Flooring choice for basement/tank area
 

I'm doing my basement and had a question for the handy folks on here.

I'm laying down dricore subflooring on top of my concrete foundation. What I finish the room with is still up in the air

1. Carpet
2. Engineered hardwood

I know it's generally bad to lay down real hardwood in a basement but I have heard from some that the engineered stuff is ok? Tank and fishroom are vented outside so the basement won't be anymore humid than a normal basement.

Thanks!

Engineered is fine in basements, you just float it over a membrane or some kind of liner. However for a tank area my vote would be for a tile.

I have the option (and the tiles) to lay a row around the tank. You're saying for spills in the viewing area?

Fishroom will just be sealed concrete.

Yeah pretty much for spills or seepage from a larger leak or spill in the fish room. I do like the look of tile but it can be a little cold and hard in the basement. My preference would based on how the space is used and what the rest of the house had. Carpet is nice and cozy and will be what I use in my basement since the rest of the house is hardwood but I would use hardwood if most of the house was carpet. Hardwood is much easier to clean as well so if it will see a lot of traffic it may be a better choice, but if you have a dog it scratches however still better for cleaning and allergy issues (if any).

i just redid my basement and used a new product made by expresso. it is the same as engineered in the sense of being plank style but it is a vinyl instead of press board. there is a couple of different companies making vinyl flooring now, it is durable and i cant see why it wouldnt last a very long time.
i have installed laminate flooring and this expresso is far easier to install.

Since my office is just a desk off the end of the tank I'd prefer a hard surface to slide my chair on. I'd rather not do carpet and then tile just my office corner. Dog doesn't come downstairs.

I'll be redoing the upper floor a few years down the road so I'm not concerned about matching anything up there. Carpet will be a bit warmer and of course cheaper but I won't install it myself whereas with the engg hardwood I'd install myself which is appealing.

Sounds like I should do tile around the tank no matter which I choose (carpet or wood). The tank stand has a 3" lip around it so spills might not make it down to the floor.

Are you doing stairs as well? This creates a real delima between safety and ease of cleaning.

expresso is the brand? do you have a link? That sounds really smart.

Yes the stairs need to be done. Hence me not wanting to do carpet since I won't touch stairs...

Price difference really depends, carpet isn't always cheaper depending on the type, same goes for hardwood. Engineered wood ranges from $2 to $12 plus install and carpet is usually starts at about $5 including install but can get much more expensive.

i did some searching on it before i purchased it but couldnt find anything. i purchased it from homehardware.
here is a link to there. there is more options than the 4 shown here.
http://www.homehardware.ca/en/cat/se...resso+flooring

i think it was around $2.50 or $2.75 a square foot. kinda pricey, but no more than good quality laminate.

Hardwood stairs can be pretty dangerous, especially if kids are around, hardwood stairs are also pretty expensive as you have to buy the nosing which costs around $60-$90 per stair. Carpet is much safer but hard to keep clean, installers do charge more for stairs but not that much more.

Oh they're press and go? Yeah I'm def wanting something that installs like hardwood. My experience with stick ons has been mixed.

Now that I look again they are planks...weird they call it press and go. Do these lock together?

Yeah somehow I keep getting excited about the floor and forget about the nose pieces. I suppose I could carpet the stairs and do the hardwood downstairs...

this isnt the peel and stick stuff. it has 2 grooves that clip together, i used a rubber hammer. you will have to see it in person to see how easy it is.

Another alternative is bamboo which is also good for basements and is solid throughout. Super hard and durable and doesn't absorb moisture plus is a green product ;). Also cork flooring is pretty popular in basements.

so could i spill on bamboo? I'd really like to not do a tile border around the tank =)

This looks nice:

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/s...k=P_PartNumber

Yeah to a point, you'll still have to clean up any spills but it's suppose to be pretty good, plus it floats so it's easy to replace boards worst case. I almost did bamboo in my house, it looks really nice. The problem with laminate and vinyl flooring is they tend to look fake and cheap.

I'm thinking some bamboo for the floors and a carpet on the stairs then. Thanks guys. So this stuff goes right on my dricore or do I need some sort of barrier as well? Just casually asking at this point I'd read up on whatever I end up buying later on.

