Can I Have a Wooden Floor in My Bathroom and Kitchen ?

Of Course You Can.

The End

I love straightforward simple answers, but it does tend to make my posts a little short, so again, I’ll have to explain myself. I read lots of articles from lots of experts saying things like ‘We don’t recommend wood floors for use in bathrooms or Kitchens’ etc etc’. The annoying thing is that I’m not able to write to these companies giving them my opinion, because I know I would fall foul of some law or other regarding human rights, verbal abuse, or even worse. So I’m going to avoid sounding like Victor Meldrew, and answer in a quiet professional dignified and imperturbable manner. 

Nope. I can’t do it. 

I mean, for the love of anything that’s remotely sane in the universe, the cosmos and even the sprit world, who was the first human being to claim that you cant have a wooden floor in a kitchen. I’ll deal with the bathroom in a minute when I’ve built up enough venom. Do you ever remember playing in the garden when you were 5 years old when suddenly the heavens opened and your mother told you to come inside. Did you ever remember her once saying ‘Quick Johnny, grab the trees and bring them inside before they get soaking wet’. Did you ? Or did you ever hear her scream at your dad to tell him to bring the decking in because it was drizzling, and she didn’t want it to get ruined. No of course not. And I don’t recall anybody ever dismantling Brighton pier either when it started to chuck it down.

And the bathroom.? Well, I can see lots of experts reading this thinking ‘This guy is a prize idiot who doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Let’s see what he has to say about the moisture problems in a bathroom. Ha ha ha. That’ll stump him’. Again, I’d like to answer in a quiet professional dignified and imperturbable manner. 

Nope. I still can’t do it. 

But let me put it this way. If you buy yourself a little yacht, take it out to sea, and steer it straight into an ice berg, chances are, it’s going to sink. And it won’t matter what it’s made out of. So you have special radar equipment installed to make sure you don’t hit anything. It costs a fortune but you do it, because you love your yacht. Or, try buying a classic Ferrari and leave it sitting in your garage for 10 years without driving it or starting the engine, and see what happens to it. I assure you it won’t start, and even if it did start, it wouldn’t drive because everything will have seized. 

Well it’s the same thing with wood. You have to take some care, and is it really too much to ventilate your bathroom to stop moisture rotting everything? Of course it’s not. It really is just about caring about your home, and following some simple procedures. I always recommend the purchase of a ‘Relative Air Humidity Meter’ which can be bought very cheaply. This will tell you if you have too much moisture in your bathroom. But let me assure you that moisture will rot anything and everything in your bathroom if it’s not been properly sealed, and or ventilated, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s stone, tile, wood or kryptonite.

Wood flooring in a bathroom is a lifestyle choice, and for those of you looking for a luxury floor covering and love the natural beauty of wood, then keeping your bathroom ventilated is only a small price to pay.