So Dylan came over last night to check out our situation - super nice guy! Recommended NOT doing wood - since we can't confirm all moisture is gone forever.

Will definately call him again when we have the rest of the house refinished....

Didn't realize he's also from the local rockers - The Milwaukees! Pleasant surprise....



So - now that's out of the way, anyone have any recommendations for polished concrete floor people?!?

thanks!

HI NeverLeft!

Yeah - our house is a little over 100 years old, and the existing cement floor exists in most of the basement - and we don't know how thick it is yet... we'll see! Judging by the rest of the house, i doubt that it's too thick - i hope it's not too thick!

Our basement is very dry, with a few small exceptions - exceptions that hopefully the plumber fixing the sewer line with solve!

Hey Capnjon I don?t know how old your house is?we had a 40?s wood frame house in JC. It had a nice cement basement floor had some cracks in it. We found out the cement floor was less than half an inch thick. Just fyi incase you never explored what was under the laminate and rotting sub floor the old owners left behind. Also nice to know that a plumber didn?t need to use a jack hammer to break up a half inch cement floor.

Whenever it rained or was damp out the floor always looked damp. I guess because of the thickness of it. We never finished the basement it was just used for storage.

thanks Snibe!

Dylan did the floors in my office and in my house. He's fast and does really great work, I highly recommend him if you're thinking about wood floors.

radiant heating it totally on my radar... it'd be a lot easier (and probably cost effective) to keep the floor slightly warm, than trying to keep the whole basement warm enough that it warms the concrete on it's own!

If you're getting a new floor poured, ask about getting radiant heating installed, electric or hot water. Radiant is amazing, I put it under my terrazzo kitchen floor and it's toasty on bare feet.

Hi Brewster,

Yeah, i don't know why, i just hate tiles or slate... just a personal thing. would rather a cool colored and polished concrete floor that we can easily maintain and just throw area rugs down for warmth/coziness....

My hopes / beliefs are that after the plumber gets finished with the sewer / waste water / drainage lines, that moisture underneath the floor shouldn't be a problem (fingers crossed)....

thanks

While tile or slate is a good option, there's also a new product type out there I installed in a kitchen a few months ago: solid vinyl snap together laminate. You install it like regular laminate, but it has no fiber component and can't absorb moisture. This is NOT the kind with a glue strip. I think it was $2.40/ft at Lowes. If you got major water under it you'd be looking at mildew problems, but the flooring wouldn't be shot.

It was absurdly easy to work with, and can be taken up easily too.

Hi HPYC,

Yeah - the people that installed the (crappy) laminate that was there when we moved in put the barrier in there, and there was plenty of moisture, so of course, all the subflooring was rotten....

thankfully, we're getting new sewer / drainage done, so the moisture should never again be an issue...

and yes, i lean towards the polished concrete just for ease of care / cleaning / and just incase the basement ever was to flood again (which it hopefully will never do again, but who knows)....

Of course, none of the concrete folks have returned my calls! (grrr)

Don't put any type of absorbent flooring material in the basement - wood, carpet, whatever, even if it is supposed to resist moisture. I would suggest staining, epoxy sealing and polishing the concrete slab itself. They can stain concrete almost any color. You can also have the concrete surface ground down to reveal some of the stone aggregate in it, which gives it a look like terrazzo flooring. Not sure how that is done exactly and it probably adds a lot to the cost.

If your slab is not pretty enough for company, consider installing slate or some other kind of stone tile. They can make the floor perfectly level with leveling cement and you will have a nice, moisture proof, floor.

Before you do anything, test for moisture. Tape a 2' x 2' sheet of plastic to the concrete floor and leave it alone for a couple of weeks - through different tides, periods of rain, etc. Lift it off and look for condensation or moisture on the underside. If you have any you should have a waterproofing specialist look at the situation and remedy that first before you make it too late by installing a floor.

Hi Folks,

We're looking to put floors in our basement - and are throwing around ideas - polished concrete, engineered floors, hardwood, etc... we have an unfunished concrete basement floor to cover...

Any recommedations of contractors / products? Been doing tons of research... haven't heard back from many people i contacted for estimates...

Anyone ever use Dylan Wood Floors? How about buying from Home Depot and having them install it?

Any and all help or suggestions are appreciated!

thanks
JC