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What floor treatment to use in finished basement?
I have a section of my basement that is finished which needs new floor treatment due to a flood. It had been carpeted with thick but inexpensive Buber. The stairs have same carpet. The area is divided into an office with 2 walk in closets and a multi purpose room. The multi purpose room has an exercise area with weight lifting bench, free weights and treadmill, while other side of this long room has a love seat, book shelves, TV w/ game system.
I need suggestions on what floor treatment(s) to replace the carpet. I have 2 dogs who have accidents in the basement on occasion, so I will not be replacing with Buber. Turns out you can’t steam clean Buber well (as its hard to get suction). I like the idea of carpet (especially since it muffles sound when you walk down the stairs) but Id like to have a more easily cleaned flooring, yet maintain the finished look, feel and sound.
While linoleum on the floor might work with some well placed area rugs, I don’t have any idea how that would work on the stairs.
I know porcelain tile is a good bit more expensive than vinyl, but the result will wear well and look good. If you don’t go for expensive tile it will still look better than almost any vinyl, really won’t be THAT expensive and will look fine on the stairs as well … just make sure you buy a tile which has a matching bullnose for the stair fronts. I’m assuming that you have a concrete slab under the Berber carpet, and if that’s correct it will not be at all difficult to install the tile. Look on Craigslist and you can buy a good used wet tile saw (make sure it’s heavy duty) and with that the job will be a breeze. It’s not hard … just do a little homework.
One hint: If you can, get the kind of tile which has full 12″ or 13″ squares with half size (6″ or 6 1/2″) alternate tile. You can do easy effects which make the whole thing look more interesting and expensive looking.
Option 1: Decorative Concrete Overlay
Where I live you can get concrete overlay for $ 4.50/square foot. I put that in my kitchen and living room. They were able to put concrete backer board on the stairs and put the concrete overlay on the stairs as well. This is a good option that can look like tile, and it is easy to clean like tile, but it can be put over floors that are not very level. It can also be cheaper than tile, depending on whether or not it is a DIY job. The downside to this flooring is that if you drop something sharp onto the floor, the paint color can chip off. A few times a year I touch up chipped spots with a bit of paint. I’m not sure if the overlay can be stained vs. painted, and if that might be a better option. I would say that I like the matte finish of my concrete overlay. Many of the concrete overlays you see are a high gloss finish that can get scratched and will look bad over time.
Option 2: Carpet Tiles
In a spare bedroom I put carpet tiles. These are nice because if a tile gets ruined, you can just replace it. I bought cheap assorted tiles from eBay. They were $ 0.69 per square foot. It came out looking better than I expected it would, although with the assorted colors it is not a very traditional look.
Option 3: Epoxy Garage Floor Coating
This was less than $ 0.30 per square foot. I put red 2 part epoxy garage floor coating in my gameroom. You just roll it over the concrete like paint, then sprinkle the color chips over it. The only down side to this is that the glaze coat scratches and dulls over time. We re-coat our floor with a clear acrylic every few years and it shines up like new again. It looks very neat, but also not very traditional. I bought the Supercoat Liquid Flooring from Sam’s Club.