Painting bathroom floor

GDB2222

We have a bathroom floor that has been prepared with plywood. Rather than sticking vinyl over this, can I just paint it? 

Bendy_House

Only if you want it to look absolutely hellish.

Painted plywood?! Jeepers.

I have a couple of rooms where I've painted the floorboards with Dulux Satin Ebony Woodstain, and I like the finish 'cos you can see the texture of the grain, and can tell they are individual floorboards, but a flat sheet of ply? Yikes.

Could look ok, I guess. But I can't see it working. 

FreeBear

Paint will wear off pretty quick if you use standard household grade paints. Will also be quite slippery when wet.

You could use a high build two pack (yacht deck paint), but it won't be cheap.

plumb1_2

Painting plywood in a bathroom is a no no, 
Use vinyl tiles,sheet or lvt. Or ceramic tiles. Don’t leave it to long before doing it, as it could start to swell then you’ll end up replacing the ply.

Bendy_House

What kind of paint & finish were you thinking of, GDB? Have you seen something you wanted to replicate?

In theory there's no reason why it 'cannot' be done - many folk have varnished exposed boards, for example - but I think it would need to have 'something' extra to make it look acceptable. 

GDB2222

Bendy_House said:

What kind of paint & finish were you thinking of, GDB? Have you seen something you wanted to replicate?

In theory there's no reason why it 'cannot' be done - many folk have varnished exposed boards, for example - but I think it would need to have 'something' extra to make it look acceptable. 

I was just going to paint it gloss white, with specific floor paint.

Bendy_House

It'll be interesting, right enough. In theory little different to a plain white vinyl. But the vinyl would have had to been VERY plain...

Wouldn't satin be less likely to look 'obvious'? Do you get many gloss floorings?

In theory, there's no obvious reason why it won't work, but I'm concerned about how it could look. 

I suspect it'll need something more - a physical grain texture, T&G grooves, a mottled colour pattern. But, you never know - you could be starting a trend

Is the ply a waterproofing type? If not, then more care will be required to make it a 100% 'proof coating, which should be doable.

GDB2222

Yes, maybe satin is better.  Floors often used to be painted,  when I was a child. 

The ply is waterproof. 

Bendy_House

Are you going 'retro' then?

Have you G-Images 'painted floors'?

prowla

I'd be inclined to use a vinyl floor covering, like Karndean but maybe not so pricey.

benson1980

We used floor paint on our stairs. It’s fine until our cleaner started taking a mop and bucket to it and it started flaking off so I suspect in a wet environment it may not fare well