Basement flooring options...(relevant for all you frosty pipe people)

So now that we have had the floor in our basement ripped out twice in the past year due to minor flooding (one was laminate, the replacement was vinyl), we are likely to replace with either ceramic tile or simply level & paint the existing concrete.

Does anyone have any opinions either way? I think tile would look better but it requires more maintenance (re-sealing grout annually).

we had ours sanded, stained with an acid stain and sealed

love it - was relatively inexpensive and very durable vs paint which can bubble and rub off

I would go with Tile. I have not resealed our grout since our basement was re-done. Why would you need to re-seal it annually?

pmartinezv said:

I would go with Tile. I have not resealed our grout since our basement was re-done. Why would you need to re-seal it annually?

Cuz about.com says so? Seems to make sense tho:

The survival of a ceramic basement floor after a flood will depend on the quality of the initial install. Glazed ceramic tile surfaces are impervious to water, and can remain immersed indefinitely. However the grout lines between those tiles can be insidious cracks that allow harmful moisture in.

After ceramics are installed in a basement, the grout lines need to be treated with a quality water barrier sealer. This will create an impervious layer, which will stretch across the tile and the grout like an invisible sheet, stopping any liquids from penetrating down. This seal needs to be reapplied periodically every 6 - 12 months.
http://flooring.about.com/od/basement-floors/a/Ceramic-Tile-Basement-Floors.htm

Good to know... Mine were sealed following installation but not since. But I have not had any water down there either.

@new207040 Can you tell me more about this process, please? I have been thinking about having our basement floor repainted, but now I am intrigued. What is involved, how long does it take, who did it, does the acid stain come in lots of colors? Whatever you can tell me would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

- it took two days i think -- we used concrete makeover www.theconcretemakeover.com the crew couldn't be nicer, very hard working ! I think it was around $1500 for laundry room and main area

you can come look at ours - we did acid wash ( kinda like NYC loft look) but they have a ton of options

Jimmy Trabelsi
732-259-5932

@new207040 - do you mind posting a photo or two?

here is a picture

http://imagehost2.gsmls.com/pubhigh/08/101237183_25.jpg

@new207040 Fabulous! Loft look is exactly what I am thinking. Not quite ready to move on this, but will keep your kind offer in mind. Love the picture.

Very, very nice. I assume getting it wet / submerged does nothing harmful or staining to it?

nope neither does foot traffic, dragging stuff over it etc

Very nice!

I would paint/stain the concrete. If water gets under tiles, it's all over, and you'll be ripping it up again. unless you have addressed the flooding issues in the basement in such a way that it will NEVER happen again, I would go with the thing least likely to be affected by water. Sorry... but I think it's more realistic.

I doubt the about.com statement regarding sealing grout every 6-12 months.

I've seen many swimming pools that have tile around the top of the walls which is frequently submerged. They were not sealed every 6-12 months.

Along those same lines how many tiled shower floors are sealed every 6-12 months yet are daily subjected to flooding conditions.

While grout is porous and will absorb water I don't see that causing problems that would compromise the integrity of a tile installation unless it were also subjected to freezing.

@new207040 your basement floor looks fantastic!

Grout is my nemesis. Our basement and kitchen were covered in tile and had disgusting, impossible to clean grout lines. We finally covered our basement tile with carpet, but we haven't had water issues so that obviously wouldn't work.

We recently painted our basement concrete floor with Epoxy Seal Concrete an Garage Floor paint from Home Depot. The guy at HD helped us select a few other things to prep the floor-a long handled scraper, filler, etc. We hired someone to help my husband do it; and it's worked really well. We chose a dark grey color.

We painted and bought inexpensive area rugs.

Our floor is so beat up / uneven / pockmarked that a simple paint solution will not work. Currently in discussions with the concrete makeover guy so I'll update the posters as to how it goes - perhaps I'll do some before & after photos.

Now where to put all the furniture for the 4 days they'll need an empty space to work with? Some of the items already went to the Puppy Love Spa...

@lanky the concrete makeover guys are great, they did my basement- but we did the stain vs epoxy

make sure they diamond grind your floors (vs acid wash )or it will not last long term

we did find the top coat kept on absorbing so we could not get to a consistent sheen but love the overall look -- also if you drag stuff over it there is no damage since we stained (not over coating)

@new207040 - Of the 3 different types of service / product they suggested, diamond grinding and crack filling is the first step of all 3. We are also leaning toward stain vs. epoxy. The third option is an overlay & micro topping.

Is there an array of colors available with the stain? Depending on how it goes, we also might re-do our front porch floor with them...

Tracking this thread - have same floor issue to address. I have gotten the same feedback from several people I have had in since I actually wanted to replace with the similar floor tile we removed for the retro look. Basically to install that type of tile, they would actually do testing and recommend not installing if get even water vapors - not sure I can even explain what that is, but they do a test for it. So recommendation has been to fix the pockmarked floor, which they do, and then recommended we could do the floor painting ourselves, even do a diamond or grid patterned floor ourselves.@new207040, love your floor - is that a tin ceiling?