View Full Version : Flooring for a tricky spot
I am trying to come up with options for flooring in our family room. The flooring that is currently in there is not in very good shape, but I have had such a hard time deciding what would work in that space.
I have a weird house, built into a hill, that has two basements. The family room is in the upper basement, right off of the garage. Because it is right off of the garage, it is a high traffic area that does get a lot of moisture from boots in winter and wet swim wear in the summer. That makes carpet a bad option because it would just get dirty and wood a bad option because it could warp. Tile would be nice for cleaning, but it would be cold and people do like to spend a lot of time down there. This is Minnesota so warmth is an issue.
My mom suggested vinyl and promises me that there are options out there now that are not as hideously ugly as the linoleum I remember from my childhood. I am considering that as a possiblity since it would be easily cleaned, handle moisture and be warmer than tile, although not as warm as carpet. I wonder if it is durable, though. The stuff we had in our front entry when I was a kid was pretty scuffed up by the time we replaced it, although to be fair I guess it was about 30 years old by then.
Maybe I could do vinyl and put a nice big rug by the fireplace for a gathering spot.
Anyone tackled a similarly tricky room? What solution did you come up with?
Cork flooring feels warm to walk on even in cold parts of the country. I think it holds up well in wet conditions, as I know someone who has it in the kitchen and bath without problems.
another thing would be floor heating. I know people who have it in their bathrooms under ceramic tile and really like it. I believe you can put it on a thermastat.
My father-in-law needed a good solution for his workshop room, which isn't your typical garage space. He used something like this http://www.tarkettna.com/en/Products/tabid/55/Default.aspx I think the individual tiles. It looks like tile but is much warmer on the feet. Your mom is right -- there's some very not-bad stuff out there, even in sheet vinyl. Though it all seems to off-gas terribly.
For that reason, personally, if I had a space like the one you describe, I'd probably put in tile, with some great (shampoo-able) rugs in strategic places to make it warm and welcoming.
I have not walked on cork, but it seems really great too.
I have lived in houses with shiny tile (inlcluding one where the living room had marble tile -- awful if you ask me!) and would avoid that. I am also not a huge fan of marble. What about a rougher terra cotta style tile with area rugs to warm it up? Or something like slate? Probably not the cheapest options, but I really don't like vinyl....
If you could go with the infloor heating upgrade (WONDERFUL STUFF! My inlaws have it...) and some kind of wood or bamboo that would be nice. I am very partial to wood myself. Eventually we plan to rip out the carpeting in the living areas and bedrooms of our apartment and go all wood. It is much easier to keep clean and we like the look. Strategically placed area rugs (which we have a ton of due to some binge purchases on work trips a decade ago) can do a lot to warm it up.
Oh, and cork might be interesting to explore too -- one of the shows I watched during my HGTV orgy was planning to use marble tile in the kitchen, but then they had to change due to budget issues and they went with cork. It looked really nice.
lhamo
We have all wood floors except for tile in the bath (and old vinyl in the kitchen till it gets remodeled). But we are two adults and two cats, so what works for us might not work for your space. If I was considering vinyl, I would look further into Marmoleum, which is similar but supposed to be quite durable and eco-friendly.
In one of my Arizona houses there was high-grade vinyl in the laundry room and low-grade vinyl in the bathrooms, and I can say there is a huge difference between them. But I second the recommendation to look at the traditional linoleum - Marmoleum and other brands, and if you want something really durable, tile is the way to go. Since your DH is really handy, you can probably do the installation yourself, even with in-floor heating, which as noted above, is very nice! Tile materials aren't that costly, but installation is.
Miss Cellane
1-6-12, 8:32am
There are some nice vinyls out there--usually not the cheaper ones, though. My SIL really wanted tile when she re-did the kitchen, but it was an older house and the floor would have had to been leveled and some other stuff and it was just too expensive. She got vinyl that looked like terra cotta tiles and I thought they were real tiles until I walked on it.
Cork is another good idea. We had cork in the kitchen and breakfast nook of one house--with seven kids. It held up great, and was quieter than a lot of flooring choices would have been.
Another thing to consider is using two different types of flooring in the same room--tile right near the door, where people could stand to take snowy boots off, and wood or cork on the rest of the floor.
If you do go with tile, consider the Flor carpet tiles to make part of the floor warmer and softer. The benefit with those is that if one tile gets stained or ruined, you can easily swap it out for a new one, instead of having to replace a large area rug.
Or you could train the entire family to deal with drips from boots and bathing suits before entering the family room, but that would probably be difficult.
