This isn’t a major essay- just a little conversation about choosing a type of flooring for the bathroom. It used to be that you had a few kinds of things you chose, but they have some new products out that widen the choice range.
I’ve lived in houses that had the usual vinyl flooring, but living in older houses also meant the baths had some of the older types of flooring that you don’t always see now. One was little rubber tiles that were laid to mimic the favored ceramic style of the day: 2×2 squares in contrasting colors. Cobalt blue and white, in my case. The fact that they lasted so long and still looked good is a testimonial to that part of rubber tile’s benefits. The official info on rubber floors is that “Rubber flooring is also a long-life product (20 years) and is derived
from a potentially sustainable source (trees). ~Walls, Ceilings and Floors…, Stepping Stones, No.64 (December 2001) http://www.naturalstep.org.uk/steps_64.pdf”
They are comfortable underfoot and were easy to clean. I used Murphy’s oil soap and Pine Sol on them.
I’ve often had ceramic tiles, but they are a little cold underfoot for northern climes. I love it in my kitchen [a granite stone look]! But for our bathroom we went with sheet vinyl flooring, though we did use ceramic tile on the walls and in the shower surround. My husband installed everything, and the flooring made him nervous. He really doesn’t like working with sheet flooring, although it turned out well. Usually they recommend you get a pro to do the job …which is probably for good reason.
In our latest project we found something new at The Anderson’s Store: click together floor panels that look like ceramic tiles. Very realistic, but warm underfoot and less likely to mean sure destruction to things dropped on it (another drawback of ceramic, marble, and other hard floor choices).
Speaking of marble. When I visited Hungary I stayed in a home entirely floored in marble. The bathroom had it on the walls as well, and though it is beautiful, cool and lovely underfoot, it is also very slippery. The lady of the house was in a cast because she had slipped on the stairs while cleaning. Just saying.
My son also had shiny marble tiles in the bathroom at his house in Phoenix, along with ceramic tiles everywhere else. That is a great choice for the desert climate, easy to clean, and the coolness is an asset there. But when you have cold winters those kinds of floors feel pretty chilly on the old feet.
So far I’m sold on
laminate flooring,the click together ceramic look tiles, rectangles of 4′[foot] long tiles that are made to look like they have 4×4 inch tiles. The style we chose looked exactly like some German made tiles (real ceramic) that we used on the kitchen counter top[link is to the actual store we went to, but not the tile choice we used], so that guaranteed that I liked them! They were put together in a snap and I use a Swiffer to clean them, although any simple mopping keeps them clean. It is hard to say how long they will look nice, they do seem capable of chipping, but for now, they seem pretty durable and we’re happy with them.
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There are a lot of tile options in the market. I agree, that the home owner should choose a type that would be suitable to the climate in his location.
We renovated our house last year and we used vinyl tiles for the kitchen and hardwood flooring St Pete for the living room. We opted for different types per location since there are certain parts of the house that are more humid than the others. I suggest home renovators to check tile stores (tampa) online or the local manufacturer to know about different types of flooring.