Protecting hardwood floors in the bathroom is sometimes pretty difficult to do, so if you are struggling, don’t feel bad. We’ll walk you through your best options for protecting your hardwood flooring from moisture left after your shower or splashing out of the bathtub.
We’re going to start with a little education on types of wood floors and the best practices for protecting your investment from water damage.
Hardwood Flooring and Your Bathroom
There are usually one of three types of wood flooring used in bathrooms. Those are wood laminate, engineered wood, and hardwood floors. Each kind of flooring requires different care, and we’ll cover that below.
The main enemy of wood is moisture, which causes it to rot. There’s nothing like the look and feel of real wood unless that wood is rotting away due to excessive humidity or water. Let’s take a look at the flooring you have, and how to protect your hardwood floor.
Related Reading: How to Choose The Right Hardwood Flooring
Wood Laminate Floor
If you have a wood laminate floor, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that your floor is not wood. The good news? If installed correctly, chances are it will last a long time, and you won’t have to worry about water damage unless you face extreme circumstances like a broken floorboard allowing water to the subflooring or a flood.
How to Take Care of Wood Laminate Floor
- Assure that there isn’t anywhere water can seep to the subflooring.
- Wipe up water after your shower, so no one slips, use rugs or mats as needed.
That’s it, laminate flooring isn’t wood, so the care is super simple.
Related Reading: How to clean laminate floors?
Engineered Wood Floor
Engineered wood is more water-resistant than wood, is a layered plywood core and wooden veneer. When you consider what flooring to use in your bathroom, this is the one we recommend for bathrooms if you must have wood.
How to Take Care of Engineered Wood
- Use the exhaust fan in the bathroom after showers or baths to help extra moisture evaporate off the floor.
- Dry the floor with a towel and hang rugs to drip dry after you’ve dried off.
- Make sure there are no clothing or towels holding moisture on the floor for long periods.
Hardwood Floor
Hardwood bathroom flooring is the most care intensive. In a moist environment, even with good care, it’s possible to damage your floor. If you have real wood floors, here are the things that will give you the best shot at keeping them beautiful and free of damage.
Just be careful with the combination of cloth bath mat and waxed floor. Also, be careful of leaving rubber backed bath mats on the floor finish. Some may change the sheen of the floor (dull it) and leave an outline of the mat/rug. The best bath mats will have a firm rubber or vinyl supporting the prevents moisture from passing through.
How to Take Care of Hardwood
- Thoroughly dry your floor immediately after every shower or bath, keep absorbent towels or rugs to catch splashes from kids in the tub, so the floors never stay wet.
- Use a box fan or floor drying fan to remove moisture from floors after baths or showers, especially if water puddled on the floor.
- Assure that you have towel racks to keep any cloth or rug that may hold moisture off the floor as it dries.
- Keep dirty and wet laundry, which can hold moisture, outside of the bathroom.
Related Reading: How to clean hardwood floors?
You’ve Got This!
If you have a wood floor, you can keep it nice, with some extra work. However, if you are choosing a flooring type, we don’t suggest wood in the bathroom. With these tips, you have the best shot at protecting your hardwood bathroom floor.
