When we bought our house, the master bathroom had carpeting and no door. Odd, yes. There is a separate toilet room at the end of the bathroom and that part did have a door, but it’s still a bit weird to have someone watch you in the shower.
When we got our new carpet, I had them skip this room because we weren’t fans of carpet near the showers and tubs. Last weekend, I finally got around to installing a vinyl floor so we can use the bathroom.
One of my top priorities was going cheap on this project. We’re planning to gut the bathroom in a year or two and get rid of the ugly stuff in there now. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a floor that I knew would be going away, and I didn’t want to put anything fancy in because it probably would need to be modified. I had originally intended to find a remnant, but by ordering a new piece we got exactly what we wanted for a design and I was also able to get it in the newer “floating vinyl” style.
This floating vinyl has a pad on the back of it which keeps it from warping at the edges. It also provides a bit of a cushion as you walk on it. The big benefit is that you don’t have to cover your floor with adhesive which is hard to take up later. Instead, you cut the vinyl to fit and then place a few strips of double sided tape down to hold it in place. It’s meant to float around a bit as the floor expands and contracts.
This is the first time I can remember installing vinyl so I’m sure I made a lot of mistakes, but I’m happy to report that it’s at least functional. I’m not happy with the line along the tub and the shower. I had to fill that with caulk to keep water from getting underneath, but it’s a pretty thick line of white against the brown vinyl and yellow tub. Bleh. It remains to be seen whether I will live with that until we tear it out, or if I’ll try to come up with something better.
Next up: adding a door.