Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[Meadow Skipper]

FTR, I will not be carpeting my bathroom floors.

Probably porcelain tile.

Ooh, ooh, now it's my turn to tell you what you're doing wrong.

I like stone better than tile. Our recent re-do of a bathroom included taking out tile and putting in stone. Nice looking, smoother, and far fewer seams/grout lines which makes for easier cleaning:

[babybear]

friends don't let friends put carpeting in the bathroom

[digitaldeath]

another dont


dont post about your mundane home remodel on TGR

[Danno]

Ooh, ooh, now it's my turn to tell you what you're doing wrong.

I like stone better than tile. Our recent re-do of a bathroom included taking out tile and putting in stone. Nice looking, smoother, and far fewer seams/grout lines which makes for easier cleaning:

Question: we went to the tile store and saw plenty of tile and stone. Maybe I'm missing something, but you seem to be assuming a) tile is small and stone is large, and b) tile is rough and stone is smooth.

But even if stone is large and smooth (and we saw plenty of stone tiles that were small format and rough), we saw many things that were porcelain tile that looked like stone, were smooth/glossy like stone, and were large. TBH, those were the styles that we generally liked. They weren't stone, though, and were generally cheaper than stone. Is there something about stone that is actually different than these tiles? Am I not understanding your point?

[Meadow Skipper]

No, you're probably better versed than I am. I let the wife take the lead and was pleased with the outcome. So I may be coming from a southwest POV where most of the tile is like Saltillo. If you have large smooth tile that will fir together pretty tightly and you like it then I'm gonna plead ignorance. I just didn't get that deeply into the selection process.

[Danno]

Ok. Yeah, the tile we're looking at is not SW at all. Looks a lot more like what you picture in size, shape, and finish, though probably a lighter color.

[RootSkier]

This is my wife doesn't get to make any remodeling decisions. What a pain in the ass that must be.

[exsparky]

The carpet is warm in the winter and I pee in the downstairs bathroom while I let the dog out.

[Meadow Skipper]

This is my wife doesn't get to make any remodeling decisions. What a pain in the ass that must be.

Mine pretty much makes all of them. One more interior project and all the corners will have been cut off my man card.

[Danno]

my wife doesn't make all the decisions on this, I have veto power and input, but I do generally let her drive the bus on most parts.

[Cruiser]

Just checking in to say how much I despise having carpet in my master bath (though we do have tile in the WC and in front of the shower). We finally got rid of it in the other original full bath but remodeling the master is still not in the cards for the immediate future. I do not want to be in the house when the shit eventually gets ripped out though. It has got to be properly nasty under there.

[grskier]

Just checking in to say how much I despise having carpet in my master bath (though we do have tile in the WC and in front of the shower). We finally got rid of it in the other original full bath but remodeling the master is still not in the cards for the immediate future. I do not want to be in the house when the shit eventually gets ripped out though. It has got to be properly nasty under there.

Under any carpet is usually pretty gnarbar


We are going with a 1' x 2' stone looking tile on the floor, a marble looking tile on the shower wall, and a small 2" x 2" tile mosaic that splits the two nicely in our bath...

[RootSkier]

So here's my actual two cents: tile fucking sucks flor flooring in the bathroom. It's too cold and hard. It's lame to spend a bunch of money on flooring and then cover it with rugs. On the other hand, if you have money to burn and are going to put radiant heat in and have a zebra hide your wife is dying to put down, then by all means, have at it.

I put cork on our master bathroom about six months ago and its by far the best bathroom flooring product I've ever had the pleasure to use. It's soft, quiet, and warm. The kid makes a hellofa mess when he takes a bath in our tub and it hasn't caused any problems. $3 sq/ft special order at Lowe's with nothing special for underlayment. I installed it in about 2 hours. A++, would buy and use again.

[Danno]

You are just about the only person who says do NOT put tile down in the bathroom.

As for radiant heat, it looks like there are cheapo systems where we could install that for a few hundred bucks. Thoughts?

[El Chupacabra]

We have electric radiant heat under the tile floor in the master bath in our house. It has a basic thermostat control, and we turn it off in summer. It doesn't seem to make any noticeable difference in the electric bill when using it, and makes the floor nice and warm.

IIRC the brand is Suntouch, but going just from memory here.

[NmbrdDays]

Firstly, I am a union electrician. I've done my fair share of commercial and residential. Before and after union stuff..... Get what you like. You're going to have to look at it as for tile in the bathroom. It's one of the best floorings for dealing with moisture and water. I wouldn't personally get marble or granite tiles, they can be quite slick with wet feet. But rugs and towels can solve that problem quite easily. My .02 is don't tile the walls. It's a very pricey expense that's not necessary. It just makes the bathroom loud and have an echo....... Plus tile is $$$$$$.

As for hiring guys to do the work. From what I've dealt with in my neck of the woods is, if you are just tearing stuff down and not moving or adding anything like electric or plumbing. You can get away with not filing permits. From what I read it sounds like you have some decent work going on. Even though you can save money with unlicensed guys. You might be better off bucking up and paying them. God forbid you have any inspector come through and there are no permits filed....... Plus that's why guys have insurance. I'm not saying I'm not guilty of doing that, I take on side work all the time as long as there's no permits involved.

[Meadow Skipper]

You are just about the only person who says do NOT put tile down in the bathroom.

My thought was that the guy lives in Montana. I'm not sure why that seems like a reason to me, but it does.

[dtown]

So here's my actual two cents: tile fucking sucks flor flooring in the bathroom. It's too cold and hard. It's lame to spend a bunch of money on flooring and then cover it with rugs. On the other hand, if you have money to burn and are going to put radiant heat in and have a zebra hide your wife is dying to put down, then by all means, have at it.

