Sounds like a couple basements I knew, including ours. Won't bother the powder-activated nails, but the tiles continuing to stick are less certain. Probably be fine, but I'd score a line where the wall will go and test-scrape behind it to be sure. (If you test-scape without scoring, it'll end up being a project of scraping the entire floor (been there, done that) and you will find some tiles to come up much more easily than others (use a good, long floor scraper, if you go that route). BTW, those tiles don't help in cutting down the cold at all. I'm curious how you're planning to heat. We installed baseboards (hot water on a separate zone from upstairs, which is radiator heat. It was a bit of a pain, but well worth it. (Tapping off furnace heat is supposedly easier, if you have one.)

Hello! We are taking up the carpeting in our basement (yuck) with the intention of scraping the carpet glue off the cement, sealing it (with the kind that permeates the cement to stop water and vapors) and installing some sort of synthetic wood planking above it. We DO have a little moisture problem, I am severely allergic to mold so when everything is cleaned off and the floor is installed the #1 priority is making sure no mold or mildew will grow on the flooring... We are leaning toward a vinyl plank floor above a laminate since there is no organic portion of it that can grow mold...the Armstrong vinyl is the kind that stick to itself with sticky tabs instead of sticking to the floor at all. We have found a vinyl plank that has tiny tongue and grooves and don't know which would be best! Basically I'm just looking for any advice/experience with these flooring products, sealing concrete, vapor barriers, cleaning mold/adhesive etc. This is a big project for us and it's really important we get it right!

My basement has old vinyl tiles, many of which are missing. I don't know if the tiles contain asbestos or not. They're old enough, but I have a partial package of tiles left behind by the previous owners, and there's nothing on the packaging or the tiles to indicate what's in them. In any case, from what I've been reading, the best course is to leave them undisturbed. I would like to cover them up with something that will give me a nice reasonably flat floor and is durable. I know a floating floor of some type is an option, but I'd like to explore coating the floor with -- something. Is that a possibility, and if so, what sort of coating am I looking for? Concrete? Epoxy? Something else? The basement is unfinished, so looks are not my primary concern. I do plan to hire a professional to do the floor. Thanks! (Forgive me if this posts twice. It looks like my first effort to post wasn't successful.)

@Ryan Thanks for the question. A concrete slab that is sitting ON the earth (ie. not in a high rise on the 10th floor) always requires a vapour barrier underneath. Always. If anything, it maintains your warranty. There are three definitions of slab concrete: 1. Below grade. This is normally poured concrete for a foundation that has been dug into the ground. Like a basement. Even if 1 square inch is 'below grade' we view it as ALL below grade. 2. At grade. This is a common situation. Concrete is poured onto the ground and the house is built from there...going up; not down. Again, this is sitting 'on the ground' therefore it is considered 'damp' until proven otherwise. Even in the desert areas, we find dampness in slabs that are sitting on the ground. Moisture LOVES to condense on cold surfaces...like concrete. 3. Above grade or 'suspended slab'. This is the 'high rise' situation. You don't have to be in a high rise. It just means the slab is suspended in the air. It touches nothing but air above it and below it. This is the ONE situation where you can 'get away' without a vapour barrier. But you still void the warranty as soon as the contractor starts laying the first run. The installer is responsible for installing product on-site. If you did not purchase the vapour barrier, then the installer did not install it. If you used the SHOP'S installer, then they are responsible for ensuring you purchase everything you need for the job. Which requires you to tell them what your situation is. You get what you pay for. A good flooring installer *should have pointed out you needed a vapour barrier. And then would have told you what to purchase for him/her, or they would have said, "I have some in my truck, it will cost another $1/sf for the materials plus $0.50/sf to lay it." Something like that. And the preparation of the concrete is another thing that should have been paid for and performed. But so many contractors just want a paying job, that they offer the 'no frills' install. They get there, they install what is needed/purchased/sitting out for them and then they go home with a pay cheque in hand. I've had experiences where my QUESTIONS to the homeowner caused them to hang up on me. Yep. The question, "Is this for a bathroom?" caused such angst they started to yell it was none of my d@mn business and hung up on me. OKee DOKee then. I don't know what your situation is. The above is just an example as to why a store, with highly trained FLOORING professionals (ahem...a flooring store and not a 'big box' store like HD) would miss something as simple as a vapour barrier for a concrete slab.