The best flooring options for bathrooms are floors that can withstand moisture and humidity, aren't slippery when wet, are easy to clean, and comfortable underfoot. In terms of withstanding moisture and humidity, luxury vinyl tiles (LVT), vinyl roll, and porcelain or ceramic tile are the best bathroom flooring options.
1. Sheet Vinyl Bathroom Flooring. Sheet vinyl has slowly become more and more popular as they provide you with almost unlimited design choices. Sheet vinyl is more resistant to water as there aren't gaps compared to a vinyl tile.
Select the Material
Since the bathroom is prone to getting slippery when wet, always go for matte finish, textured or anti-skid tiles as they offer good grip. Glass tiles should never be used on the floor because they are slippery.
Epoxy resin is impervious to water, chemicals and bacteria, making it the perfect choice for a public toilet floor. The floor will not absorb the damp conditions of a public bathroom as epoxy is non-porous. It does not need waxing either.
Consider wood-look luxury vinyl tile
You can use real wood in a bathroom. Engineered planks have the stability to weather the changes in temperature and humidity, but luxury vinyl can be a better and more practical idea for small bathrooms.
The most popular choice for bathrooms is tile. Specifically, ceramic and porcelain tiles are great options for bathrooms. Tile flooring is resilient, waterproof, available in a variety of colors and designs, and generally less expensive than other hard surface options.
Vinyl or Linoleum Bathroom Flooring
Choosing a top-quality sheet vinyl or linoleum (rather than peel-and-stick tiles) will reduce seams where water can seep through. A felt or foam backing makes vinyl softer than wood or tile, which is helpful in bathrooms, where slip-and-fall accidents are common on wet floors.
Plenty of Sinks: A public restroom should have enough sinks so that there is never a line. You want to keep your bathroom as sanitary as possible. Depending on the number of sinks, be sure that there are plenty of soap dispensers and towel dispensers or hand dryers.
Waterproofing is important in any room where water is used, but it's especially critical in the bathroom. That's because bathrooms are wet areas, which means they're more prone to water damage than any other room.
Yes, you read that right. Vinyl bathroom flooring is 100% waterproof, ensuring spills and humidity have no damaging effect on your floors. This is because, the material does not inherently absorb moisture, ensuring you can stop worrying about planks warping or swelling.
The top surface of ceramic tiles should be checked for evenness. The top surface must be smooth and even. It should be free from cracks, depressions, holes, specks, spots and cavities. It should be scratch resistant.
Use large plain-coloured floor tiles
It's a common mistake to use smaller floor tiles in a small bathroom. This actually makes the room look smaller as it creates more dividing lines between the tiles. Choosing a large, plain-coloured tile will give the impression of more floor space and a cleaner, less cluttered look.
Use Light Coloured Tiles Throughout
Utilising light shades of bathroom wall tiles and bathroom floor tiles will reflect light and will visually open up space. The opposite can be said of darker tones, which will absorb the light and make your bathroom feel considerably smaller.
The most popular colours for bathroom flooring are white, beige, eggshell, light grey and sand. Depending on your overall look and the accessories you choose, any of these colours should be a perfect match.
As matt surfaces have better traction than gloss, they're the obvious choice for flooring – and particularly in bathrooms and wet-rooms. We do not recommend using a gloss tile for flooring in a wet-room or bathroom.
As a general rule of thumb, it is best for a bathroom floor to be a darker shade than the accompanying walls and ceiling. However, if your personal preference dictates, you can choose to be adventurous and go against the grain in this regard.
We recommend that the toilet bowl be placed on top of the tiles on a finished floor. That's the long and short of it, unless you used a thin material for your tile, like vinyl.
Tile Flooring Lifespan: 20 years with low quality tile/installation, 30-50+ with high quality tile and proper installation. How long does tile flooring last? One of the most versatile floor types, tile is incredibly resilient, especially to water, with proper maintenance.
Even if there is no huge water leak such as from a hole in the roof, the steam and moisture of showers, bathtubs, and boiling pots can potentially affect the structure and safety of a house or building. This is why vapor barriers are needed in areas that are more moisture-prone.
A four-piece bathroom suite contains a sink, a bathtub, a shower and a toilet. Usually, the tub and the shower are placed close to each other on the other side of the room as the door, with the vanity in the middle.
In addition to the basics like toilet paper, towels, and hand soap, it's a good idea to provide items that your guest might not feel comfortable asking for, like feminine hygiene products, over-the-counter painkillers, or a plunger. Extra toilet paper is also essential.
Vinyl flooring clearly is a better choice in high-moisture environments than laminate flooring, making it an excellent choice in bathrooms. But for whole-house installations, laminate flooring often makes sense because it offers a wide range of choices.
Ultimately, porcelain tile is the superior choice for bathroom floors. When compared to ceramic, the material is much better equipped for rooms that use plumbing. It's also easier to maintain than ceramic tile.
Overall Lifespan: While both are durable when properly cared for, ceramic tile has a longer lifespan overall. You can get 40 years out of a ceramic tile floor compared to an average of 10 with luxury vinyl bathroom tiles.