Bathroom Floor Installations

Are you thinking about remodeling your bathroom but are stuck deciding what type of floor to put down? There are multiple factors to consider maiking it difficult to choose which one will both function and look the best in your bathroom. To learn about what various options are available, how they will hold up in the bathroom, and helpful installation tips check out the articles below.

Bathroom Subfloor Undergoes Leak Repair

It's usually only necessary to raise the flange if you've significantly raised the floor - typically a couple of inches or more. If you have ABS plumbing, this is simply a matter of cutting the riser pipe between the flange and the elbow below it, and gluing couplings and a short piece of pipe to lift the flange to the desired height. If there is not enough space between the flange and the elbow to make the cut and install the coupling, then the project gets a lot more involved and will probably require the services of a licensed plumber. Also, if your plumbing is cast iron, I would strongly advise that you not attempt the repair yourself but leave it in the hands of an experienced, licensed plumber.

If it does turn out to be only an inch, then a much easier method is to double the wax ring. You would use one standard ring - the type with the plastic "horn" on the bottom - along with an extension ring that is all wax, without the horn. Make sure all of the old ring has been removed from both the flange and the toilet. Let both new rings warm to room temperature to make them easier to work with, press the extension ring on top of the standard ring and mold them a little with your hands to get a good seal between the two. Press both of them firmly against the bottom of the toilet, then lift the toilet into place on the flange. Gently rock the toilet side to side as you press down to get a good seal, then install the bolts.

Hardwood Floors in Bathroom Generally a Bad Idea

To put it bluntly, no. Regardless of how neat and tidy you are, water will wind up on the bathroom floor. We've said it before - wood and water don't mix.

After taking a bath or shower it's nearly impossible to exit the tub or shower perfectly dry. Water will drip on the floor.

And the tub and shower aren't the only potential problem. Few things will take the finish off hardwood faster then urine. Face it; sometimes a guy's aim is not what it should be.

Bathroom flooring should be impervious to water and easily washed and disinfected. Wood is neither.

Traditional hardwood is installed in single-board strips that are blind-nailed or face-nailed to the subfloor. This means lots of seams. Each seam is a potential avenue for water.

Over time, the joints in a hardwood floor will separate and allow water in. This is especially true in a bathroom, a humid and wet environment. The wood will absorb the moisture and warp. After a short time, relative to other types of flooring, you will be looking at refinishing or replacing the floor.

We agree that hardwood looks great, but in our opinion it is not meant for bathrooms. There are many other elegant options ranging from ceramic tile, to marble, to vinyl or linoleum.

We should say here that we're not big fans of vinyl in bathrooms. Vinyl flooring is usually laid over particleboard, which soaks up water like a sponge.

The seam where the floor meets the tub or shower is virtually impossible to seal. Water seeps through the seam and compromises the underlayment and the floor is ruined.

We prefer the harder surfaces of marble or tile, both of which come in a variety of colors, textures and patterns and when properly installed look great.

If tile or marble seems too cold, consider looking into the possibility of radiant heat in the mortar bed when laying the floor. That way you would have the best of all worlds - a hard floor that not only is impervious to water but also is warm.

Options Abound for Bathroom Floors

f a bathroom makeover is in your upcoming plans, one of the most important selections you'll be making is the flooring. The proper floor will enhance the appearance, the maintenance, and even the safety of your bathroom, so it's fun to weigh all of your flooring options before making a final selection.

Sheet Vinyl: Perhaps the most common choice today, sheet vinyl comes in a huge array of colors and patterns. Sheet vinyl is attractive, highly water resistant, and very affordable, and since it's available in both 6- and 12-foot widths, most bathrooms can be done without a seam.

Vinyl Tiles: Made from the same materials as sheet vinyl, vinyl tiles are inexpensive and easy for the do-it-yourselfer to install. Most are in 12-inch-by-12-inch squares, so they have the drawback of lots of seams, but the advantage of being able to mix and match different colors in some very striking patterns. Vinyl tiles are also available in larger squares up to about 18-by-18 to minimize the number of seams.

Marmoleum: Marmoleum is the brand name of a type of flooring manufactured in England. It is an all-natural product made from linseed oil, wood flour, pine rosin, jute and limestone, and comes in a number of colors and patterns. Marmoleum is a great choice for anyone seeking an attractive, natural, and biodegradable flooring material that is also very hygienic.

