# Forum Home Renovation Flooring  Polished Floorboards to Bathroom Floor

## Artiglass

In the house we are about to purchase and move into  we need to add a proper bathroom. The existing one is a very basic small combination laundry with shower cubicles ( 2).  There are a number of rooms to select from to make into a new bathroom, but one of the smaller bedrooms on the same side of the house as the kitchen, bathroom and loos ( for all the plumbing ) seems to be the better choice......location-wise. 
Only issue is the floors in that room are polished jarrah floorboards ( original to the 90 year old house ) and we will need a floor more suited to a bathroom and shower and loo configuration. 
House may be heritage listed in the very near future. There are 7 bedrooms, 3 sitting rooms. Three of the bedrooms are a later addition in the sixties ( house was built in 1921 ) and of course it may be better to convert one of those rooms but they are way over the other side of the house and plumbing them may be harder and more expensive. 
The current floor where the polished floorboards are has movement  so that will need to be addressed as well.
Would it be better to use this room and remove all the floorboards and add another kind of flooring ? If so...what ?  In that way we can preserve the floorboards for the future if ever converted back or for repairs in other rooms. 
Or can you do a bathroom using existing polished jarrah floorboards ?  If so....how ? 
Any advice would be welcome  :Smilie:

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## TimDavis

I've sanded and polished lots of bathrooms, toilets and laundrys. Just depends on whether the building inspector allows it. Some do, some don't, there is no consistency on this issue.
All you have to do is ensure the coating is waterproof ie. polyurethane rather than oil or wax and the underneath side of the skirting boards are sealed to the floor with silicone. Being old jarrah boards I doubt that rot would be a problem anyway, its used externally on verandahs, often without any sort of coating.
Sometimes owners I've worked for have loose laid dirt cheap sheet vinyl over the boards to satisfy the inspector then ripped it out as soon as the cert. of occupancy has been issued.

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## Artiglass

Thanks Tim  :Biggrin:  
If the floorboards are polished already, I assume you would have to sand back to be able to coat with polyurethane ? 
If you were to put a shower recess also in that room, I assume it would have to be one of those fibreglass all in one units on top of the existing floor ?

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## TimDavis

Polyurethane is the most common timber floor coating so if the boards are already ok you could just leave them  as is, or maybe just recoat them. Much less drama than a full resand.
Not sure about the shower recess but I don't imagine a sealed timber floor is any different to other floor surfaces so I'd suppose that any sort of shower would be ok, provided the correct preperation regarding waterproofing is applied.

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## SilentButDeadly

Put simply....the Australian Building Code says that you can't have a timber floor in a bathroom that isn't fully 'waterproofed'.  By definition in the Code this suggests that the floor has to be completely covered by an impervious coating that means you never see the timber floor.... 
The trick if you want to keep the floorboards is to negotiate with your building consultant beforehand to determine an appropriate solution. 
You may however find it easier to remove the floorboards (and use them elsewhere) in the chosen room and replace the floor with Scyon cement sheet and tile over.

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## TimDavis

Not sure how the building code defines fully waterproofed but I have finished dozens, probably hundreds of bathroom floors in both new and old houses. I think it just depends on the inspectors interpretation of waterproofed.

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## Oldsaltoz

The building code will allow timber floors, however you must have underfloor drainage, not cheap and probably not a good idea for retro fitting as the cost would be prohibitive. 
However, you can simply nail down some tile underlay sheet and tile the whole floor after a full floor and wall to floor interface waterproofing. 
You can then install any type size or shaped shower you desire. 
Good luck. :Smilie:

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## birdy

Aesthetically, I'd stay with timber floors. You can't buy that kind of character. It can work fine from a practical point of view if you are not messy types! Our bathroom has polished floorboards (an el cheapo way of improving it) and looks great. We have a shower over old style tub arrangement, but if you wanted a tiled/glass shower enclosure it would be a great contrast.
We'll be doing it again in our reno (if our plans get approved...sigh)

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