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.