You could probably find a nice threshold to put in where the floor transitions. We have a room that is nearly 1/2 inch lower then the rest of the house :-S. Id' rather there was no difference but the threshold works fine. You don't really notice the transition. I can't speak to the laminate. But there are dozens of wood look tiles out there that are really amazing. I saw one that was plank sized and texture to look like wood but glazed to look like painted wood. It was so beautiful and yet casual. I think you can put just about anything in your bathroom and it will be fine. We have actual wood in two of our bathrooms and I like that, too.

I have seen some really beautiful "luxury vinyl planks" (look at home depot, lowes, floor & decor, etc) that look like wood. In fact, I like the look better than my wood porcelain I am putting in (because we wanted heated floors). I would definitely do the entire space in that- totally waterproof.

I second wood look vinyl planks or ceramic look vinyl tile.

Lotteryticket,

Thanks for sharing your experience! Now if the transition isn't gonna be that obvious and I just need to get used to it, I may go for tiles (now just need to decide wood look or travertine look :P)...

adh673 & palimpsest,

Yes I saw those gorgeous looking vinyl planks and groutable tiles at HD too. I am just not sure if water can sip through eventually, esp. I have wood subfloor that I'm more concerned. Is there a way that we can waterproof the wood subfloor before laying these tiles on top? And I kinda feel like the groutable vinyl tiles are more secure?

So yeah... hopefully I'll see more posts here. This is a tough decision for me :)

I have porcelain tile in my kitchen and hardwood in my hallway. Between the two is a speed bump, aka a transition strip. Don't like the way it looks or stepping on it or over it.

We put Armstrong Alterna LVT in a guest bath to avoid the strip. I didn't want people stubbing toes in the night. You might get away with no transition strip between the two if the bedrooms have thick carpet. A few weeks after we finished the bath, our upstairs washer overflowed, and the pile of our new, thicker carpet covered the edge of our LVT. We didn't need the metal strip that was on it before the overflow. So thick carpet might work with porcelain tile too.

The LVT is grouted and waterproof. It's 18 x 18" and looks close to real porcelain tile, but we have a light color with little variation.

may_flowers,

Hmm...the drastic difference in height between the 2 flooring is not what I want. But at the same time, I was guessing tiles are more durable in the bathroom? Also I suspect my carpet isn't thick enough to make it the level :(

About the LVT that you're using in the bathroom, when your washer overflowed, was your vinyl tile floor fine? Also did you use any moisture barrier below the vinyl tiles? I am mostly worried because even the tiles themselves are waterproof, water can somehow seep thru to the wood subfloor. This is not a one piece sheet vinyl afterall, that's why I'm worried. But I do like the choices and look of the vinyl tiles ( and I do prefer the groutable vinyl tiles than the floating ones too :) ) I will take a look at the brand you purchased!

I love the look of the look of the vinyl wood floors but couldnâÂÂt do it. Previous owners tiled over existing tile in the living areas (a lot of space). So, when it came to the master bath we could not do vinyl due to the drastic height difference and then problems with bedroom to hall height. In the end we decided to do the whole master bedroom and master bath with porcelain wood look planks. To me the trick to make them look nice is to go with rectified for the thinnest grout line and pick the darkest grout possible to match. Some people use a lighter grout and I donâÂÂt understand that reasoning for a wood look tile, then it just looks like cheesy tile.

They took up our old sheet vinyl, but you can lay vinyl tile over sheet, so I guess it would be a moisture barrier. LVT uses a special grout which I believe is an epoxy type. We caulked between floor and baseboard molding and used waterproof baseboard. So no water is getting to the subfloor. Our washer overflow didn't reach the bathroom.

Thanks jterrilynn & may_flowers for sharing your experience!

Over the labor day weekend I went to look at the water proof laminate flooring suggested by the contractor. The brand is called inovar. The store has a piece of the flooring there under a faucet to display how waterproof it is. The laminate flooring is AC5 rating (the highest rating?) and is 12mm thick. It seems like it is good quality and highly water resistant, but I don't think it's waterproof. The salesgirl told us the flooring can be used in bathrooms. When I went home I did more research, I think as long as we caulked and sealed ALL the floor joints, it is fine. However I am still a bit skeptical...

