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Flooring for basement playroom?

14 years ago

Another "challenge" area for us...

We have an almost-2-year old daughter and 7 year old son, and are getting ready to move in our new house. We are going to have a play area in basement with most of the "active" toys. My daughter is an especially active toddler and we want to do some kind of padding on the floor. She needs lots and lots of movement and so we're going to give her space to run around and also a "crash" area.

The basement is onlypartially finished -- just painted drywall on walls and moisture barrier. We're going to put an underlayment on top of the concrete (to cut down moisture)...and then what?

I've seen some 24" x 24" square foam playmats you can put together. How thick should they be? Do they hold up? They come in different colors. Or what about like indoor-outdoor carpet? Is there a place to get it inexpensively? I saw it this afternoon in an indoor playplace. It was a nice dark green color (our daughter has low vision, so this would help her see the toys better). (In the toddler area today they actually had it over 2" foam sheets, a nice idea if only not $).

Any thoughts would be much welcomed...

Amy

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Comments (2)

sarschlos_remodeler
14 years ago
I would vote for marmoleum -- true linoleum. It has a cork backing, which gives it a soft feel when you walk on it, and it seems to be fairly warm underfoot. Lots of different options available. Good flooring for active play. Easy to keep clean, kids can skate or ride bikes during the winter. Good for giant floor puzzles, too. You can always add the foam squares on top and put them away when they're done playing with them.
justgotabme
14 years ago
Well concidering I have an active toddler here half time (our 20 month old grandson) I'd say go with the foam type play room flooring that goes together like a puzzle. It's firm enough for standing and running, yet soft enough to save from owies when fell on. If you don't have to have colorful tiles you can get them at places like Sam's Warehouse club.
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There is a product for floors that ea piece is 2' x 2' soft/ foam like material, one side is grey-the other a primary color. It attaches together like a kid's puzzle. It comes in a pkg - can't remember the price. It is sold at Sam's Club - nothing special about it, so I'm sure you could find it elsewhere. It was recommended to me for the floor of our sailboat to keep the dog from slipping. I believe the picture on the pkg was showing it used in playrooms. It is incredibly easy to cut. Easy to clean. If your kids are young, you could make a fun design w/ the colors. The cushioning would hide the uneven floor. Just an idea if your basement is meant for the kids.
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it's temporary for a few years (and I guess I'm trying to be open to the fact that we may not do further renovations as fast as we think we will) , so we want to be able to enjoy it. It used to be a garage years ago so the concrete is very cold. I don't see painting the concrete as a great solution. I think we would all avoid the room, rather than use it. I was wondering really if the novalis, which is $1 a foot, would not work since the floor is a little rough. I looked at it again last night and the concrete is in better shape than I had thought. thanks anyway. .
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Thanks for all the pictures and advice. My DH thinks that painting the floor is a good way to go, but I think it needs to be nicer. Sounds like most of you agree that the floor needs to be nice enough to feel comfortable with kids sitting on it to play. I think since we might be not putting much furniture down there to show, that clean painted walls, new light fixtures and carpet would be the easiest to do and have the largest appeal. Our ceiling is finished plaster, and has radiator pipes hanging on it, so it is not a new house with high ceilings and that type of setup. The ceiling and pipes are all sprayed off-white. Thanks for the preliminary help. I am currently working on emptying it out (we're getting a dumpster in 2 weeks). I will post some pictures when I get it emptied out.
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Across the whole back wall I would build a deep shelf with an open bottom at table height. For now it will be good for parking ride on toys under and setting larger playsets like Little People, Barbie, and Hot Wheels. You can add a couple of baskets to catch miscellaneous small toys. I like to group them by people/animals, cars, etc. Later, it will serve as the perfect place to stand and build with Lego, and finally when they are Middle/High School age you can create a study area there. Under the window you can place a bookshelf, and use a sofa floating in the room facing the toy shelf to divide the play area from your work space.
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