture and steam will cause mold and mildew in your carpet fibers, which can cause health problems (and ruin your subfloor).

Put it this way: carpet vs. hardwood might be a silly debate in general. But in a bathroom? Well, that’s a silly debate for a different reason. Stay away!

Non-Waterproof Laminates

Waterproof laminate is some of the best flooring for bathrooms. But non-waterproof laminate? Well, it’s tough to find a worse option.  

Unfortunately, not all laminate flooring is waterproof. Even the best laminate flooring is useless in your bathroom if it isn’t waterproof. Water will seep between the planks, causing them to swell and warp.

If you’re determined to go with laminate, do your research and make sure it’s waterproof.

Cork Flooring

Look, we love cork flooring, and it probably doesn’t get enough love. But it does not belong as a bathroom floor. There are a lot of disadvantages of cork flooring, but the real killer here is water (AKA, that stuff that’s everywhere in a bathroom). Changes in humidity can cause real warping, and even the best cork flooring will absorb moisture rather than repel it. 

Conclusion

As you can see, there is a lot to consider when choosing the best bathroom flooring. It needs to be able to withstand water, be simple to clean, and (of course) look great. We hope this article helped narrow down your choices, or maybe even gave you some ideas you hadn’t considered!

Ready to get started? Reach out to a flooring store near you and let them help you zero in on the best flooring for your bathroom.

Good luck on your floor buying journey!

Is wood flooring suitable for bathrooms? The experts explain |

Over the centuries wood bathroom flooring has formed a beautiful foundation for homes across the world. Timber's timeless elegance and natural characteristics continue to make it a popular choice for your bathroom ideas.

Now more than ever, wood bathroom flooring ideas has come to the fore, with modern technologies enabling a plethora of patterns and textures that weren't readily available in the interior design world before.

Is wood floor in a bathroom a good idea?

In the quest to soften the look of bathrooms, wood flooring ideas are becoming something of a designer favorite. ‘Floorboards in a bathroom add warmth and natural texture,’ explains interior designer Nicola Harding of Nicola Harding & Co , while James Lentaigne, creative director of Drummonds, focuses on its character. ‘Using a real wood floor is a wonderful way to bring personality into the bathroom, making it feel like a “real” room and one with a soft, rich feel,’ he says.

(Image credit: Nicola Harding & Co)

Can you have wood flooring in a bathroom?

Fluctuations in temperature and humidity in a bathroom and shower room may make boards prone to warping, so consult your supplier before purchase: not all companies supply product recommended for bathroom use, while others offer specific options. 

‘Engineered wood is better for a bathroom setting, because of its construction and tolerance of different environments,’ advises Lisa Persse, director of Trunk Floor . Unlike solid boards made from a single piece of timber, engineered wood is made with solid wood layers over layers of ply for a stable and robust result. Engineered wood can also often be used with underfloor heating – your supplier can advise on the best bathroom and shower floor ideas.

(Image credit: Future)

Where should I use wood flooring in a bathroom?

‘You do have to be more mindful of a wooden floor in the bathroom, as water left sitting on its surface will ultimately mark or discolour the timber over time,’ says interior designer Victoria Gray of Olivine Design . Do not use in wet rooms, and best avoid wood floors in family bathrooms used by young children and anywhere else prone to lots of splashing or where damp towels tend to linger on the floor.

That said, the joy of its natural beauty can make wood flooring a good choice for bathrooms with careful users, especially since it makes an excellent antidote to the sometimes clinical feel of a ‘tiled all over’ scheme. Nicola Harding suggests teaming floor tiles in the shower area with wooden flooring in the other zones of the room. ‘Complementary but softly contrasting surfaces on the floor can make the room flow beautifully,’ she says.

(Image credit: Future)

How do you maintain wood flooring in a bathroom?

Recommendations tend to be product specific, so always check with your supplier before purchase. Some wood floors are protected and sealed with a hard wax oil and given a final oiling upon installation. ‘We also supply maintenance oil, which can be applied one or two times a year as necessary, to feed the wood and enhance the finish over time,’ Lisa explains.

(Image credit: Future)

What to use instead of wood flooring in a bathroom

For the look of wood without the maintenance requirements, consider wood-effect porcelain tiles. ‘Unlike natural wood, porcelain tiles are fade, scratch and moisture resistant, making them suitable for use in modern bathrooms and even wet room ideas, and they are also recommended for use with underfloor heating,’ advises Jo Oliver, director of The Stone & Ceramic Warehouse . ‘Advances in digital printing have allowed porcelain tiles to be produced with a “natural” variation from tile to tile, creating the same visual warmth that you get with real wood – and a reproduction so accurate that they are often indistinguishable from the real thing. ’

Wood lookalikes for bathroom flooring

If you’ve ruled out a wood floor for your bathroom because it isn’t appropriate for your bathroom’s location, your household, or your budget, there are alternatives which can create a similar look.

