Berti Advises: can I put hardwood floor in the bathroom? Is wood flooring okay in the kitchen?

Those who love parquet would like to lay it in all the spaces of their home, but it is a desire that is often thwarted: on the one hand there is the desire to give continuity to the environment, and on the other hand there is the fear that this material is too delicate or unsuitable for rooms such as bathrooms and kitchens, where the “danger of water, humidity and temperatures” is always lurking.

Berti Consiglia steps in to help you address this very question: can I put parquet flooring just everywhere? Can I put parquet flooring in the bathroom? How do I deal with water and wood reactions?

Let’s start with a really simple consideration, which allows us to avoid wrapping our heads around it for no reason: it may accidentally happen that some water falls on the floor, but if we intervene to dry it with the same times in which normal tiles would dry, there will be no problem. The absorption times that wood has are long, and more than enough to be able to intervene to dry without making runs or having unnecessary anxieties.

We can say without a shadow of a doubt, therefore, that there are absolutely no contraindications to laying a wooden floor in the kitchen or bathroom. Water, if it is not stagnant, will not damage the wooden floor.

It will be good to be careful when choosing wood species to use the woods that respond with greater stability once in contact with moisture. Doussié, Merbau, Iroko and Teak are excellent in this regard. If your choice is Oak, it is good to adopt some caution, since Oak parquet flooring once in contact with moisture has a tendency to create blackish stains due to the tannin that is very present in this wood species.

Especially with regard to the bathroom, it is always better to lay glued parquet: this way when there is water, it will not be able to seep between the wooden floor and the screed. Another good practice is to intervene in the space between the wall and the parquet by applying some silicone, which being a particularly elastic material seals perfectly, while at the same time allowing the parquet planks freedom of movement in the horizontal direction.

It will certainly be better to choose a varnished parquet, which, compared to an oiled parquet, is not absorbent and can be safely cleaned with a damp cloth.

One aspect that must be carefully evaluated is the presence of moisture in the bathroom: it is a much more damaging agent, although it is less visible than the presence of drops or water on the surface.

In any case, a good rule for being able to use one’s bathroom in a completely serene manner is to take good care of the floors by always opening the windows to ventilate the rooms after using showers or the like so that any moisture that may have settled inside the rooms can escape and prevent it from altering the floors.