Because at some time basements will ALWAYS flood, we went with asphalt tiles. Sure enough after 24 years, last summer, 6" of water in the basement. Tiles did fine. No trouble whatsoever.

My suggestion would be floating vinyl plank , we have a walkout with 2 big dogs in and out of a dog run in all kinds of weather and grand kids in and out of the pool , it cleand with a damp mop and i love it. We put dri-core under ours for a bit of warmth and also a little easier on the knees than right on concrete

We had carpet, replaced it with carpet and 6 months later, frozen pipes. We put down LVP (Luxury Vinyl Plank) and have been happy. They make two types, one that has an adhesive edge and one that locks together like other laminates. We went with the lock together style. There are plenty of options for colors etc. We are happy with ours and it is 100% waterproof.

Kathi Steele what are asphalt tiles? Kevin does it creak or crack down on the basement when it goes really cold? Our basement can get freezing.... Just wondering how that glue might hold up? Thanks everyone!

We are having Coretec installed in the basement. It's supposed to do ok if there is ever water in the basement. We were thinking tile at the beginning, but they are so cold and with the kids running around, I think it's a bit safer if one falls on the floor we chose than on tile.

What color is the wood??

VCT...vinyl composition tiles. Rather cheap, but area rugs take care of that. Here is Armstrong's website. About $.60 per square foot for the tile and it has to be glued down.

http://www.armstrong.com/commflooringna/products/vct

LVP is a great option also. Supposed to be completely waterproof. More expensive, tho, I think about $3-4 per square foot.

Based on Kevin's previous posts, especially with Echo, he has great ideas!!!

Kevin, would you put it upstairs? Is it nice enough? Does it wear well with dogs?

I like carpet in a basement. Everything else seems cold and unwelcoming to me. We just replaced our carpet and upgraded from polyester to nylon. The carpet guy advised us that nylon was the gold standard in durability and stain resistance. Good luck.

Checks board laminate flooring... Hard to kill... Can replace individual tiles if anything happens.... But doubt it will get hurt. I replaced 1965 laminate in my rental three years ago- and the floor looks great!

Our dog isn't on it that often but she hasn't scratched it yet and I don't think she will. Just looking at ours it's hard to tell the difference between it and the real hardwood upstairs. On the concrete floor it does have a slightly hollow sound but no creaking or cracking noises. Lying on concrete it is cooler than carpet but we have an area rug in the family room portion so we don't really notice it. Ours is a floating floor, with no glue. I was worried about the glue not holding so that is one reason we went with the locking style. This is the color we went with.

They have a bunch of different colors. One I really liked was an espresso one that had a hand scraped look. It was probably too dark for the basement plus you can see our basement floor from the upstairs foyer with hardwood so we decided that matching the upstairs floor was probably the smartest thing to do.This is the espresso one.

All that being said I'm kind of "old school" so I would probably still go with hardwood upstairs where moisture is not a concern. Money wise ours was around $3.29 a sq. ft. so it wasn't like we were saving money by using it, just that we ended up with a floor that is waterproof.

Lots of very good suggestions here except for advising you to carpet the floor Just not advisable with access to outside and kids and for resale. The Armstrong tile has been used successfully in both commercial and residential installations for decades and is the easiest, least expensive and most bang you can get for your buck flooring.

Here is another option. Fee Lay Porcelain Tiles. No Grout needed.

https://www.builddirect.com/Porcelain-Tile/-Sierra-Brown/ProductDisplay_6933_P1_10109112.aspx?source=igodigital

Stained polished concrete, Never worry about a flood again, very durable.

Given your desired qualities – durable, low maintenance, easy to clean and
light colored – we recommend you look into luxury vinyl flooring, also known as
resilient flooring. Luxury vinyl flooring is naturally water resistant and some
styles, like Floorté, are waterproof, blocking water at the seams.
Floorté is designed to be installed utilizing the floating method. We’ve shared
below a few room scenes to inspire you. Your kids will be able to enjoy their
playtime with water, sand and shoes. Let us know if you have any specific questions
about this flooring suggestion.

Thank you everyone for these posts. I think I'm rethinking carpet, and thinking vinyl flooring, or something similar with area rugs to tone down noise. As much as polished concrete looks great, we have two down stairs bedrooms and that won't work. :( Thanks again for the comments! What a great discussion!

Ceramic tile would also be a good choice. They retain their quality even if exposed to large amounts of water frequently and it's very easy to keep them clean. They are also available in great designs.

What are we talking about here??

Flooring for the basement.