What flooring should I have installed in my bathroom?

Curious to see what type of flooring will be best in your bathroom? From slip-resistant sheet vinyl to beautiful tile, we cover the basics of bathroom flooring choices. If you’re looking to renovate your bathroom, you may feel a little overwhelmed by the options for installing flooring. Let’s go over some of the basics to consider, and which flooring options would be the best fit for you.

Small Half Bathroom with Mute Step Grey Ash flooring.

Small Half Bathroom with Cali Bamboo Mute Step Grey Ash flooring.

Waterproof but slip-resistant

This might be a no-brainer, but when you’re installing flooring in your bathroom, you need to ensure that the flooring is waterproof. Thankfully, gone are the days when carpet flooring was installed in bathrooms. When your wet feet hit the flooring after a shower, the last thing you want is to slip, so ensure the option you choose is slip-resistant. This logic also applies to areas like kitchens that can see lots of water use.

BeauFlor Pure LVT Installation in a wet area for a Valley City North Dakota Salon

The top choices for both waterproof and slip-resistant flooring include sheet vinyl and luxury vinyl: the most versatile flooring option. Phenix offers stain-resistant bold vinyl options, while Cali Bamboo is a sustainable option with high-quality slip-resistant materials. Finally, Southwind should be your choice if you’re looking for an authentic hardwood floor appearance with the waterproof options of luxury vinyl.

Coordinated flooring

If you are looking to coordinate your bathroom flooring with your shower tile or wainscoting, you may want to consider color-matched tile for your flooring,

Porcelain tile shower install that ties shower tile with bathroom wainscoating and bathroom floor.

Porcelain tile shower install that ties shower tile with bathroom wainscoting and bathroom floor.

Look for the brands Dal Tile and Emser Tile, which each offer a multitude of styles and colors, and materials ranging from ceramic to porcelain and natural stone. If you want a classic look to your bathroom, tile flooring is a fantastic easy-to-clean option.

When installing your flooring, make sure to have it done correctly the first time by contacting a reputable flooring store or experienced installer.

Carpet has remained one of the most popular flooring options in our part of the country due to it’s warmth and noise reducing properties. Most people would consider Fargo, North Dakota as a cold state six months out of the year, so carpet really does shine compared to other flooring options such as ceramic tile. Due to it’s popularity coupled with a skilled installer shortage, we’ve found that most carpets are not properly installed. One of the most skipped steps is properly power stretching the carpet.

Vintage Carpet Installation Using Power Stretcher

If your carpet is meant to be stretched but your installer says it’s not necessary, you may want to reconsider having them do your carpet installation. Power stretching carpet has been around almost as long as modern constructed carpets. Brands such as Shaw, Southwind, Mohawk, and Axminister actually require it per their installation instructions. A knee kicker does not apply the same amount of force as a power stretcher does, since the knee kicker can’t hold the wall to wall stretch that the power stretcher can.

Man improperly installing carpet with no power stretcher

Man installing carpet properly with knee kicker and power stretcher

In the two photos above, you can see that two different individuals attempting to install carpet. Use of a knee kicker without assistance of the larger power stretcher will not only leave your carpet improperly stretched, but will also be much harder on the body and knees. This can potentially lead to injuries with a reduced ability to perform future carpet installations.

Power Stretching Helps A Carpet From Developing Wrinkles

A power stretcher helps keep a carpet from developing wrinkles, which means it stays looking and feeling newer for longer. Wrinkles or simply improper stretching can damage the bond between the primary and secondary backings in your carpet. Once your carpet starts to develop damage between it’s two backings, this can lead to what’s known as delamination which would make it next to impossible to stretch as the carpet can no longer attach properly to the tackstrip which holds it in place.

Power Stretching is one of many steps required to properly install your carpet. There are other factors that help determine the longevity of your carpeting, such as carpet padding, fiber type, density, etc. We will cover that in future posts. If you have any questions, feel free to fill reach out to us via our contact us page!

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