Toilet bowl installed in powder room with hardwood floors

My current place and my last place both had wood floors in powder rooms and I’ve never had a problem. Also both places were fully permitted renovations with plumbing signoffs. No slab is needed for a plumbing signoff.

newtomehouse

in General Discussion 8 years ago

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stuyheights | 8 years and 1 month ago

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What is the general consensus on installing a toilet bowl directly on a hardwood floor? I seem to be getting a lot of conflicting information and my plumber is giving me a hard time installing it directly on the floor. He said the bowl is going to sweat no matter what and the floor under the bowl, in time, will get destroyed and told me I need to install a marble slab under it or this :

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0069KVR84/ref=asc_df_B0069KVR845034553/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B0069KVR84&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198097979185&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4553474273372499328&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9004373&hvtargid=pla-323324334692

I really don’t want to do either, as it will totally ruin the look I am going for. I have seen hundreds of pictures online of homes with toilets directly on hardwood floors and have been in many brownstones that have that as well. I have never noticed anything under it. Can any plumbers or homeowners chime in with some suggestions?

Thanks!

BobMarvin | 8 years and 1 month ago

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FWIW the large c. 1899 wall-mounted tank on the original toilet in my mostly intact main bathroom sweats in hot humid weather and there’s sometimes a little water in the low points of the sculpted marble slab under it. I’d think that the much smaller tank on a modern toilet would sweat less, but it wouldn’t hurt to take precautions.

Arkady | 8 years and 1 month ago

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I installed one on a wood floor 20 years ago & it’s fine.

CarmenR | 8 years ago

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We put our toilet on hardwood in our powder room. Granted it’s only been a year but it seems fine? We put some of the crappier pieces of hardwood in there just in case. I haven’t noticed any sweating at all, actually.

daveinbedstuy | 8 years ago

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I have never had a problem with one I installed on reclaimed wood floors in 1999. Even when they sweat, it’s never so much that it would actually puddle on the floor. Usually just condensation on the tank

NeoGrec | 8 years ago

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17 years since our reno and we have two loos installed on wood floors — both doing just fine (a tiny bit of floor varnish damage at the base of one but barely noticeable).

stuyheights | 8 years ago

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Thanks for the replies everyone. Plaster under the bowl or just calking around it?

angelique.m.west | 8 years ago

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Let me offer a counterpoint: Installing wood in wet areas is always a risk. Plumbers and wood installers will uniformly tell you this because they’ve seen many floors ruined by water. Forget the risk of condensation. That’s nothing. The biggest risk in any bathroom is a toilet that overflows even for a few minutes. Overuse of TP can cause it as can a kid who tosses something in that fails to flush. Your wet floor will be ruined and buckle. If you like wood you might want to consider porcelain tile that looks like wood. I installed it in my kitchen and it looks great. The one I bought comes in long planks and looks distressed. There are two places, an Armstrong tile/flooring place and a Lumber Liquidators, both on 12th Street near the Lowe’s in Park Slope that have lots of varieties of this stuff.

EJR | 8 years ago

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I never understand people’s desire to install a wood floor in a wet area such as a kitchen or bath. It seems like a recipe for disaster. If you really like the look, I agree with Mat315 that the wood-look porcelain is the way to go. From a design perspective, this seems to make the most sense in the kitchen. For a bathroom, I personally think that a period-appropriate mosaic is the way to go.

slopefarm | 8 years ago

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I can see it if the floor is already there and you like it and ripping it up to do all that you need for a tile floor is costly. I can’t see making the choice if you are starting from scratch. That said, Columbus got here on a wooden boat. Perhaps use a nautical wood finish on the floor.

EJR | 8 years ago

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> @slopefarm
> That said, Columbus got here on a wooden boat. Perhaps use a nautical wood finish on the floor.
A 15th century nautical wood finish. They don’t make ’em like they used to.

sandra | 8 years ago

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We renovated about ten years ago and went with wood for the bathroom, but built a separate ‘water closet’ area with a tile floor. It was a good choice because the toilet does sweat a bit when the house is warm.

NorthSleeper | 8 years ago

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    string(0) ""
    ["user_nicename"]=>
    string(17) "north-sleeper-2-2"
    ["user_email"]=>
    string(20) "samanthafong@msn.com"
    ["user_url"]=>
    string(27) "/forums/users/northslopian/"
    ["user_registered"]=>
    string(19) "2017-08-17 21:38:41"
    ["user_activation_key"]=>
    string(20) "C0yVR32Mbkw2eR4OXyDe"
    ["user_status"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["display_name"]=>
    string(13) "North Sleeper"
    ["spam"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["deleted"]=>
    string(1) "0"
  }
  ["ID"]=>
  int(1735)
  ["caps"]=>
  array(2) {
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["cap_key"]=>
  string(15) "wp_capabilities"
  ["roles"]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(10) "subscriber"
    [1]=>
    string(15) "bbp_participant"
  }
  ["allcaps"]=>
  array(4) {
    ["read"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["level_0"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["filter"]=>
  NULL
  ["site_id":"WP_User":private]=>
  int(1)
}

Depends. Do you need a plumbing sign off? If so, yes you need some sort of slab between the toilet and the floor. We went through this exact scenario and were forced to take the toilet up and put the slab down.