The Best Flooring For Basements
Basement Flooring
The basement, an often overlooked room in the home, holds immense potential for transformation into a functional area. Whether you're turning it into a family room, a home office, or a gaming room, selecting the right flooring is crucial for both the style of the room and functionality. In this article, we’ll go over the best flooring for basements, highlighting various options available on the market today that are both aesthetically brilliant and functional.
Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) and SPC Rigid Core Vinyl Flooring
The best flooring option for basements at the moment is LVT click flooring and SPC rigid core. These two products differ slightly in the material they are constructed from, but both function and often look exactly the same. For a basement, few flooring options rival the durability of LVT and SPC rigid core vinyl floors. These flooring products are designed to be fully waterproof and strong enough to withstand plenty of foot traffic, and since basements can be prone to flooding as well as other moisture due to being underground, they are the perfect floors for a basement.
Water Resistance: LVT and SPC vinyl are 100% waterproof, making them resistant to water damage. This is especially valuable in basements where dampness can be a recurring issue.
Durability: Vinyl floors are designed to withstand heavy foot traffic.
Easy Installation: Both LVT and SPC rigid core vinyl floors come in modern click systems and built-in underlay, ensuring an easy and cost-effective installation process for the enthusiastic DIYer.
Style Variety: We offer LVT and SPC vinyl floors in a variety of colours and textures, from wood to stone to tile-effect, ensuring there is a floor to complement any interior style.
Laminate Flooring
Laminate flooring is a budget-friendly option that has generally gained popularity in the market due to its high and low-end variants. It offers a variety of benefits, making it a strong contender for below-grade spaces. However, laminate flooring is made up of an MDF core which is a wood waste product, and the general rule of thumb is that you do not want to place wood in rooms that are prone to moisture. This is due to the fact that wood absorbs water and as such will warp and buckle when too much water gets in, add on the fluctuating environmental conditions as the seasons change, you are likely to have a warping floor putting laminate in a basement.
Cost-effective - Laminate floors are often cost-effective with some cheaper options available on the market, and can be installed as a temporary or quick solution to any project
Aesthetics - Like Vinyl, laminate floors come in many different styles and colours, from parquet to wood effect, stone, and tile-effect.
Cons:
Bad in damp areas - While there are certain laminate options available that have water-proof surfaces, that still will not make them suitable for a basement where the moisture could potentially get under the surface, where the rest of the core is not waterproof, leading you to many of the same problems.
Engineered Real Wood Flooring
Engineered wood flooring’s prime selling point is the natural beauty it offers, unmatched by any synthetic product like laminate or vinyl. However, in terms of flooring for a basement, that is the only benefit you will get from it. We would not recommend putting real wood flooring in a basement due to the same reasons you shouldn’t put laminate flooring in it: moisture. The fluctuating moisture levels combined with changes in temperature will cause the flooring to warp, buckle, and eventually, fail. And for such an expensive product as engineered wood, the risk is not worth it.
In extreme cases, the movement of the wood could actually damage the foundations of the building due to the extent to which it expands and contracts as it absorbs moisture. In short, do not do it.
Conclusion
The best flooring options for basements must be first and foremost waterproof due to the presence of moisture and chances of flooding in a basement. This is why LVT click flooring and SPC rigid core vinyl flooring are the best-suited options if you are looking for a stylistically modern, functional, and budget-friendly floor for your basement. Anything made from wood, such as laminate flooring or engineered hardwood floors should be avoided as they will warp and fail under the presence of extensive moisture in a basement.