Luxury vinyl bathroom flooring ideas can have an authentic wood appearance thanks to today’s technology and manufacturing, and some vinyl tiles even have a wood-like texture. It is also an excellent non-slip bathroom flooring idea.

Consider bathroom floor tile ideas, too. Both ceramic tile and porcelain can replicate the appearance of wood and prove easier to care for in a busy household. 

✔️ Wooden floor in the bathroom - for or against?

A bathroom is a part of an apartment or a house that likes to dictate its own rules in renovation and design. Here, frequent guests are high humidity, temperature changes, and sometimes, if you're not lucky, whole puddles appear on the floor in a completely magical way (at the same time, the washing machine stubbornly defends its innocence to the neighbors below).

Therefore, the main requirements for flooring in the bathroom - water tightness, resistance to changeable microclimate. Ceramic tile performs well in these functions, so it remains the most common option for finishing rooms with high humidity. But does that mean there are no more options?

Of course there is. In this article, we will talk about wooden bathroom floor , the pros and cons of such a solution, and also discuss how to choose wood for the bathroom.

Wooden bathroom floors: advantages and disadvantages

A bathroom with wooden elements looks great. If the designers did their best, you can feel like somewhere in a paradise forest. Here you have a warm lake, the aroma of wood and warmth, greenery in the form of a flowerpot or decorative moss. Oooh, relaxing in such a bath with a glass of champagne after a working day is one bliss.

Wood in the interior of the bathroom, photo 1

In addition, the wooden floor in the bathroom has other advantages:

The disadvantage of a wooden floor is only poor tolerance of moisture and dampness. Under adverse conditions, the floor surface may warp. But this disadvantage can be easily circumvented. You just need to choose the appropriate moisture-resistant wood for the bathroom and the right waterproofing treatment.

Which wood is suitable for the bathroom

The properties of the type of wood will determine how long the floor will last - a couple of years or a whole century. Therefore, be vigilant. It is better to equip the bathroom with high-quality exotic wood and maintain its condition than to save on material and watch the floor warp under the influence of moisture.

Teak floor

Teak wood is the most suitable option for finishing the bathroom. Why is there a bathroom, teak is even used for shipbuilding! Due to the dense structure of the fibers, teak wood has an enviable moisture resistance and is also able to accumulate heat. And the natural roughness of the material makes the wooden floor in the teak bathroom not slippery, but safe.

See more advantages of teak boards here: teak board.

Thermowood for flooring

Thermowood for flooring, which is processed at temperatures above 200°C without oxygen. Such processing at times increases the moisture resistance of wood, resistance to fungi, decay and other environmental factors.

Expensive larch

If you like a larch floor, you should buy only high-quality wood from a trusted supplier. Bathroom larch flooring has its advantages. This material contains a large amount of resinous substances. Resins in combination with the special structure of wood do not allow water to penetrate deep into the board, spoil, deform it.

Bathroom floors can also be made from oak, Oregon pine, ash, elm, and other species specially treated for wet areas. At the same time, the best type of flooring is solid board. Such a choice is another hundred points plus for durability and beautiful appearance of the floor.

Wood in the interior of the bathroom, photo 3

Waterproofing treatment - protecting wood from moisture in the bathroom

In order for the wooden floors in the bathroom to serve for a long time and not deform, it is necessary to provide high-quality waterproofing surface treatment.

To do this, choose one of the following methods:

The function of the hydrobarrier is to improve the properties of wood, protect wood from moisture in the bathroom, prepare for a humid microclimate and temperature changes.

How to care for a wooden floor in a bathroom

A wooden floor does not require complex maintenance, so you should not worry about it. We advise you to adhere to the following recommendations:

The use of wood in the bathroom is a great stylistic decision and, as you can see, does not interfere with practicality. Choose a moisture-resistant wood for the bathroom in the EXOFLOR flooring catalog, arrange a place for water procedures and complete relaxation in your home and enjoy every minute of life.

Wood in the interior of the bathroom, photo 4

Any questions? Give us a call, send us an email or a quick chat and we will tell you everything that interests you.

what to cover in a wooden house, parquet, linoleum, terrace board, larch, photo and video

Content:

Advantages of wood flooring
Disadvantages of wood flooring
A few tips
Arrangement of screed in the bathroom

In bathrooms, flooring is exposed to extreme loads associated with high humidity and frequent temperature changes. Therefore, the decision to create a wooden floor in the bathroom can be called a rather controversial choice. But due to the presence of special impregnations, the characteristics of wood can be changed for the better.


