Laundry Room Flooring

Dover Flooring Blog

January 17th, 2015

Best Types of Flooring for Laundry Rooms......

Okay. This week we'll talk about which types of flooring will perform best in the laundry room or mud room areas.

Of course most laundry rooms and mud rooms can be areas of high wear and high moisture. Mud rooms will get the wear and tear of people traipsing in from the garage with all kinds of foreign matter on the bottoms of their shoes. Sand, grit, oily residue and all manner of contaminants. This can cause much damage to any existing floor in this area. So we would need a floor that can stand up to abrasives and high wear. Also, when coming in from outside, we can bring in water or snow depending upon the season. So this floor must be able to accept high moisture without being ruined.

Some of the best types of flooring to be used under these conditions are: ceramic tile, vinyl flooring, laminate flooring (some limitations apply) and even hardwood (probably not the best choice).

Let's take them one at a time shall we?

1. Ceramic tile: Probably the best choice. It's durable, high wearing, extremely long lasting and almost (and I said almost) indestructible. It is impervious to water, hard to scratch, won't gouge and really won't wear down either. Ceramic tile is meant to be a permanent floor. Some ceramic floors in the middle east are thousands of years old! The weakness in a ceramic floor is mainly in the grouted area. With enhancements to the grouting systems this is really no longer a weak link. Epoxy grouts resists stains and water unlike standard grouts. There are also some newer grouting systems that are easier and cheaper to use than epoxy grouts. Also, ceramic tile can chip or crack if something heavy or sharp is dropped on them. Pricing can be prohibitive too. But all in all a great choice for mud rooms.

2. Vinyl flooring: The absolute best flooring for water resistance. Because vinyl sheetflooring is one solid sheet of flooring, no water will penetrate of get through the wear layer on a vinyl floor. So spill all the water on it you like because water is really no issue (now too much water can travel to the outer edges of the room and creep up under the shoe molding and penetrate into the sub flooring below which will cause issues but you would need lots of water standing for a long time for this to happen). Most new vinyl flooring is very scuff, tear and gouge resistant unlike the old vinyl flooring momma used to have. Vinyl flooring is not as tough as ceramic tile but pretty darn tough anyways. Plus, vinyl flooring will not last as long as ceramic tile but will still last for 10, 20,30 and even 40 or more years which is plenty enough for most people. Pricing is better than ceramic tile and lots of new technology in styling will give you great visuals.

3. Laminate flooring: Hard, durable, somewhat water resistant and installer friendly. Laminateflooring can take a hard hammer blow and not indent (unlike hardwood which will indent or vinyl flooring which will show the dent from the sub floor underneath or ceramic tile for that matter which will crack or shatter) but if you were to drag something sharp over the surface it will scratch. Lots of flooring salespeople will tell you that laminate flooring is almost indestructible but that just isn't the case. Laminate flooring is resistant to scratching but it will still scratch and once scratched it really can't be fixed but must be replaced at that point. The wear layer on good quality laminate flooring will last a long time (unlike cheap grades of laminate flooring). Water can also be an issue with laminate floors. They can take light water but heavy water can start to work through the sides of the boards causing swelling, warping and peaking of seams. Wood and water don't mix and laminates are made with wood byproducts. Laminate floors can be installed easily by most homeowners and easier still by professional flooring contractors.

4. Hardwood flooring: not the best choice for areas with high wear and moisture but can beserviceable if maintained correctly. Walk off mats are essential for this area. Taking off your shoes before entering the wood area itself is best. No water or very low water is also best. So if you take off your shoes, wipe your feet on the mat and keep the floor clean, wood flooring can be used here (in mud rooms not laundry rooms).

Flooring for laundry rooms is similar when it comes to flooring choices. Everything written above will apply to laundry rooms except hardwood flooring. Hardwood floors really should never be used in a laundry room because of the potential for flooding from an over flowing washing machine. This risk is not important for mud rooms but as you can imagine is critical for laundry rooms. An overflowing washing machine or laundry tub will just ruin a hardwood floor (probably a laminate floor too). So, no hardwood or laminate flooring for laundry rooms. Vinyl flooring is probably the best choice followed up with ceramic tile.

The newest hot trend in flooring is vinyl plank flooring which can be used in these areas. While it is impervious to water it does have joints between each individual plank that can allow access for water if left standing long enough. Like peel and stick tiles. They have joints every 12 inches and water can seep into them. Vinyl plank flooring is in essence just vinyl tile that is shaped differently. Instead of 12" squares they are shaped into planks (yes I know the composition of the planking is different but I said "in essence" they are the same).

And leave the rubber flooring for the gym, ok?