Does anyone have experience (good or bad) with using hardwood in a full-bathroom? I love the look and the warmth it would bring, but am worried about whether it would rot after a while.
Does anyone have experience (good or bad) with using hardwood in a full-bathroom? I love the look and the warmth it would bring, but am worried about whether it would rot after a while.
There's a constant source of clean water for you to use, and all you have to do is collect it.
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Replies
It depends on how fastidious you are. In new houses it looks great. I have also seen older houses that have black rings around their toilets. It looks awful. If you love the old farmhouse look, then do it and buy plenty of rugs to protect the floor around the toilet, sink and shower. In my house, we have hardwood by the vanity and tile in the shower and toliet area. When we redo the master bath in a few years, we are going to rip it all up and put down some ceramic tile. It is much much easier to live with. I just had the hardwoods refinished so they look fantastic, but I will be putting down many many rugs to protect the heavy traffic paths.
I would think that right selection of species would make a difference. For instance, they use teak on the decks of high end boats and in outdoor furniture. Teak on the bathroom floor would probably perform pretty well, if treated properly. I don't think it would be necessary to baby it, either.
Edited to add that we have wood counters in our bathrooms, and that will be the first to go when we remodel. We have black spots and white spots from the water getting splashed and sitting there. I will likely replace it with a hard surface material (stone, solid-surface, something else), but I'll consider teak as well.
Edited 3/12/2004 7:36 pm ET by aimless
I remo old house from a hundred years ago.
I've seen over a hundred bathrooms with the original Heart Pine flooring looking fine.
I've also seen fifty some that needed replacement or repair.
The difference is in the installation and the maintainance. Gotta keep water out of the wood. Seal ends and maintain the finish. Don't let the stool leak or seat on it. That's the big killer, The ceramic tank full of cold water is a condensing surface for water vapour that then drips down, especially in the humid summer months. One solution to that is to add a mixing valve to use some hot water supplying the tank.
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