Bathroom Flooring Options

The floor takes more punishment than any other surface in a bathroom. It gets wet, it gets walked on with grit from outside, and it has to cope with a room that swings from cold to steamy twice a day. Choosing it is as much about the subfloor underneath as the material on top.

Porcelain tile

The default and, for most bathrooms, the right answer. Water absorption under 0.5 percent, extremely hard wearing, huge choice of formats including convincing wood and stone effects, and the best possible partner for underfloor heating because it conducts heat efficiently. Specify R10 slip resistance as a minimum, R11 in a level access shower area.

The downsides are cost, cold underfoot without heating, and the preparation it demands. On a timber floor it needs overboarding and stiffening. Get that wrong and you will see cracked grout lines within a year. Expect £45 to £90 per square metre fitted including preparation.

Sheet vinyl

Underrated and often exactly right. A quality cushioned or safety vinyl gives you a genuinely seamless waterproof surface with welded seams and coved skirtings if you want them, which is why it is standard in accessible and commercial washrooms. It is warm underfoot, quiet, forgiving on a slightly uneven subfloor and very quick to install.

It will not last as long as porcelain and it can be marked by dropped heavy objects, but at £30 to £55 per square metre fitted it is the best value floor in the room. For a family bathroom used by children or someone with mobility issues, safety vinyl is frequently the sensible specification rather than a compromise.

Luxury vinyl tile

Individual planks or tiles, either glued down or click fitted, with a wear layer over a printed design. Warm, comfortable, quiet and available in convincing wood and stone patterns. In a bathroom, always choose a fully waterproof rigid core or glue down product rather than a click system with an absorbent core, and always seal the perimeter with silicone.

Glue down LVT is the more reliable choice in a wet room adjacent area because there is nowhere for water to migrate. Compatible with underfloor heating within temperature limits. £45 to £80 per square metre fitted.

Engineered wood

Possible in a downstairs cloakroom or a large low humidity family bathroom, and beautiful where it works. The plywood core is far more stable than solid timber, but it still moves with humidity and the surface needs an oil or lacquer maintained. Not suitable near a level access shower, and not something we would recommend in a small bathroom with heavy shower use.

Microcement and resin

A seamless applied finish with a genuinely striking contemporary look, ideal in a wet room where a continuous surface up the walls is desired. It is skilled specialist work, needs an extremely stable substrate, and it costs considerably more than tile. It also requires resealing periodically. Superb in the right project, expensive in the wrong one.

The subfloor decides more than the finish

1. Concrete. Check for damp and level with a self levelling compound. Almost any finish works.
2. Chipboard on joists. Overboard with 6mm tile backer or 15mm ply screwed at close centres before tiling, or with hardboard before vinyl.
3. Original floorboards. Never tile directly onto boards. They move seasonally and independently of each other.
4. Bouncy floors. Deflection over about 1 in 400 needs the joists stiffening with noggins or sistering before any rigid finish goes down.

Details that make a floor last

• Silicone rather than grout at the wall to floor junction, since that is a movement joint.
• A proper threshold strip at the door, matched to the flooring on the other side.
• Flooring continued under the vanity and behind the toilet, which looks better and avoids a visible seam if a fitting is later changed.
• Flexible adhesive and grout over any heated floor.
• A slight fall towards the drain in any level access area, formed before the finish goes down.

What we recommend most often

For a typical family bathroom in Stoke, an R10 porcelain over a properly prepared and stiffened subfloor with electric underfloor heating beneath. For a budget refresh or an accessible room, a welded safety vinyl. For a level access wet room, R11 porcelain every time.

Get your subfloor checked first

We inspect the floor structure at survey rather than after the strip out, so the price you get accounts for any preparation. Free survey, fixed written price within 24 hours, all preparation, tiling and heating carried out in house.

Common questions