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Here’s another great tip from BobVila.com.
Bathrooms are, like it or not, wet areas. Even if the rest of your house has gleaming hardwood floors, they’re not the best choice for your bathroom.
While some wood-look laminates can be glued and sealed to resist moisture, if water does get beneath the surface, the affected panels have to be replaced, which isn’t simple or cheap.
Cork flooring, properly installed and treated, can be a good alternative if you want that warm wood feeling. Cork is sustainably harvested, naturally anti-microbial and mildew-resistant. All it needs is a coat or two of eco-friendly acrylic binder to seal the joints and make it suitable for bathroom installation.
Polished stone or glossy tile are slippery when wet, so if you’re going with tile, look for a sandblasted or textured finish. Any stone or tile can be very cold underfoot, so consider installing a radiant heat mat beneath it.
Stone and porcelain tile can be very expensive, but there’s a huge variety of ceramic and glass tile available from $3 to $20 per square foot, installed.
Tile installation is an advanced do-it-yourself job that can be physically demanding and time-consuming. But even if you hire a pro, it’s a good investment. Some Realtors estimate that every dollar you spend on tile installation adds $1.50 to your home’s value.
For budget installations, vinyl tiles are the cheapest and easiest to work with. They don’t last as long as sheet vinyl, though, and the gaps between them can be hard to seal. While it’s a myth that sheet vinyl is an easy do-it-yourself project, there are lots of great new patterns and colors to choose from, costing between $2 and $7 a square foot.
Find out more at BobVila.com:
the ultimate home improvement web site!
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