Flooring For Basements

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Basement Floor Ideas

Renovating the basement is a great project! It is an awesome motivation to clear it out, especially if it has turned into a glorified dump site for stuff that you ought to throw out but don’t have the balls to dispose of. You can then turn the space into an office or a crafting studio if you want it to be “useful”.

Or, if you want to have some fun in it, make it into an underground bar, poker room, mini spa, or a jamming room where you can rock out away from judging eyes and ears.

After clearing out the space and holding a garage sale for your junk, the first major hurdle to jump across is the flooring. Basement floors have always been notoriously problematic, due to that under the ground thing. There’s a reason why people dig for water. Because water can be found under all that soil. Moisture is the fly in the proverbial ointment, and you have to take measures to handle it. Have your basement checked out by a pro and do what he or she tells you.

Next you have to decide what to do with your floor, keeping in mind the tendency of basements to be damp. Rugs are definitely out, as they’d get moist and probably serve as breeding ground for all sorts of nasty molds and bacteria. Solid hardwood flooring, on the other hand, would tend to warp from the dampness, and so is not recommended.

So what can you do with basement floors?
The most cost efficient floor treatment is to stain the concrete. The industrial look is still in, and even if it weren’t, there are a lot of stain colors that would visually soften up the cold hard stony floor.

Another recommendation is to use engineered wood floors. These have the look of hardwood, but under the surface are layers of wood, resins, or high density fiberboards. The layered construction make it resilient to humidity and moisture.

Bamboo is another excellent option. It is technically a grass, but it’s as hard or even harder than hardwoods. Best of all, bamboo are wonderfully sustainable. The grow really fast and harvesting doesn’t kill the plant.

Cork is a lovely alternative too. It is eco-friendly, mold- and pest-resistant, and hypoallergenic. It adds texture and visual interest to surfaces. And if you’re planning to rock out in the basement, cork is a great sound-proofing material.

Painting Floor

It is uncommon for homes to have painted floors today because clear coated hardwood is more preferred by homeowners.  Painting floors are easier, faster and less expensive than refinishing solid floors.

Painting floors starts with any regular painting tasks.  Remove all furniture the area. Sand the floor.  The floor should be clean, dust free and smooth.  Clean up the all the sand and dust you created with a damp towel.  All cracks and holes should also be patched with a product that dries hard.  Don’t forget to use rubber gloves and goggles for your safety.  Start by applying the primer once the floor dries up.  Start at the far side of the room.  Let it dry then start painting.  Always roll from a dry area to the wet area to minimize marks and to achieve a smooth coat.  Let the area dry thoroughly before painting the pattern you like.  Make sure no one walks on the floor for at least 2 days after applying the last coat of paint to let dry completely.  Vacuum the area to remove the leftover dirt once the floor is dry.

Remember not to paint on a rainy day, it is not ideal for drying conditions.  Make sure to keep the windows open while painting because of bad fumes and lastly don’t apply thick coats.  Painting the floors is less expensive than replacing the whole surface.  Amuse your neighbors, family and friends with your painted floors.  There are a lot of possibilities that can add touches or accent to your floor.

Simple Approaches To Complement Your New Flooring With Your Household Furniture

A couple of years back we thought we would acquire new engineered hardwood floors in our loft. Before our flooring was a cement one, it wasn’t terrible per se but we got small children and children are likely to fall a good deal, so for safety issues and since we did want the place to be more put together we chose to try to find other sorts of floor options. The furniture we had was very kid friendly and neutral and also, since it was a small loft the kitchen was connected together with the dinning/living room area. After a couple of months of going back and forth with various options we chose to get engineered hardwood throughout the first floor. Since it was such a small space we didn’t want to skimp on the visual space by separating the kitchen from the dinning/living with some other floors. Also, since we’d at some point switch all the kid friendly pieces of furniture with quality pieces we decided to go all out and have expensive flooring.

In case you are looking at changing your floors in your home and you are concerned with complementing you interior décor to the new floors, you must keep in mind certain things. If you do have young children and you also haven’t purchased your ideal furnishings I’d say go with the high end flooring simply because whatever type of floors you are getting as long as you clean it properly and take care of them can last for a long time. Should you be already set along with your dream decoration plan I am going to still advise obtaining the high quality floors, because not only will they complement and play up your pieces of furniture highlights but they will even increase your home’s price. With flooring, just like a number of other construction materials, you really do get what you pay for.