Bathroom tile flooring choices? Here was the original question asking about Marmoleum. :
Our house has 6 month old sheet marmoleum in the new kitchen, 6 year old marmoleum tile in entryway and laundry room. Absolutely love it!! We’re about to lay new flooring in two small bathrooms and would like to know which bathroom tile flooring would be best for our project?
Lisa
First off, Lisa, I LOVE that you LOVE Marmoleum. Here are your considerations:
Colors: When comparing “MCT Tile”, which is a little thinner than the traditional “Dual Tile” the colors for MCT are a little more muted, pastel and institutional. That doesn’t mean you are not going to find colors that work for your project. Also for folks that may want to mix tiles with sheet goods or borders like in this bathroom photo then you would need to go to the Dual Tile since it is the same thickness.
Cost: Lots of people are attracted to the lower price of MCT but when you factor in that it only comes in 54 sq ft boxes, you may want to compare the cost of the Dual which also comes in boxes of 9. Even though you are paying more per square foot, you may not have much leftover after accounting for cutting and possibly a few errors. The real economical beauty of Dual for bathrooms comes into play when you want to add random colors or do patterns of multiple colors. Buying full cartons of 45 tiles in MCT just isn’t practical for this situation. NOTE: When it comes down to it, unless you are really pinching pennies, you should buy what you like!
A serene blue with a border is a true flooring artisan’s touch and invites you to fill it up and stay awhile.
Durability: If you were to remove the Top Shield finish from Marmoleum, you would be left with the exact same linoleum that your great-great-grandmother had as her bathroom tile flooring. Without Top Shield, grandma had to wax and periodically strip her yellowed wax floor to protect it, or she could just let it wear naturally and gradually amber. If you did that, the Dual because it is 2.5mm thick would last longer than the 2.0mm MCT tile, but that is really not a concern today with the protective coating that you can apply as periodic maintenance.
UPDATE: Forbo has revised their finish formula and now offers TopSheild2 which is one of the most durable and long lasting coatings on the market for flooring today, especially for Marmoleum bathroom tile flooring. This top layer of finish will protect your Marmoleum for a very long time no matter which product you select. Find out more on the Forbo page about TopShield2.
Lastly, here are the Forbo Flooring General Guidelines for Installing Marmoleum Tiles.
Hope that helps
Marmo