Tile would be like walking on ice in the winter. My son put LVP in his basement with some kind of insulation under it. He hasn't been through a winter with it yet. I have carpet and pad. My office use to be down in the game room. Only when we had a prolonged cold snap could I feel some cold coming up from the floor. Nothing I had to grab a heater for though.

We had carpet and replaced with LVP. I really regret it. I hate the look and feel of it and miss the cozy, warm carpet.

Waterproof the basement well, insulate the basement well, dehumidify the basement, and wear nice slippers.

LVP has problems with underpad. They don't normally allow underpad. It is the underpad that offers a bit of warmth. That means the LVP will be cold in winter. Not as cold as tile....but still cold.

For that reason, I prefer to see laminate with a nice underpad (like 1/4" cork) in cold climates. Vinyl planks do NOT allow for this type of underpad. In fact a cork floating floor sitting over 1/4" cork underlay can increase the temperature in the basement by 10 deg. F in the winter.

Carpet is the warmest of the warm under foot.

We had cork in the basement of our last house. It was amazingly warm and soft. Great for raising my rough and tumble twin sons. Lots of dents and gouges though that didn’t bounce back the way the cork manufacturers would like you to believe. And $$$

this new house is getting LVT in the basement. No carpet for me. No ceramic tile. We have LVT on a slab office remodel that looks great after five years. If it’s cold people will have to wear slippers.

ditto what Mark said.

Since this is a building forum, insulate under the slab. Makes a huge difference.

Vinyl flooring installed without a bubble membrane such as DMX or a modular sub-floor system (some of which also include insulation) or XPS (extruded polystyrene) and plywood is asking for mould on the underside of the vinyl.

If this is a house in the planning, XPS under the slab, as noted above, is the surest way to keep the flooring warm. Also consider a layer of insulation on the outside of the foundation.

We are insulated under our slab. We are doing LVP and feel super confident in this decision. We chose a really thick durable product that will be great. We have a walk out basement that will get trashed with carpet. This is a wonderful alternative.

Mark not all basements are damp and drab like you've implied. We've never had a dehumidifier in a basement ever.

What is lvp?

Luxary Vinyl Planks

We chose a really thick durable product that will be great.

Oooooooh, what did y'all get? I'm considering LVP.... :-)

We're about to move into our new house and the Karndean vinyl plank flooring went in last summer; we chose the same flooring through the entire house, including the basement. We insulated very well everywhere, including under slab, since we're in Alberta and winters here are long and brutal and our two teens have bedrooms in the basement. We did include provisions for underfloor heating, but found it wasn't necessary this past winter. The floor was nice and comfortable, and maintenance/cleaning are so simple.

By contrast, the vinyl composition floor tiles in our current house (built in the 150s), in the basement, which doesn't have any additional insulation, are freezing in the winter.

We've never had a basement flooding problem, but we know enough people who have and for that reason I wasn't willing to consider carpeting there.

Never had an issue with needing a humidifier in any basement/house ....

Trying not to be picky, but I presume it's a de-humidifier you're referring to.

The problem with carpeting is that even in a so-called "dry" basement there is typically a constant flow of cooler, damper sub-floor air into the basement as a result of the pressure differential. As well, unless the slab is insulated below, the cooler concrete under the carpet provides a condensing surface.(Vapour diffusing retarders under the concrete as well as insulation greatly reduce these problems.)

6mil under the slab at least to restrict moisture.

Our basement LVP is: https://4corners.ca/malibu-series/ Belize is the colour

Another here who has had basements all my life and never had a wet, humid basement needing a dehumidifier. Even when I lived on a flood plain. I essentially now live in a Canadian desert (Southern Alberta) and a dehumidifier would likely mummify us. We have a humidifier built into our HVAC to help add humidity especially in winter.

LVP is a good option if you have a well insulated basement/slab. If this is a new build it is more likely to be with updated codes, etc but check. I have some friends who have LVP in basement of their new build and if looks lovely! I personally prefer carpet for basements, but that is just a thing for me with private spaces - they get cozy carpet and more public living spaces get wood, laminate, LVP, tile, etc. But I generally prefer to be barefoot so factor that in. You won’t find me putting on slippers in my own home as that is opposite of comfortable for me. When we finish our basement it will be with carpet but it is going to be a private “man cave” space/not a walk out with high traffic. This may just be a “you know what you know” thing as I have always had basements with carpet and to me it just reminds me of coziness, privacy, feeling wrapped in a blanket, etc.

A bonus about LVP is if you DO have flooding it can technically be removed and dried out and reused (assuming “clean” overland water and not a sewer backup). Carpet is going to need to be torn out and replaced. But, eh, if I get flooding I’d prefer just to start over.

a dehumidifier would likely mummify us

lol so true. I'm further north in AB than you are, Rai Kai, but having moved here 25 years ago from the northeast, my inlaws' much appreciated wedding gift to me was a humidifier : ) .

I've actually been happily surprised by the increased humidity these past few summers.

A bonus about LVP is if you DO have flooding it can technically be removed and dried out and reused (assuming “clean” overland water and not a sewer backup).

This was a serious consideration for us, though we made all sorts of provisions (including a dropped floor with a drain in it in maintenance room) to ensure that this doesn't come to pass.