The Floors HGTV's Mike Holmes Recommends For Bathrooms (It's Not Your Typical Tile)

More often than not, homeowners feel stumped when choosing the best bathroom flooring for their needs due to the bevy of styles, colors, textures, and materials available. Thankfully, experts like HGTV's Mike Holmes are here to help make the decision much easier. Holmes is a big fan of choosing long-lasting tile over materials like wood or stone. But when it comes to bathrooms, his recommendation goes above and beyond your typical tile floor.

"I think heated floors are a great addition to any bathroom renovation. They can provide continuous warmth and comfort to the space, which can be a nice touch," Holmes explains on his Make It Right blog. This addition elevates average tile flooring, which is often cold to the touch, especially in winter. Going the extra mile to add some heat will resolve that issue and potentially reduce ongoing energy costs compared to baseboard or central heating, thanks to the built-in elements that maintain a consistent temperature at a lower thermostat setting.

In terms of which types of tile Holmes thinks are best for the job, he goes to his old standbys of ceramic and porcelain. "These tiles are durable, have excellent heat conductivity and stay warm longer offering better energy efficiency than other materials," Holmes states. Other materials, such as wood or vinyl are workable alternatives, but they do not hold and deliver heat as efficiently as ceramic or porcelain tile.

A heated tile floor in the bathroom is a luxurious upgrade that can actually increase the value of your home by a decent margin. Many think of radiant floor heating in terms of hot water tubes that are run beneath your subfloor. While you could certainly utilize this method, it is rather labor intensive and requires certain water heating systems to already be in place. Thankfully, there is an easier method for bathrooms that Mike Holmes much prefers.

In terms of ease of installation and the heating quality you get, electrically heated floors are the way to go. Again writing for his Make it Right blog, Holmes says, "In-floor heating systems use electric cables or wires embedded in a membrane to deliver consistent warmth across your floor." Holmes recommends Schluter Systems DITRA-HEAT, which provide the membrane, heating cable, and thermostat. Once installed, the tile is laid over the membrane to create the finished floor.

While Holmes suggests using a licensed electrician or contractor to install the system, handy homeowners may be able to lay the membrane, run the heating cable, and tile over it to reduce costs. The electrician can then just finish making the connection to the thermostat. Just make sure you're able to keep the heating cables at least 8 inches away from other heating elements, and don't run the wire underneath where a vanity, toilet, or tub are going to be.