basement flooring

2052 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by Master Brian, May 21, 2009

Master Brian

Discussion Starter · May 19, 2009

Trying to decide what is the best option for my basement floor and would like some input in the form of pros and cons of my ideas. The area is about 30' x 17' approx.

I have had some minor water intrusion in the 1-1/2 yrs I've been here, but the problems are being fixed. Mainly leaky window and door.

1) Tile - This is my original plan, because it shouldn't matter too much if moisture creeps in. At least in my parents house it hasn't been a problem and their basement (3 blks away) will leach water through the floor during periods of heavy rain. Mine doesn't seem to do that. My only problem with the tile idea is that I'm afraid it'll be too loud accustically in a basement, but using area rugs may help...

2) Wood floor - I thought about something like a floating bamboo floor, but not sure how well it would do and what I would have to lay under the floor to keep moisture from attacking it.

3) Carpet - not really my 1st choice, as I have hardwood in the rest of the house and I like letting my dogs into the basement in winter.

I should mention, I am not doing anything that require building the floor up, as I already have a fairly low ceiling, which I've had to drop 1-1/2" to get around mechanical items.

My thoughts are a fairly inexpensive carpet or floating wood floor could be removed and replaced if water damage were to ever happen.

What about an exterior grade deck/porch board floor glued to the cement? Is something like that possible? What would the life span be?

If I go with tile over my painted concrete floor, how do I prep the floor? Do I/should I clean the floor with something like muratic acid and then thinset directly to the concrete?

Any other ideas?? The house was built in 1915 and is a craftsman bungalow. Like I said the rest of the house has hardwood throught out, except for the bathrooms and the kitchen may get tiled when I finally make it into there. I want whatever I do to kind of stay with the feel of the house.

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VaViaCo

· #2 · May 20, 2009

Tile need a porous substrate, like unseal concrete.
Etching the surface with muratic acid should be fine.
The smell of that stuff is lethal, be sure to ventilate.
If you're not sure, stick a scrap piece of tile in an obscure corner, give it a day to set up, and see if it's stuck.
I've seen tile over linoleum that we had to break up with a chipping hammer, mainly because the grout had it locked in, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it.

Some of the laminate woods come out looking real nice.
Saw one recently but don't recall the brand (useless info, sorry).

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Master Brian

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 20, 2009

VaViaCo said:
Tile need a porous substrate, like unseal concrete.
Etching the surface with muratic acid should be fine.
The smell of that stuff is lethal, be sure to ventilate.
If you're not sure, stick a scrap piece of tile in an obscure corner, give it a day to set up, and see if it's stuck.
I've seen tile over linoleum that we had to break up with a chipping hammer, mainly because the grout had it locked in, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it.

Some of the laminate woods come out looking real nice.
Saw one recently but don't recall the brand (useless info, sorry).

Ventilating shouldn't be a problem, I have 3-4 pretty good size windows I could open. Problem is we are getting into Summer, so if it gets too hot, I don't want to go without a/c too long. Wonder how long it would take to suck th fumes out of the basement....

I agree some of the laminate floorings do come out looking real nice, but those tend to get very pricey and I'm not ready to spend a bunch on a floor for a basement. I am hoping to stay around $1-2 per square foot for materials. I may be way off base there when the time comes to actually do this, but that's my current budget plans. I just figure if I can do that and the floor gets ruined and needs replacing in a 5-10-15 yrs, no big deal....

One thing I'm running through my head is pine tounge and groove porch flooring. I used this for my previous house in an addition and it turned out fairly well. I wanted to try to match the old floors in the rest of the house and it fit the bill. That was over plywood, over joists.

This would be over cement and my understanding is you don't want to apply untreated lumber directly to cement. I'm not sure how well glueing the boards down would do in terms of staying put and lasting. I don't really want to build up the floor, but I'm thinking maybe 3/4" more wouldn't matter. I could take 3/4" treated furring strips and glue & screw them to the cement floor, then maybe glue down some 3/4" rigid foam and attach the strips over that with nails and glue. Would that work or be too spongy? It would give me a flooring that matches a lot of the rest of the house.....

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VaViaCo

· #4 · May 21, 2009

Truth is I don't know.
Haven't done it and haven't seen/heard of it done.
Sounds plausible but don't drive that to the bank.
Ceramic can come in at $2.00 sq ft material, but removing it is a major chore.

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Master Brian

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 21, 2009

VaViaCo said:
Ceramic can come in at $2.00 sq ft material, but removing it is a major chore.

I've actually seen some pretty decent ceramic tiles for around $1.00 sq ft, not necessarily what I'd want in my kitchen, or other highly visable areas, but for a basement they don't look too bad.

As for removing them, yes, it is a chore. I think tile is one of those things that wouldn't matter much if it got wet, as long as it is down good.

Thanks for the replies....

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