Bathroom Floor Choices

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: 2x2 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 4x4 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.



Technorati Tags: floor, bathroom

Flooring

We've had experiences with different kinds of flooring over the years. And a few oddball flooring situations. Like the bowing of the upper bedroom floor. I found out that the inventive Amish farmer had installed a water resevoir up there after bringing the toilet facilities indoors. Trouble was, it leaked and the weight ended up bowing the floor. That floor ( and bedroom) is still on the to-do list. The floorboards have to come up and new joists scabbed in which will level the floor surface. That will be only the beginning of the needed work- the crumbling old plaster walls and ceiling will all need replacement. That room is unoccupied until we get the work done. We've used it for storage- which I'm trying to relocate so we can finish this one last big job. Medium job,in comparison to some of the others, really.

One of my husbands learning experiences was on the first floor we did here- refinishing the dining room floor. It has oak boards that were under old vinyl covering. We removed the worn, damaged vinyl and my husband then rented a floor sander. Not for the fainthearted! I don't think he will ever attempt that job again... the lesson learned is to keep the sander moving- he had some places where he went over the areas a leetle too assiduously and it doesn't take long to get an uneven floor. That was never really resolved, but the stain with polyurethane was a good choice for the finishing. It has been easy to upkeep and looked pretty good all these years. The floor is something we can live with- which is almost surprising since my husband is a perfectionist about things (which is why we both don't want me to do the wallpaper work)- but just goes to show that over time there are things you accept and adjust to. Yet, if you asked him.... but I try not to go there.

Now. The newest project was to put new flooring on the remodeling project. I wanted something easy to keep clean, without too much work to keep up a decent finish, and fairly warm underfoot. I love the ceramic tile in my kitchen, but that was out due to it being both hard and cold underfoot. And forget it if you drop something breakable on it. I did some research and came upon something not widely used: cork. We bought the rectangle tiles that snap together in a floating floor. It takes a few special tools, but turned out to be fairly uncomplicated to assemble. The caveat is to ignore the contractor who tells you the floor is "level enough". aside: First time we had to use outside work was on this project because it was so ambitious and -let's face it, we had to move my mom in a time frame of less than who knows how long it would have taken on our own. A floating floor has these weird bubbled places if the floor underneath isn't sufficiently level. My husbands job was fine and went without a hitch... the contractors part above the garage? Had to use leveler and it still bubbled a bit. Just saying; I really have no complaints about the person who did the work- he was great,really- a friend of ours. I just don't think people realize that [for the cork floor, anyway] those floating panels need a truly level surface to keep from having weird bubble places-sort of a bit bouncy when you walk on them. Like, hmm, did that floor just move? ooo.

But wow. We really liked the way it turned out. I am so sold on cork flooring now- fantasized about re-doing all the downstairs in it. Which, practically speaking won't happen, but the cork was lovely. I loved the choice my husband made for the office part. It is the natural color [which I like best], and has a burled look. He coated it twice with polyurethene sealer and for cleaning just vacuum and use the Swiffer type cleaner on it. Couldn't be simpler to maintain.

I'm supposed to exercise in that room. But have been ....remiss.


Technorati Tags: flooring,