Oh wow! Thanks for all of the tips. There's a lot here I hadn't considered yet. I hadn't even thought about cork, for example. I'll have to do some more comparisons and weigh out all of the pros and cons.
I think vinyl is a decent solution. I have seriously considered vinyl in a couple of places. Nice vinyl is often similar in price to simple ceramic tile that you lay yourself, and I'm betting that Zack would lay it.
I do not know about modern cork, but I work in a 100 year old public building that has cork floors in some areas, heavily trafficked areas, and they are still going strong. I would not call those floors handsome, but they are interesting.
There's also the option of poured concrete, into which you can put heating elements. You might have to strengthen the floor though, and I don't know how much it costs. You could color/tint the concrete, too. It's definitely durable!
We ran into a similar difficulty in a basement family room. The problem with finding a floor was that the area is over 800 square feet, and most things just got too expensive in that quantity.
Ended up putting down a modular subfloor (http://www.dricore.com/en/eIndex.aspx) over the whole floor, covering the low-traffic half with commercial carpet tile, and the higher traffic half in front of the outside doors with inexpensive laminate. Dividing the floor in half breaks up the massive room nicely.
Working well after about five years, though the laminate I picked was too cheap and may not have another decade in it. It was an overrun that a friend had on a renovation of a rental house.
I rather like the idea of tile by the door area - including perhaps a space large enough for a pile of boots/shoes by the door - and then another flooring for the rest of the room.
What about something like Pergo?
When deciding on flooring for our kitchen, we went to this showroom in Oakdale to look at materials. There is some really nice stuff out there. http://www.prosourcefloors.com/ It is wholesale, but perhaps since Zach is into construction he can buy there? If not, at least you can look at some choices.
ETA: They have all the nice options mentioned above. Cork, Linoleum (different than vinyl, I learned and was surprised to find out), all kinds of engineered wood and the vinyl squares that look like tile, etc.
ETA again: The ReStore might have something, too. Though I suppose the more specific you get, the less likely it is that they will have it.
There's also the option of poured concrete, into which you can put heating elements. You might have to strengthen the floor though, and I don't know how much it costs. You could color/tint the concrete, too. It's definitely durable!
I will say that my friend's concrete kitchen floor has an obvious path worn in the high traffic area. The color of the concrete is worn off.
Who would have thought??!!! She is the single person in that house, so it's not like there is a thundering herd.
Pergo laminate floor would work well for you. We have it in our back entry area and for 7 years now it has taken abuse from my dogs and us continually going in and out. Dirt, mud, and snow are tracked in regularly on it. This floor still looks brand new, and no scratches or wear and tear from the dogs whatsoever. I would only get the Pergo brand though - it is the best in my opinion and the nicest looking. Most people think it is a real wood floor and are surprised when I tell them it is laminate. It would look nice in your family room with a big rug for your gathering area.
2 1/2 years ago when we did the kitchette/laundry room in the basement the contractor suggested a
flooring that looks like ceramic and in installed like ceramic but, is some sort of composite.
It is warmer then ceramic but can be a little cold when the weather is way below freezing.
The really good part is that is has some give so it works well if there is any little irregularities in the floor, it is also suppose to be resistant to any dampness.
I don't see why it could not have had heating added..
And, it is really beautiful and still looks like new.....
Personally I'd go with tile flooring and area rugs that can be easliy cleaned or replaced when neccessary. The flooring will give you the durability you need for the high traffic area and the area rugs will add the warmth.
Pergo laminate floor would work well for you. We have it in our back entry area and for 7 years now it has taken abuse from my dogs and us continually going in and out. Dirt, mud, and snow are tracked in regularly on it. This floor still looks brand new, and no scratches or wear and tear from the dogs whatsoever. I would only get the Pergo brand though - it is the best in my opinion and the nicest looking. Most people think it is a real wood floor and are surprised when I tell them it is laminate. It would look nice in your family room with a big rug for your gathering area.
I just ordered the Pergo XP flooring for my entryway and family room and I'm really excited about it. Looks great--has the preattached backing and I expect it will hold up well in this high traffic area.
This is all great information! I will have to check out that showroom you mentioned Kelli. This is going to be both fun and a lot of work, I can tell. The nice thing about that room is that everything, from the floors to the paneling is so awful looking that no matter what I do it will be a huge improvement.
Wildflower
1-10-12, 4:38am
Stella, the Pergo floor is a very easy do-it-yourself install since it comes with its own underlayment. DH installed our floor and doing it himself saved us a ton of money on labor. They have a video you can watch beforehand that helps in knowing exactly how to proceed. Tile is much harder to install yourself, but we have done it before successfully in small areas. DH attended a one hour class at our local Home Depot to learn how to install tile.
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