I put cork on our master bathroom about six months ago and its by far the best bathroom flooring product I've ever had the pleasure to use. It's soft, quiet, and warm. The kid makes a hellofa mess when he takes a bath in our tub and it hasn't caused any problems. $3 sq/ft special order at Lowe's with nothing special for underlayment. I installed it in about 2 hours. A++, would buy and use again.

I'm a tile guy for bathroom floor but this one surprised me...have any pics?

[::: :::]

If you're in the tile shop, they should be able to identify tile appropriate for floors.


If you're not shopping someplace with professional help, some thoughts:

Floor tile can be installed on the wall; do not install wall tile on the floor!

Use small sizes of glossy tile for flooring, often called mosaic -- glass, stone, etc...floor rated ceramic mosaic will likely not be glossy. Grip comes from the many pieces & the grout lines. Mosaics are usually 2"x2" and smaller. Glass tile needs to be floor rated.

For larger tile on the floor, you want some tooth to the material for some kind of grip, so think about the non-polished stone or porcelain tile.

Stone, concrete & grout is generally porous. you need to seal it on the regular, like every year. No one does, but expect to do a fairly intense cleaning if you let it go a bunch of years. When your tile is sealed it generally cleans up better during routine cleaning. Sealing is pretty easy to do.

Electric floor heat has improved a ton in the last 10 years. It used to be unrepairable; you'd be SOL if it got nicked by a nail or installed a bad section or have a section go out over time. Now, many systems are able to do spot repairs and not have to tear out whole floors. Floor heat is one of those things that once you have it, you wonder how you ever lived without it. Timers can be set to come on 30mins before you get up in the morning.

Cork is pretty awesome but, like any other natural material, needs some care. Tile is the likely format for bathroom use (not plank or engineered). It is generally mold resistant, but, in a constantly moist environment (ie, never really dries out), it can get overwhelmed. with all its nooks/crannies, it can get nasty if this happens. Cork isn't great with claws, so have your family declawed. Some kind of underlayment to isolate the subfloor is generally recommended. Check with the manufacturer's recommended installation instructions.

Carpet is not recommended for a shit ton of reasons, but, if you like it, have at it!

[RootSkier]

You are just about the only person who says do NOT put tile down in the bathroom.

I didn't say don't use it, I just think that in general, tile is vastly overrated for residential flooring.

[Danno]

If you're in the tile shop, they should be able to identify tile appropriate for floors.


If you're not shopping someplace with professional help, some thoughts:

Floor tile can be installed on the wall; do not install wall tile on the floor!

Use small sizes of glossy tile for flooring, often called mosaic -- glass, stone, etc...floor rated ceramic mosaic will likely not be glossy. Grip comes from the many pieces & the grout lines. Mosaics are usually 2"x2" and smaller. Glass tile needs to be floor rated.

For larger tile on the floor, you want some tooth to the material for some kind of grip, so think about the non-polished stone or porcelain tile.

Stone, concrete & grout is generally porous. you need to seal it on the regular, like every year. No one does, but expect to do a fairly intense cleaning if you let it go a bunch of years. When your tile is sealed it generally cleans up better during routine cleaning. Sealing is pretty easy to do.

Electric floor heat has improved a ton in the last 10 years. It used to be unrepairable; you'd be SOL if it got nicked by a nail or installed a bad section or have a section go out over time. Now, many systems are able to do spot repairs and not have to tear out whole floors. Floor heat is one of those things that once you have it, you wonder how you ever lived without it. Timers can be set to come on 30mins before you get up in the morning.

Cork is pretty awesome but, like any other natural material, needs some care. Tile is the likely format for bathroom use (not plank or engineered). It is generally mold resistant, but, in a constantly moist environment (ie, never really dries out), it can get overwhelmed. with all its nooks/crannies, it can get nasty if this happens. Cork isn't great with claws, so have your family declawed. Some kind of underlayment to isolate the subfloor is generally recommended. Check with the manufacturer's recommended installation instructions.

Carpet is not recommended for a shit ton of reasons, but, if you like it, have at it!

That is a grade A++ post. Thanks.

[Nobody Famous]

So here's my actual two cents: tile fucking sucks flor flooring in the bathroom. It's too cold and hard. It's lame to spend a bunch of money on flooring and then cover it with rugs. On the other hand, if you have money to burn and are going to put radiant heat in and have a zebra hide your wife is dying to put down, then by all means, have at it.

I put cork on our master bathroom about six months ago and its by far the best bathroom flooring product I've ever had the pleasure to use. It's soft, quiet, and warm. The kid makes a hellofa mess when he takes a bath in our tub and it hasn't caused any problems. $3 sq/ft special order at Lowe's with nothing special for underlayment. I installed it in about 2 hours. A++, would buy and use again.

I'm a tile guy for bathroom floor but this one surprised me...have any pics?

Same question here, any pics for this?

And, ... isn't cork flooring in a bathroom that traditional brownish-hazelnut color, with a giant zig-zag pattern? Which is to say kind of a dated look.

[::: :::]

Same question here, any pics for this?

And, ... isn't cork flooring in a bathroom that traditional brownish-hazelnut color, with a giant zig-zag pattern? Which is to say kind of a dated look.

Cork comes in a bunch of patterns and colors...most of which only a mother would love

[iceman]

I like cork in a kitchen but something about it in a bathroom doesn't seem right. I'm sure I've just been conditioned to think this way but tile just seems cleaner and more antiseptic and I definitely like it on bathroom floors and sometimes walls.

[RootSkier]

Seriously, people? Google image search.