Basement Floor ideas....

TheBEast · Aug 16, 2010

With the pending birth of daughter #2 in November my office will soon find a new home in a 16 x 7 foot room in the basement....so looking at different flooring options. We looked at the fold and lock hardwood, but at $3.48 a square foot is a little more than we wanted to spend for the project. I'm really not a fan of carpet, but might need to go that route. Also could paint it, but haven't researched good concrete paints yet. What other options do we have for something less than $3.48 a square foot (less than $500 in total). The basement is generally warm and comfortable in the winter.

Puck it · Aug 16, 2010

TheBEast said:
With the pending birth of daughter #2 in November my office will soon find a new home in a 16 x 7 foot room in the basement....so looking at different flooring options. We looked at the fold and lock hardwood, but at $3.48 a square foot is a little more than we wanted to spend for the project. I'm really not a fan of carpet, but might need to go that route. Also could paint it, but haven't researched good concrete paints yet. What other options do we have for something less than $3.48 a square foot (less than $500 in total). The basement is generally warm and comfortable in the winter.

Drylok the floor then put felt pad and carpet. Cheapest way to go.

noski · Aug 16, 2010

No matter what, just be sure it's dry in summer. We put my son's room down in the walkout basement this past winter and when he was away for a few weeks this summer we had mold growing in his room. We had to get a dehumidifier as humidity level was 76%. If you don't have a humidity gauge, maybe get a digital one at the hardware store.

TheBEast · Aug 16, 2010

noski said:
No matter what, just be sure it's dry in summer. We put my son's room down in the walkout basement this past winter and when he was away for a few weeks this summer we had mold growing in his room. We had to get a dehumidifier as humidity level was 76%. If you don't have a humidity gauge, maybe get a digital one at the hardware store.

Yeah basement is really dry and we run a dehumidifier all summer to keep it that way.

4aprice · Aug 16, 2010

We put tile in our basement. (upstairs too). I was very fearful of it being cold but it has been wonderful.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

Talisman · Aug 16, 2010

Concrete that hasn't been treated is porous and absorbs a lot of moisture and can transmit moisture from the subsoil. Use Drylok or Tnemec on the floor before putting down laminate, vinyl tile or carpet. Basement rooms can be great if done correctly and are mold factories if corners are cut. Vapor barriers are your friend with keeping the room dry (ie below ~55% RH).

mlctvt · Aug 17, 2010

We put down rolled rubber flooing after our basement got flooded for the first time in 20 years this past March. Bought it directly from the manufacturer at

http://www.rubberflooringinc.com/

This works well for us because our basement is basically a home gym. It looks great and you can see any seams.

Before that we had a glued down thin pad with burber carpet which was fine until the water came. If we flood now we can just vacuum up the water and we'll be fine.

TheBEast · Aug 17, 2010

mlctvt said:
We put down rolled rubber flooing after our basement got flooded for the first time in 20 years this past March. Bought it directly from the manufacturer at

http://www.rubberflooringinc.com/

This works well for us because our basement is basically a home gym. It looks great and you can see any seams.

Before that we had a glued down thin pad with burber carpet which was fine until the water came. If we flood now we can just vacuum up the water and we'll be fine.

How well would that work for an office chair to roll on? I do have a plastic chair pad now on the hardwood that I'll lively use again to help the chair glide on whatever I put down. We have some of the locking 2x2 exercise mats that we got at Costco in part of the basement for the gym and in the laundry room, but I think what we have wouldn't work all that well for an office since it's probably too soft for that type of use.

mlctvt · Aug 17, 2010

TheBEast said:
How well would that work for an office chair to roll on? I do have a plastic chair pad now on the hardwood that I'll lively use again to help the chair glide on whatever I put down. We have some of the locking 2x2 exercise mats that we got at Costco in part of the basement for the gym and in the laundry room, but I think what we have wouldn't work all that well for an office since it's probably too soft for that type of use.

We got the 8MM thick material. It's very heavy and stays were you put it. It's rather hard much harder than the interlocking rubber tiles that I've seen. There is no problem rolling an office chair on it.
It does smell like rubber/tires for a week or so after putting it down but the smell does go away.

drjeff · Aug 17, 2010

The rubber mat flooring in the basement works quite well! Plus, little kids bounce off it nicely when they fall down!

TheBEast · Aug 17, 2010

drjeff said:
The rubber mat flooring in the basement works quite well! Plus, little kids bounce off it nicely when they fall down!

more bounce at least than plain ol' concrete! ;-)

drjeff · Aug 17, 2010

TheBEast said:
more bounce at least than plain ol' concrete! ;-)

Yup, it's usually only a 10 to 15 seconds crying episode off the rubber mat as opposed to a minute plus with the concrete!

:lol:

TheBEast · Aug 17, 2010

mlctvt said:
We got the 8MM thick material. It's very heavy and stays were you put it. It's rather hard much harder than the interlocking rubber tiles that I've seen. There is no problem rolling an office chair on it.
It does smell like rubber/tires for a week or so after putting it down but the smell does go away.

Thanks. I ordered up some samples so we'll see what the wife thinks. We wanted to do a floating wood floor, but the wife didn't like the $500 price tag, so researching other less expensive options.

ChileMass · Aug 18, 2010

Hey - not to hijack the discussion (but I guess I will) - has anyone out there ever done over a really old fieldstone basement into a useable space? My predecessor in the house managed to get a poured concrete floor down, but the walls are still rubble/fieldstone. Luckily, my house sits up on a knoll so it stays dry all the time. It's a little humid, but nothing a dehumidifier coudn't handle. However, the walls shed rock dust constantly and the space is a mess. I have laundry and storage down there, but it's barely useable.

Does anyone have any suggestions for enclosing the walls? I have seen plans online that call for multiple layers of plastic as a vapor barrier, and then spray or rigid insulation behind framed walls. Any suggestions are welcome.

NYDrew · Aug 18, 2010

not to long ago home depot had a sale of $1.00/sq of the pergo (the fake wood floor you mentioned). Nicer then carpet and 1/4 the price. I doubt the sale is going on but they always have that on and off. just hold off till there is a good sale.

you could also go for thin carpet. its like little 2x2 mats usually that have rubber bottoms, you just paste them down like tiles. had that in my basement as a kid......worked out great.

Philpug · Aug 18, 2010

I agree, a floor in the basement is a good idea.

You might consider radiant heat for the winter.

Vortex · Aug 18, 2010

Bill I sell this stuff for a living and am the techical guy on this stuff. 18 years, Mostly on the commercial side, but I can help.. send me a pm on the details and I will get you in the right direction. as for the floor above. I was use a crystaline wp first and then after that you can tile paint after 30 days of what have you. I am not a fan of dry lock. To each their own.

ChileMass · Aug 18, 2010

Bob - you are the man. I will be in touch. OB

darent · Aug 19, 2010

try dri-core. It is a locktogether sub floor material for concrete floors. it is a osb treated top layer glued to a plastic knubbed bottom. you can use carpet, wood floor,sheet goods or pergo over it

Nick · Jun 26, 2011

I've been considering redoing my own basement... it's pretty nice because I have a walk-out so I could really make it into a nice mancave kinda area. I'd love a projector and a nice system down there, but it's kind of out of the budget right now.

One day!

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