If you have a finished basement or you plan on finishing it in the near future, you’ve probably started to look into flooring ideas in terms of styles and materials. Well, you might like to know that you have quite a few materials available to you. But, these materials are strictly for finished basements – and basements that won’t get flooded or have water issues, otherwise, you would just be better off going with something like concrete.
What Will The Space Be Used For?
One of the first questions you will need to ask yourself, is what the basement is going to be used for, this will help you figure out the best material for your specific needs because each material has its own rating and its own use. For example, for a gaming room, you would probably want something that is good for medium to high foot traffic, easy to clean, won’t scratch or dent. On the other hand, if you plan on using it for a media room, you need a material that is cushy under your feet and won’t allow noise to bounce all over the place – for this, carpet would work better than a laminate and yet there are people who would rather avoid carpets.
Luxury Vinyl Tile – LVT
LVT is a pretty new option available. It works a lot like a wood laminate in that you can use a photograph to mimic another material and “print” it onto the vinyl. You can make the vinyl look like wood, leather, stone, ceramic or just about anything else. Vinyl is also puncture and scratch resistant, stain resistant, waterproof and incredibly easy to clean which makes it ideal for a basement. However, if you don’t want the entire basement to use this material, you can also mix it. For a game room/media room, for example, you can use carpet in the media area, laminate in the gaming area and then use something like vinyl in the kitchen or bar area and it all makes sense. Carpet for comfort and sound, laminate for a cool look in the gaming area, and easy to clean and take care of vinyl in the kitchen or bar area. Vinyl comes in an area of looks such as distressed wood, specialty wood, traditional wood, stone, and patterns. It also comes in all sorts of colors like white, black, gray, copper, orange, brown, green, blue and many more.
Multi-ply Construction – Engineered Wood
Engineered wood has a multi-level construction that makes it incredibly durable, amazingly beautiful, and it’s easy to clean. This is why it makes a great material for a finished basement. Engineered hardwood also comes in a lot of different options in terms of the colors, plank sizes, and styles such as; Color: white, copper, red-brown, dark brown, gray, black, yellow and tan. Look: distressed wood, specialty wood, traditional wood, stone, and patterns. Types Of Wood: Birch, Oak, Cherry, Walnut, Maple, Exotic and Pecan.
Laminate Wood Flooring
These are very similar in terms of style, look and feel as the engineered wood above, but also hardwood, but at the fraction of the cost. If you don’t have an eye for real wood, you can trick people into thinking that you spent thousands of dollars on a real wood floor, when really it’s just a very good look alike.
Laminate flooring can also be made to look like anything and be “printed” onto the material; stone, tile, patterns, and more. This is a very easy to clean material, it’s easy to install, moisture resistant, and most companies that offer it, offer amazing support and a great warranty.
Colors: White, beige, tan, copper, red-brown, brown, dark brown, gray, black and blue.
Look: distressed wood, specialty wood, traditional wood, stone, and patterns.
Laminate planks or laminate flooring are used in the basement as flooring very often because of their properties. Many homes in the United States of America have them installed, the price point is pretty fantastic too, so if you want the look and feel of wood floor, but you don’t want to spend $25,000 or more, this is the material for you. Engineered hardwood is amazing too, but out of the three, laminate is the cheapest, then engineered hardwood, and then real hardwood flooring.
Out of all the materials listed here the LVT and the carpet are going to be the cheapest non-wood material. If you’re worried about the LVT looking too glossy, don’t; you can also choose what you want the gloss to be; high, medium and low. This is a really nice option because as you go further down the line of the gloss, it starts to look more and more like real wood.