what should i put in my basement? can i have hardwood floors in my basement?

Basement Floors? Are you stuck with Carpet? Can you put hardwood flooring down?

You have many options as to what can you put in a finished basement and you should really consult as always a professional about what can you do, but I have great news for those of you who dont want carpet in the basement and want hardwood.  Now I am going to tell you your options as to how to install the hardwood in your basement.

Ok you not only can install hardwood flooring in your basement but you have options and as many options as your pocket book will allow, yes some cost more than others.  They include floating the floor, nailing it down, or glue. 

Floating a floor in a basement

This is probably the easiest and cheapest option.  Not necessarily the best but it will work.  Your concern as always when working over concrete is moisture coming up and damaging your floor and in this case how level your concrete floor is.  You will need an engineered hardwood floor, a good moisture barrier underlayment, and a mostly level floor.  We believe in overkill at country flooring direct so dont get the cheap 2-1 foam underlayment get the nicest underlayment you can we use shaws 3-1 the cost will double but were talking about 25 cents a sq ft so thats not a big deal and its the cheapest insurance policy youll ever buy.  As long as your floor doesnt vary 1/8 inch in an 8 foot radius you are good to start laying your floor.  You will want to undercut all of your door jambs and start on your longest straightest wall leaving a 1/4" gap from the wall on all sides, staggering your butt joints 8".

Direct Glue 

You can also Directly glue the hardwood floor to the concrete.  Here you can use either solid or engineered product however it is reccomended to use solid only on above grade floors.  The floor again has to be within industry standards for flatness.  The overkill Country Flooring Direct reccomends is in the adhesive, we use Stauff adhesive and it has a moisture barrier built into the glue, again the cost is an extra 25 cents a sq ft but as always its the cheapest insurance you can buy. You will need a special trowel that Stauff will provide you so that the glue will go on properly but your installation is the same as the floating.  This method is going to be more costly and your options will be different than with the floating floor however this is better in my eyes than floating the floor for durability reasons.

Nail Down hardwood

How can you nail down hardwood flooring over concrete? easily install 3/4" advantec first and nail over top of that.  The question becomes how to put the advantec down.  Your options are nailing it, floating it or gluing it.  The best way is to float it.  You will install a plastic 6 mil moisture barrier under neath the plywood, cut the plywood into 2*4 foot sections put a relief joint in and install the plywood on a 45 degree angle for additional stability.  The only important thing to consider here is how long your nails are you will want 1.5" nails so you dont go into the plastic which is your moisture barrier.  This way is the most expensive however it makes for the flatest floor with the best moisture prevention.  Another way is to use maize nails and shoot down the plywood and use a topical moisture barrier like aquabar, in the past I have also used black mamba (tar) under the floor to seal the concrete and nailed it with maize nails.  Any one of these options can be used and you can put solid prefinished or unfinished hardwood flooring down here.

The Cost Of Laminated Flooring

Laminated Flooring can be a great option and very durable however there are so many options available it can be confusing about what is the cost of a Quality Laminated floor.  Most consumers look at the wrong qualities in a floor.  For instance, I just met with a man who was buying a laminated floor and I understand why he thought the competitors floor which is thicker and less was a better buy however there are costs involved in making a lamianted floor.  

The Wear Layer

The locking Mechanism

The core

The Biggest cost of making a laminated floor

The two main costs are the wear layer and the locking mechanism.  The cost in the wear layer is effected by the Graphics, or how real the floor looks, the thickness described in millimeters and the adhesive used to keep it all together.  If you are looking for an inexpensive laminate in a plain oak look 7 millimeter wear layer, the least expensive one if your buying out of stock would range 1.29-1.49 sq ft for product fancier laminates can range higher upwards to $4 sq ft.  The other expense is your locking mechanism.  It is not commonly known by consumers but most of your main manufacturers all use one locking mechanism that they pay a royalty to use.  Why is this? Very simply it is the best and if your locking mechanism is not good, your sales will drop as soon as the installer starts complaining about how horrible the floor installs.

The other main cost is the core what is the middle made from how dense is the core? How water resistant is it? Is it made of HDF or Plastic? This determines  sound and impact absorbsion and how much water effects the product.  A Plastic core product is going to run upwards to 5-7 sq ft, the problem with this approach is you can get a nicer LVT product installed for this and not have any moisture problems and have an easier installation.

Inexpensive laminated floors should cost 3.50-4 dollars a sq ft to install product underlayment and labor.  Inexpensive LVT floors will run closer to 4 dollars a sq ft and top out around$7 but they are more resistant to moisture.  

We hope you found this helpful.