The tiger stuff is pretty ugly in person, thought about this myself but saw a whole floor done in it and almost threw up a little :lol: And I like tiger wood which is what I put in my house. The regular bamboo is much nicer IMO.

I'd love to find bamboo in a darker espresso colour. Then again that would show all the dust down here. I like the regular stuff as well.

Bamboo need a liner.

You can get it dark, rona has a darker one which is pretty cheap. Totem also has a darker one for around $2, last time I looked at it anyway.

As you have a subfloor.......consider 36" or ceramic tile around the tank and then carpet in the rest of the area.

Hands in and out of the tank is tough on materials other than ceramic.

bamboo would be nice. for $2 a square, that is very reasonable. i couldnt find that anywhere near that price in lethbridge.

Yeah it was on sale at the time so not sure what the regular price was, regular price at rona is like $3.50 but you could check timber town which is usually pretty reasonable.

I think that's the smartest choice. I've just had tile and carpet in all my places and wanted to try something new. I'd have to tile the back corner where my chair is as well which is not a huge deal but makes that space permanently different than other areas (moving desk later wouldn't be as attractive).

Where would you be today if you always made the "smartest choice"?

I wouldn't be reefing I can tell you that lol.

hahaha... good call Steve.
I'd go with the bamboo or a cork myself. Your wife will thank you when she cleans it too. :razz::twised::razz:

+1 to the tile/carpet suggestion ....carpet is much nicer and warmer to walk on in a basement (unless you have slab heating)....... although, carpet might not take to well to repeated flooding......not saying at all that I think your gonna repeatedly flood your basement, but.....you never know:wink:

I would go with stained concrete around the tank and preferably there would be a crack or 2 in it for drainage. That way your better half would only notice a portion of the leaks and spills. ''What ? This stain has always been here. Obviously I did a pretty good job of the floor because it looks so real."

Haha. Well the cracks I'm sure I could install pretty easily.

I think my next step is to at least go view some of these bamboo floors in person before I make the call.

But generally speaking bamboo will hold up better in the basement?

any wood product will not hold up to moister very well.....most commercial finishes will not stand up to salt water exposure.....have a look at the two zoa frag stands at the shop the next time your in.....the light colored one was "cleared" with a marine grade varathane.....that one still looks like new(its a little dirty but still looks new).....the dark colored one beside it was done with a commercial grade finish and the clear is literally peeling off of it and the stain is leaching out in spots, in about two years.....granted the stand at the shop gets wet way more often than your floor hopefully ever will be but.....

For about $500 I suspect you can heat that ceramic tile also, REAL nice (specically in a basement). I have done 2 heated floors in the last year with the Nuheat system. Their electronic thermostat has a built in GFI and runs about $180. Tiling basements can also be a pain as they always slope to the drain, sometimes significantly.

Bamboo will do well in a basement, just as good as engineered wood if not better. If you're installing directly on the concrete you'll want to lay some tar paper or some kind of membrane first then an underlay and then float the bamboo on top of it all. The bamboo locks together so install is super fast.
Alternatively if you lay tar paper then install a raised sub-floor you could install any hardwood and it would do fine.

make sure the engineered you buy is rated for below grade instalation or you will void the warenty. I personaly have not seen any engineered that is reated for below grade but I am sure there is at least one out there. I went with Lamanate as it is rated for below grade.

Also with the dri core. don't use it. there are a lot of people who are very disapointed with it as they have to yank it out after a flood due to it swelling. I was going to use it myself till I started reading into it. also it is very expensive. I ended up going with a super seal product myself.
http://www.superseal.ca/all_in_one_subfloor.html

I put this down and tuc taped it, then put a good underlay down and tuc taped that, then put my lamanate flooring down.

Steve

All of my aquariums have been on laminate throughout the last 8 years or so. So far so good. Set up your aquariums well and you should be okay. Most spillage would be in your fish room anyway. Even after I moved from my last place the laminate under all fish tanks looked great. I had one aquarium with a steel stand and I had to use rust remover to clean the laminate buy it looked fine after cleaning. Hope this helps.