Stripped floorboards in bathroom - are they suitable?

[lindy]

We have just completed and will be moving into our victorian house next week.

However, I am not sure about whether it is suitable to have stripped open floorboards in a bathroom. I have two boys who always manage to get the floor wet when they shower and errm, well let's say when nature calls there is sometimes a spill too :wink: .

I love the look of floorboards but am wondering if I should actually cover them to protect any water seeping through etc. Does anyone have any experience of floorboards in bathrooms. Also, if it is recommended to cover them, what will look best? I have thought about geting some nice tiles but they would be off level with everything else so would look strange - is lino my only option?

Thanks for any advice

Lindy

 

[Moo]

No claims that this is a definitive answer, but here goes :

If there are spills on a stripped pine floor, where does the liquid go? Ans: down the cracks and on to the ceiling below.
Unless it is a real flood, the ceiling would probably be able to cope, by absorbing the moisture which would then evaporate. (But what about those little accidents that boys of all age can have? Could things get a bit whiffy?)

A sheet material like vinyl (or, better still, lino) would need to be laid on to a rigid sheet material (ply?).

 

[middi]

I agrre with Moo, if you have a young family it would be best to cover the
floorboards with something impermeable.

 

[Penners]

Yes - a wipeable floor covering is probably best in your situation.

As for the toilet accidents, when I was a twenty-something bachelor in a bed-sit (one of several in the building occupied by gentlemen of a similar age), the landlord had a notice on the bathroom wall that read:

We aim to please.
You aim too, please.

I hasten to add that this was for the edification of the other chaps in the house. I was always faultlessly accurate. :?

 

[Nemesis]

Bet you bl**dy well left the seat up though...

 

[Penners]

Well now - that's a whole different argument.

Tell me where it's engraved in tablets of stone that lavatory seats should be left down. Maybe, in the Universal Master Plan, we're all actually supposed to leave the seat up.

But you never hear us men moaning, "You've left the bl**dy seat down again", do you?

No. Because we're just so patient and tolerant.

 

[Nemesis]

It's writ large in felt tip on top of the cistern in our loo.

 

[Penners]

I don't think that qualifies as "engraved in tablets of stone" (except for Mr C., if he's got any sense of self-preservation).

 

[Geoff Flegg]

Really really bad idea to leave bare boards. We bought our last house from a family with 3 young boys, and the bathroom had a less-than-pleasant carpet fitted - after taking it up the floorboards stank so much that I had to replace those as well.

I hate lino, but that's what we've got in the new house. In the old place I routed all the services under the bath when I refitted the room, and put access panels in. The rest of the floor was replaced with ply, and I put ceramic tiles on top using "tile on wood" - which works really well.
Just make sure that you'll never need to get under the floor in future if you do this, else the only way is to destroy your tiles or the ceiling downstairs!

 

[Moo]

For aesthetic reasons a lavatory should be left with both seat and lid down.

In an ideal world the flush handle would be arranged so that it could only be operated when the lid is in the down position.

It is quite fair that men should have to lift (and lower) the seat because they have such an advantage in al fresco situations.

 

[CHRIS]

The way my wife got me to close the seat was to let me buy a Swiss toilet with a fancy soft close seat thing on it that comes completely off for cleaning, as an engineer I just loved the high quality workmanship of it and love to watch it in action!!!!!!!!!

Well for the first week or so anyway!

 

[middi]

My grandfather would have been so envious of that fancy stuff, he was very proud of his lambretta tyre nailed to a perforated wooden chair.

 

[jess marley]

Sorry to disagree, and maybe as the mother of two girls things are unimaginably different, but we had stripped and polished floors in the bathroom of our old (victorian) house and had no problems. Charlie lifted the boards and butted them up more tightly to get rid of the cracks, (sounds rude) and the lot were lightly sanded and finished with a few coats of water-based 'varnish'.
As with any floor, someone does have to get down on their hands and knees and wash it occasionally, but that's hardly a dying art - is it?

 

[Nemesis]

I believe that lids should be put down when flushing for reasons of hygiene - along with water vapour I gather nasty other stuff mixed with it can leap up and grab the unwary.

A lid keeps it all in the bowl.

 

[Willmat]

more importantly what about a nice large bath mat! seems a shame to cover boards up. we have boards in a shower room without problem.

just double check whats beneath - i.e. any electrical lights, junction boxes and take necessary precautions to protect those in case excess water did get through....

 

[CHRIS]

Since we stopped using nasty cleaners and got one of these weird descalers (green German magnet) from The CAT in Wales you have to close the lid or all I hear at night is the Dog having a nice refreshing drink of cold water!!!!

 

[Penners]

I can't recall ever descaling a cat.

 

[Nemesis]

We had a cat who used to sit on the loo and use it. (That's I suppose a reason for leaving the lid up....)


When down he would use the bath... very adept at weeing straight down the plughole!

 

[worms]

Now that's what I call house trained! But was it able to flush and close the lid?

 

[Nemesis]

Sadly, being male, no.