Congrats on the new (old) home!

A good rule of thumb is to live with things the way they are for a while before you decide to make major changes. This is especially true when you are talking about your only bathroom! Any kind of new flooring would basically mean removing everything in the room and would put it out of commission for at least a week or more depending on your DIY skills.

With that in mind, if you have some crumbly old mystery covering over original wood planks, I would just strip the mystery layer up and leave the wood. It is quite likely that the bathroom originally had a simple wood floor. That may or may not be practical long term solution for you since people spend way more time in bathrooms now that anyone would have imagined 100 years ago. Down the road you may decide you prefer tile in the bathroom. That is certainly an appropriate covering, but you may prefer to just clean up/refinish the wood if it isn't going to be a high traffic area.

Thanks Billl, that's what I was leaning toward, depending on the condition. It wouldn't surprise me if wood was the original flooring in there, it looks like whatever was put there was just glued right on top of it. I can't imagine them pulling up tile to put down this stuff.

Thanks so much!
Ginnie

If the wood is in good condition and you decide to refinish you should look at Waterlox as the product to finish it with. There are lots of threads that talk about it and how it works. I have used it and it is very easy to apply. It bonds into the wood and therefore it makes the wood stronger and impermeable to water etc. They have a great and informative website. You can use the search on GW and get lots of info and pictures. MaryLu and her DH have recently done a lot of their floors so her thread and pics will still be around. Caroline

The waterlox recommendation is a good one for the bathroom if you decide to go with the wood floor. I would do that for a while and see if you like that. Waterlox even has a marine finish designed for outdoor applications. If you have small children that might be something to consider. My DD's regularly soak the bathroom while taking their bath, LOL. We put regular Waterlox on the floor of our kitchen ourselves.

Actually from what I read, Victorian bathrooms unlike kitchens were often quite fancy. Indoor bathrooms was rather new and they liked to show it off. But from what I can see in the picture, it looks like your bathroom was added later like in the 20's. Small hex tiles would look nice in there too.

Autumngal and I have a similar issue. I'm trying to pick flooring for the bathroom in my 1900 transitional Victorian. What type of tile would you recommend for us, besides hex?
Autumngal, any idea what color scheme you'd like?

Sorry I haven't responded, we moved in right before Christmas, and haven't had much time for even gardenweb-

Caroline and mom2 I love the idea of waterlox, I haven't seen it in person, but have heard of lots of GWers using it and it seems like a great product. I'm actually leaning toward just doing the whole bathroom wood, I think that would go much better with the bathroom. Mom2lilenj I actually think that bath was original, but the toilet and sink were replaced a bit later (I think the 20's too but I'm not sure). However, in the front of the house, there is a strange mini-room between two bedrooms with a stained glass window that I think might have been a chamber closet!

Katie, when toying around the idea of tile, I liked the hex tiles, but I really really loved the octogonal tiles with square separators (if I see a photo of one I can post, I will). I think eventually (and we have so much to do with the house now, I mean in quite some time- our kitchen is now a cavern) I'll replace the tile with wood and I have no idea about what color. Once I take off the wallpaper, I'm clueless- anything you are leaning towards?

The trim and the tub are the only things worth saving. The wall tiles look like late '40s at the earliest, right through the 1860s.

For the floor, wood or hex tiles. It all depends on how Victorian you want to go--early or, more appropriate to the home's age, transitional to modern with lots of white and black.

Here is a link that might be useful: A Well-Appointed Victorian Bathroom

Worthy, although not period, the toilet is really fabulous, I'm also a fan of the sink. But, I agree about the tile, it just doesn't fit. Although our home is lovely, it has always been more of a family home than a show home, so the mix of bathroom fixtures will be fine for us. I think when planning the bathroom, we'll steer it more toward the transitional Victorian style. I love the website, it's really interesting and great to help in our design plan. I always feel that the more info the better- thanks!

right through the 1860s

should be 1960s.

The old w.c. is an incredible water waster, up to 20 liters per flush. There are a number of 1.6gpf models with a heritage look, as well as dual flushers that save even more money.

Here is a link that might be useful: Research on Water Saving Toilets

Wow Worthy, you have amazing information- thank you! I really love it but, that is clearly a huge waste. It's definitly food for thought to think of replacing at least our other toilet (just regular, but probably put in 30+ years ago). Mainly because I've never actually loved a toilet before, I might look into tricks to lessen the amount of water used, but even using a bit less would still not make that at all efficient. Makes me a little sad, but I really apprecaite the info.

Yeah, there's something about those big throne- type toilets that you just can't get with a new toilet - even if its a reproduction! Talk about comfort and style, it's like driving a big boat 1950s american car!

Kashka Kat that's a perfect analogy! I think we'll hold onto it for a bit (lots of other projects first) but I'm sure after we get our water bill, we will reconsider our fun push button throne.

Ginnie- I KNOW I typed a response to this a week or two ago, but apparently I didn't click submit!
I ended up going with 2" square glazed white tiles. I really wanted the octagon and dot, but it's special order and the plumber wouldn't hook up my toilet until I tiled the floor. I really needed a toilet, so no O&D this time! So, once I've saved enough $$ to add the 2nd bath, it will have O&D.
I ended up using Victorian Trim by Benjamin Moore. It's a purple color. The PO painted the bathroom woodwork blue, so I didn't feel bad when I primed it and painted it white. The contrast between the purple and white is really nice. I bought some antique glass sugar bowls to hold cotton balls and q-tips, and I'm looking for crystal sconces to go on the wall.

What about painting the wood floor instead of refinish?
FW

If you really want to keep your old toilets, I've heard of people putting a brick inside the tank to save water. That said, I've never tried it so don't know how it works.

golddust, I've heard of that too, I'm not sure if one can do that with these really old toilets, or if they would still work well with less water. Maybe worthy will weigh in? If there's a way to keep it, I'd love to. It's really neat in the old Cadillac vs. Honda idea that Kasha Kat mentioned earlier. I know the Honda is much more efficient, but those old caddys are just so cool!

Fuzzywuzzer (love the name)- I hadn't much thought of painting the floor because we aren't going to be taking the tile off of the walls right away (and maybe never) and I don't like the look of painted floor with tile. Somehow it makes the floor look cheap to me. I know this makes no sense, I love a painted floor everywhere else and in fact plan to paint the floor in our den, but for some unknowable reason, I don't like it in a bath. After we do the kitchen, and get a real look at the floor, we'll see what direction we need to go in. If the floor is in good shape, then I think we'll finish it and make the walls beadboard wainscoting. If it's not, then we'll probably tie it to match the tiled walls. I'm hoping for the Octagon and dot style, but maybe hex with random daisy design. I've been posting our kitchen renovation in this forum, more to push me to save photos of the process, I know I'll forget. I've been keeping "polish" somewhere in the title. It's a great house that just needs a nice polish.

Katie,as much as I love the O & D it's not worth a toilet! I'll be adding a coat of white paint to most woodwork in my house because I don't have the time to strip it right now, that's an activity that is definitely back burner when there's so much else to do. I love the purple- I bet your bath is amazing, will you post photos? I put in a reply on your earlier thread asking about color choices, did you make any others? I'm still hemming and hawing over them. I'm going now for just some plain white for the woodwork-

Thanks for the input!
Ginnie

It's a purple and white box right now. :) Once I add the acessories, I'll post! I'll have to go find your reply on my other post now. Plus, I need to find your post with all the photos!
Thanks!

Rather than brick you can always try a soda bottle or glass to displace water without anything to breakdown in the water.