Best flooring for bathrooms

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Picking the flooring for your bathroom can be a trickier choice than other living spaces, mostly because there are more restrictions on what you can realistically use as bathroom flooring. This environment is much damper and prone to splashes. Therefore you need flooring that can handle the wet and humidity.

In this guide, we’re going to talk you through all your water resistant bathroom flooring options, from vinyl to laminate. We’ll also look at the different priorities you need to realise to find the best bathroom flooring for your home, so let’s jump straight in.

What is the best flooring for my bathroom?

Once you’ve looked at the various options, the right flooring for your bathroom is entirely up to you. If you are interested in seeing what type of flooring we recommend for your space, you can book a free home visit or instore appointment with our expert team to have a chat. The most important thing is to determine what matters most to you:

Cost
Style
Durability
Quality

With these priorities in mind, you can choose the flooring that best fits your design choices, budget, and home environment.

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Types of bathroom flooring

When you’re looking for bathroom flooring, your requirements are likely to be similar to your needs for kitchen flooring. Bathroom flooring must be both water resistant, hard-wearing, non-slip, and easy to maintain. Unsurprisingly, your bathroom floor will have to deal with a lot of splashes, spills, humidity, and temperature changes. For this, there are really four types of bathroom flooring that win out: vinyl, LVT, water resistant laminate, and traditional stone tiles.

Vinyl

One of our most popular products with customers, and a fantastic choice for any bathroom, vinyl really ticks all the boxes. It’s durable, non-slip, easy to install and maintain, comes in a huge variety of styles and finishes, and lastly, it’s also very affordable.

Embossed or textured vinyl is one of the best non-slip bathroom flooring options, and because of the way vinyl is manufactured, with a water resistant coating and on a single roll, there are no joins to worry about. If you’re worried about water or moisture damage, bathroom vinyl flooring is one of the best solutions out there.

Just because you’ve opted for an affordable bathroom floor, it doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice style and substance. Lots of our vinyl flooring comes with wear guarantees of 15 or even 20 years so you can be sure it’s money well spent. And what’s more, the real beauty of vinyl is the sheer number of different styles and finishes available. Create a monochrome, or that classic townhouse look with black and white tile effect vinyl. For a sleek and ultra-contemporary bathroom design, how about slate, marble, or granite effect floors?

For some, traditional wooden floors throughout the home are the dream. But because wood does not cope well with splashes and moisture it’s unfortunately not recommended for bathrooms. However, if you want the look and feel of wood, but without the drawbacks, then our wood effect vinyl is a perfect choice. Create a light, airy and modern bathroom by pairing a light wood effect such as grey oak, birch, or maple, with white fittings. To make a statement and draw attention to your bathroom, opt for a darker wood or coloured and patterned vinyl floor such as mosaic, geometric or striped.

Luxury vinyl tiles

Luxury vinyl tiles (available in either stick down or click installation) provide the benefits of vinyl whilst also benefitting from superior product performance. Coming in ‘plank form’ rather than on a roll like vinyl, LVT gives a more authentic look and feel. One could easily be forgiven for thinking its real wood or stone! The top layer gives LVT it’s strong water resistant and non-slip qualities. Similarly, the core of LVT and the top layer makes the product great with temperature fluctuation and with humidity. For us this would be the ultimate choice for your bathroom.

Laminate

Another possible choice for bathroom flooring is laminate. This is a great all-rounder throughout the home, however, only some types of laminate flooring will be suitable for a bathroom.

Like the other flooring types we’ve mentioned, laminate comes in a wide range of tones, colours, patterns, and styles, but it’s probably best known for its realistic wooden finishes. It also has the benefits of being warm and slightly cushioned under your feet, and it’s excellent if you have underfloor heating. Whilst it is possible to put laminate in the bathroom it’s important to check the product’s water resistant qualities. Laminate is not inherently water resistant in its construction and therefore is more likely to bow and mark than vinyl or LVT.

Laminate is made from wood which then has a graphic veneer printed and then sealed onto it. The laminate itself is also locked together when it is installed and there are joins.

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Carpet or wood flooring in your bathroom

Generally, we don’t recommend either carpet or wooden floors in your bathroom. Wooden floors can stain and bow while carpet soaks up moisture which can lead to mould, smells, and stains. If you like the feeling of stepping out of the bath or shower onto a soft and warm floor, then choosing a thick bathroom mat is a much better choice.

Bathroom flooring options and ideas

Our goal is to get you exactly the flooring you need that meets all your needs – and looks great. If you're looking for more inspiration, why not visit our Ideas Hub for more kitchen flooring ideas? You can also schedule an appointment at your closest Tapi store to speak with a floorologist, or even organise a free home visit from one of our staff to help evaluate what bathroom flooring options would work best in your space.

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Published: 02-02-2023