6 Water-Resistant Flooring For A Laundry Room

Adding beautiful and yet durable flooring in your laundry room is a perfect idea. However, the disturbing question remains to be, “What is the best flooring for a laundry room?” Finding a perfect flooring for a laundry space has for long been a challenge due to its exposure to a wide range of damages, water, and moisture. Some of the sources of damages include stains from splattered bleach, mold growth on wet surfaces due to leaks on appliances, dents from heavy appliances, among others. Thus, your choice of laundry flooring should withstand all sorts of wear and tear and be water-resistant.

However, you shouldn’t worry, as the intricate work of evaluating all kinds of flooring materials is already simplified for you.  Here are some factors you should consider when choosing a laundry room flooring type.

Feature of a Good Laundry Room Flooring

1. Easy to clean-to reduce the maintenance cost.
2. Durable– to minimize the cost of repair and replacement of the flooring. The material you choose should serve you for a considerable period.
3. Moisture and water-resistant– should have a significantly low moisture and humidity absorption rate to minimize mold growth, swelling, and warping.
4. Stain-resistant– to resist the soaking of everyday stain spills and splatters.
5. Impact-resistant– to withstand denting and scratches from heavy foot traffic and movement of appliances.
6. Affordable– the type of flooring should be relatively cheap but of standard quality.
7. Visually appealing– to blend fantastically with the existing décor styles and designs.

Now we know what we are looking for. Based on the above factors, you can easily choose the best laundry room flooring.

Should you use the hardwood flooring, it will soak up due to water spills on its surface and warp as water is its worst enemy. Moreover, it may form gouges and splinters, all of which will inevitably cost you more. Bamboo is prone to scratches, pests’ damage, and wear from heavy foot traffic and dragging of the machine.

On the other hand, carpet nap readily absorbs dust and catches laundry lint. Moreover, carpets are not easy to clean off stains and may also turn hyper allergenic due to the accumulation of trapped dust and other dirt.

The Best Flooring for Laundry Room

1. Ceramic Tile

Ceramic tile is one of the cheapest flooring options and a darling for homeowners due to its versatility in use. The tiles offer a perfect material for water-prone areas such as bathrooms to the rest dry places of the house, such as the living room. Moreover, glazed ceramic floor tiles are more water-resistant and inhibit mold growth and microbial attachment on their surface.

The clay-based tiles are always customized using tinted grout between the tiles. You should scrub using abrasive agents such as baking soda to keep them clean.  If you are using unglazed tiles, you should use a penetrating tile sealant to have the qualities of the glazed ones. Also, you can use textured or heated tiles to retain warmth.

Despite the impeccable features of tiles, they are colder, noisy, and slicker than other flooring options. Therefore, it is advisable to clean any liquid spills promptly to minimize the possibility of slip and fall. Besides, you will have to put up with amplified sounds from washing machines.

2. Porcelain Tile flooring

The flooring material is a product of porcelain and some ceramic clay made under high temperatures. Like ceramic flooring, porcelain tiles have a smooth surface easy to clean off dust and dirt. They come in a myriad of colors, shapes, and sizes that will match your design and interior décor.

Unlike the ceramic tiles, the flooring is more water-resistant. Also, it is highly resistant to abrasion, scouring, pounding, scuffing, and can withstand the stress from heavy laundry appliances. In addition to that, the tiles have a relatively high stain resistance due to their significantly high water resistance.  Like ceramic tiles, the surface of porcelain tiles can pose a considerable risk of slipping and falling when wet. Thus, you should apply an anti-slip coating to counter the effect.

3. Luxury Vinyl Tile

Luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) is another flooring option that you can consider apart from the ceramic and porcelain tile flooring. It consists of ultra-fused layers of vinyl backing with high-tech 3-D printing to simulate some of the high-end flooring materials such as stone and wood. Moreover, the flooring incorporates the beauty of nature into your room space with its composite properties.

The synthetically made outer layer of the LVT makes the flooring water-resistant, stain-resistant, and scratch-resistant. The flooring can handle high moisture and humidity that is of much concern in the laundry room. The protective layer also helps to withstand heavy foot traffic in the laundry room and any possible pounding that can lead to denting.

When it comes to maintenance, you can easily clean luxury vinyl tile through dry dust cleaning. You can also use wet mopping with cleaning solutions such as detergents in water and occasional finishing using an acrylic sealer. With proper maintenance practices, luxury vinyl tiles can last for up to 30 years. Therefore, if you’ve ever thought of a thick, noise-proof, soft, and insulating flooring material, you got a perfect match. In addition to the benefits, you can install your luxury vinyl tiles on the existing flooring with ease if you are a DIY lover. When the tiles get damaged, you can easily replace them.

4. Sheet vinyl

It is the most cost-effective vinyl flooring. Unlike luxury vinyl tiles, sheet vinyl comes in large sheets, which you glue down on the laundry floor. Sheet vinyl is highly water-resistant, stain-resistant, and water-resistant. You only need to sweep or dry-mop to keep it clean. The flooring provides insulation against sound and cold, but it is prone to denting or tear from sharp gadgets that fall on its surface. When damaged, you should replace the entire sheet.

Unlike the luxury vinyl tile that can last from 10 years to 30 years, sheet vinyl can only last 5 to 20 years. If you are a DIY enthusiast, installing sheet vinyl flooring is never a walk in the park. It’s the most tedious task if done by one person. During installation, you should also take care not to tear off the flooring from the cut corners. Not to mention, sheet vinyl may contain volatile organic compounds (VOC).

5. Stone Flooring

Stone is one of the high-end natural tiles that give a room an executive finish. Even though the flooring is as old as the flooring culture, the current technology makes it fit the wider range of contemporary flooring ideas and designs that many homeowners cherish.

Stone tiles come in various shapes and sizes made of marble, travertine, limestone, among other types. The flooring material is resistant to denting, scouring, scuffing, and pricking with 20 years up to lifetime durability.

Due to the luxurious look and indestructibility, the market price for the precious material is on a rising trend. As a result, you will pay more for stone tiles than other flooring options, but their value will pay off by increasing your home resale value.

When it comes to maintenance practices, all you need is to dry-sweep and wet-mop the floor surface with an effective stone-specific cleaner of your choice. You’ll also need baking powder to scrub the floor surface, water to clean the surface, and a stone sealant to seal the pores and make the surface more water-resistant.

Like the ceramic and porcelain tile, the stone tile surface is cold, hard, and slippery. In light of this, you can install textured stone tiles or install an underfloor heating system to keep the laundry room warm.

6. Laminate flooring

The flooring is 100% synthetic. It has won the attention of many homeowners with its relatively low market price.  Laminate flooring is relatively water-resistant and can withstand abrasion, high foot traffic, and pounding, thus making it ideal even for public spaces.

It consists of a wear layer, printed paper layer, wood-based core, and backer paper. The printed paper appears similar to some real high-end flooring options, such as wood plank and stone. Thanks to the technology that has made the image nearly indiscriminate.

The protective layer serves to preserve the surface from denting and scratches. Since water is the worst enemy of the laminate flooring, you should avoid regular wet-mopping. Moreover, you should clean liquid spills as soon as they land on the floor surface.

At times, choosing the right flooring option for your laundry room may not be an easy task. More so when bogged down with the intricacies of flooring and interior décor. Thus, we made the above list of the flooring options to help you choose the best water-resistant flooring material for your laundry room.