Wooden floors in bathrooms (sanded/ varnished or painted floorboards)

[legohousebuilder]

Am thinking of doing this in our bathroom depending on the condition of the floorboards when we take the lino up.

It's a large ensuite bathroom and them getting wet in concentrated places isn't too much of an issue.

Has anyone got them in their bathroom? How is it?

And should I go painted (black!) or varnished (they are likely to be pine).

We have floorboards in our bathroom, they were treated with Osmo Polyx Oil. They are just modern tongue and groove pine, nothing of character. They haven't become water stained but the boards have shrunk over the years leaving small gaps and with two DS's I do fear that the many "puddles" and "oversplash" have sunk into the grooves around the WC .

Probably fine in an ensuite used by adults!

we have bamboo in the bathrooms, kitchen and utility room
its coping fine - stains a bit but the colour is uneven so we call it "character"

Eww at the wee falling down the joins! Is mainly used by me and dh. Our downstairs floorboards have the problem of the filler shrinking or coming lose with movement.

Real wood always does shrink and expand due to changes in humidity, you won't stop it. The T&G means that at least you don't get a draught between them.

Piglet, would you recommend T&G instead then? It is a very open bathroom (there's an arch through to a large bedroom with no door) and the bathroom itself is quite big so I don't think humidity is as much of an issue as normal.

well the wee and any other spills (shampoo etc) will still get into the cracks.

If your bathroom is open plan it will be difficult to suck the steam out with an extractor, it will drift into the bedroom.

personally I am more attracted to an impervious sheet material in a bathroom, such as vinyl or one of those expense imitation floorboard things like Karndean. Just avoid chipboard as it is awful if it gets wet.

most laminate and engineered toppings are advertised as not suitable for bathrooms, as they will eventually swell if wet. A few of the tile-effect laminates are supposed to be OK, and so is the bamboo flooring.

If you like the appearance of real floorboards, perhaps with some soft rugs or mats, then go for it. If it was me I would probably lay new boards, treating them with preservative top and bottom first to guard against rot, and using a matt or satin varnish which doesn't show the marks like gloss. I say new boards because there is a great deal of work in sanding old boards in a small room.

Try to consider access to underfloor pipesand cables when laying flooring. Some householders say "out of the question" to repairs because they have new flooring.

FWIW floorboards usually shrink in winter when you have the heating on, and swell in summer when you don't.

The room is big enough for sanding to be less of a problem and it's never steamed up. The bathroom and bedroom together are maybe 35ft by 20ft with a large arch between the two areas.

I see your point about wee spills....that's not a good thought!
But I am worried amitico or karndean will indeed be a pain if there are leaks as wouldn't it all need replacing if it had to be ripped up to fix a leak?

yes, if it got under an edge.

some floor fitters run silicone sealant between the floor and the skirting, which will be safe for damp mopping and small spills, but not for a burst pipe.

What would you choose if it were you? I think floorboards look better than Amtico but it needs to be practical.

piglet
you are right about access to pipes - our bamboo is glued down never to move again
near the front door there are lots of wires and pipes but conveniently I planned a large inset doormat under which are the old floorboards and an easily removable panel to give access to the floorspace

Our bathroom floor is an old solid wood Parquet which has been sanded and treated with lots and lots of coats of a satin finish varnish (it might even have been a yacht varnish or something similarly heavy-duty, I can't remember).

Its been in place for about 8/9 years and still looks great but that's probably partly due to it being an old floor with natural 'imperfections' anyway. They are far more forgiving than new, perfect floors!

If it was me, I would (did) take up the old floor and lay 18mm WBP ply with tile-effect water resistant laminate on top (not glued down so it can come up if necessary)

Thanks Piglet for your superb advice as ever...you've been very helpful on other threads of mine (name changed).

I think we'll risk the floorboards though as it should be relatively cheap to have them sanded and varnished or painted. Then after a couple of years if they are impractical or very tatty we will get laminate or the like.

I've had sanded floorboards in lots of bathrooms over the years without any problems - much less of a headache than any other flooring I've tried.

Now contemplating black floorpaint vs clear varnish....any thoughts?

don't like painted floors myself. You can get special floor paint by International which I presume is formulated to be hard wearing.

What about a really dark woodstain, almost ebony-like, rather than shiny paint?

Good idea mammonite as it might look less harsh...softer.