Give your bathroom a simply elegant update with these five flooring options!

1. Ceramic Tile

Rank:  The best of the best.

Like stone, ceramic tile can achieve a rich, textured, solid feeling. Like vinyl, it’s waterproof and it’s fairly inexpensive. And like wood flooring, it looks great.

There are so many different types of ceramic tiles so you can get exactly the floor style you want. You can even find ceramic tile that looks like stone. Tile also comes in a wide variety of shapes such as octagonal and hexagonal. Mosaic tiles come in pre-mounted plastic mesh sheets, so you don’t have to individually set each tile. With tinted grout, you can be even more creative. It cleans up well and bravely resists even standing pools of water.

2. Sheet or Tile Vinyl

Rank:  Supreme practicality with some good aesthetic appeal.

Vinyl is the most popular choice for bathroom flooring for several reasons, namely that it’s incredible durable and available in a huge assortment of styles. Some vinyl tile can be installed on your own, but it’s still important to ensure the flooring is installed carefully to ensure that it will adhere well to your subfloor and look great for years.

3. Natural Stone

Rank:  Great, luxurious choice, with a higher overall cost.

Beside the great look the benefit to stone is there’s no moisture problems with marble, granite, limestone, and any other stone flooring option. The main issue though, with stone flooring is that it’s cold and it tends to be a little slippery. This can be solved naturally textured stone, such as slate. This will give your bathroom a luxurious feel that’s worth the extra money. 

4. Engineered Wood

Rank:  Better than solid wood, engineered wood has more stability.

Engineered wood is great stuff and now the mainstay of most living rooms, hallways, and even bedrooms. Hardwood can be installed successfully in kitchens and two piece bathrooms, but is not recommended where there are concerns with standing water (such as three piece bathrooms). In both cases, engineered will stand up better than solid hardwood.

5. Laminate Flooring

Rank:  Cheap flooring that will work in bathrooms if you take precautions to protect wood base from moisture.

Surprisingly, laminate flooring is a better bathroom flooring choice than solid hardwood. We say “surprisingly” because laminate flooring is no more than resin-impregnated paper atop a wood chip base. The surface of laminate plank is actually a photograph of whatever it’s supposed to be simulating: oak, cherry, slate, marble. On top of laminate flooring is what the manufacturers call the “wear layer.” The wear layer is a clear layer of melamine. And the wear layer is really strong when fighting moisture etc. Just like engineered wood, laminate should only be considered in two piece bathrooms where there’s no concern with standing water.