What Type Of Flooring Is Best For A Bathroom?
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The bathroom presents its own unique challenges for any homeowner when it comes to flooring. Do you go for the cosy feel of special bathroom carpets or a flooringthat offers more resistance to the damp and often wet environment of the typical bathroom?
Carpet
Back in the 1980s, carpet was actually quite a common sight in bathrooms, however most people realised that no matter how nice it was under foot compared to cold tiles, it really didn’t stand up very well to repeated splashes of water, which would get absorbed into the carpet and underlay and cause all sorts of issues with damp and discolouring. So while carpet has come a long way since then, as you can now get gel backed (rot resistant) waterproof carpets, which have their own merits; in our experience due to possible hygiene concerns, people who opt for these carpets in their bathrooms tend to be in the minority.
Vinyl Flooring
Vinyl was actually first turned into flooring back in the 1930s and has a long history as a versatile type of flooring particularly for use in kitchens, bathrooms and other areas receiving heavy traffic. Today’s vinyl flooring is available in all sorts of colours and styles as well as textures that mimic materials such as wood flooring, tiles, granite or marble. Compared to other types of flooring vinyl is much easier to clean and relatively cheap to buy. The modern vinyls look incredibly realistic as well, and can easily transform a bathroom.
Laminate Flooring
Laminate is an incredibly robust and versatile material which is used for all sorts of purposes in the home. Unfortunately, water is its one big weakness and if moisture starts getting into and underneath your laminate flooring for any length of time then it will distort and go out of shape. If you must have laminate flooring in your bathroom then some laminates come with a special aqua seal (in between the joints) and aqua resist core technology, which are the preferred choice because these will help resist moisture better.