bathroom flooring - what would you advise, and what colour?

[happynappies]

We've moved in to a new house which has a family bathroom, a shower room, and a downstairs toilet - all with carpet. We want to replace this as soon as possible, but really don't know what to look for. We've got 4 small dcs under the age of 6, so with bath time/potty training etc carpet definitely isn't practical. Would vinyl flooring be a good bet? I'm thinking that a tiled floor would be cold/hard if dcs fell over, slippery etc and I'm imagining underfloor heating in the upstairs bathrooms would be expensive/excessive? The bathrooms upstairs have been fairly recently decorated, with white suites and 'stone' coloured tiles/travertine 'effect' tiles... so whatever type of flooring we opt for, I'm not sure what colour to have. Would a light colour sort of 'clash' with the existing tiles? Would it be better to go for a contrast? Arrrgh so many questions. If anyone has any answers I'm all ears!

[jackstini]

We have underfloor heating and love it, is no more expensive upstairs than down but would still probably be £1500 ish for 3 rooms. If you opt for this would go for a travertine match on floor and change accessories/towels for a splash of colour.

Vinyl would be likely much cheaper and warmish to the touch anyway.
You could experiment with colour as it wouldn't be extortianate to change in a few years if you hated it. Put a bath towel/curtain down of the colour you think you want to see if you like it first!

[jackstini]

Agh - extortionate - typing too fast

[mumblechum1]

bumping as I have the same problem

[Pannacotta]

Real lino is great and I would go for a mid grey colour perhaps or even mid blue.
Its warm, soft and easy to clean and supposed to be anti bacterial.
Nicer than ceramic tiles IMO and will be a lot less expensive to hace installed.
Jpohn lewis stocks it so you can see all the colours there or look at the website
www.forbo-flooring.co.uk/For-Your-Home/Products/Linoleum/

[specialsubject]

vinyl - soft, hardwearing, easy to clean, warm underfoot, relatively cheap.

if you have boys you will be wiping up for many years so don't go for anything expensive or stainable.

[Ihatemytoes]

Marmoleum. We have it in our kitchen and when we redo our bathroom, we'll be getting it up there too.

[higgle]

Karndean - I have some washed wood effect strips in my bathroom and 2 en-suites and it is easy to care for, warm underfoot and looks very nice.

[Littlemissexpecting]

Karndean or Amtico style vinyl is perfect.
Have a look on website it lists stockists. Our nearest stockist has a lovely showroom and it really gave me a feel for it.
We have white bathroom suite so went for white upstairs with lots of colour on the walls, a sand coloured kind of tile in en suite and granite tile in downstairs.
Loads of options, also wood.
When i say wood and tile I mean look not actual wood or tile as its vinyl.

[happynappies]

Thank you for these ideas, off to check out the links but good idea about finding a showroom, think I need to actually see it to get an idea, but thinking vinyl is the way ahead.

[wordassociationfootball]

John Lewis do vinyl in totally plain colours. I like the grey. It's either 18 or 24 pounds a metre.

[happynappies]

But what about the running costs for underfloor heating? Not sure about tiles from point of view of children slipping etc, and because the floor is probably wonky and not sure the floorboards would take the weight... Will read up more though, thank you p.goose

[amck5700]

when we moved into our house it was a "used" new build - original owners had put in tiles in the downstairs toilet and en-suite and marmoleum (purple!!) in the main bathroom - having two boys I can tell you that the tiles ended up stinking as they were badly laid and leaked so any leaked pee ended up underneath them - the marmoleum fared a bit better but they'd had a border cut round it and that started to buckle after some pee leaks went under it. We had the whole bathrooms changed recently and all the floors lifted, levelled and put this vinyl down - it's really neutral, thick and warm and can be replaced if required. Everyone in my house now sits down to pee :o It says white but it just a slightly creamy neutral pale colour - cleans really well - been down a year and looks immaculate.

www.vinylflooringonline.co.uk/Tarkett-Goliath-Vinyl-p/targolia.htm

[amck5700]

this is the flooring down in my bathroom:

i39.tinypic.com/zmgmd0.jpg[

[happynappies]

Your bathroom looks beautiful amck - love the floor colour too

[stealthsquiggle]

If you are thinking about tiles upstairs, then unless you have rock solid (i.e. concrete) floors upstairs, don't do it. The floor will move too much and the tiles will crack.

Both Karndean and Amtico seem to depend entirely on the quality of the fitting - well done, they are great - badly done, they are a PITA.

We have really big problems with the floor flexing (old house) and have ended up with [[http://www.ipsluk.co.uk/designer_panels/flooring/?gclid=CNaelv26-rQCFQ7LtAodlREAQg this stuff] which looks a lot better than you might think.

[stealthsquiggle]

Bugger. this stuff

That's better. It's warm, too, FWIW.

[amck5700]

Thank you :) - that was done last January and amazingly it still looks the same.

[Grange]

I have karndean throughout the house except the bathrooms where I chose a rubber floor. Like karndean, the success of rubber floors depends on the fitter but in my experience it's fab for a young family

[PigletJohn]

Vinyl is OK and easy to replace. In most cases your floor will be made of "planks" or chipboard.

Unless it is perfectly flat and smooth it would benefit from a layer of 4mm or 6mm WPB ply underneath. Joins and even nail heads will otherwise show and cause wear.

Don't use hardboard which the flooring supplier will try to con you into buying recommend as it is easily spoiled by damp and will make the flooring bubble up.

[SwedishEdith]

I have a totally plain mid-grey vinyl floor in bathroom- I would not recommend it unless your whole family are completely bald and/or you like cleaning.

[amck5700]

I agree re the laying of the board if the floor isn't flat. However, the vinyl i used - link above, was really thick a bastard to lay says the fitter so i don't think any slight joins or nails would make any impact for many many years. Something really cheap will be a false economy unless you are the type of person that likes to change your decor frequently and therefore go for something fashionable and cheap. On that note, I think cork flooring has come back again if that floats your boat.

[wonkylegs]

Tiles won't necessarily crack if your upstairs isn't concrete. We have 50x50cm porcelain tiles in mottled cream colour with grey grout in our family bathroom with travertine Walls and White suite.
They are laid on a chipboard overfloor in an old house which is def wonky in places. We've had them 8 years and with boys who aren't good at target practice and they look good as new. Yes they aren't as warm as carpet but we have a huge fluffy bathmat (which can be bunged in washing machine when necessary) which keeps you warm when getting out + soaks up the worst of the water. My loony DS hasn't slipped over on them and they clean fabulously, have no marks and can be bleached when someone is sick on them.

[stealthsquiggle]

wonkylegs I am of your non-moving floors. We fitted tiles in a new build upstairs bathroom, complete with flexible grout/adhesive, and they still cracked - they would be completely out of the question in most of this house (that said, there is 1/3 of the house where you could probably do it.. [ponders])

[PigletJohn]

Tling: on a wooden floor (if you have chipboard rip it up and throw it on the bonfire) you can make it rigid enough by overboarding with 18mm WBP ply. It will take you nearer to the ceiling so my preference is to take up the old boards and lay 25mm WBP ply, which is very strong and rigid and also seems to be more soundproof. A competent joiner can shim the joists if they are a bit uneven.

Take enormous care to renew any dodgy plumbing or electrics under the floor first. You will be mournful if it has to come up.