bathroom flooring

sheilavw

I had a wetroom installed for my late Husband who was diagnosed with MND. Sadly, he passed away. The closomat toilet was removed, and the doors around the shower area. We paid extra to have heated towel rail, new ceiling with spot lights etc, I got a nice little unit and it looks nice. However, the flooring had to be the thick non slip hospital looking type. I would like to change this but unsure if it is possible. It goes a little way up the walls. I assume it is glued down?

Bendy_House

Sorry for your loss, Sheila.

Yes, of course it can be removed and replaced with a range of alternatives. Yes, it'll be glued down, so will take some 'ripping up', but that's standard work for flooring folk.

It's your choice whether you'll want skirting boards fitted with the new flooring, or just to tile (or whatever) right down to the floor.

What type of flooring had you in mind?

sheilavw

hi thanks for your reply. it goes up the wall a few cms at the moment, its like a blue cushion type bobbly stuff. I want just something like a cushion floor, perhaps a mosiac design, or something pale gray that looks like laminate , not really sure . It just looks hospital like at the moment

Bendy_House

There should be nothing unusual to this. Just short-list a few recommended local floorers, and ask them to come out for a look-see.

Meanwhile keep looking on t'net for the finish and colour you like best.

The good news is that the subfloor should be suitable for pretty much any flooring type you prefer. Obviously you'll still want it generally 'waterproof'.

sheilavw

Thanks, don't know why I said it is blue, it is grey with like a black fleck in it . It's a very small bathroom, as you go in on the left where towel rail is it  is tiled to the floor, other walls the flooring is part way up. I would still like non slip but I'm sure there are nicer ones around.

Bendy_House

Yes, non-slip is sensible. I'd mention that to the floorers when you call them up, so they'll hopefully visit you pre-armed with suitable options for this.There should be plenty of choice

If you do a Google for 'bathroom flooring' or similar, and then click on 'images', you can browse to your heart's content! See what stands out for you, and which ones will best suit the unit you've had fitted.

Many of the results will be ceramic tiles, but I'd personally go for a vinyl alternative; ceramic is hard, cold, more costly to fit, etc. Ie, if you like the tile 'look', you can get it in vinyl too, very realistic and with 'proper' grout lines, texture and stuff!

andyhop

If it’s still a wet floor you will be limited to what you can use, it will need to be rolled up the walls with the corners welded 

I’d be cautious about removing, if it’s fully bonded it could pull up the screed and depending on what level access tray/ former was used it could take this up to . What you may think is a easy cheap job, could easily become thousands 

Bendy_House

andyhop said:

If it’s still a wet floor you will be limited to what you can use, it will need to be rolled up the walls with the corners welded 

I’d be cautious about removing, if it’s fully bonded it could pull up the screed and depending on what level access tray/ former was used it could take this up to . What you may think is a easy cheap job, could easily become thousands 

Me jumping to conclusions again - I'd assumed the wet-floor shower was either removed or replaced by a cubicle.

penny_less

We also have this problem, the previous owners of our bungalow had a disabled bathroom installed. Our flooring is an awful discoloured beige fleck!
I’d be interested if anyone has any further ideas, as to what it could be changed to. We have a walk in shower, and I can’t see any way around changing the flooring without putting in a shower tray.

Bendy_House

penny_less said:

We also have this problem, the previous owners of our bungalow had a disabled bathroom installed. Our flooring is an awful discoloured beige fleck!
I’d be interested if anyone has any further ideas, as to what it could be changed to. We have a walk in shower, and I can’t see any way around changing the flooring without putting in a shower tray.

Snap! MIL is currently buying a bungalow in a retirement 'village', and the wetroom floor looks like that - it is truly yuck, 'hospital'.

Although a bit more involved than replacing other types of vinyl flooring - it needs to be 100% sealed at the edges - it's still money for ol' rope for a floorer. The old one gets pulled up - possibly heated to soften the adhesive - the subfloor prepared, and the new flooring glued down. No mystery to it.