How to lay vinyl floor in a bathroom

Confession: I've been living with a tatty old floor in our bathroom for five years. It was a 90's beige horror show that made me cringe every time I went in there, and over the years I've developed an expert skill in distracting from it with delicately placed plants and bath mats. But I’ve finally turned to other means - replacing it with a slightly-nicer vinyl myself. And by 'myself' I absolutely mean completely on my own. Yes, this is one of those jobs you might presume you need to hire a tradesman for, but if I can do it, I promise anyone can!

While the dream is to one day have ceramic tiles of dreams, a vinyl flooring is a great, budget compromise.  The beauty of choosing vinyl is that not only can you lay it yourself, saving on labour costs, you can still achieve a more traditional look with a tile-effect design, like I've gone for. 

And while it’s definitely a fiddly job, it’s not as hard as I thought it would be, so absolutely recommend having a go if you’re also stuck with a less-than pretty floor. 

I've also put together a video tutorial for this which you can watch here, or keep scrolling for the step-by-step instructions...

Tip: I presume fitting a floor in any other room will be easier than a bathroom - cutting around the sink and loo was definitely the trickiest bit! 

You will need: 

Roll of vinyl - I got this 2m x 2m square tile-effect piece from eBay* for just £55 (*Aff link)

Stanley knife and/or sharp scissors (I used both - the scissors for larger cuts, and the knife for smaller ones)

Silicone and gun

Vinyl tape - I picked some up in Homebase 

Tape measure

Pencil 

First up, measure the size of your floor, double and triple checking your measurements. Don't forget to measure up to the middle point of the door frame to make sure you're getting the maximum size, and add 100mm to all measurements to allow for any shrinkage when you make your cuts (and for any error, of course) 

The vinyl I ordered was from a flooring store on eBay, and comes in a number of different sizes. I went for the 2m x 2m size, which was a complete steal at just £55. The first thing I did when unwrapping the vinyl was to cut the vinyl down a bit in order to get it into the room, meaning I could then make my cuts with it in place. 

If you can though, its a good idea to remove the existing vinyl first, as you'll then be able to use that as a template to draw around - really handy idea if you’re fitting a bathroom floor. In hindsight I should have done that, however I was nervous I would mess up and we'd be left with no floor at all - I really should have more faith in myself, I know! However, the good thing about leaving it down was that I could use the old vinyl as underlay.

Now you're ready to make your cuts. Slice using a Stanley knife where the vinyl meets the wall, being careful to keep the cuts straight. Here, you're simply trying to get the floor to fit as snug as possible, as if its slightly too big for the room you'll have wrinkles in the vinyl. Slightly too small and you'll be left with gaps at the sides. So take your time and make lots of small cuts until you're happy it fits perfectly. 

The next bit is the most difficult - cutting around the sink pedestal and toilet. Make small, angled cuts with the Stanley knife. Again, don't rush, its always better to be left with too much vinyl than too little. Angling the cuts downwards pointing towards the toilet and sink will enable you to get a much neater finish. Or at least that's what I found!

Once you're all done with your cutting, its time to stick the vinyl down. I've gone with a cushioned vinyl, meaning I could simply use vinyl tape. However, if you're laying a non-cushioned flooring you'll want to use glue to stick it down.

Make sure your existing floor is clean, as any grime or dust will prevent the tape from sticking properly. With your vinyl laid in place, pull the edges away from the wall and stick strips of tape onto the floor. Then remove the top of the double sided tape and stick down the vinyl, making sure to push any wrinkles or air bubbles out as you do this. Work around the room, taking your time and making sure it's firmly fixed. 

Finally, you'll need to apply silicone around the edge of the vinyl to seal it. I found this bit surprisingly tricky, and it took me a little while to get the hang of using the silicone gun. Run a wet finger or piece of cloth over the silicone as a final step, to ensure its firmly stuck down.

Depending on your room, you may need to replace your door strip which connects the bathroom to the next room. Generally with larger strips you'll need to lift it up, tuck the vinyl underneath and replace. However mine is a smaller, fixed style, so I simply sealed the vinyl to it in the same way I had done around the rest of the room. 

And that's it you're all done! You laid a brand new, beautiful floor all by yourself! See it wasn’t that bad was it. And hasn't it completely transformed this space? Who knew something so simple could make such a difference. 

Is this something you'd like to try your hand at?

Thanks for reading,
Sam Xx