Hardwood flooring in bathroom

[The Chairman]

Hi everyone,

We are remodeling our bathroom and have decided to put hardwood down on the floor instead of tile. I have some question about doing this, and though that I could get some answers here.

1) Is it recommended that we put some sort of waterproofing (ie Latikrete (sp?)) underneath it, or is it better to just have the plywood subfloor underneath so it can breathe?

2) I would like to get a prefinished wood to install. I have heard that there is acrylic impregnated wood flooring out there. Should I get that?

3) What types of wood are recommended for a bathroom application? The rest of the house has Doug Fir, but I think this is too soft for a bathroom.

4) Anything else I should know?

Thanks for your replies!

Ryan

[Rob-J]

I know I would never install hardwood in a bathroom. The flooring will eventually buckle and warp from moisture. If anything, I would install a laminate, less chance for msoiture penetration.

[Joseph Meehan]

I would go with Rob on this. If you want the hardwood look, go with laminate. Get a laminate designed for it and properly installed for it.

[Shrek]

I put HW floors in a bathroom I added in the attic space which serves as the guest bedroom/home office bathroom. Since its not used that much for showers and such, the flooring looks as new 2day (2 years latter) than it did when I installed it. I just red oak flooring and finished it a oil ased poly finish.

The Chairman wrote:

[Tom Baker]

I have long leaf "heart" pine wood floors in two bathrooms that have been indaily use for 26 years. One floor was refinished two years ago and the other is scheduled to be refinished. Tom Baker

[SQLit]

Have you looked at the tile that looks like wood flooring? That is what I installed.