ceramic tile or carpet

[jonepark]

Hi,
I have just had the basement in my home finished, but have not done anything to the floor yet.The basement floor right now is concrete, but its not leveled. Would you recommend ceramic tile,or carpet? Either way we have to level the floor but I am leaning more to carpet.Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[larry4406]

Basement slabs tend to be very cold due to burial depth and direct contact with the earth. The ceramic tile will conduct this cold temperature, so if you are in sock feet or your kids like to play on the floor, you will feel the cold. Carpet with pad will not do this and you will feel warmer. I have carpet in my basement.

Concrete slabs typically have some wavyness to them, usually not noticeable. In extreme cases, you can grind and/or use flash patch to fill and level.

I hope you have a dry basement.

 

[Shocker]

Assuming you have some decent ceiling height, you can put down the 2'x2' floor spacing tiles. I can't remember what they are called. They are OSB on top and and elevated plastic feet on the bottom.

 

[smschriefer]

I'd go tile with area rugs. An area rug is easier to dispose of if the basement floods than an entire room of carpet and padding. For that matter, have you considered a stained concrete, or a nice epoxy finish?

 

[BerBer5985]

Is cost an issue? I would go with carpet. You can decent carpet completely installed for around the cost of a decent porcelain tile material. The cost of ceramic or porcelain installed is going to be about 3x as much, so if cost is an issue, go carpet. Warmth would probably be an issue too and depending on how much leveling you have to do, ceramic could get very expensive. Carpet doesn't require very much leveling if any at all. If it were my house, I'd probably put a nice, soft fiber carpet down there for comfort. Also, if you have a flood in the basement, there is no guarantee that the tile will stay down, If any water gets under that ceramic, it could pop tiles up. We do a lot of insurance work and we;ve replaced plenty of ceramic in basements from water damage. Now, it's probably the most resistant to water damage, but don't let that be the determining factor for picking your flooring. Not to mention that you could replace the carpet two more times before you recoup your cost on it.

 

[rikmeister]

look at carpet tiles. they use it in airports now. if one tile gets to stained you just pull it up and replace it.

 

[dawg]

also youll need to put a moisture barrier coating down for carpet and use outdoor rated carpet due to any moisture emercencies

 

[NUTTSGT]

also youll need to put a moisture barrier coating down for carpet and use outdoor rated carpet due to any moisture emercencies

No need to use outdoor carpet.

 

[docpaulo]

just another thing to factor in, is if anybody in the home has allergies, carpet over a cold surface is a recipe for dust mites...

in that case, tile with area rugs is the better option (you can wash the rugs now and then)

but you can't argue that carpet feels better on the feet...

 

[bry@n]

I agree on the tile, but would get a commercial carpet sewn on the ends and laid down like an area rug.

 

[BerBer5985]

You won't need a moisture barrier for the carpet. Carpet needs to breath. By putting a moisture barrier down, you're just trapping any moisture under the carpet. Carpet will breath and release moisture coming up from the floor.