cork flooring for basement?

[Sh40674]

so we are going to take 1/4 of our unfinished basement, and make a playroom/family room for the kid (3) and for the one we have on the way.

we have had water twice since the house was built in the 70's, once in 2008 and again in 2010, both very wet springs and historic rainfalls. since then the grade has been brought up outside, downspouts re routed and new concrete poured to help the flow of water. havn't had an issue since. the basement can get a little humid on the very hot months, but its not a damp basement by any means. i've read to not install carpet with padding as unless you have it 100 percent controlled, you can get mold from the padding holding moisture (i want a floor easy to pull up anyways in case we were to happen to get water again)

so we were going to just paint the concrete and throw down a huge area rug. but i came across "floating cork floor tiles"

anyone ever use these in a basement? any issues with mold or anything from humidity? (plan on running a dehumidifier in there) do i need to put anything under the floating floor like a vapor barrier or anything?

 

[Garage Flooring]

Stay away from the paint. It will turn into a mess in this application. You could check into an acid stain and breathable sealer or you could look at doing more of a garage type tile.

 

[Sh40674]

i'm not going to paint the tiles, was going to paint the basement floor itself. tiles would be above that

 

[James-W]

Have you considered interlocking rubber floor mats for the floor? They would be soft of the kids feet and easy to take up if needed. Here is a link.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/util-a...versible-floor-mats-24-x-24-8-tiles/107930.ip

 

[Sh40674]

not a bad idea.. what would that do if any moisture got caught underneath though?

 

[Garage Flooring]

i'm not going to paint the tiles, was going to paint the basement floor itself. tiles would be above that

yes, I meant paint in the basement you described may have its own issues and I would avoid it

 

[Sh40674]

the walls have been painted for quite some time without issue. like i said the 2 years i had water, everyone had water (even those that never had it with finished basements)

when i say humid, i don't mean damp by any means. i mean if i were to run a dehumidifier from time to time it would be absolutely fine.

just want to find an alternative to area rugs that wont have issue with mold or anything. even humidity could cause mold under something. i suppose i could try it and pop up the floor in a couple spots down the road and see if i have issues?

 

[James-W]

not a bad idea.. what would that do if any moisture got caught underneath though?

I am not positive but I doubt moisture under the rubber tiles would do anything. But I suppose if water did get under the tiles you could always lift them up and wipe up the floor with paper towels. They just interlock together so lifting them shouldn't pose any sort of problem.

 

[Sh40674]

I am not positive but I doubt moisture under the rubber tiles would do anything. But I suppose if water did get under the tiles you could always lift them up and wipe up the floor with paper towels. They just interlock together so lifting them shouldn't pose any sort of problem.

talked to the wife about this we are going to look heavily into them. we will have furniture but an area rug on top should help weigh them down as well. thanks!

 

[James-W]

talked to the wife about this we are going to look heavily into them. we will have furniture but an area rug on top should help weigh them down as well. thanks!

I don't know of any person who has these tiles on their basement floor, but one of the local grocery stores has a "play area" set up and they have these tiles on the floor. The little kids love the play area and the kids play there while the parents do their shopping. At least one of the women who work at the store are always on hand to make sure the kids are playing OK and not getting into trouble. If a kid falls, the floor is padded by the rubber tiles, and if by some chance one or more of the tiles gets ruined, replacing them is simple and not all that expensive.

 

[Jlbc212]

Unless you live in a very dry climate, mold development in a basement area is likely. On a warm, humid day water vapor in the air will condense on cool basement floors, walls and anything else in the cooler basement. It is essential to run a dehumidifier in the basement if you plan on using the basement as living space. Any material placed on the basement floor should be a material that can be easily removed and cleaned periodically.

 

[M-technik-3]

Decent dehumidifier and ventilation would help. Does the basement have heat and air conditioning? My rental property has HVAC/central air so when we put a new A/C in back in 2014 we re-did the inlet for the basement and it cleared up the musty smell that would happen after heavy rains.

This year we are going to put in a proper secondary access window that way If they wanted to have legal living space there.