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I'm fixin' to redo the downstairs bathroom, again. When we first moved in, we repaired flooring issues and laid the commercial Armstrong tile- which I promptly tore up because apparently without commercial maintenance equipment, looks like hell. Next I put down this cushy vinyl- the type that doesn't glue down, just double sided tape around the perimeter.
None of these were to be permanent- just until it's time to do a fixtures change. That time has come and i'm lookin' for ideas.
The bathroom is a mixture of spaces, as discovered during the first redo. The first half of the bath (it's long and narrow) was originally an interior room. This part includes the sink and toliet. The second half was originally a porch and has the original claw foot tub. The two areas are separated via a doorway. The floor slopes from the tub area, past the toilet and sink to the door. There's probably a good half inch to an inch difference transitioning from the hardwood of the hall to the bathroom (no sub floors in this house, so i'm assuming the previous owners did as we did with the floors we've replaced and just laid them on the old floors.), due to the thickness of the wood and the slope.
I've had several thoughts running through my head about how to proceed, but I think i'm to the point where i'm overthinking it. If this was your house, what would you do?
Walls are beadboard, floor to ceiling and white, btw. I'm planning on painting the bottom half a dark brown and adding a chair rail- with a white ceiling, white walls, white fixtures and currently an off white floor- that's too much white!
If you want the walls as they are, tear out the flooring all the way and lay a sub floor to make it a continuous floor. then you can do what you like. I like ceramic tile. There are many colors and designs to choose. OR..If the house is old and you want to keep the old "flavor" do the floors in hardwood. The wood can run the opposite direction the original floors run or the same. They do not have to match. You can get hardwood floors in a close color and it will maintain the old house flovor and look.
Gut the floor? Take it down to the joists? Why, if the sub is fine? Why not just level the sloping part?
Shane- it's probably too narrow, all the new floors are laid perpendicular to the old floors, so this would have to be as well- lots of short (oh wow. Just measured. It's 3 ft 8 in wide) pieces of wood.
If the floor is sloping you will need to add a new subfloor to take out the slope and or uneven areas. The hardwood can run the same direction as the origianl house wood floors. The door sill will make the seperation. The color of the wood can be different, it doesn't have to match exactly. If you do hardwood, make sure to seal it with exterior grade polyurethane to make it waterproof. It sounds like a nice bathroom.
Okay- so tearing up a perfectly good sub to lay a new thicker sub, rather than adding to the existing subfloor is doing it right? And leveling the floor without ripping it up is a bandaid?
Shane- I blame it on sinus meds. After I went to bed last night, I realized- DUH- new floors run so the bath could be done lengthwise. I know i'll have to level the sub and I'm just about positive I can match the color of the floors. And yeah, if I do wood- spar will have to do for the finish. I have a son who we threaten with bodily harm, daily, due to his lack of aim.
It will be a nice bath. When we first bought the house, it was the ONLY bath- so any work had to be fast. Now that we've put another bath in, I can take my time with this.
Tile woudl be historically approriate if the house is really old. Use yellow tile so stains from misses will nto look bad. (Kidding).
We love our tile floors. You can level the floor when you put in the glop that holds the tile in place. But they are expensive. We could nto afford tile in every bathroom.
In one bathroom, we used a floating floor made out of some sort ot polymer or something in one bathroom. It is easy to install and holds up great. Not too expensive either. It was hard to find becuase it is pretty new. Far better than vinyl. You just remove your moldings, cut the flooring and lay it down and then replace the moldings (and toilet and other fixtures). That will come after leveling of course.
It is fine to level the existing floor, but you may want ot be sure that you do not have a failed joist or somethign first.
I owuld not use hardwood in a bathroom. In fact I would use a painted wood floor before putting in hardwood. I love hardwood, we even have a maple floor in the kitchen, but not in the bathrooms.
What kind of look are you wanting to go with? Do you want modern, farm, retro, classic or something else? Who will this bathroom be for? The main bathroom, you kid's bathroom?
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