VCT: VCT stands for vinyl composite tile, and they are a thick, heavy, virtually indestructible 12-inch square tile of the type seen in many commercial buildings. VCT comes in several colors, and the industrial look of these tiles is perfect for certain types of designs.

Ceramic Tile: A classic choice for bathroom floors, ceramic tile is timeless, beautiful and comes in so many sizes, shapes, colors and patterns that the design possibilities are virtually limitless. Tile size ranges from tiny mosaics to very large squares, with the larger tiles looking best in larger rooms. With any ceramic tile being used where water is present, select an unglazed or slip-resistant tile for safety.

Travertine: Travertine is a natural stone tile, also sometimes known as travertine limestone and travertine marble (same material). Travertine is a beautiful material with a classic look, characterized by veins of color and small, irregular holes in the surface. Most travertine tiles are large, often 18 inches square, and look best in larger rooms. The tiles can also be cut down to smaller sizes.

Other Natural Stones: For a truly elegant room, other natural stones such as marble and slate tiles offer yet another option. These tiles tend to be at the upper end of the price scale, and while they can be used in rooms of any size, they tend to look best in larger areas.

Carpet: For a warm and quiet floor, nothing beats carpeting. Many of today's carpets are stain-resistant and moisture-resistant, and can be used with very good success in the bathroom, although it might be best to avoid them in bathrooms used primarily by children, where excessive splashing might be an issue.

If cleaning and hygiene is a concern, you can also consider combining carpet with other materials. For example, you could use sheet vinyl, ceramic tile, or a material such as travertine in toilet areas and outside tubs and showers, with soft and quiet carpeting in the rest of the room.

Hardwood Floor: Advances in finish materials have made hardwood flooring a more viable option for the bathroom than in years past. Finish-in-place hardwood, where the finish is applied on-site in several continuous coats, is a better choice for bathrooms because it eliminates the open cracks between the boards that occur with pre-finished flooring. And as with carpeting, you can also create some beautiful combinations by blending hardwood flooring with other, more water-resistant materials such as vinyl or stone.

Laminate Flooring: The surface finish on most laminate flooring is water-resistant enough for use in the bathroom, providing splashing is kept to a minimum. Check the manufacturer's specific warranty on use of these flooring products in a bathroom, and also consider combining them with other, more water-resistant materials as mentioned above.

Putting in a New Bathroom Floor

You are going to have to rip up everything down to the ¾-inch sub floor, starting from scratch. From there, you will need to measure from the sub floor to the top of your toilet flange. That will give you an idea as to where to start. At a bare minimum, you will need to lay ¼-inch backer board on a ¼-inch layer of thin set light mortar and screw it to the sub floor. Talk to a pro at a tile shop for the materials.

The main thing to accomplish is to get the floor leveled. There is an array of leveling products on the market, but again, talk to a pro. Basically, you pour these onto your floor and they level themselves. There are some things that you have to do to ensure that the material does not go helter-skelter all over the place, but it is not a big deal.

Your choice of finished flooring will probably be determined by the remaining "height" that you have to work with. Once again, do not let the toilet flange relative to the height of the floor intimidate you. Toilet seals can easily be "built up" to accommodate any differences between the height of the floor and the toilet.

Replacing Bathroom Floor for the Last Time

It's time to replace your bathroom floor one more time - then forget about it. That means tile. You can cut the cost of installation by 75 percent by investing a day or two of your time and doing it yourself. It's not brain surgery and your rental is a great place to practice.

There is no question that tile is the solution. In our experience, the chance of tub water causing damage to a properly installed tile floor is slim or none.

Water from a leaky toilet is another matter. Regardless of the finished floor covering, a leaky seal under the bowl allows water to get at the sub-floor. With a little care, however, you can install a leak-proof toilet.

But first, your new tile floor.

Begin by tearing up the old floor. Remove any baseboard using a flat bar. Gently pry the base away from the wall. Save the pieces so you can reinstall them after the new floor is down.

Next, remove the toilet. Turn the water off and flush the toilet. With a sponge remove any standing water left in the tank. On each side of the base of the toilet is a bolt with a nut and usually a plastic cover. These are called closet bolts. Remove the plastic cover and unscrew the nut. Then lift the toilet off the flange. Scrape the wax seal off the base and put the toilet in a safe place - the tub or shower works well. Stuff a rag down the sewer pipe to avoid unwanted debris going down the drain.

