Bath in bedroom

[chirpychippy]

The wife has decided that we are having a Victorian roll top bath in our bedroom. The wife has also decided that the carpet is going and will be replaced by laminate/engineered flooring in oak.

Whilst I have lost the argument with the bath I may win the argument with flooring, but I am looking for some clarification to back up my argument. I absolutely hate laminate, but she argues moisture resistant will be fine because a certain DIY store says its perfect for bathrooms?. I said Bamboo is more stable, but she doesn't like it and wants oak, oak, oak, oak laminate, oak engineered, it has to be oak.

I appreciate this isnt strictly a bathroom but there will still be humidity "hot baths steam" and still a risk of spillage. So is moisture resistant laminate or engineered advisable in this situation, not that i will buy laminate.

Cheers.

 

[JohnD]

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[chirpychippy]

Thank you JohnD. My wife is not Barmy, please keep your opinions and any advice you may have for me to yourself in the future.

 

[JohnD]

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[AronSearle]

Not all flooring is equal, whatever you go for, remember quality of the individual product is as important as the type.

You could use laminate, engineered or solid.

Laminate - Typically use non moisture resistant base (mdf, chipboard), if water gets into the joints it may cause the laminate to bubble/sweel due to the base material, but a little bit of splashing should be fine if it is mopped up.

Engineered - Go for one with a plywood base, good quality, should be more resilient than laminate to water getting into the joints and causing swelling (though not immune), float the floor and glue the joints to stop water getting through, engineered would be the preferred option. Again splashed water should be mopped up.

Solid - Keep the boards narrow, say 100mm or so. Float it so you can seal the joints, though most people are not keen on floating solid flooring, and whilst solid is achievable it's obviously the more tricky product of the 3.



Floating the floor will allow you to seal the joints between boards, as water getting between them will be the main cause of any problems. Assuming you have proper ventilation/humidity control, I don't think you will see much difference in moisture content of the timber (if we assume 1/2 hour increased humidity out of 24 hours, it's not a big difference).

But you need to think how the floor will float, heavy furniture on the floor will restrict it's ability to move about, you might create a small floating floor around the bath, and carpet around the rest of the room, not sure without thinking about it more.

 

[chirpychippy]

Thank you very much Aron for your reply, we went for laminate just in case it all goes wrong then I wouldn't gave spent a fortune on the floor. There is one concept of any gloating floor that always bamboozles me which is do with placing heavy loads and reducing its movement. Surely most furniture is heavy and could restrict the floors movement, sofas, beds, bookcases, chest of drawers, wardrobes etc, surely there must be a tolerance weight each type of floor if it is to be floated?

 

[crazydaze]

I wouldn't be putting any floating floor anywhere near that bath, the weight of it will not allow the floor to expand and contract properly, which it will do to excess in a damp/humid environment like a bedroom with a bath in. As has been said, there will be alot of condensation created too, furnishings are likely to be damaged, the bed will likely get mouldy.

Stay a million miles away from a solid floor.

If the project simply must go ahead, then go for Karndean/Amtico or if the budget doesn't stretch to that, then sheet vinyl is a million times better than it used to be.

Be very, very wary of 'bathroom laminates' be even more wary of DIY sheds that are recommending fitting a floating laminate or engineered floor under a freestanding roll top bath, they clearly don't know what they are talking about.