If you’re looking for a way to spice up the appearance of your bathroom, it’s worth considering bathroom vinyl plank flooring. You can now buy vinyl plank flooring that looks like wood boards. It’s not much more expensive than other types of plastic surfacing, but it brings a level of class to the room that you wouldn’t be able to achieve otherwise.
Start by checking with the vinyl plank flooring reviews in order to find the right type. You’ll want to make sure that it really looks like wood, first of all. The easiest products to work with simply peel and stick to the floor. They shouldn’t require any extra adhesive and can be applied simply without concern.
If your room is fairly small, the cost of the job can be surprisingly low. For standard sized bathrooms, it only takes a few boxes or rolls to complete the work, which often amounts to less than a few hundred dollars. Always make sure that you buy lots of the same color. Wood is not a color. The room could look odd if the plank designs come from different brands or different color lots.
If you are looking for resilient vinyl plank flooring (and who wouldn’t be), look for a brand that is solid all the way through. There are some brands that simply have a plastic coating, where the interior consists of paper. These less than ideal models are usually squishy to the touch. Needless to say, wood is not squishy, and paper is not water resistant. This can do some serious damage to the desired effect. That said, the material should still be somewhat flexible, about an eighth of an inch thick. It will be hard to work with if the material is too stiff (or cold for that matter). The good news is that it doesn’t cost too much or take too much work to find luxury vinyl plank flooring to brighten your bathroom.
Start by laying down as much of the material as you can where there are no odd shapes or corners to deal with. This part of the process is fairly straightforward if you have purchased the right brand. Simply peel away the material and stick it to the floor. You will want to make sure that the surface is clean so that the adhesive will adhere to it, rather than the dust sitting on top of it.
For the odd corners and shapes (like the toilet), create a paper template. Use the template to mark the area on the material that needs to be cut away.
Score it using a razor knife. If you score it heavily enough, you will typically be able to break away the material using your hands. If the material is thin enough, you may also be able to use scissors, although this may actually take more work than the alternative.
Obviously, you should remove any previous material before installing the new material. If any tile below has grout lines in it, the surface will need to be leveled out. You can trowel the surface of the floor to accomplish this, although it may not be necessary to trowel the entire surface depending on the fixtures in the room. It isn’t that difficult to simply float a leveling compound onto the area to smooth out the surface. The adhesive on the material requires a relatively smooth surface to adhere to.
Another option is known as floating vinyl plank flooring. This simply snaps into place with no adhesive. Most people won’t experience any problems using this method, but the fact of the matter is that it is very easy to use the peel and stick models. The security of knowing that the tile is adhered to the floor takes almost no extra work. The only concern with adhesive is if you plan to remove the material again in the future, which will be somewhat more difficult.
