Flooring over Cold Cement

bliss208

My parents have a cabin in the mountains of Colorado. The basement floor is concrete and very cold so we want to put down a new floor. They tried to put down laminent but the glue didn't work too well beecause of how cold the floor is. The other issue is that the floor has been know to flood a bit during the winter. Is the only good option laminent as long as we can heat the floor up enough or is there better options out there? I thought about glueing down carpet tiles and just dealing with them getting wet sometimes.

oh'mike

I suggest ceramic tile--you can roll out a nice thick carpet on top to keep your feet warm.

properly set the ceramic tile can take a complete flood. Electric heating elements can be installed under the tile also. (at great expense)--Mike---

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Done That

I put laminate in most of my basement over "Silent Blue" pad, but none of mine is glued and no glue was ever called for, it is 100% a floating floor. The pad can take some moisture, but certainly not a flood...but mine could all come out and be reinstalled if needed.

I also used FLOR carpet squares in the basement bedroom, and this also is a floating floor, but man they do not move. Stuck to each other with removeable adhesive "dots" in the corners. I liked these because it's a kids room and if a square gets messed up you can simply pull it out and replace/move it to a less conspicious area/wash it in a slop sink/ etc. Also the whole thing could come up quite easily if flooded.

Just some other ideas, I've had these down for 4+ years now without issue, but tile as mentioned is certainly a viable option.

ttr13r

When you say "laminate" are you talking about the "sheet vinyl"??? Laminate is not a glue down floor, it's a floating floor, very rigid, the design on it it digitally computerized (or is it, computerized digitally?, I am "computer lingo" challenged, LOL!) Vinyl is, well, vinyl. Comes in sheet, plank or peel and stick squares and it's "floppy" so to speak. Any of these i just mentioned and most floors as well, need a temperature of about 65 degrees prior to installation and until the glue sets. Unless you turn the heat on, if in fact there is heat in that room, nothing will work for long. So I think OhMike's idea of ceramic is the best option for your situation. But once again, that room needs to be about 65 degrees before installing. By the way, if that basement has the occasional flooding, never use laminate, you will be replacing the floor in no time. And therefore completely wasting your money. I'm not so sure about the carpet squares, no way are they even close to moisture or waterproof. Plus if they get any moisture at all, the smell will be awful and the maintinence involved will be ridiculous, unless you are willing to be constantly repairing that.