Benefits and Drawbacks of Teak Shower Floors

It is an appealing flooring choice for steamy bathroom environments. But does teak's charm justify its cost for shower flooring? Weighing the pros and cons helps determine if a teak shower floor is right for your home.

Let's examine key benefits and potential drawbacks of installing teak in your shower.

The Visual Appeal of Teak

One main perk of teak is its inherent beauty. Teak wood's tight, straight grain lends a uniform, refined look. Its rich, warm brown color pairs nicely with white, gray, and wood bathroom elements. The wood's gorgeous natural patterns and accents can stand alone as a decor feature or coordinate easily with tiles or stones.

Because of its high oil content, teak maintains a beautiful golden sheen without requiring stains or varnishes that could degrade over time. Its color and texture will mellow attractively from exposure to water and light. You can also accentuate teak's beauty by installing wider planks or playing with fun geometric or mosaic layouts not possible with many rigid materials.

Overall, teak offers an elegant, versatile, visually appealing flooring option for contemporary, rustic, Asian, or luxury bathroom designs.

A Durable, Long-Lasting Choice

In addition to beauty, teak brings long-lasting physical durability with a Janka hardness rating of 1000-1155--making it tougher than oak or maple. This dense, strong wood withstands heavy usage and resists scratches, an essential quality for high-traffic bathrooms. Teak is also impact-resistant thanks to its elastic structure and tight grain, preventing easy cracking or damage.

Teak rates impressively for stability as it adjusts to environmental changes without warping, shrinking excessively, or becoming structurally unsound. This resilience to damage makes teak an exceptionally durable, long-lasting flooring material that can easily outlast traditional ceramic tiles.

Water-Resistant Properties

One major advantage of teak over other woods comes from its natural water-resistant properties. Its high oil content makes it difficult for liquids to penetrate the wood's tight grain structure. When exposed to water regularly, teak undergoes an oxidation process that allows it to adapt, preventing issues like swelling and rot over time.

In fact, many sources claim teak has such strong moisture resistance you can install it in showers and saunas without pre-treatment. However, most experts still advise sealing planks appropriately for added leak protection in wet rooms.

Potential Drawbacks to Consider

Although teak brings significant advantages, potential downsides deserve consideration for shower floors.

Not Fully Impermeable to Water

While teak demonstrates impressive water resistance, it's not completely impervious. Absorbed moisture can eventually penetrate and become trapped within the wood's cellular structure. Over time, this accumulation may cause issues like warping, mold growth, or accelerated wear.

Fully preventing water seepage requires meticulous installation and sealing. Planks need tight joints and small gaps filled properly with a flexible sealant. Even then, seepage between boards can still occur long-term in a damp environment like a shower.

Care and Maintenance Requirements

To retain its natural oil content and moisture resistance, teak flooring requires careful maintenance not necessary for tiles or glass. Teak floors need occasional re-oiling to nourish the wood. Experts also recommend annual sealing to prevent liquid absorption issues in humid showers.

For cleaning, specific products like oxygen bleach and salt scrub pastes work well without stripping protective oils like harsh chemicals. Avoiding placing rubber mats directly on teak also helps prevent moisture entrapment and accelerated aging issues.

Higher Upfront and Installation Cost

The biggest disadvantage of teak is typically cost--both in materials and professional installation. As a premium wood, teak runs $9-20 per square foot, sometimes over $30 for wider planks. Engineered options with a teak veneer help reduce expense somewhat.

Most homeowners also hire professionals as installing shower teak flooring proves more complex than basic snap-down planks. Custom cutting around drains and sealing properly against leaks takes skill, tools, and time most DIYers lack. So teak flooring may run two to three times the price of porcelain or ceramic tiles installed.

Key Considerations Before Choosing Teak

Account for Ongoing Maintenance

Evaluate whether your lifestyle and cleaning habits accommodate teak maintenance requirements. Keeping a teak shower floor looking pristine and preventing moisture damage means committing to regular sealing, careful scrubbing, and avoidance of rubber mats or bath rugs directly on the wood.

Factor in Long-Term Costs

Consider not just teak's expensive initial price but costs over your ownership period. While durable, teak may eventually need partial refinishing or full replacement over a couple of decades of heavy usage. Contrast this to ceramic tile lasting 50+ years with little maintenance beyond grout repairs.

Match Your Design Aesthetic

Teak inherently suits certain aesthetics, like tropical, Asian, rustic, or luxury bathroom themes. Its color, grain variations, and elegant appearance enhance such stylings visually. But teak might clash with stark contemporary designs favoring sleek glass, metal accents, and brilliant whites.

Weigh Ease of Cleaning Needs

Factor hygiene and easy cleaning into flooring considerations, especially in moist bathrooms. For example, teak requires more careful maintenance than easily-sanitized ceramic or porcelain tiles. But teak resists absorbing impurities and tolerates gentle pressure washing better than more porous natural stones.

How Does Teak Compare to Alternatives?

Evaluating teak flooring pros and cons includes contrasting its performance and maintenance to other bath flooring options.

Porcelain and Ceramic Tile

Tile ranks among the most popular shower flooring choices due to affordability, water resistance, and easy maintenance. Sound porcelain or ceramic options offer durability rivaling teak. Easy-to-clean grout minimizes bacteria concerns.

However, tile proves less warm and inviting underfoot than wood options. Installation challenges like broken tiles or problematic grout lines also plague tile more frequently. Teak better withstands heavy usage and hot water over decades.

Natural Stone

Like teak, natural stone options like marble, travertine, or slate provide organic, visually stunning bathroom floors. Each stone boasts unique aesthetic beauty unmatched by homogenized porcelain tiles.

However, stone generally costs more than ceramic and needs resealing routinely to resist moisture infiltration and bacteria buildup in damp baths. Teak also better tolerates heavy traffic and scratches, outlasting softer stone alternatives.

Polished concrete offers a stylish modern look, mimicking stone at a lower price point. Properly sealed concrete resists moisture well. But it feels harder and colder underfoot than wood and needs resealing every few years.

Concrete staining and cracks over decades of use can also detract from flooring appearance. And concrete requires more intense installation prep work than modular teak planks.

Overall, teak shower flooring brings unique benefits like resilient beauty, water resistance, and durable longevity. But drawbacks like maintenance demands and high install costs also factor into choosing this premium wood flooring for bathrooms. Evaluating all pros, cons, and alternatives helps ensure teak meets your space, lifestyle and budget if selected.