Laminate Floor in Bathroom

Hey everyone! Great site by the way.

My girlfriend and I just bought a cottage that's in need of some work.... you'll be seeing a lot more of me around here.

We're starting in the bathroom and I need to get it done QUICKLY... like in a weekend quick.

I need to put down new flooring. My father's actually a contractor and obvously recommends tile but knows that we'd lose a day because it has to set before installing the new toilet.

He recommended I look at 2 options... new laminates that can be used in bathrooms or engineered wood. Both can withstand some water and moisture as long as the water isn't allowed to stand.

I'm not against the engineered but the laminate is significantly cheaper and this is only a house we'll be using on the weekends and may rent it other weekends so we are keeping to a budget.

Is there any brand we should check out? I've heard also that the underlayments are a waste of time and money.... is that true?

Can anyone recommend a brand and also some installation techniques to save some time and money?

I can't recommend any particular brand of laminate since its been a few years since I've installed a laminate floor...but I can say that the underlayment is a must. It helps cushion the feel of the floor.

Pergo is the cadillac of laminates, but these days there are other brands. Some feedback I have had recently from a friend who did quite a bit of work on a fixerupper for his in-laws: the "off brands" do not go together easily. I am talking about the snap together types. They do not snap and slide as readily as the pergo. He found it quite tedious.

Many years ago, I did a couple of kitchens, and one whole house project ( I am go to handy guy for daughters, ex-wife, and my own house!) with the glue-up Pergo, which I don.t think they make anymore. The glue is a little extra work but results are excellent and long lasting.

Armstrong makes a fairly decent laminate flooring product as well.

The "tile look" laminates are very nice looking - I am wishing we had used one of those in our kitchen / dining room.

Does anybody know who makes the "tile looking" laminte floors? My wife saw some put in a bathroom on "some bathroom renovation" show, but I cant find what it was.

She thought it was actually tile on some type of subfloor system where you snap it together like a pergo, but it was tile.

Thanks

There's been a lot of discussion about that on www.johnbridge.com. The concensus is most (if not all) of that stuff won't last. Some are thin ceramic...unless the subfloor and surface is perfect - absolutely flat, no humps, no sags, the stuff has problems. From an abrasion standpoint, they're fine, but ceramic is brittle, and thin stuff floating on the floor is no good recipe for longevity.

Thanks everyone for the responses.

What I'm looking for in particular is a laminate floor we can use in the bathroom.

Many aren't recommended but with the proper installation and sealing around the edges, etc. can actually perform well in the bathroom.

ctkeebler said:

Does anybody know who makes the "tile looking" laminte floors? My wife saw some put in a bathroom on "some bathroom renovation" show, but I cant find what it was.

She thought it was actually tile on some type of subfloor system where you snap it together like a pergo, but it was tile.

Thanks

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That product was something called Edge Flooring. Lowes used to sell something by the company and called it Edge Precision. It was crap and cracked on a ton of people (the stuff at Lowes anyway). It was actual ceramic tile set onto a snap together backer board.

I believe now the company has stopped making the product. I could be wrong but their website is no longer working. I also believe they are involved in a lawsuit because it cost so many people so much money to replace.

It was a product we were considering for the bathroom that we now are trying to get info. on about putting laminate in the bathroom.

I'm not that into the laminate that looks like tile. If you're going to do that just do tile. Laminate that looks like wood is much better in a tile or bathroom in my opinion.

I'm still trying to get info. on putting laminate in the bathroom... anyone???

Sheet vinyl and be done w/ it? Or if it's too upscale a place for that, tile it over 2 weekends and do other projects while waiting?

Check out linoleum by Amtico. They make linoleum slats that are the same photoquality wood grain as floating laminates. Amtico is glued down. A lot of people think it looks like real wood. To me it feels more durable than laminate.

I've had it in my bathroom for about 2 years. It's great.

The good thing about laminate, though is that the installation and demo is cheap. So, if you hate it after 3 years, then you won't have broken the bank by trashing it and installing something more durable.

prashster said:

The good thing about laminate, though is that the installation and demo is cheap. So, if you hate it after 3 years, then you won't have broken the bank by trashing it and installing something more durable.

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Laminate is durable - I don't know why you would say otherwise.

I would do nothing less then tile in a bath.

I would not do laminate because of the fact that things happen in a bathroom, water, moisture etc.

I have been to a few calls where laminate is installed in the bathroom, one sticks out in my head, a half bath, and around the toilet in held the moisture from a leak in the wax.............nasty, it distroyed the underfloor and the laminate.

I just did new laminates in my house, and I skipped the bathrooms and the kitchen They will get tile.

good luck, don't be in a rush to get it done, you will have to enjoy it for many years.

Probably the only floor that is pretty safe IF there are problems in a bathroom is tile. Nearly anything else, and you could have some major problems. Laminates will work until that problem happens. If you get water spashed or sitting on it for a long time, you're asking for trouble. If you can wipe it up quickly and it doesn't come in from the edges (say around the border of the room or from under the toilet or say from a leak under the sink), then it should last a long time. But, if any of those things happen, you'll probably be throwing it away.

In my area the Inspectors have you put a marble base if you have anything other than tile in the bathroom.