What about laminate? Tile (and sometimes vinyl) can be very cold if the floors are cement underneath. Can you afford cork?

I think the wood look vinyl (haven't seen it in person) would look like vinyl you tried to match to the rest of the house. If you can't put laminate or engineered hardwood then I would pick a vinyl that is intentionally different.

You're in a warmer climate than I am (Ontario and it's Brrr freezing here now!), but basement(cement) floors still tend to be cold/damp regardless of the climate.

We are finishing our basement sometime this winter and will be going with installing a really good underpad and berber carpet to warm things up. (rest of house is mainly hardwood)

Not sure if you're doing a sub-floor on top of cement, but laminate could be worth taking a look at it as well as some others have suggested.

Thanks for the thoughts! We can't raise the floor (ceiling is under 8'); also the concrete is cracked and painted so tile would not be simple to install -- so we settled on sheet vinyl as the simplest way to go. Our dog... well, let's just say that he is very old, and a seamless and moisture-resistant floor is the best thing for him. Actually, the salesmen at two different flooring stores that sell everything from vinyl to site-finished hardwood both told me to go with vinyl (this was when I was trying to convince my husband that maybe we could tile despite the condition of the concrete). We're using cushioned vinyl (for what that's worth) and will add throw rugs or an area rug when/if it becomes a guest room. The dog already has a nice thick cushy bed. [grin]

The funny thing is, I can't stand fake wood normally (including laminate) but I keep going back to the wood-patterned vinyl. Maybe it's just wishful thinking. ha.

There are some very good looking Pergo-type "wood" floors. We know someone who had it at their beach home (they wanted hardwood and knew it would get destroyed by sand). It wasn't cheap and it looked very nice.

When we finish our basment by plan is to use that flooring in the home gym area and tile everywhere else.

You can tile over concrete that has cracks. Look into the Schluter products. They sell one the is a de-coupling membrane that stops cracks from moving up to the tile.

Do you EVER get any moisture coming through those cracks in your floor? If yes, I would not recommend sheet vinyl. There will be no place for the water to escape and the vinyl will "bubble".

Remove the paint. Rent a buffer and use course grit sanding sheets. It will come off and you'll have a fresh surface.

There is vinyl in planks now to more closely resemble wood. Check that out and maybe you can have the best of both options. Good luck.

We did two rooms in the fake wood vinyl planks. Here's what ours looks like:

At the time, we wanted the horrible, nasty 1970's carpeting out of those rooms before we moved in. We wanted/needed something inexpensive and durable. My DH installed it by himself.

It's easy to keep clean, I can use the vacuum and a damp mop on it, and it looks fine. We haven't gauged it (yet)but the very top surface is easier to scratch than what I was expecting. DH moved the couch one day, and it left faint skid marks. Our biggest issue is that some of the seams are curling up. We think this may be because the cement floor underneath wasn't totally smooth and perfect- there was sheet linoleum underneath the old carpet, and we weren't able to totally remove it. I'm not sure we would've had this problem if we had used some sort of pad or leveling membrane underneath. Also, when DH installed it, he really pushed the planks together tightly- thinking that would make it seal better, but now we wonder if there wasn't too much pressure on the seams?

Anyway...it's ok for now, and we've moved onto bigger projects, but will probably replace the flooring in a few years, since we're not as happy with it as we thought we'd be.

I absolutely agree with fnmroberts about moisture coming up through the cracks. Have the cracks resulted in the floor not being quite level at the cracks? If the floor is at all uneven, sheet anything is NOT a good choice. It will tear at the cracks.

We had sewage backup in our basement this summer during horrible rains which resulted in us taking out the square commercial floor tiles to avoid mold forming. (The squares had been originally put down because of cracks.) I will never use a flooring that can't be hosed down.

I would do a laminate flooring, the prices have really come down, and the look has also improved greatly. HomeDepot has specials, you can get them for around a dollar a foot at times. We bought our basement flooring at Costco for under $2.00 sq ft, looks and feels likes real walnut flooring, easy to install, we love it.

Thank you all for the good advice and cautions! I apologize for my misleading post title; the sheet vinyl is a done deal and I only needed feedback on color/style. Y'all, sheet vinyl is not the end of the world. [laughing] It doesn't add to resale value in our area, but luckily we are not selling, and also we are a little reno-fatigued after a necessary bathroom gut earlier this year. The vinyl we are using is thick and very flexible and should work well over our concrete, which will have some smoothing/filling done before installation. We have never seen any moisture on the floor, but I am doing my own personal moisture test anyway (with taped-down plastic).

Point well taken about the wood-pattern vinyl looking like we were trying to match the upstairs and failing. I decided that what I really wanted was the warm color of the wood, so I decided on a vinyl that's a sort of light terracotta. It isn't as deep a color as our red oak but it should do nicely. The order is in and installation is scheduled in a couple of weeks... I'll try to remember to post before and afters. Thank you all again!

That terra cotta color sounds nice. And a good compromise with a warmer color and not trying to match the wood.

