How to Pick Bathroom Flooring

With so many styles of flooring available for your bathroom, how do you decide? Is tile your style, or is vinyl a better choice? If you are overwhelmed with the many types of bathroom flooring, here are a few tips for deciding which type is right for you.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Measuring tape
• Home design/decorating magazines

1. Measure your bathroom to determine how many square feet of flooring you require. Be sure to include closets and under vanities, if desired.

2. Determine your budget for bathroom flooring, and then calculate your budget per square foot of material.

3. Look through home design and decorating magazines to see what modern styles are popular in bathroom flooring and what would fit your bathroom design. Find styles you like, and cut out the pictures.

4. Visit your local home improvement store with your magazine clippings to determine what styles are available in your budget. Ask for help and show the store associate your magazine clippings if you have difficulty finding what you are looking for.

5. Consider what flooring materials will work best in your bathroom. For example, a slick marble tile might not be a good choice to walk on with wet feet.

6. Determine if you desire flooring enhancements, such as heating, and ask a professional or your home improvement store associate what types of flooring can be combined with that enhancement.

7. Ask a professional or your home improvement store associate how your flooring choices perform in bathroom conditions (high humidity, wetness, etc.).

8. Purchase a single unit of flooring (such as a tile), if possible, to see how it looks in your bathroom before purchasing all of your flooring. If you cannot decide on a look, purchase a unit of each flooring to see how they compare in your bathroom.

Tips & Warnings

• Some flooring types are more durable than others when installed in a bathroom. Make sure you ask your home improvement store associate or contractor if your flooring choice is appropriate for a bathroom before installation.
• When determining your flooring budget, make sure you include cost for supplemental materials (such as grout, trim, underlayment, etc.), tools and labor.