Your bathroom floor is most likely made up of three layers - the vinyl, a particleboard underlayment and a plywood sub-floor. Set a circular saw to a depth of 3/8 inch and cut about a 1-foot square piece out of the middle of the floor. You may have to go a little deeper to get through the underlayment. Avoid cutting the sub-floor. After removing the cutout, pry up the rest of the floor and take it to the dump. A flat bar or flat shovel is your best tool for this job.

Now it's time for your new floor. We strongly recommend that you use a cementitious backer board - such as DuRock or WonderBoard - as a base for the tile.

Install the backer board with stainless steel screws and seal any seams with fiberglass tape imbedded in thin-set mortar. Also run the thin-set next to the walls to fill any voids where the wall meets the floor. Run a bead of silicon caulk where the tub meets the floor.

After the backer board is down and the seams are dry - an hour or two - install the tile.

To lay out the tile, draw parallel lines from two perpendicular walls. Place a tile at the intersection and more tiles on each side until each leg reaches a wall. Adjust the tiles until there are full tiles in each line. This will reduce the amount of cutting.

Use a notched trowel to spread the mortar over the floor and set the tile on the mortar. With the flat edge of a two-by-four, lightly tap the tile to make sure that all pieces are set evenly. You will have to cut a few tiles. Depending on the type of tile and the intricacy of the cuts, use either a tile cutter or tile saw.

Cutters are relatively inexpensive and tile saws are available for a reasonable rent at a rental center. Once all tile is set, let it dry - usually overnight.

Grout the joints the next day. We'd also suggest you seal the grout after it is dry to further prevent water penetration. Reinstall the baseboard. Carefully reset the toilet, making sure to use a new wax ring with a plastic horn and new closet bolts.

We know this sounds complicated, but it really isn't. Most home improvement centers or local hardware stores are well stocked with tools, supplies, tile and advice. Many big box centers even have free classes in tile setting, often conducted by retired professionals.

After you replace the vinyl with tile, your days of changing floors every time you change tenants should be over.

Replacing Bathroom Subfloor Damaged by Dry Rot

Although we're a little unclear about the structure of your bathroom floor, we recommend that you insulate regardless of how it's built. Use rigid foam insulation and replace the damaged wood members with pressure-treated material to minimize the possibility of future damage.

From your description, we believe the plywood subfloor is fastened either to floor joists that are suspended above the concrete slab or to "sleepers" that are attached directly to the slab. In either case, a layer of insulation will help keep your feet warm when using the commode.

Insulating the floor is important, but the first thing you have to do is eliminate the source of the moisture that feeds the dry rot.

Dry rot is a misnomer. It's not dry at all. What's really at work here is a fungus that requires a moist environment to live. Remove the moisture and you'll have no more "fungus among us."

Whether it's a leaky toilet, seepage from a tub or shower, or a leak in one of the supply pipes that is the moisture source, you must identify it and eliminate it.

After eliminating the moisture source, assess the structure itself. Is it likely that the condition that created the rot will repeat itself?

If so, you must change the structure to prevent the damage. For example, if the subfloor is attached to sleepers and it appears that the rot is the result of moisture from the concrete, replace the sleepers with new ones using pressure-treated material.

If the problem is only a leaky seal on the toilet, replacing the seal should do the job without any structural changes. In any case, isolate the source of the moisture and eliminate it.

As far as replacing the damaged material, use pressure-treated material whenever possible. Pressure-treated plywood is available, but you might have to make some phone calls to lumberyards to find it. An acceptable and expensive alternative is marine plywood.

For insulation, we recommend you use rigid foam insulation. Insulation board is available at lumberyards. Rigid insulation comes in varying thicknesses and the thinner material can be cut with a utility knife. A table saw, if you have one, works well with thicker material. If you don't have a table saw, sandwiching two layers of thinner boards works equally as well.

If your floor structure consists of sleepers on a slab, cut the board to fit between the sleepers and try to shim the boards so that the top of the insulation is even with the top of the sleepers. A little air space between the slab and the bottom of the insulation is preferable.

If the floor joists are suspended over the slab, install ledgers on the bottom of the joists for the board to rest on. Again, install the insulation so that it is even with the top of the joist.

Once the insulation boards are in place, run a bead of caulk around the seam between the insulation board and the floor joists. If you'd rather not caulk, a strip of duct tape will also work. Install the subfloor and then the floor covering of your choice.

We'd suggest you consider installing tile over cement backer board for the finished flooring. In our experience, this flooring treatment is the best defense against moisture penetration.