I recently had the pleasure of laying a new tile floor in a bathroom in the Historic Edgefield neighborhood of East Nashville.  This bathroom was in the back part of the house which was an addition that had been remodeled- sort of.  As part of the remodel the entire addition got laminate flooring, including the bathroom.

Laminate flooring is popular because it looks nice and is super easy and economical to install.  However, it’s usually not a good choice for a bathroom because laminate flooring can tend to absorb water and quickly deform around tubs or toilets.  In this bathroom the floor felt spongy and soft in places so we knew there would be some surprises in store.

The bigger problem in this bathroom was what the laminate was hiding.  Since this was a remodeled addition, it had several layers of flooring.  The laminate was over a layer of vinyl tile which was over a layer of 3/4″ particle board.  Particle board is basically a sheet of glued and pressed sawdust.  It’s about the worst thing you can put in any wet location (like bathrooms).  As you’d expect, it just sucks up the water and ‘wicks’ it across the entire room.

You can see what I’m talking about in the picture above.  The particle board was completely destroyed and had to go. 

Expecting to replace framing and subfloor below I was surprised to find a paper moisture barrier under the particle board that actually left the subfloor in good shape and dry.  I installed a layer of 3/4″ subflooring and 1/2″ Hardibacker cementboard and was ready to think about tile.

The homeowners picked out a cool 4″ square ceramic tile and wanted it in a staggered subway tile pattern.  Like most jobs, the biggest part of the project is all the preparation, but the tile is the icing that makes it look great.