Best Flooring Options for Bathroom

LESLIE: Lisa in California is on the line with a question about flooring options for bathroom. What can we do for you today?

LISA: I was going to remove – want to remove the linoleum from the bathroom floor. And I was wondering what would be the best material, actually, to use and if I should go back to the linoleum as opposed to something more durable.

TOM: Well, you have so many flooring options for bathroom today, wow. You certainly don’t have to use a sheet product like that. You could use laminate flooring, which could look like wood or stone. You could use a wood-look tile, which is absolutely beautiful and really, really durable. You could use extruded vinyl plank, which is a newer type of flooring that, again, can look like wood or any other type of plank-like flooring yet it’s completely, 100-percent waterproof. So I would suggest that you might want to take a look at, say, a Lumber Liquidators store or go to the Lumber Liquidators website. Take a look at all the new flooring products that are out there, that are suitable for bathrooms, and pick something that you really, really are going to enjoy.

LISA: Well, I had an idea, because I’m trying to do it as inexpensively as possible, too. And I thought if I were to maybe just leave the cement and then maybe put kind of a – because then I wouldn’t have to get the products that require for mildew and things like that if I kept it just the cement, right?

LESLIE: Well, the cement’s going to absorb the water and it’s going to always feel wet and look wet. And I just don’t think it’s very comfortable for a bathroom space, especially when you have the potential to fall at times. Not that a different flooring is safer or softer in any other situation. I personally just don’t think concrete’s a good look for a bath space.

There are tiles out there that are made to look like wood. There are ceramic tiles that you can get, in a variety of sizes and styles, at a really low price point. I think you just have to get out there and start looking and seeing what’s available for flooring options for bathroom in the budget that you have. And you’ll be much happier than leaving the concrete.

LISA: The budget will require me to actually get the tools, too. So I’m trying to figure out – that’s all in the budget, as far as – because I would have to get a tile cutter and stuff if I were to get the tile, too.

TOM: Well, I mean again, if you were going to do tile, yeah. But I would choose something even easier to do like that. Take a look at EVP – extruded vinyl plank – for example. Brand-new type of flooring. Vinyl boards that are absolutely gorgeous. They look just like different types of wood and they lock together and they’re very easy to cut. So there are a lot of flooring options for bathroom out there. And if you use something like that, you could probably put it right over that linoleum and save yourself the trouble of taking it off.

LISA: Oh, that’s interesting. But wouldn’t I have to put something down, as far as for mildew and things like that?

TOM: No. These are completely, 100-percent waterproof products. They’re designed to stand up to places like that.

Alright? Good luck with that project.