Laundry room floor question

Hi,

We are thinking about putting down vinyl flooring in our laundry room. I asked the sales person at a store what she suggested for laundry rooms and she said vinyl works well.

Right now the laundry room is concrete on the floor. So I guess they will just glue it down.

We like the way it looks in the sample. Just wanted to see if there is any reason to not use vinyl flooring over concrete.

Thanks in advance, Steve

Reply to
szeik
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It's perfectly fine over concrete and for a laundry floor. The other good choice is ceramic tile.

Reply to
trader_4

I'd avoid the tile. [I've got too many bad experiences with tile 'slightly' dissovling around our laundry room chemicals, like bleach. I've lost formica, too] I'd go for the very robust epoxy flooring coating. You can paint a pattern, leave solid, lot of options. But in the end the surface is likely to stay there.

Reply to
RobertMacy

Steve:

I wouldn't put down sheet vinyl flooring. It's slippery when wet and, depending on the kind of backing, it can be soft and may tear if you need to move the washer or dryer over it for repairs. There are thousands of accounts on the Internet of people tearing their kitchen sheet vinyl flooring as a result of moving their fridge over it. Flooring manufacturers recommend sliding plywood under the fridge first and then sliding the fridge over the plywood, but you might not have room to do that in a laundry room.

If you're intent on vinyl, then go with a true linoleum like Marmoleum or Congoleum, which are very much stronger and less prone to tearing than a relatively soft sheet vinyl. Also, an inherent problem with sheet vinyl is that if water ever gets under that sheet vinyl, and mildew starts to grow in that wet area, it will discolour a purplish brown the same way you often see around toilet bowls in bathrooms with sheet vinyl flooring.

I wouldn't opt for a painted floor either because it can be dangerously slippery when wet.

If it were my house, I would go with a synthetic rubber flooring here. That will give you a look somewhat similar to sheet vinyl, but in a very much stronger and more durable material. Johnsonite is the biggest name in synthetic rubber flooring, and they make textured synthetic rubber tiles in a wide variety of colours and quite a few different textures. The rubber is 1/8 inch thick and comes in 2 foot square tiles which are glued down to the concrete. And, of course, rubber will stand up to the pounding of an out of balance washing machine dancing all over the floor much better than a sheet vinyl will. Synthetic rubber flooring is very durable, but it's also quite expensive. However, laundry rooms tend to be small in area, so the cost difference of opting for synthetic rubber shouldn't be significant. Finally, synthetic rubber is inherently slip resistant even when wet. And, rubber on rubber has a very high co-efficient of friction, so walking on textured synthetic rubber flooring with sneakers on is safe, even if the floor is wet.

'Roundel Solid Color Rubber Tile'

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Johnsonite synthetic rubber floor tiles can be ordered in any of these hundred or so colours:

'Johnsonite > Flooring Products > Rubber Flooring > Roundel Solid Color Rubber Tile Product Details'

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And, each colour can be ordered in any of these two dozen or so textures:

'Johnsonite Rubber Flooring'

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And, of course, you can order the tiles in two or three different colours to create patterns on your floor if you want.

Johnsonite synthetic rubber flooring is also available in sheet flooring, but I'm not sure of the dimensions. Normally, roll flooring like sheet vinyl and carpet comes in 12 foot widths with 6 foot width often available as well, but I don't know if that also holds true for sheet rubber flooring.

For more info, go to Johnsonite's web site at

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Generally, the sales people at any retail carpet store won't know much about synthetic rubber flooring because it's normally only used in commercial settings, but if you ask to speak to the store's Commercial Sales Manager, he should be able to help you more and show you both colour and texture sampls.

Reply to
nestork

It has held up well since our house was built in 1978. If you like it go for it.

If you have the extra money, consider ceramic tile. Most durable and easiest to clean but yes, usually most expensive.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Be sure to buy extra, to patch anything that gets damaged. I assume with a concrete floor, this room is in the basement. You might drop a hatchet on it, or anything else.

And save the decent sized scraps too, for patching, or covering your water heater with a matching decor. JK

Reply to
micky

+1

And the nice thing about epoxy paint is that you can easily fix a scratch.

Reply to
_G_0_D_

On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 03:21:18 -0700 (PDT), " snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com" wrote: >Hi,

I asked the sales person at a store what she suggested for laundry rooms and she said vinyl works well.

will just glue it down.

any reason to not use vinyl flooring over concrete.

I've had Armstrong vinyl under washer for 20 years and it still looks new. I have spilled detergent, and the drain has overflowed a few times with no effect. Never spilled bleach or stronger stuff.

My only advice is to be sure that there is no seam under the washer -- in case the drain overflows, etc. Whatever you use, be sure that the installer coves the corners and seal them good with whatever is best for vinyl. I used silicone and it seems to be working fine.

Once when it overflowed, the water ran under the dryer, etc., and made a real mess. So I ended up gluing a piece of molding to the vinyl around the sides and front of the washer creating a reservoir in case it leaked. I looked for a drain tray but could not find one.

Reply to
Sasquatch Jones

I've had vinyl in my mud room for 20 years too. It's also high traffic, because it's between the garage and kitchen. Still looks great. I also don't understand the comments about laundry product spills, eg bleach damaging it. They ship bleach in plastic jugs. It's used in many kitchens, baths, etc with no problems with cleaning products.

Reply to
trader_4

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