Yes you can. Make sure you seal it very well. Buy extra matching wood in case there's ever water damage for patchwork.

My parents have this in their country home for over 20 years. They wipe up water right away, fix any water issues immediately, & re-seal it as needed. They painted the other wood bathroom floor white with oil kiltz & oil paint. It's holding up, too. They have to repaint it every so often.

If you plan on keeping anything damp on floor, wood is not suggested. Tile instead.

I wouldn't. One flooded toilet disaster or other plumbing mishap would be the end of those floors. Wood-look porcelain tile is pretty great these days and much nicer looking than laminate. However, if the adjacent flooring in the hallway or bedroom (whichever room abuts the bathroom) has real wood flooring, don't put the porcelain tile there. It'll look weird. In that case, I'd just go with a contrasting ceramic or stone tile.

I wouldn’t either, but if u must, then look into the ceramic tile that looks like wood..

I agree there are more suitable materials around water for floors, however it is possible.

Bathrooms are wet, moist places, so unless treated & sealed correctly, it's not suggested.

https://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/rooms-and-spaces/bathroom/a-wooden-floor-in-a-bathroom

I'd stick with a non-wood look tile, which will be more practical than real wood, and better looking than fake wood.

@StarCraft, oh sure it will dry out eventually. I'm just saying that wood for bath floors is not ideal, and if it was my client, I'd recommend against it.

Sabrina

À chacun son goût. If we worked on modern houses, I would probably recommend a ceramic tile floor over cementitious bakerboard, but we work primarily on heritage homes where wood was the norm.

I inherited wood floors in my bathroom. A small blop of something sat on the floor unnoticed for a couple of days (I think it was hair conditioner) and it ate the finish right off the wood.
If, unlike myself, you have no kids/you have time to inspect and clean the floors several times a day, you could do it, but it’s not working out so well here.

We inherited them as well in our master. We have lived with them for 15+ years, and they still look great. Our bathroom is well ventilated, and we do not live in a humid climate. I love them - warm and soft on the feet!

Our home had wood floors throughout the downstairs including kitchen, powder room, and master bath when we moved in 20 years ago. I find the wood to be a little more work (being on guard for spills, dogs dribbling water, a melting ice cube, etc), in the kitchen rather than the baths. We remodeled the whole downstairs over the last few years and kept the wood. We like the warmth underfoot.

A couple of things to do in the bathroom if you decide on wood is to have your shower door swing both inward and outward, have a good exhaust fan on a timer, dry off inside the shower, and have a thick mat to step on.

We've had damage in the kitchen due to a dishwasher leak, damage in the formals due to upstairs plumbing leak and a roof leak. Those things can happen in any room. In our experience the bathroom is no different. You could have issues or not. In our home we've been happy with them.

We put wood by the door that goes to the pool and the kids get it really wet a lot all of the time and it has taken a slight discoloration there.

If your stepping out of the shower every day (or twice a day) with wet feet, I think over time it could darken even if your wiping it up soon after. If your stepping on to a dry towel and pick it up immediately after or if you dry off before getting out of the shower I think you would be ok. We do a lot of guest bathrooms all the time. Master baths less often.

We have had hard wood floors in a master bath right up to the tub and to the shower for more than 20 years. We have always used both a rug and a shower towel when we use the bath and the water does not really stray outside of that regardless of the shower door swinging out. There are many places to get oversized bath rugs that prevent the water from going everywhere. We had one leak in the shower valve in the wall which caused a small section of the wood floor to buckle with the wood a few years back. We let it dry out as we ripped out the shower to replace all the tiles and get to the subfloor (this can happen regardless of the main floor) and then we had a small section that was affected removed and repaired. The entire floor was then sanded and refininshed and it's been fine since that point. Still much cheaper and way less dust and mess than having to rip out all of the floor had it been tile because there's no way to match. You can match the wood. Getting ready to work on two of the 1950's bathrooms with chipped tile in floor and on walls from normal wear and tear. There's no way to match or repair it. So we are looking at putting it back with wood floors to match the original floors and then just tile in the shower/tub as these are secondary bathrooms.

How many kitchens have wood floors? Depending, a kitchen could have more plumbed potential leaking opportunities than a bathroom... Fridge, Sink, dishwasher, prep sink... Also, who uses water to clean their wood floors? 4 coats poly and I doubt that floor will have water penetrate from above. Additionally, why would you NOT want to know if you have a leaking plumbing issue? We have replaced so many tile floors and showers from plumbing leaks that were not discovered until the subfloor started to bow, showing rot/mold. A wood floor would reveal this much faster, allowing you to maintain your home better.

Which btw insurance doesn't cover long term repairs of mold, they cover a single one time occurrence.

@Triad Home Improvements, original post goes back to 2018, ure it has all been resolved by now.

@millworkman - yeah, but it was still fun to read the whole conversation.