Basement Floors

Welcome to homeflooring.info

Choosing the Right Flooring For Basement Floors

It is very difficult to choose the right kind of flooring for basement floors because of their location. They tend to be dark and damp and have areas of excess moisture, which can cause mold and mildew and thus, mar the floors. Unwanted moisture is the biggest problem that homeowners face when they want to finish a basement because it can come in from the outside since the basement is underground. The water can seep in through cracks and crevices that you don't even know that exist.

To check to see if there is any moisture, lay out sheets of 3 x 3 plastic, such as a trash bag opened to its full size, in all four corners of the basement. Tape them to the concrete and wait for 24 hours to see if any moisture accumulates under the plastic. If there is dampness there, then you have to find out where it is coming from and eliminate the source before you go any further with installing any flooring. If there is no moisture, you have a wide choice in flooring options.

For the most part, carpeting and hardwood flooring are not recommended as flooring in the basement. This is because the variations in humidity in this area of the home can cause hardwood and laminate floors to warp and cause mold to grow under the carpet. The best choice is engineered flooring, which is constructed from three to five layers of hardwood with high-density fiberboard core. This type of floor has a great resiliency to variations in temperature and humidity.

Laminate floor is another option for the floor in a basement. The core of these floors is moisture resistant, with a resin based surface. These are floating floors, which means they are not directly attached to the subfloor of the basement. Ceramic and porcelain tile are also suitable to use as flooring options. You can install these tiles directly on the concrete or you can build a subfloor by placing plastic on the concrete and then building a plywood base for the tiles.