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We have a finished daylight walk-out basement that had been very well done -- drywall, nice molding, good quality doors, lighting and carpet.
Then comes the busted gas water heater over a weekend when we were out of town . . .
Up comes the carpet. But what to replace it with? We're dealing with some other water intrusion matters at this point that we had not realized before we took up the carpet (over in corners and along the edge, behind furniture, etc.) and will have the waterproofing done soon. But now I have to replace the flooring, and I have basically a clean slate.
The only thing I can't easily do is dyed concrete -- just a few too many imperfections and it would need a skim coat -- and I'm not so in love with the concrete look to go through that. Carpet would be easy, but if there's another water issue, then there goes the carpet again. Same with wood floors, which would be my preference, but it seems extravagant to put them in a basement (we're talking about almost 1200 sf). I don't care for laminate -- too plastic-y for my tastes. My first choice is some sort of tile -- I was interested in the tile that has the woodgrain look, but I'm afraid it's going to look dated sooner rather than later, and other tile just seems a little cold and noisy.
My BIL has pebble epoxy flooring in his finished basement. It's absolutely stunning.
You can literally hose it down if you wanted. It's the perfect solution for a basement with water issues.
There aren't many indoor picture examples online, but I found these two.
That's interesting. Am i correct in thinking that the floor surface is uneven? Or does the epoxy smooth it out? It looks a little like the pool deck surface we had in South Florida, except with much smaller pebbles (I think it was called "chattahoochee", for some reason).
I would either do stained concrete with rugs you can easily change out or something that molds to the existing floor like an epoxy.
Even the "best made" basements always have water issues somewhere. No need to keep putting in a flooring that will continually have to be ripped up or, worse, matched if the leak only affects a small area.
That's interesting. Am i correct in thinking that the floor surface is uneven? Or does the epoxy smooth it out? It looks a little like the pool deck surface we had in South Florida, except with much smaller pebbles (I think it was called "chattahoochee", for some reason).
The epoxy evens it out for the most part. It's comfortable to walk on in bare feet. This is the ideal flooring for your uneven imperfect concrete. It will hide that. It will also handle all of your water issues. It cleans up easily. It's a similar surface to the outside material.
Look for Amtico Flooring.
They used to be a stand alone manufacturer of premium vinyl flooring (they were bought by Mannington a couple of yrs ago). I had used their marble-look flooring many years ago- it was so impressive the first time I saw it; I really believed it was the real deal.
They also have a very impressive looking "wood flooring" selection.
Look for Amtico Flooring.
They used to be a stand alone manufacturer of premium vinyl flooring (they were bought by Mannington a couple of yrs ago). I had used their marble-look flooring many years ago- it was so impressive the first time I saw it; I really believed it was the real deal.
Wow, some nice products there.
I personally think vinyl is where it's at for a lot of applications that may have previously been tile or laminate.
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