Home Improvement Blog

Your Bathroom floor must be smooth, dry, firm and clean before you lay any floor covering. It should also be resistant to damp, since nothing you lay down will be unaffected; even with ceramic tiles damp will seep through the grouting. The join between the floor covering and the wall is particularly vulnerable; if your family do a lot of splashing, it is advisable to fix narrow skirting there.

Plastic flooring
Flexible plastic materials such as vinyl are very practical, especially if there are young children about. Vinyl is waterproof and easy to clean, but rather cold underfoot and slippery when wet. This is available in sheet or tile form; water seepage is less likely with vinyl sheet, but tiles are easier to work with and give you more scope with design. For safety and comfort you should use a rubber-backed bath mat with vinyl floor coverings although cushioned vinyl sheeting has a raised design which helps to reduce accidents. Again, plastic floor coverings must be laid on a sound, even surface and stuck down securely especially at the edges, where the smallest amount of water leaking underneath could loosen the material.

Carpet
A fitted carpet is a good choice if the floor is not going to be subject to constant soaking. It is cosy and soft and provides a safe non-slip surface, which is particularly suitable for elderly or handicapped people to stand on. Also bottles and jars are much less likely to break when dropped on carpet. Synthetic pile with synthetic backing is preferable to a natural wool carpet because it absorbs less moisture, but the use of a thick bath  mat should prevent either getting too wet and being seriously damaged.

Carpet tiles are suitable for bathroom because they are easier to cut around awkward fittings and you can lift them out to dryif they do get soaked. Because the room is comparatively small, it need not be expensive to carpet. You may even be able to do with offcuts from other rooms.

Tiles
Cork is one of the best choices in terms of looks, warmth and practicality. You can buy easy-to-lay tiles sealed with vinyl or seal them after they have been laid. It is wise to renew the seal every year or two to keep it waterproof.

Other tiles such as ceramic, quarry or slate are durable and impervious to water; but they are also very hard, chilly to walk on with bare feet and dangerously slippery. They also need a strong solid floor to support them and are only totally satisfactory when combined with an underfloor heating system. A thick bath mat with rubber backing provides an extra precaution againts slipping or sliding on a damp floor.

Studded rubber
This is becoming increasingly used because it is tough, quite, safe, easy to clean and totally water-resistant. It is not cheap, but the total cost for a small area will not be that much. It is often used on areas surrounding swimming pools and is available in several gauges and six bright colours, plus black. The tinnest and cheapest gauge rubber will be quite suitable for domestic use and you should have little difficulty finding a colour to blend in with your existing colour scheme. This rubber flooring is sold in metre squares (39in sq) and should be stuck down with an epoxy resin adhesive.

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