This post may contain references or links to products from one or more partners of our parent company and/or subsidiaries of our parent company. For more information, visit this page.
May 6, 2022
It’s a serious question: can vinyl plank flooring go in a bathroom?
We hear you, we have your back, and we’re not wasting any time! Below we’re explaining all the pros and cons of using LVP in a bathroom, going over a few of the best vinyl plank flooring brands, and to wrap things up, answering any and all lingering questions!
Let’s begin!
Table of Contents
Let’s start by answering that question: can vinyl plank flooring go in a bathroom? Absolutely.
But there are a lot of factors to consider—so let’s start by going over the basics of vinyl plank, bathroom flooring, and so forth.
Vinyl plank, or LVP (the L stands for luxury), is a type of synthetic flooring that can mimic the look and feel of just about any other hard-surface floor. In fact, the best LVP brands make products that are nearly indistinguishable from real hardwood and tile.
LVP is primarily made of flexible PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and coated with a chemical top layer that makes it super durable and classifies it as scratch-resistant flooring. However, an enhanced version of the floor—sometimes called EVP flooring—trades this flexible core for a rigid option that makes it some of the most durable flooring around.
That said, even flexible LVP is pretty darn durable.
Vinyl plank flooring also comes in a tile format, aka LVT.
In terms of composition, the two floors are identical. However, LVT is made to look like porcelain or stone tile, while LVP is a fake hardwood flooring choice.
This versatile appearance makes LVP a great substitute for any hardwood species—it can mimic any and all wood floor colors, wood floor designs, and so on. Even to the trained eye, fake-wood LVP generally looks just like prefinished hardwood flooring.
The same is true for just about any type of tile—LVT can mimic them all!
If you’ve only had meh experiences with PVC flooring before, there’s a good chance that you might be thinking of your parents’ or grandparents’ sheet vinyl flooring.
Sheet vinyl is made from a single, thin layer of PVC that’s rolled out and glued to a subfloor, while LVP is made from several layers and comes in planks. On the one hand, sheet vinyl tends to be super affordable. But what it makes up for in savings, it loses in durability and quality.
LVP, on the other hand, is still relatively affordable but it’s also far superior in terms of hardiness, style options, and longevity. Of the two, LVP is definitely the best vinyl flooring.
Switching gears, let’s talk about bathroom flooring.
Many types of flooring can be installed in a bathroom, but only a few check all the boxes. Since bathrooms are arguably the wettest rooms in the home, buying floors with excellent water resistance is a given. Waterproof flooring options are even better.
While wood floors are gorgeous, even the best hardwood floors tend to offer only mild water resistance. This might be acceptable in a living room, or maybe even a not-very-busy kitchen, but bathrooms tend to be pretty unforgiving when it comes to moisture (think: shower steam, wet feet, etc.).
Some of the best engineered wood flooring brands make waterproof hardwood flooring that performs much better in this kind of environment, but it’s still an uphill battle.
In short, floors that can survive excessive moisture are key for bathrooms. So, can vinyl plank flooring go in a bathroom…?
Once again, vinyl plank flooring is inherently waterproof so it’s a fantastic choice for bathrooms! It’s also some of the best flooring for kitchens and mudroom flooring, too.
We don’t expect you to take us at face value, so here are all the reasons vinyl plank (and tile) can go in a bathroom! Better yet, we’re also going to explain a few of the key problems with LVT/P to help you decide if this is the right flooring for you.
If you’ve always wanted a wood floor bathroom, vinyl plank flooring is probably the best overall way to achieve it.
Like most hardwood floor alternatives, high-quality LVP can be had for as little as $4 per square foot. This alone is enough to deter some from buying a hardwood floor as the cost of wood flooring can easily double the cost of LVP.
This also applies to the cost to install vinyl plank flooring (around $1 to $6 per square foot), which is much lower than the cost to install engineered hardwood floors (around $4 to $8 per square foot).
Of course, not all LVP products are budget-friendly, and COREtec flooring is a good example. While COREtec is certainly a premium option (see our COREtec flooring reviews), its price ranges from $5 to $10 per square foot, or what you might expect to pay for good hardwood.
In terms of maintenance and cleaning, LVP might be the best flooring period. Aside from a few lower-budget options, vinyl plank flooring is super easy to clean and doesn’t require any special maintenance. For bathrooms, that’s nice.
Bathrooms are often an area of focus when people clean their homes, so having floors that make the job easier is very welcome. Have you ever had to clean grout between tiles? It’s a nightmare.
And speaking of tile, it gets cold.
Walking barefoot over ceramic tile during colder months is like walking over ice—which really ruins a relaxing, hot shower. Some types of tile are immune to this, but with vinyl plank flooring, it’s not really a concern.
Bonus: for extra comfort, WPC flooring (a type of LVP) has an almost springy feel to it.
Another thing LVP does better than tile: slip resistance.
Now, some tiles are textured in a way that makes slipping a non-issue. But ordinary ceramic tiles can get pretty slippery when wet, which isn’t ideal in a room where being wet is kind of the whole point (well, when bathing, anyway).
