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Anyone have any experience installing vinyl plank on a basement concrete floor? Moisture isn't an issue.
Seems like you need to have a near perfect surface to make this stuff work. This basement has slabs that slope up to expansion joints, creating a slight hump at the joints. There is no reasonable way to get rib of that feature since that would involve grouting the entire basement to flatness which would be far more expensive than the plank itself.
The question becomes - how will the vinyl planks behave if it is installed over this "hump"? Any experience with this?
Alternative is carpet. Maybe ceramic tile in some areas.
Well, technically leaving well enough alone is also an option. Depending on what you have in your basement, I personally like having a plain concrete floor with a drain where any leakage from washing machines, water heaters, water softeners etc. can drain away and not make a mess.
House I owned in the 80's near Denver had a plain concrete floor with drain. Subsequent owner installed carpet, water softener overflowed, ruining that carpet.
What are you trying to accomplish here? Those vinyl planks don't respond well to getting wet.
Don't rule out sheet vinyl! There's lots of good quality floors out there, and sheet vinyl will be the most forgiving if you choose a pattern that will tend to make the unevenness less obvious.
I did sheet vinyl that looks like wood. It was so cheap and looks like wood.
I'd either level the floor (as already suggested) or install sheet vinyl.
Hadn't really thought about sheet vinyl, that might work, although seems like carpet would be better at hiding any imperfections. It's been years since I had sheet vinyl installed, but that needs to be glued, right? Whereas carpet or floating LVP could be easily removed if necessary.
"Leveling" the floor of this large basement space would be difficult. Slabs slope up to and down away from the control joints (effectively creating a peak running the length of the floor), so that to make the entire floor truly level would not be trivial. It might be possible to float a beveled surface across those joints to make the transition over the joint more gradual.
Well, technically leaving well enough alone is also an option. Depending on what you have in your basement, I personally like having a plain concrete floor with a drain where any leakage from washing machines, water heaters, water softeners etc. can drain away and not make a mess.
House I owned in the 80's near Denver had a plain concrete floor with drain. Subsequent owner installed carpet, water softener overflowed, ruining that carpet.
What are you trying to accomplish here? Those vinyl planks don't respond well to getting wet.
This is a large basement with a walk-out. There are rooms with drains for water heater and for washer, and those won't be getting finished, they will remain concrete. About 1000 sq ft will be finished, and about 900 sq ft will be storage/utility/unfinished areas.
Have been in the house for 10+ years and basement is stable and dry, so I am comfortable with finishing this space. Sure there is always the chance of a leak/flood but we could have the same problem on the upper floor.
My basement has a concrete floor. The floor was not perfect and had a very slight wave to it. I used 12x24 LVT because I knew it would be a bit forgiving. It’s been 7 years and is still holding up fine.
My baseman hasn’t leaked in the 10 years we have lived here but I would not want carpet in the basement because if it does, there could be mold. How do you ever get the water out of a rug in the basement?
Last edited by trusso11783; 07-13-2023 at 09:53 PM..
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Have you looked into different concrete finishes like polishing, dyeing, or staining. You can also do faux tile by etching grout lines. And then theres stenciling. You could stencil your floors to look like wood planks.
Those epoxy garage floors seem to hold up pretty well. Cars can drive on it so theres that.
If youre set on adding flooring I would stick with the carpet tiles. JMO. I dont trust basement floors not to have water problems. Case in point. One of my cleaning clients had an issue with her downspout not draining properly. Water was pooling at the foundation and seeped thru the block into the basement. Luckily for her this was in an unfinished part and not the carpeted part.
Hadn't really thought about sheet vinyl, that might work, although seems like carpet would be better at hiding any imperfections. It's been years since I had sheet vinyl installed, but that needs to be glued, right? Whereas carpet or floating LVP could be easily removed if necessary.
"Leveling" the floor of this large basement space would be difficult. Slabs slope up to and down away from the control joints (effectively creating a peak running the length of the floor), so that to make the entire floor truly level would not be trivial. It might be possible to float a beveled surface across those joints to make the transition over the joint more gradual.
A good, heavy sheet vinyl hides a lot of imperfections. I installed a large piece of sheet vinyl in my basement for a while last year while I had an ancient, incontinent cat spending most of her time there. Even though the vinyl was loose-laid, it stayed flat and fit like a glove after cutting. It also covered all the floor imperfections perfectly. However, after the cat passed, I had the entire floor redone with special paint (not epoxy) that is waterproof and has a smooth finish. It also covers 95% of the concrete imperfections and is washable too. It comes in standard and custom colors and I love it! The paint rep even came to the house to evaluate the concrete surface before application, so this isn't paint available at the big box stores, btw.
All good ideas, thanks for the inputs. There is no perfect solution for this, we will need to ponder this some more. One problem with sheet vinyl that the Wife pointed out is that in a space this large, there will be several seams, and that would mean a glued installation. Where those seams pass over the expansion joints it will be hard to keep them intact. Might work but you wouldn't know until after you've committed to gluing the vinyl to the entire floor.
Not worried about water or flooding. This walkout is the driest basement I've ever seen, it has excellent drainage around the perimeter, poured walls, drains for water heater and washer. It's more like a first floor than a basement, half the structure is above ground.
Paint is a possibility. That would require filling all the expansion joints with self leveling sealer, not sure how well paint would hold up on those joints which are ~1/2" wide.
Hadn't really thought about sheet vinyl, that might work, although seems like carpet would be better at hiding any imperfections. It's been years since I had sheet vinyl installed, but that needs to be glued, right? Whereas carpet or floating LVP could be easily removed if necessary.
"Leveling" the floor of this large basement space would be difficult. Slabs slope up to and down away from the control joints (effectively creating a peak running the length of the floor), so that to make the entire floor truly level would not be trivial. It might be possible to float a beveled surface across those joints to make the transition over the joint more gradual.
How wide is that peak? From your descriptions it seems like you just need to grind down those ridges. The floor doesn't need to be perfectly flat and level. Just get rid of the abrupt transitions that will catch your eye when they telegraph through the flooring.
I don't see sheet vinyl being any better at resisting telegraphing imperfections than plank vinyl. If you are putting new sheet vinyl over old sheet vinyl you are supposed to use an embossing compound over the old stuff so it's pattern doesn't telegraph through the new stuff.
Get a 6’ or 8’ level and set it down in several areas to gauge the peak-valley differences. Hills can be ground with a rented tool and the holes can be filled with leveler or patch compound. It’s not difficult, but it can be intimidating the first time for a DIY. If you hire somebody to do it they will charge about $250 plus $1-$2 a SF. Like most finish jobs, the prep work on flooring is key to getting good results.
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