I hate the way wall-to-wall accumulates dirt over time so would never use it rather than carpets that can be rolled up and sent out for cleaning from both sides on a regular basis. This would especially be true in a basement where there are always potential moisture, or at least higher humidity issues. I've never run across basement carpeting that smelled good when taken up. What to put down depends on your use and ceiling height. If you have the room consider putting down an inch of rigid foam insulation under your tile, it will help with both energy efficiency and comfort, assuming you have a good vapor barrier under the slab. I did commercial vinyl tile in our last house for the kids playroom, it was more forgiving than just epoxy paint or a hard tile and looked OK. Rugs on a wood or tile floor would be nicer. In any event you need to check whether you have moisture coming up through the slab before adding any sealed surface.

Thanks, this is very helpful. I'm not a big fan of wall to wall carpet either especially as kids can be so messy. We have good ceiling height. Great idea to put a layer of rigid foam insulation under the tile. I will discuss it with the builder and see what he thinks.

A friend of mine has tile in his basement and it is freezing all year round and we're in Georgia. I would suggest a LVT. There are types of LVT that are thicker and don't get glued down that would be a good selection for a basement that could flood or might need a tile replaced here or there. I worked in a remodeling showroom that had it installed and it was a great product. If memory serves it was a Karndean product but most of the big names like Armstrong and Shaw should have something similar. Good luck!

My builder is also pushing for LVT. Maybe that is the smart choice :(

If its cold, insulate it. Start with an inch of XPS foam sheet then lay subfloor over top of that. At most that takes up only 1-5/8" of headroom. Countersink and predrill holes and secure subfloor to concrete slab with countersunk tapcon screws. Then you can put whatever floor you want. If you fear flooding and want a waterproof subfloor use concrete board, otherwise, the XPS is your vapor barrier.

Carpet should absolutely not touch concrete, at minimum have a pad underneath with a vapor barrier. I still hate carpet on concrete even with a vb pad. It always seems to get nasty/smelly in some way or another.

If you want a nice floor and a warmer basement, it is worth the extra expense to insulate it. Instead, most people just throw some flooring on the concrete and then they wonder why the basement is always cold.

As rwiegand stated, make sure you don't have a moisture problem first. To test, tape clear plastic down on the floor in random areas and see if moisture forms under the plastic. A way to help mitigate a moisture problem if you have one is oil based watertite directly on the concrete. I wouldn't push exterior waterproofing unless you have major water problems.

This is so helpful. Thank you!. Great idea to add a layer of insulation and then lay the tile down. Also, I will try the moisture test with the plastic sheeting. A friend of mine was just telling me that when they redid their basement (8 yrs ago), they added radiant heating under the floor and then used tile. Surprisingly, she said the tile floor has not been cold and in all this time, they have never once turned on the radiant heating. She said it was a big waste of money for them. Her basement gets heavy use as she has young kids and they also host parties downstairs.

If they installed radiant heating it probably included both insulation and some type of heat reflective barrier under the water lines. Those two items by themselves may have been enough to keep the tile temperature moderate.

I installed Warmly Yours electric radiant heat under the tile of my basement bathroom, but haven't had cold enough weather to really try it out. It was relatively expensive considering the small area, but not hard to install. However, my 1940 house has no insulation under the slab (floor gets quite cold) and radiant floor heat seem to be a better solution than finding space for another radiator.

Bruce

Thanks for the explanation. Electric radiant heat is a good idea. I'm going to look into it.