Anyone have any tips?

Still no tips. Anyone have any feedback for me?

Looks like the sewer opening that was filled in to accommodate the previous carpet installation. We have the same situation in a very old house. Sometimes, water has backed up in that spot and we've had to call the plumber to clear out the muck from the other side of the basement, under the kitchen. Hope you are doing a vapor barrier before the laminate goes down.

Hi Pam. Rather than spending $200 on a vapor barrier and under-padding we were told it would be wiser for us to spend $400 on a cork foam under-padding/vapor barrier. Apparently this offers a little more protection and noise reduction. This is the product: https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.premium-plus-all-inclusive-underlayment-with-6mil-vapour-barrier.1000749177.html

Again I am looking to know how to go about making this pipe level with the floor. I am thinking that renting a grinder might be my best bet.

I can't help you there...but I do know that after two flooded basements, weeks apart, due to freak rainfalls in excess of inches per minute, and some backup problems normal to a 1928 home, we removed the carpet and left the floor bare. It's no longer used that much since kids are gone. We are considering having the cement floor polished and using an area rug in the "man cave." I wish you good luck with your project. I am sure someone will come up with a solution!

Yes, you need to grind it down to floor level

I would use the levelizer but the floor is all level aside from this pipe. In other words, if I use this leveling material it wont actually cover up the pipe. If I use anything to cover up the pipe, that in itself would make the floor uneven.

As for the radon issue, I've never even thought about that. hmm..

Can't you put an extra layer of that corkfoam down to make up the difference? Looks like it's in a corner -- not a major traffic area and furniture will probably be in front of it.

Who's gonna know? :)

You can pop off the molding and start grinding away with an "on your knees" rental tool but the dust and mess is terrible and the unknowns are great (spalling, soft concrete, pipe material, etc...) paying a local reputable experienced concrete flooring company will be your best solution to quickly deal with this issue.

Also the company can apply a radon concrete sealer to mitigate potential radon leaking into the space. It looks like it has been sealed before but depending on the sealer used it should be reapplied every so often.

Also wondering if that wall was built on top of that section when the basement was refinished? Is there a room on the other side of it with the remaining quarter of the line?

Hey Pam, It is totally possible that I could put the flooring over that pipe with some extra under padding in the corner but I really don't want to risk the floor cracking or having a gap between boards. I honestly think my best bet is to throw on a respirator and give it a quick grind as I really don't have to remove much material at all. No there is no room on the other side of that wall. Just the foundation.

Rawket, Yes the floor has been sealed and i think it was done fairly recently. I have to say this radon talk is all new to me. It's not something I've ever even thought about TBH.

Good luck with your project! You know you can buy a combo smoke detector/radon detector and install it in your basement. Be sure to let us know how it all turned out!

You can buy a radon test kit, but frankly most homes with basements now have remediation systems installed because radon levels can change and you would have to test every year. Check to see if your area even has a potential radon issue. All basements present some level of risk, but it is much higher in certain areas of the country. Radon is a major cause of lung cancer and the #1 cause of it in non smokers. A friend of mines husband developed it from weekends in the basement so any exposure above minimum amounts is dangerous exposure. The EPA has an interactive website which will tell you your risk. Here is a map of the US. Red zone is high danger areas.

Radon remediation systems are usually not a huge expense to install.

I’m not sure “we’ll, you’ve been living there already” is good advice. First, the exposure is cumulative, so the more of it you have, the higher the risk. So any time you improve things it’s a benefit. Second, in areas with a radon risk, usually a radon test is a part of the sale process, and if the house fails the seller has to fix it before the house can be sold. (I’m sure there are places where that isn’t the case, but it’s a pretty common thing to see these days.) Therefore if the home is in a radon prone area, testing for it is absolutely something that should be done before flooring, because if you do have radon the flooring is likely coming up to install the mitigation system. Might as well do it now and be done with it.

Actually, if you are in a high radon prone area, they tell you to mitigate because most people don’t check every year for Radon and any exposure above the minimum threshold is dangerous. I heard that Dana Reeves lung cancer (wife of Christopher Reeves) was caused by Radon exposure. By the time you buy the kit every year to test, you are better off installing the remediation system.

Hey guys.

So I did a little research since speaking with all of you and found what looks to be some fairly reassuring results. Apparently out of 95 homes tested in our area 100% of the homes were below 200 Bq/m3. See York Region Health unit. Now although this is somewhat reassuring I still plan on running a test just for peace of mind. Let me know what you guys make of these test results? https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/environmental-workplace-health/radiation/radon/cross-canada-survey-radon-concentrations-homes-final-report.html#a10

hasmoody13, I know there are self leveling products that I can buy but my concern is that those generally sink into low areas. My whole floor is level and the pipe sticks above the floor. This means that a self leveler would basically just move around the pipe and not really cover it. Unless of course I make the corner of the basement a tiny bit higher than the rest of the floor. I'm not sure if this is possible or recommended. So far grinding the pipe seems like the easier option to me. As for the flooring, the laminate has been purchased and delivered and we are still happy with the price and the look of it. In the chance that it ever does get damaged by water or moisture I think I will be ok knowing that I only paid $1000 for the laminate. I know that's still a lot of money but It's something I could handle.

Thanks again for all the great tips everyone! :)

The Eco Cork Foam + Vapour barrier is going to be fine. There is more foam than cork, but that's not a problem. It is slightly more expensive than purchasing 3mm cork and then 6mil vapour barrier separately, but it is a 1-step process rather than 2. It is a bit faster, but not by much.

Hey bellburgmaggie,

Absolutely! and without the help of people like you I never even would have considered the issue of radon as I'm a fairly new home owner (4 years) and I am learning new things all the time.

SJ McCarthy, ya I think it should work well. We were told that this wasn't the cheapest option but that it was certainly the best option for basement flooring. It's funny how you mentioned that there's more foam than cork because it honestly looks like there's just really tiny bits of cork surrounded in foam. It almost seems like the cork is pointless or it is simply put in the foam for marketing purposes of calling it cork under-padding. Still the guy at the store was adamant that it was far superior to a basic under-padding so I took his advice and I think it was the right choice based on what I've been reading.

@Steve - Yah I know what Eco Cork foam looks like. The company changed the product about 2 years ago after the public found out it was 100% Polyurethane! Yep. Not a STICK (or grain) of cork in it anywhere. I guess they got caught under the "false advertising" concept and changed the product.

Because they were caught, Eco Cork foam added tiny granules of cork into the polyurethane foam and VOILA - they were now selling "cork" foam. Which is precisely as the name suggests.

Anyway, it is a decent product (cork is MUCH better for warmth and acoustics) for the price. Especially the 2-in-1.