Vinyl plank flooring doesn’t get as slippery as ceramic tile, so it makes sense to put it in a bathroom.
Let’s add just one more knock against tile (we swear we do like tile!): vinyl plank is quieter.
Super-hard surfaces like tile bounce sounds rather than absorb them. If you have a small bathroom, every little noise is going to sound like an air raid siren (which a sleeping partner won’t enjoy). Vinyl plank is slightly softer in composition, so it absorbs sounds better than tile does.
The keyword here is “better”, though. Nothing absorbs sounds as well as carpet or cork, but neither of these is fit for bathroom flooring. So, LVP is kind of the best option in this regard.
We’ve mentioned this before, but we feel this is an important point to bring home: many types of floors can’t get wet.
Even the most durable wood flooring is liable to warp, crack, and explode (well, kinda) with too much moisture. This is probably why many of the best hardwood floor brands also make LVP; they don’t want to miss out on selling bathroom flooring. Other types of floors that can’t get wet: the best cork flooring, ordinary laminate flooring, and nearly all linoleum flooring.
LVP’s biggest advantage is that it can get wet. But, LVP can also mimic the look of other floors, so it’s sort of a best-of-both-worlds scenario.
Not everything about LVP is ideal. For one, glue-down vinyl plank flooring is absolutely horrendous to remove. To be fair, this type of LVP is perfectly fine in the meantime, but the installation and removal process is a pain.
The good news is that even mediocre glue-down vinyl plank flooring should last at least a decade.
Let’s first state that high-end LVP, like most types of rigid core luxury vinyl flooring, is supremely durable.
However, it’s worth noting that cheap LVP can be really, really bad. We’ve heard so many horror stories of homeowners buying low-end LVP for a seemingly great deal, only for their floors to start popping up months after installation. Not decades. Not years. Months.
As such, it’s exceedingly important that you invest in quality vinyl plank floor brands.
This has almost everything to do with low-quality wear layers. To cut costs, some brands don’t include UV protection in their products’ wear layers, so even a limited amount of sun exposure will start to discolor their floors.
High-end vinyl brands account for this (or at least offer some protection), but it’s safe to say cheap vinyl isn’t a good choice for sunroom flooring, outdoor vinyl flooring, or bathrooms with a lot of windows (which seems kind of weird anyway).
Vinyl plank flooring is lovely, but a lot of homebuyers don’t see it in the same way as they see hardwood floors—even if hardwood doesn’t make sense for a bathroom.
To be fair, LVP shouldn’t harm your home’s value, but it probably won’t help it either (unless you buy low-quality LVP).
PVC doesn’t exactly make for eco-friendly flooring; it’s essentially plastic, after all. Normally, we’d suggest something like sustainable wood or hemp flooring if buying green is important to you, but since wood is essentially off-limits for bathrooms, we’ll suggest wood-look tile instead.
That said, many LVP brands are incorporating more and more sustainable practices into their manufacturing processes (including material sourcing). Better yet, most modern LVP products are partially or fully recyclable. We’ll talk about the best recyclable brands in a minute.
One of the biggest disadvantages of vinyl plank flooring has nothing to do with the can LVP go in a bathroom question. Rather, it has to do with the floors’ concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These chemicals are known to be harmful to people and pets, especially with prolonged exposure.
Nearly all types of flooring contain VOCs, even hardwood (naturally-occurring formaldehyde is considered a VOC)—but LVP can have a higher concentration than most other floors.
The good news is that low-VOC vinyl flooring is essentially the norm nowadays, and there are even zero-VOC products hitting the market.
As a general note: if you believe you or your family are sensitive to such things, we strongly recommend buying no- or low-VOC flooring.
We know that vinyl plank flooring can go in a bathroom—but which brands are the best? Here’s a brief list of great vinyl plank brands that make equally-great bathroom flooring.
Proximity Mills makes 11 collections of mostly wood-look LVP, all of which are perfectly content as bathroom flooring. The brand is known for making extremely high-performance floors at surprisingly affordable rates (check out our Proximity Mills review here!). Plus, they’re all recyclable, low-VOC, and some are even zero-VOC.
You might know Pergo (which is owned by Mohawk) as the laminate flooring brand; however, their Pergo Extreme line of LVP is pretty solid too. In our Pergo Extreme reviews, we called the floor a good investment with plenty of great customer reviews, too.
Newton is a brand that specializes in making high-quality flooring at lower price points in line with what you’d expect to find from a big box store brand, like LifeProof flooring, SmartCore flooring, or NuCore flooring. The best thing about Newton flooring is that it really punches above its weight class; there are better floors on the market, but you’ll have to pay a lot more for them.
Shaw is an esteemed flooring company (one of the largest, in fact) that’s been around for the better part of 100 years. Shaw vinyl plank flooring like Floorté, their flagship line, is a little on the pricey side but offers high-quality LVP nonetheless.
Doma is a flooring company that’s well-known for making some of the most stylish and fashion-forward LVP floors around. As you’ll see in our Doma flooring review, we’ve found their vinyl plank products to be particularly impressive (though they offer some great hardwoods and carpets as well).
