Waterproof Laminate or Vinyl in Bathroom?

[mattyboy1982]

I am after a little bit of advice regarding my bathroom refit. I will be completely gutting the room so have a nice blank canvas to work with. The room is 2m by 1.7m so fairly small and has standard floorboards where some have seen better days!

So first question is do I replace any badly damaged old floorboards with new and then hardwood ply over the top of the floorboards to give a flat surface ready for the flooring? If so what thickness ply?

Second question is after the floor is prepared and it comes to the floor covering. I am looking at either vinyl floor planks or Aqua-step waterproof laminate flooring. Now I have researched both products and to be honest I will be happy with either so it will come down to my partner and what she thinks looks best style wise. My main question is around the fitting of these products and the toilet. Would you advise laying the floor covering and then placing the toilet on top? Or is it better to cut around the toilet?

Finally I would be grateful to hear any feedback from people who have any experience of Aqua-step!

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[ree]

Your question has been asked many times - why not Search (top of page) on here for similar posts and answers?

 

[mattyboy1982]

The question may have been asked before but has it been answered? I can assure you that I have used the search function and sadly it does not answer my questions, so I have posted a topic for people to reply with helpful advice.

Maybe you could try answering my questions instead of advising me on the forum search tools?

Or maybe point me to another post I may have missed when I used the search that answers all of my questions?

Your question has been asked many times - why not Search (top of page) on here for similar posts and answers?

 

[alan333]

We have splash-proof laminate in our shower room and bathroom, haven't had any problems. No kids tho, and we're fairly careful about mopping up splashes etc once finished in the room.

If the existing floorboards are sound and level then you could put laminate over them. You could use laminate underlay fibreboard first to level out a bit if necessary. Obviously if they're seriously uneven they'll need sorted first.

We fitted the laminate around the toilet pan, but others will suggest the opposite. We did this as we may want to renew the laminate sooner than the rest of the room (maybe it will warp in another 5 years?), and our way only involves the flooring - not also the plumbing. Remember you'll need a beading around the skirtings unless you're fitting the skirtings last, which also restricts changing the laminate later (unless you screw the skirtings on with accessable screws). Finally, we used silicon to seal to the pan, which also hasn't came unstuck or looked unsightly.

 

[Belboz]

FWIW I had laminate in my bathroom for a couple of years. I am pretty sure it wasn't Aqua-Step but it was laminate intended for use in bathrooms.

My experience was that no matter how good (tight) the joints were, there was some water ingress over time particularly in the areas adjacent to the bath and around the toilet pan. This caused the usual swelling along the joint lines in several places.

Of course, I had kids so that was an added issue because they splashed around in the bath and wouldn't have been clearing up any spillage afterwards.

I think, IMHO, laminate would be fine providing any spillage is cleared up straight away to prevent water ingress at the joints.

As I said, that's only my own experience and newer laminates may well have solved this issue.

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[foxhole]

If the floorboards are bad you can remove all and replace with sheet ply [25mm]thus reducing thickness of overall floor.Floor should always run under toilet and any other part of the suite.

 

[drpepe]

We used aqualoc which came from b&q.

We levelled the floorboards using folded newspaper and put green fibre board on top.

We put the floor down first then the bathroom on top. There didn't seem a diy way to do it the other way around without it looking a mess.

It lasted at least 9 years (until we moved out), without splitting. Although we only had a child for the last year of that. We'll probably use it again in the new place, when we find the time & £.

 

[mattyboy1982]

Thanks for the replies guys! Very useful to see your thoughts!!

FWIW I had laminate in my bathroom for a couple of years. I am pretty sure it wasn't Aqua-Step but it was laminate intended for use in bathrooms.

My experience was that no matter how good (tight) the joints were, there was some water ingress over time particularly in the areas adjacent to the bath and around the toilet pan. This caused the usual swelling along the joint lines in several places.

Of course, I had kids so that was an added issue because they splashed around in the bath and wouldn't have been clearing up any spillage afterwards.

I think, IMHO, laminate would be fine providing any spillage is cleared up straight away to prevent water ingress at the joints.

As I said, that's only my own experience and newer laminates may well have solved this issue.

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