basement flooring

[jinkies]

We are semi-finishing half of our basement to use as a living space. The plan is to have a tv/couch, a craft area for my daughter, and a spot for my treadmill and (hopefully in the future) a spin bike. 

The current floor is concrete slab. Originally I was just going to paint it and then put down large area rugs. But now I'm thinking that I would rather put down some sort of real flooring. 

We are DIY-ing. Has anyone done a DIY basement floor? Is there anything you would or would not recommend? The easier the better. My H is actually very handy, but this is mostly my project and I've already made him build an entire room around the sump pump and water softener, so I'm trying to limit frustration for him LOL. I was looking into vinyl tiles that snap together. There are ones that already have a vapor barrier built in, so that seems easiest? But of course it is also more expensive. I have no real idea what I'm doing, so I'd welcome hearing what others have done!

[Susie]

Following, because we are in a similar boat.  Unfortunately my post hasn't gotten any responses to help either of us!

pandce.proboards.com/thread/623255/basement-help-water-floors

Our house had linoleum over the concrete slab when we moved in.  After we got the water up last month, we ripped out the linoleum and are down to the slab now.  Everything is dry, so we can kind of hold steady like this for a while.  I have a small section of foam tile flooring down to work out on, and the treadmill and bike are just over the slab for now.

We rely on a sump pump to stay dry, so I don't think we're going to do any "real" flooring.  I'm planning to either paint the concrete or do epoxy or similar, and then foam tile flooring for the workout area.  I want to call a pro though because we have areas of salt crystallization on the floor due to moisture and I want professional advice on the best approach for our situation.

Last month was our first wet basement in 12 years, but we know it happened before we bought the house (watermark on the doors) so we know it can happen again.

[jinkies]

Thanks! Someone actually just posted on ML in the randoms about installing vinyl peel and stick floors. It looks really good!

Our basement did have water issues before we moved in (can see water lines), and we did have issues once shortly after moving in when the sump pump failed. But we haven't had a problem since, and it has been 11 years. We have installed a whole house generator that will operate the sump pump, so even if we lose power the basement shouldn't flood.

I did consider foam tiles also, but wasn't sure if that would feel weird in the areas that aren't my workout space! It would be the easiest solution though, for sure.

[Accountingcat]

I did LVP tile in my last basement and am planning on doing LVP wood plank in my current basement with a little bit of real tile. All DIY. I mainly chose LVP because it was faster to install than regular ceramic tile and didn't need any fancy vapor barriers like other options. I was also worried about water damage and kind of wanted a cheaper floor in case there is ever water issues. I haven't decided on my LVP wood plank yet, but I'm thinking of purchasing from Lumber Liquidators or Floor & Decor due to their low prices.

Depending on your square footage, ceramic tile might be a good option too. There used to be ceramic tile mortared straight to the concrete in my basement. It clearly had a water leak in the past and survived. I only removed it because it was ugly.

[circa1978]

Our basement was finished by the builder but we replaced the carpet when we moved in. We choose a stain-resistant low pile but I really, really wish we would have done LVP since unbeknownst to us, there is a corner of the basement that gets water every other year or so.

[pierogigirl]

We don't have a basement, but we are in a raised ranch, so the bottom floor is a slab below grade. I would avoid bamboo. The flooring center said it was fine on a slab and we are dry. We prepped the floor and sealed it and used the recommended underlayment. The floor failed in weeks (cupped and broke the tongue and groove). We think it was due to the temperature difference. Needless to say, we will never go to that flooring store again. We were able to donate the unused floor and the undamaged parts to Habitat.

The second floor we installed is LVP and we are very happy. Part of it has been down for 3 years, and part was put down this past summer. It all looks perfect.

[RockNVoll]

We DIYed luxury vinyl plank in our basement. It's not quite as simple as they make it look in the videos, but it's not exactly hard either. We had my BIL, who's in the building trade, get us started to make sure we were doing it right, but we did 90% of it ourselves.

We picked a wood-look plank that was sold at Lowe's and installed it right on top of the concrete floor. I was at Home Depot the other day and noticed they now have a ton more LVP options available. We paid ~$2.50/sf if memory serves. We're about a year into it and no complaints. We opted for this over our original plan of carpeting because we liked the look more and it seems a better option if there's ever a flood.

Happy to answer any specific questions.

[sparty04]

We did rubber tiles in the kids playroom (we have carpeting in the rest). They’re really nice and once they are older, the space will probably transition to a workout room. Not cheap but easy to remove if you have issues www.rubberflooringinc.com/rubber-tiles.html

[aprilsails]

We had no moisture issues in our last house and did laminate flooring in the basement over a thick under pad. Since our basement floor wasn’t 100% flat there was a bit of shifting around which sucked. At the time, LVP was expensive and came in very limited options here. When we want to finish the basement here, we will likely go with LVP. We don’t have a sump though so carpet is also an option.

[Deleted]

The front 2/3 of our basement is finish and is currently carpeted. If/when we ever update, we will likely do area rugs so that we can better the define the space down here (currently it's exercise, leisure, and office) but all kinds of blends in to each other. Under the area rugs, we'll do LVP. I also want to install radiant heat down here and from what I've read, that works well with that type of flooring.

[tcu2003]

We're finishing our basement this year, and planning to do the LVP wood plank. Our basement hasn't flooded in the 6.5 years since it was built, but our next door neighbors did, and on the off chance ours does, I didn't want carpet.

[bunnies]

The previous owners finished the basement and I think what they put down is LVP....or looks like it. It's fine for a basement.

[simpsongal]

Previous owners put a high traffic carpet down there. Berber like but not pricey. I actually like having wall to wall carpet down there. It makes it feel a little warmer and more inviting. We have an area rug on the carpet too.