Wood is considered one of the best natural building materials. Wood is very often used to finish the floor surface. Rooms where wooden elements are used for surface decoration look aesthetically attractive and cozy, they have a comfortable atmosphere. After all, baths have always been built of wood.

Benefits of wood flooring

Now the latest technology allows you to make a wooden floor in the bathroom. The advantages of such coverage are obvious:

Disadvantages of wood flooring

The tree begins to warp from excessive moisture, and puddles in the bathroom cannot be avoided. In addition, few apartment owners have not experienced emergency leaks, and when children splash in the bathroom, it seems that a flood has occurred. See also: "Roof leak - sample statement: where to go."

Since the floor in this room is operated in intensive mode, sooner or later stains from brilliant green, iodine, and a crushed tube of cosmetics appear on it. Even if they are scraped off the surface of the wood, they cannot be completely removed.


Almost constant humidity in the bathroom and temperature fluctuations create a favorable environment for the reproduction of fungus and mold.

Parquet for the bathroom, the owner will need to scrape regularly. In addition, it will not be possible to avoid black spots in the corners and joints. Since the tree actively absorbs odors, the “aroma” of the bathroom will be constantly present.

A few tips

Those who have chosen a wooden floor for the bathroom can take advantage of the advice of professionals:

  1. Choose the right material for the flooring in this room. According to experts, you need to make a larch floor in the bathroom. It is more moisture resistant compared to other wood species, and besides it is inexpensive (more details: "How to fix a larch decking board - installation instructions").
  2. From cheap wood suitable for the manufacture of a wooden bathroom floor, you can use ash, oak, elm. Floor products from other breeds during operation can be strongly warped.
  3. When laying thermowood (a wood material that is treated with steam without access to oxygen, at a temperature of about 200 degrees), the process of the appearance of the fungus slows down. In addition, this coating is moisture resistant.
  4. A fairly new material on the construction market - decking or decking. It combines the properties inherent in wood and polymers. Therefore, decking is resistant to mechanical stress and moisture. Thanks to these characteristics, the terrace board is laid in the bathroom (read: "How to cover the terrace board - processing options"). The floor covering from it has a rather attractive appearance, which is confirmed by the photo.

Bathroom screed installation

Laying a wooden floor in a bathroom differs from the installation of a natural wood surface in other rooms in that it must be carried out on an absolutely even base.

Such a draft base can be a concrete screed, to which standard requirements are imposed:


An important point: if you need to use heaters, for example, to lay the floors in a bathroom in a wooden house or on the first floors of a building, then moisture-resistant materials are used, including extruded polystyrene foam, foam plastic and others with similar parameters.

Arrangement of waterproofing in the bathroom

Tip: Use our construction calculators online and you will calculate building materials or structures quickly and accurately.

Currently, in such premises, wooden floors are laid, provided that all required waterproofing work has been completed. Roll materials specially designed for this (for example, fiberglass, uniflex rubitex) are placed on the surface so that their edges extend onto the walls of the room by about 15 centimeters.

To prevent water from entering the floor slabs, you can create a kind of bowl on the floor with high walls. In this case, instead of rolled products, coating waterproofing is used.


For the manufacture of water-repellent solutions on the building materials market, special dry mixes are offered. It will not be difficult to prepare mastic from a different set of components. See also: "Which mastic for a wooden floor is best - types and rules of use."

Often, wooden floors in bathrooms are finished using a liquid and paste-like waterproofing composition. In the first case, they use a brush, and in the second - a spatula. In this case, the pasty mixture performs the function of waterproofing and screed. Before using waterproofing liquid materials, you must carefully read the instructions on the product packaging. See also: "Reliable waterproofing of the wooden floor in the bathroom - what and how to do."

By the way, if the room is located on wooden floors, then it is necessary to reduce the weight of the waterproofing elements. You can use a method such as impregnation with penetrating insulation. According to the method of action, the impregnation differs from the coating version. Penetrating waterproofing in a humid environment is able to create a structure that is characterized by sufficient vapor permeability and at the same time has water-repellent properties. See also: "How and with what to paint a wooden floor in a house - an overview of suitable paints and varnishes."

Step-by-step laying of the wooden floor

  1. The joists are installed in a floating way. They should be impregnated with an antiseptic or bituminous mastic.
  2. Lay the boardwalk. The best solution is to purchase wooden boards connected according to the “groove-comb” principle, since it allows you to securely join flooring fragments (for more details: “How to make a floor from boards in an apartment with your own hands”).
  3. When attaching boards to the base, it is better to use nails and glue, which is applied to the groove of the previous plank and to the logs.

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