Before we wrap up, let’s go over a few vinyl plank bathroom flooring FAQs. We know vinyl flooring can go in a bathroom, but we’re sure you have other questions, too!
Without a doubt, vinyl plank or tile is the superior choice. Sheet vinyl is the only major choice for residences, and it simply doesn’t offer the same level of quality or style options that LVP/T offers.
Nearly all vinyl flooring is waterproof. However, low-end brands sometimes make products that fair poorly in excessively wet or humid conditions. Even mid-quality products tend to avert this issue, though.
Since most LVP is fully waterproof, let’s look at hardwood instead.
Water-resistant wood flooring, like teak flooring, can handle splashes and light spills for a certain amount of time (maybe 15 to 30 minutes, for example) before it needs to be completely dried.
Waterproof hardwood flooring can handle more water for a significantly longer period of time, and air-drying small amounts of water is probably okay. Now, we should say that no flooring on the planet (maybe except for tile) can survive water indefinitely, but for all practical reasons, these floors are essentially waterproof.
In other words, the difference basically comes down to how long the floor can withstand exposure to liquids.
Ordinary laminate, most types of wood flooring (including cork), and most types of carpet are really bad choices for bathroom flooring. Laminate and hardwood will warp after being exposed to water while carpet traps moisture within its fibers, possibly creating health hazards (like mold).
Classic linoleum is a similarly bad choice.
Vinyl plank flooring is already waterproof. When a company manufactures vinyl flooring, that protection is built-in.
There’s no reason you can’t install vinyl plank under a toilet. The only thing to keep in mind is that if a toilet isn’t perfectly flush (see what we did there?) with the surrounding floor, it could wobble. And a wobbling toilet is not something you want.
You can install vinyl plank flooring underneath a bathroom vanity (unless the manufacturer advises against this, for warranty reasons).
But, generally speaking, bathroom vanities can be installed directly over the subfloor, so covering the area with flooring first seems like unnecessary work.
With few exceptions, vinyl flooring underlayments (aka moisture barriers) are required. Before you groan at the extra expense, know that many brands include an underlayment with their floors. And for the brands that don’t, most underlayments cost less than a dollar per square foot.
Yes. While it’s generally unlikely, liquids can find their way through the seams between vinyl planks. If you have a wood subfloor (what is subflooring, anyway?), you now have the two key ingredients to support mold: moisture and cellulose (which is in wood). And if water can get through, so can air (the last ingredient).
Treatment for mold isn’t cheap and it’s definitely not fun. And leaving mold to grow can severely impact your health.
It’s not likely for water to seep its way under properly-installed vinyl flooring, but as we hinted at above, it can find its way through a floating vinyl plank floor if the seams have been compromised.
Now, most click-together flooring is designed in a way that prevents water from penetrating it. But one of the disadvantages of floating floors is that low-quality options may have flimsy seals. As such, it’s important to clean up spills even if the floor itself isn’t likely to be damaged.
Why? Because even if the floor is waterproof, your subflooring probably isn’t. And aside from mold, water can absolutely ruin the “bones of your home”. Over time, it can warp subflooring, dissolve insulation, and more. So, again, be sure to clean up spills and standing water even if the floor is designed to handle it!
Bonus: this is why even the best carpet brands should be avoided for bathroom flooring. While many modern carpets are waterproof or water-resistant, water can penetrate through the fibers and saturate the subflooring.
Well, considering LVP is most often used as a substitute for hardwood, we’ll look at this in terms of replicating wood floor patterns.
Direction-wise, it really depends on your preference; many schools of thought surround this. That said, LVP that mimics wide-plank wood flooring can make a small bathroom appear bigger.
Yes! Waterproof laminate flooring options like Mohawk’s RevWood and Floor & Decor’s AquaGuard flooring offer similar performance to LVP. The best laminate flooring arguably offers better textures and designs compared to LVP, too; however, like all floors, laminate flooring has pros and cons.
Concrete flooring that looks like wood is also an option!
We’ll ask one more time, can vinyl plank flooring go in a bathroom? Absolutely! In fact, it might just be the best flooring for a bathroom!
Of course, like any type of flooring, it pays to buy products from the most reputable vinyl plank brands—and 9 times out of 10, those brands are not found at your nearby Home Depot or Lowes. No, the best vinyl flooring is going to come from your local flooring stores who actually employ real flooring experts and installers.
If you go through a big box store, you’re going to have a mediocre experience at best. These places want to get you in and out as quickly as possible, and their product selection tends to be much more general.
Local stores, on the other hand, are solid. Here you can expect the help of someone who knows what their talking about and has the product selection to fit your bathroom flooring needs perfectly!
And with say that’s the end of it! We hope this guide helps you find the best vinyl plank flooring to go in your bathroom, and if not, maybe some of the flooring ideas below will serve you better? Cheers!
This post may contain references or links to products from one or more partners of our parent company and/or subsidiaries of our parent company. For more information, visit this page. May 5, 2022 Want to give your laundry room an upgrade and looking for the best laundry room flooring? You’re in the right place! Laundry rooms […]
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