I totally agree about vinyl flooring. Sometimes it really is the best option for the function of the room, it's inexpensive, and tough as nails. Some family members were horrified that we would even consider using vinyl flooring. They don't live here, though. :)

Have you thought about just painting the stairs? I think if you chose a contrasting color that worked with both the terra cotta and the wood upstairs, it would look very cool. And it would be cheap. And finished.

I had a bunch of the oak look Congoleum Duraplank put down...I am very pleased with it. In a spare bedroom in the basement we did the Golden Maple Trafficmaster Allure...and I am very pleased with IT as well. We didn't have the money to pay for the Duraplank+ install for that area...a former auxiliary apartment now being used as DH's home office--or I'd have used it. We had to get the nasty carpet up in the BR Elder Son sleeps in when he's visiting. (Allergies)

Usually I do not care for faux flooring...but people actually think the stuff down in both rooms is real wood. Until they reach down and touch it. I wanted something rated for below-grade...which much of the basement is. (House is built into a hill, so it's a daylight basement.)

Here are some pictures:

Congoleum oak in natural light--no flash:

Hall floor (so you can see a long run) with flash:

And here are pictures of the Allure stuff--I wanted a DIY floating floor so that it's easy to remove when I DO get the money together for the Duraplank. Someday. ;^)

(Oh--these were taken with a flash. It was late when I got around to pictures.)

melanie

There are some really nice looking vinyl wood plank floors (like in Franks mom's home). That's what I'd go with. Good luck!

We're building a new house. At this time, we're only finishing part of the lower level (walkout basement) which includes a powder room, my craft room and a short hallway. I wanted vinyl since it would be so easy to keep clean in a messy craft room. We will eventually do the powder room and hallway to match the rest of the finished out basement, so I used the vinyl for those places, in the interim.

I found an vinyl that looks like cork. Obviously, it isn't real cork when you look at it, but it has more of the cushy feel of cork so it not as "fakey" as a wood or tile pattern. Sorry I don't have pictures because the house isn't finished & they still have the protective paper over those floors waiting on the painting.

HTH - Jo Ann

Wow, those are some impressive looking vinyl-woods! Yours too, franksmom, even though it isn't working as well for you as you'd hoped. That's kind of funny about your family being horrified about the vinyl, because mine was the other way 'round -- my mom was surprised I would consider anything else for a basement. ha! But it is true that renos in our neighborhood NEVER get vinyl, or probably laminate either for that matter (small postwar houses in an area that's gone upscale). Below-grade floors and elderly dogs are a little bit of a conundrum in that situation. We are just choosing to ignore the market.

My husband has been planning to finish the stairs ever since he built them several years ago. I am grinning at the suggestion to paint them, because last night I threatened/teased him that I was going to paint the risers and use some multicolored industrial carpet squares I saw at the Restore for the treads. (Wonder what THAT would do for resale value. lol. Better than bare plywood though, I bet.)

Here's the deal for me: people can be such snobs about things like flooring, but of all of the things that we put into our homes, it absolutely has to suit your needs and your lifestyle. Flooring can be expensive, it requires regular maintenance, and it's a chore to install. If vinyl is what works best for you and your needs, then by all means use it! And as far as resale value goes (I got that lecture, too) I say, let the people who buy the house use whatever they want!

When we were looking at houses, there wasn't a single house that we looked at that we thought we'd pay more for because of the flooring! Or the paint, for that matter, but that's a whole 'nuther rant.

Anywho, thanks to those that liked our vinyl! It's also that Allure flooring, I think in the Teak color. That pic above is my craft room, and I also wanted a tough flooring that I wouldn't feel bad if I dribbled paint on it. We also put it in our living/media room. We spend a LOT of time in there, eat meals in there, the cats hang out in there, etc. We have carpet in the bedrooms and tile in the rest of the house, so we wanted something different. Apparently the PO's installed all brand new flooring in the entire house except those two rooms.

And Northcarolina, I'd paint those stairs and just be done with it! You can always add hardwood on top of it, but YEARS is too long to have an unfinished project!

I think you made the right choice on design of vinyl and with the dog living down there, vinyl is the perfect choice. (If it hadn't been for the tile in the BR I would have suggested the tile design.)
As for the stairs, I'd paint them. If DH hasn't finished them in years, then it's not going to happen any time soon. See the link below for reno's solution to her stairs.

Also, if the weight machine isn't being used, get rid of it. DH had an old one that we tried to sell but who wants an old weight machine! We ended up calling someone on CL that wanted scrap metal and he happily took it away.

Here is a link that might be useful: painting stairs

Yes, I saw her painted-stairs photo and loved it! It gives me hope. This house needs so many things done to it, after a while unfinished stuff becomes "normal" and you don't really think about it any more. And the weight machine... oh, we have had several conversations about that. Resistance is being met, shall we say. haha.

I haven't responded to everyone who has answered, sorry. The cork-look vinyl would have been a cool option! They didn't have that at the store I bought from. It would have gotten past the fake-tile-next-to-bathroom-tile problem. I know, I know, we thought of that too but finally decided it wouldn't bother us enough to matter. After all, we are the people who have lived with unpainted plywood basement stairs for X years... even if the tile vs tile look bugs us, we can just wait it out and after a while we won't see it anymore...