so I’m renovating a house and have put in a pocket door from the bedroom to the master bath. in most of the house, I’m refinishing the old pine floors and was thinking of doing the same in the master bath. I would have a built in undermount tub, which would hopefully minimize water splashing. I guess the question is … am I crazy not to tile the bathroom floor? I just like the way the bathroom feels like it’s almost part of the bedroom with the sliding door and consistent flooring—just don’t know if wood floors in a bathroom is a big mistake in the long run. thanks for any thoughts!!!


Comments

  1. We have parquet (from hall extending in) wood in our bathroom and love it! I say go for it and keep an eye on things. If it becomes a problem then deal with it.
    good luck!

  2. “…people don’t wander around naked and soaking wet, or have a big, hard-to-control spray of water that comes on every single day in their kitchens. ”

    Speak for yourself!

  3. I just finished a renovation including a pocket door between the bedroom and bathroom. I had the bathroom floor completely waterproofed, then tiled it. I did not want to risk a wood bathroom floor.

  4. If it is an old wood floor, it will probably react a lot less to humidity than a new wood floor would. It’s a great old look. There is a house on Carroll Street that has a lavendar clawfoot tub in what looks like a bedroom on the groundfloor. It was featured in the Times about two years ago.

    Take lots of precautions, and go for it. Get some good advice on finishes and do a good job sealing around the tub. Watch closely for the first few months. If you see signs that the water is having a bad effect, then tile it up then.

    Check out Dan Ho’s book. He is totally in favor of this. He hates tile.

  5. Ditto on the humidity thing. Just make sure you have a good exhaust fan. And think of it this way…if you put down tile, you’re covering or destroying the existing floor. So if you take the chance and the floor gets damaged, you just go with the tile. That being said, I wanted to have painted wood floors in my bathroom and everything I read online advised against it.