Painted wooden floors in a bathroom

[Lupa Monkey]

At the moment we have painted wooden floor boards on our stairs and throughout our second floor and it's wearing quite well.

We painted them with approx 5 or 6 layers of water based eggshell which stands up to wear and the occasional mopping.

Is there any reason why this should be avoided in our new bathroom as we are hoping to do the same thing there?

We were going to seal any gaps with caulk but should it be waterproof silicon instead? I also read somewhere that string is often used to seal gaps in floorboards, has anyone used this method?

One more thing, I also read somewhere that a free standing bath should sit on boards to distribute the weight. Would fixing two floor boards at right angles to the existing floor boards for the bath legs to sit on do the job?

Thanks

 

[Lupa Monkey]

Anyone ???

 

[Lupa Monkey]

 

[WFRN]

I know lots of magazines show floorboards in the bathroom but you may wish to consider this first. When walked the boards will move and anything you put between them will soon fall through and sealing the floor is a must in the bathroom.

If upstairs the concern is moisture, spills etc falling through and meeting electrics (lights).

 

[Lupa Monkey]

The gaps which we filled on our landing are holding up fine after 3 years and it endures a lot of traffic, which is why we thought it wouldn't be a problem in the bathroom

Although I do like the look, our decision to do this has been dictated by our budget unfortunately.

When walked the boards will move and anything you put between them will soon fall through and sealing the floor is a must in the bathroom.

This is why I wondered whether silicon might be the answer as it is flexible.

 

[WFRN]

Wood and water don't mix. Neither does water and electricity. Budget should not really be the deciding factor in this decision. Your hall is not a wet area. All I am saying is use caution in this area of the home having to repair ceilings and electrics etc, could be more costly in the long run.

 

[bananaspark]

real wooden floors in a bathroom are perfect, feels much better than soggy cold tiles. but if you can, take up all the boards, treat the joists and underside of your boards with cuprinol , sand em and relay properly with no gaps. (need a floorboard clamp or 2).

If like me you had a massive cast iron bathtub to deal with, lay noggins between the joists so it's feet dont just rest on a floorboard. i used a car jack to move it about.

sand again using a clear polyurethane for best effect.

whilst the boards are upyou can check if there is adequate ventilation below the floor.

b

 

[Lupa Monkey]

I'd love bare wood but our boards are the worst for wear and not really worth spending time on and some need replacing. We're actually planning on painting them with a load of coats of eggshell in the hope that water will not have time to penetrate before we can mop it up.

That's the idea any way

The first floor landing and stairs are painted and we slosh the mop around on them regularly and they have not suffered for it.

Thankfully (or not!) our new bath is lovely and light. Not like the one we took out We angle grinded it in half and I still struggled with my partner to get each half down the stairs.

For some reason I always think of Mr Shifter and the PG Tips monkeys when carrying anything heavy down stairs

 

[bananaspark]

ah well, if you really must do it on the cheap the only way I'd go forward is to apply a bead of 'stix-all' between the gaps. pva and sawdust varnishes ok but doesnt last on squeaky boards, nor will paint.

you may want to apply some 'waterseal' before painting.

for future reference:- ear muffs+ heavy hammer+ goggles and a fair bit of whacking would have got your tub out with a lot less monkeying around!
b

 

[Minki]

Just stumbled across this topic, realising that we have exactly the same problem: trying to leave the floor boards in the bathroom uncovered but got gaps in between.
I'd be interested to hear how you're getting on, amandaclegg. We don't actually want to paint our floor boards, but just varnish them with Danish oil or something. The stix-all bananaspark mentioned sounds good for sealing. Is stix-all a so called acrylic sealant? Has anyone tried that? Is it visible after sanding between natural wooden coloured floorboards? I came across something called gapseal. How is that for sealing???

Btw, I've been at our cast iron bath with a hammer, goggles and ear plugs. It went well, but the neighbours weren't impressed. Apparently, it rang out like a ship's bell.

 

[Lupa Monkey]

Hi Minki,

We've not got that far yet in the project Still on the the first fit (plumber coming back tomorrow to drill big holes thru the wall for the waste pipes!!!) as soon as all the pipework is in we can replace the dodgy floorboards then paint them.

I think you've made a rod for your back leaving them unpainted tho. At least we can cover up the filler with layers of paint, but you'll need to find a solution which looks good in the raw and be water proof. Maybe there is a brown silicon out there.

Maybe someone else (with much more experience ) will be along to suggest something for your quandary.

Good luck