We’re not saying that choosing the right floor for other parts of your home is easy, but when it comes to kitchens and bathrooms, there’s a lot more to consider. As well as being generally waterproof, flooring in these areas must be easy to clean and maintain.

In many parts of the home, appearance is one of the main drivers in your decision. While practically does play a role in most parts of your home, especially living rooms and hallways that get a lot of use, people mostly want their floors to look and feel great.

When choosing bathroom flooring however, the key consideration is how it will perform when exposed to high humidity levels and potentially lots of water. This is somewhat less important for kitchens as it is bathrooms, but these spaces will take on a lot of either direct or indirect water.

Water is everywhere to some extent, whether it’s on the walls, ceiling, or floor. And moisture will quickly ruin the wrong flooring. As such, we explore some important considerations worth making when choosing the floor for your bathrooms and kitchen.

Porcelain or Ceramic Tile

While ceramic tiles are perhaps somewhat less popular in living rooms, they are incredibly common in places like hallways and living rooms. Many homeowners have come to expect this material in their showers and bathrooms.

Porcelain tile is actually great for bathroom flooring, as it is waterproof, stylish, and cost-effective. Like stone, porcelain tile can achieve a rich, textured, solid feeling. Additionally, it is more cost-effective compared to some harder to source stone and marble options.

Because there are so many different types of ceramic tiles, you can create the exact floor you want. However, it’s important to consider that each type of tile may vary in its properties and maintenance needs. Individual tiles come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, from square and rectangular to octagonal and hexagonal.

Smaller mosaic tiles can also be pre-mounted on plastic mesh sheets to form the walls or floor of your kitchen or bathroom. Obviously, it’s crucial that you apply tiles on completely flat and solid surfaces and use the right type and volume of grout to protect the material. Without this, even the best tiles can leave you vulnerable to cracking and water damage to your property.

Like stone, tile is cold. However, underfloor heating systems can be laid under the tile in combination with a smart layer of liquid screed achieving strong heat efficiency and penetration throughout your home.

Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl is a no brainer if you need a cheap, long-lasting and stylish flooring option. It has been a popular choice for bathroom flooring for decades but it is slowly being used in many other rooms of the home, such as kitchens and even living rooms.

Sheet vinyl flooring is a good option if extreme amounts of water are expected, such as in children’s bathrooms or laundry rooms. Because it comes in large sizes, sheet vinyl can be installed with as few as zero seams in a small bathroom, protecting your property from water damage.

Natural Stone

Natural stone is a good choice for bathrooms as it offers a natural and rustic feel without using wood, which is often not recommended for usage in bathrooms and kitchens. With materials like quartz, marble and granite, there are few problems with water damage, unless you fail to install the material effectively and do not grout properly between certain types of stone panels.

Admittedly, stone flooring can be quite cold and slippery and you may need to add a bathroom mat or rug during colder months. Alternatively, coldness can be solved by installing an underfloor heating system, however, this is a much larger job than simply adding a new floor covering to your bathroom or kitchen.

Start with a Solid Foundation

For your bathroom or kitchen flooring to be as water resistant as you’d hoped, it’s important you lay down your final floor finishing onto a completely flat, solid and durable floor substrate. Liquid screed flooring options can help you achieve this, giving your floor a better chance of performing how you want it to with minimal surface variation or cracks.

Liquid screed floors also work incredibly well with underfloor heating systems, which is a highly desirable feature of modern bathrooms today. If you’re looking to hire a liquid screed company in Gloucestershire, get in touch with us at UK Screed and we’ll happily offer you some advice on how to achieve a great bathroom or kitchen floor setup.