Bathroom Flooring Guide: Materials, Pricing & More

There may be no room in your house in which flooring requires more thought than the bathroom. With its temperature and humidity swings, potential for pooling water, and usually smaller footprints compared to other rooms, bathrooms present multiple factors that you must navigate to find the best flooring choice for your space. 

While it might seem daunting at first, the good news is that there are many great bathroom flooring options that span budgets and aesthetic preferences. In this article, we will help you understand what type of flooring is best for your bathroom. 

Factors to Consider When Choosing Bathroom Flooring

Moisture Resistance

Before any other considerations, it's most important to make sure that whatever flooring you put in your bathroom is highly moisture resistant. Moisture can wreak havoc on flooring that is porous or that is not installed properly. That risk is heightened in bathrooms, where the floors are exposed to both humidity and often pooling water on a daily basis, and the wrong flooring material could potentially require a full replacement of the floor.  

Moisture resistant flooring, on the other hand, will cause water to bead rather than seep in. This makes it easier to wipe up quickly, which is always the best choice, but you can usually let it air dry as well.

Durability

Bathrooms aren't often associated with heavy, high-impact use, but opting for a highly durable material here is wise. Dropping towels and dirty clothes on the floor may not pose much of a risk to your floors, but heavier objects like hair dryers, flatirons, or even heavier toiletry canisters could make a very unwelcome impact if they are dropped. If your flooring develops chips or cracks, even the most water-resistant material becomes prone to water damage if not quickly replaced.

Ease of Cleaning

Bathrooms are usually one of the smallest rooms in a house, but they also have more fixtures taking up space. Cleaning around these fixtures can already be an awkward experience, so it's a good idea to make sure your flooring material wipes up easily. Again, nonporous materials are a safe bet to ensure your bathroom floors are easy to clean by keeping water and cleaning agents from seeping in, so wiping up is a breeze.

Slip Resistance

The abundance of moisture common in bathrooms makes slip resistance a top concern. But assessing a flooring material's slip resistance is about more than whether or not the material itself is slick. For flooring in the bathroom, grout can provide a majority of the grip you need to stay steady. Smaller tiles and wider grout lines are both good ways to increase the overall grout surface area, ensuring good traction even after stepping out of the shower

Best Flooring for Bathrooms

Porcelain and Ceramic Tile

Porcelain and ceramic are often paired with each other when discussing the best tile for bathroom floors because they are so similar in look and construction. Both are highly water resistant, generally very easy to clean, and come in a wide variety of design options.

Each of these materials is also highly durable, but there are unique differences to consider. Ceramic tile is less dense than porcelain, which means that it is relatively more prone to chipping or cracking. On the other hand, the high density of porcelain tile means it's extremely durable—except when it experiences a strong, sharp impact, in which case it is prone to crack.  

For a more in-depth discussion on how to decide between these two perennial favorites, read our guide Porcelain vs Ceramic Tile: Which is Better?

Natural Stone

Natural stone materials such as marble, slate and even pebbles have been used for centuries as a flooring material to demonstrate the height of opulence. These days, natural stone options are much more affordable while still making for some truly luxurious flooring—even in your bathroom. Even so, natural stone options will generally be at the higher end of the price range compared to manufactured materials such as ceramic, porcelain, or glass.

But with that higher price point comes another more practical advantage: natural stone floors are leaders in providing significant natural slip resistance. That texture, however, is often due to slight porosity in the natural material, which means the flooring will need to be sealed every few years. This process is easy enough for any willing DIYer to tackle and will keep your bathroom floors looking fabulous for ages.

Glass Tile

Glass tiles are highly moisture resistant, durable, and very easy to clean, which makes them ideal for many bathroom applications. What's more, glass tile offers one of the widest arrays of aesthetic options out of any flooring material. However, it’s important to make sure that any glass floor tile is indeed rated for being walked on. Additionally, there are some specific considerations to keep in mind for safety and durability if you plan to use glass tile on your bathroom floors. 

Flooring Materials to Avoid for Bathrooms

Carpet 

Yes, putting carpet in bathrooms was a trend in the 70s and 80s. But there's a reason that trend has not come back around: carpet is perhaps the worst flooring material you can put in your bathroom. While it may be a nice and plush addition elsewhere in your home, carpet is the most absorbent flooring there is, which means it's next to impossible to keep it from forming mold or even starting to rot. Nonporous material should always be used for bathroom floors.

Engineered Hardwood and Laminate Flooring

Engineered hardwood and laminate can both stand up to a bit of moisture in most rooms of your house—but not much, and not for a sustained amount of time. It only takes a small amount of water pooling on your engineered hardwood before it can start to seep between the planks. Even if the floors were installed by an expert, the humidity and repeated drastic change in temperature will start to cause slight warping, which will create openings for water to seep in. Once water gets past the surface of the flooring, it will get into the high-density fiberboard core and cause significant swelling, requiring a full replacement.  

Luxury Vinyl Flooring

Conventional wisdom is slowly shifting on the suitability of luxury vinyl as bathroom flooring material. While some experts may still endorse installing LVF in a bathroom, we can no longer recommend it. Although luxury vinyl flooring does hold up extremely well to water on the surface, significant swings in temperature—such as those often caused by taking a hot shower or bath—can cause the planks to warp, allowing water to seep under the boards. This in turn causes significant problems with mold development and buckling of your subfloor. We still recommend luxury vinyl tile and planking for most other water-prone areas, provided any temperature changes are experienced gradually.

Professional Installation vs DIY

Professional Bathroom Floor Installation

Hiring a professional to install your bathroom flooring can ensure a high-quality installation that is finished relatively quickly and with minimal effort on your part. Many professional installers will also offer a warranty for the work that typically lasts a few years. This can help significantly mitigate costs in the unlikely event of an installation mishap.  

However, that efficiency and peace of mind will come with a much higher price tag compared to installing the flooring yourself. Professionals can charge a premium because they rely on their expertise and specialized tools to get the job done.

DIY Bathroom Installation

For experienced DIY enthusiasts, installing a bathroom floor can be a practical and satisfying project. Perhaps the biggest advantage of installing your own bathroom floor is the cost savings. Labor is by far the largest cost when hiring a professional, and it can run into the thousands of dollars (or more). Installing the tile yourself allows you to keep your budget limited to tools and materials.  

It's important to keep in mind that the materials that are usually geared towards DIY installation like luxury vinyl, engineered hardwood, and laminate flooring are not recommended for use in bathrooms. With the materials better suited for bathroom floors—porcelain, ceramic, glass—there is a learning curve. Mistakes made during installation, such as improper waterproofing or uneven placement, can lead to costly repairs in the future.  

Feeling ready to install your own tile bathroom floor? Check out our guide: How to Tile a Floor Like a Pro.