Flooring in a cabana/pool house

by Brenda
(Suffern, NY)

We have a pool house and half of it is open where we will have a counter that people can sit at. The area where someone would stand behind the counter (as if to serve someone sitting at it) is under an over hang. I am trying to figure out what type of flooring would work best. Right now it just has ply wood. I bought these teak 10x10 tiles that snap together and they look great!! My father in law says if it rains the water will go through the slots in the teak and rot the plywood. the only way the floor is going to get wet from the rain is if it is really windy, but other than that it is not going to get rain directly down on it. I REALLY want to use these teak tiles and I know there must be a simple solution to this problem. I thought about maybe putting a piece of linoleum on top of the plywood, but was told the water would just sit on it and create mold. I know that it can't possibly collect that much water and just being outside, wouldn't it dry pretty quickly? After the summer we will close up the open area as well so it will be protected. Here is a picture of the almost finished pool house.

ANSWER

Hi Brenda,
I know posted about this twice and I apologize for my delay in responding.

I tend to agree with your father-in-law...sorry, as I know this is not what you want to hear.

Any wood laid outside for decking must be raised up off the ground or rotting will occur. If there is an area that could be raised, ie. outside of the pool house, the teak could then be used.

It's rather odd that plywood is used as a surface in the area under the overhang. Although this area is sheltered, it does not mean that it is not subject to the weather. Rain, snow and freeze-thaw conditions will all effect it.

The only thing I can think of is that the plywood is raised above the ground quite a bit, although it does not look like this in the pictures. If so, perhaps decking built proerly could be used.

I am not familiar with teak tiles that snap together. They sound like an interior material application.

There are lots of other outdoor hardscape materials that can be used. Since this is a pool house, travertine pavers would be great. Remove the plywood and install the travertine dry-laid.

I hope this was helpful.