Yes another choice is Vinyl Plank flooring. I do like the wood look. But I read the Trafficmaster Allure Ultra reviews, it seems like the vinyl planks have mixed reviews, and some complained the floor scratched easily and will pop up after some time (that's what I am scared of, esp when the floor is in the bathroom).

The groutable vinyl tiles seem to be better than floating planks. But then I read that I can't put underlayment under glued down vinyl tiles to protect the wood subfloor...

Last but not least ,the real porcelain tiles. This seems to be the most durable and waterproof. But I am concerned of the height difference and the time used to renovate the bathroom. Will it take a lot longer to finish the bathroom if we go this route? This is the main bathroom in our house so I don't want to have to wait for too long for it to finish...

Oh well... there're just so much to consider...

Look at using the Kerdi brand Ditra product as an underlayment instead of cement board. It will provide less height to the transition, as well as waterproofing. You will need to know your joist span, depth, and length in order to determine your floor's deflection. Large format tile needs an extremely stiff floor. Which is one reason for the popularity of the hex tiles ad windmill patterns of old bathrooms. Smaller tiles can handle a less rigid floor better thanlarge ones.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ditra

Re vinyl scratching and tiles popping up--remember with reviews that these tiles are laid everywhere, not just bathrooms. I have no doubt they'll scratch when a 200 lb. person pushes themselves away from the kitchen table. If you walk in your BR with gravel embedded in your tennis shoes, they'll scratch. I also think that some of the popping up problem is due to DIYers not laying them right--I remember reading a lot about basement tile failing because of dampness already in the subfloor. It's a popular flooring material for DIYers, so you'll hear of more things that went wrong. Even some tilers don't know how to lay them. I read all the install material and it said to let the adhesive set for 30 minutes before installing the tile and not use fans. My tiler brought a fan in and I had to point it out in the instructions.

I think we had to stay off our porcelain tile two or three days, and it was 48 hours for the vinyl tile.

You seem overly concerned about water getting through the tiles or grout. Unless you have a flood, I don't see how that could happen if everything is caulked and grouted. Daily water dripping isn't going to harm your floor. Maybe for your own peace of mind you should install a flood sensor that turns off the water when it detects a leak.

My sister and her husband just put in a LVT with grout in their kitchen and it is stunning. It is a stone look. They had it professionally done and I don't know the brand name. The surface height matches their hardwood floor in the dinning room very nicely. Of course there is some sort of transition but it is probably 1/4" or less.

In my bathroom I probably have a 1/2 or so transition in all the doorways. My marble thresholds with beveled edges and contrasting color are a non issue for me. No one has tripped. I have looked at tons of thresholds over the last few years and most have this elevation change - motels, college dorms, etc.

edited to state:
I think if the elevation change happened in the center of a walkway or middle of a room that would be dangerous. But at a doorway, I think the framing gives a cue that there is change and we move accordingly into the new space, without even being aware, IMO. There is probably research to back this comment up, or discredit it :)

This post was edited by enduring on Sun, Sep 7, 14 at 10:43

hollysprings,

Thanks for your suggestion and information! Ditra seems to be a great product for the bathroom flooring, just a bit pricey. I found a similar but cheaper product called Durock tile membrane and am looking into it right now (it has good reviews on Amazon too). These products not only helps with the flooring height transition, the cure time before we can start tiling is shorter. So I'm seriously thinking to use this.

may_flowers,

I do think that the groutable LVT should be fine but not the vinyl planks? Also my husband somehow doesn't like the vinyl planks. He prefers the inovar laminate flooring we looked at. But yes I am still a bit concerned about vinyl tiles/ planks in the bathroom, although I've to say that they look really good and seems to be faster to install.

enduring,

Yes I love the LVT stone look too! But it seems like my husband is not overly excited about using vinyl products now. So it seems like either highly water resistant laminate or porcelain tiles now. For tiles, if the tile membrane works, I think the height may not be a big problem. And I agree with you, the height difference at the door way is better, I think I can get used to it anyways. Now I just hope that the tile installation process can really be shortened with the use of tile membrane.

Another consideration is the floor temp. A tile floor will be cold. With vinyl I don't think the temp will be as problematic. With ceramic tile it might be uncomfortable, though people have managed forever in the past. If floor heating would be desired it will take up another 1/4 or so of floor height.