basement floor tile dilemma
Hanna S
3 years ago
We are refinishing our very old house's stone basement and tiling the floor. 2 walls of the basement will be exposed fieldstone walls and the rest will be drywalled finished wall and ceiling. We have a couple of large old rough wood beams and posts we will leave exposed. We have some areas under the stairs that are already old shiplap and will leave that painted a white shade.
Any suggestions or tips for the floor? Do you have any ideas for something that will be a nice background, long lasting, clean looking and durable?
There are some logistical reasons why we cannot leave it just polished concrete. I would like to spend less than a few dollars a sqft and can get a lot of discounted stone out here, $2-3 sqft blue limestone or the more high-maintenance filled honed travertine. OR more expensive large porcelain tiles that sort of mimic a concrete finish, all pictured below. Worried that faux finish tiles will look odd next to real wood and stone. Wonder if light greys will look cold. I haven't found anything else and am open to suggestions.
Also is a pebble tile floor in the bathroom down there tacky or doable?
Thank you for any thoughts!
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Hanna S
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoRelated Discussions
Basement flooring--luxury vinyl tile? Marmoleum? Cork? Other ideas?
Comments (19)I'm the OP. We just returned from visiting a couple more flooring stores (we've now visited four flooring stores in total). One place today was absolutely excellent as far as having a long-time salesperson/owner who really knows her products and their uses in various applications. In a situation like ours she highly recommends using luxury vinyl sheet with a glue down installation. It will adapt to minor dips in the floor, it is all vinyl so could withstand possible water incursion, it won't have potential dirt in the edges like tiles would if there is a water event in the basement, it is durable (she showed us some great examples of what can be done to it without harming it), and it is reasonably priced (not cheap but not as pricey as many other options we've seen). I liked what I saw in the Mannington line wood-replicas because it is not cheesy looking, and it has an aluminum oxide coating to prevent damage to the floor. This floor would cost about 50% of what a marmoleum floor would cost us. Hope this helps anyone else who is facing the same dilemma we are facing about flooring....See MoreWanting tile floors for finished basement floors.
Comments (4)No problem...remember the real Saltillo needs waxing/polishing to REALLY show them off. The glossy Saltillo tiles show off their colours. Just make sure you get the maintenance 'stuff' as soon as you have the tiles installed. You can practice with a few left over tiles to get the hang of it. The Saltillo will out live the house! I like the highly coloured ones (with the strong dark oranges mixed in with the light sandy ones) but it is your home. Make sure you get what you like!...See MoreMaple Floors Refinishing Color Dilemma - adjacent Tile Flooring
Comments (6)The Loba 2K Supra AT + UVProtect (be careful, Loba UV is their UV CURED polyurethane...not the same! Not the same!) is super easy to work with and the colour change over time is MINIMAL. Bona Traffic HD + NordicSeal = will NOT block the STRONG YELLOW from popping back up. Will NOT stop it. Imagine getting a beautiful pale (almost white) looking floor and then 1 year later (ahem...one year = 12 months = not very long) you get a HEAVY yellow tinge to your flooring....ohhhhh dear...! The COST is the cost. Bona HD and Loba AT (the top line of the top lines) = most expensive finishes on the market. They are also the MOST STUNNING on the market and they are also the TOUGHEST on the market. You get what you pay for. Remember: your floor is THE MOST ABUSED 'decor' item in your home. It gets almost the same amount of abuse as your ROOF! Go ahead and ask yourself if you are willing to go 'cheap' on a roof? Instead of paying for the 25 year roof, you decide to go cheap and go with the 15 year roof...You'll save a little in the short run (about 25%) but you will pay DOUBLE inside of 12 years! Now you have spent 75% MORE because you chose the cheap version instead of the best of the best. Floors are the same. My question is: Why are you refinishing the maple? Is there EXCESSIVE wear on it? Can you see raw wood? Is the finish crackling or splitting or peeling? Is this a PHYSICAL repair/replace or is it COSMETIC? Your current floor is timeless. Your inspiration photos are for white based floors over oak. You will never achieve the look with Maple without some SERIOUS investment of funds. As for the 'white' look, it is going out of fashion in a hurry (depending on where you live). The East and West Coasts of USA (and all of Europe) have gotten over the white look. They are trending towards 'light natural' colours...which is EXACTLY what you have. In 5-7 years I predict your expensive 'white' floors will be unfashionable/dated to "That's so 2017!" The colour you are looking at (as inspiration) will come in (over Maple) at $10/sf or so. Or at least it SHOULD. You can add the UVProtect by Loba with Bona (I'm 99% sure you can...it states it can be added to any water based finish). And then you pay for the Bona Traffic HD ($150 - $180/gallon) and then you pay for the NordicSeal (more money) and then you pay for the EXTRA WORK to do all of this. And that's assuming the maple ACCEPTS the colour. Maple HATES taking stain/colour! It goes blotchy and ugly. Worst case scenario it looks like your floor has a bad case of acne. Best case scenario it looks 'pale' and that's about it. Be VERY careful what you do with a colour that is already out of fashion in much of the 'trendy' parts of the USA. Floors are very expensive and are very disruptive to refinish....See MoreSplit level basement flooring- tile, LVP, LVT, linoleum? marmoleum?
Comments (1)I'm in a very similar situation. I'm considering marmoleum. I really wanted solid hardwood but everything I read says not to put in on a slab below grade. We've lived in the house 7 years and never had moisture in the basement but I'm not sure if that makes it safe to try. What did you end up doing?...See MoreHanna S
3 years ago
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