Klaus Werner wrote:
I am sure this has been discussed before but I can't find the messages .....

Anyway, trying to decide whether to put down tiles or laminate boards in
bathroom.
Bathroom suite is about a year old but we couldn't afford to have the floor
done as well.
Up to now we have lino which is quite tatty.

The subfloor is chipboard (pre new regs). For laminate flooring presumably I
need the
"vapour barrier" sheet. I see that all the stores offer laminate suitable
for bathrooms, slightly
more expensive. It's a small floor area, about 1.5 sqm so cutting around the
fittings will take
a bit of extra work. Anything else I need to think of?

Tiling the floor isn't a popular option (wife & kids .....).

Thanks for hints and advice.

Thanks,
Klaus



Contrary to over views expressed here, I've laminated the bathroom
exactly the same way as you have done, and on the same chipboard
flooring on a 1st storey bathroom.

Bit of history: Did originally tile, but rather than suffer a 20mm step
by laying a ply base first I risked it and tiled onto hardboard ontop of
the chipboard. Lasted 2 days before I ripped it out and binned it
(unstable base, cracked grouting, and yes, I'd nibbled the outline for
the bathroom furniture out of each tile).

Out of desperation (and I was somewhat dishearten by the above) I knew
we had some AC3(? - 10 year stuff, anyway) laminate in the attic (as you
do) left over from when we did the home/office (aka "toy room"),
together with the remainder of the underlay (3mm green spongy material,
shiney plastic surface on one side - presumably some form of moisture
barrior) - that had also taken up residence in the attic.

Thought "What the hell" - since I (thought*) we had enough to cover the
tiny bathroom, and repeated the process with the laminate. Note - not
bathroom grade! Anyway, best part of 5 years later its still there
without any signs of wear / damage, and SWMBO is a bit of a splasher in
the bath.

Regarding the slipping on wet laminate, well, if your 1.5m2 is anything
like my 1.5m2 then there isn't much floor space left once you have the
bath mat down and the obligatory 2 days of dirty underwear strewn across
the floor. (In all honesty, no-one's slipped as yet!)

You'll recognise that a laminate solution is a cheap solution, I'd
suggest trying it - trust me - worst-case outcome is a nowhere near as
bad as worst-case outcome with tiles.

I would recommend lifting the bathroom furniture 1st, I did what you're
talking about - cutting around them, but on reflection I think it would
be easier to remove and refit.


* thought = before I buggered the first 4 sheets up by laying them the
wrong way (groove first, rather than tongue first - resulting in
knackered tongues from the effect of hammering them into place