Basement Flooring?

7 years ago

hi everyone. I just had a basement flood last week so i need to replace my carpet by something else. At first i thought i should go with porcelain tile but then after talking to one of the reps at one of our local flooring stores i found out about Luxury Vinyl Tile. I never heard of it before but the rep told me it was 100% water proof and would save me a bunch of money (because of how expensive it is to install ceramic). If another flood happens again of course i don't want to be replacing flooring. The rep told me the worst that could happen (but probably wouldn't unless it was a major flood) is that water could get under the LVT & i would have to pull it up and dry everything out then reinstall the tile. I guess thats a lot better than having to buy all new flooring.

I know the issue with ceramic (from having it in the past) is that if you drop something it can be quite prone to chips, cracks, ect.. On top of that if we would ever decide to go with something else it might be a pain (expensive) to remove since your essentially putting cement (mortar).

If you guys do recommend LVT any tips/tricks so if i do have another flood to make sure water doesn't get under the LVT? Maybe something i need to make sure the installers do?

BTW i'm looking at the SMARTCORE Pro that lowes carries. I would like to go with Pergo but its quite a bit more money and i already have a lowes CC & 10% off coupon.

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Comments (4)

ncage30
Original Author
7 years ago
anyone? :(
bbtrix
7 years ago
i would recommend reading throughthis informative thread to learn about the different types of luxury vinyl and consider Supercore available through WeShipFloors.com.
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SJ McCarthy
7 years ago
Oh....yeah...'pulling up' vinyl and reinstalling is not as easy as the sales person makes out.

First off, the vinyl canNOT have integrated underpad. If it does, you can kiss the 'dryout' good bye. So you have to work with pure vinyl. That means you will most likely have to deal with THIN vinyl (Coretec has a 1st generation product that is thick without underpad...but not many people work with it anymore because everyone thinks an underpad is the way to go).

And thin vinyl needs PERFECT subfloor prep. The one thing carpet hides is a HORRIBLE subfloor. Which means ++++costs for subfloor preparation. And then there is the REALITY of being able to remove/dry/reinstall the vinyl should a flood occur. Here's the deal.

Once the flood occurs you need to RACE down stairs and remove the planks IMMEDIATELY. You cannot let them 'sit' in the water (even overnight is too long). Why not you ask? They are water proof aren't they? Why yes they are....but the MOLD and MILDEW spores will have already infected your planks.

To clean these planks you need to BATHE them (yep...one plank at a time in a bathtub full of hot water) in a mild bleach solution. You need to WIPE THEM dry and then you need to set them up in FULL SUNLIGHT - OUTSIDE! They will soak up the UV rays (that are DEATH to mold/mildew...which is why you are setting them in sunlight in the first place) for 5-6 hours...and then you FLIP the planks to allow the OTHER SIDE soak up the UV.

Now that the planks have been sanitized, you then have to store them (properly) until the basement has been cleaned up/sanitized and the slab has been allowed to dry (a few days probably) and then you can reinstall them (you must buy new vapour barrier...because you will throw out the old one).

Then you will go to reinstall the planks only to find out that 25% of them are USELESS! Oh dear. That's a problem. How is that you ask? Because the click edges are SOOOO delicate (how delicate SJ?) that the planks will not engage anymore. And that means you need to source (ie. purchase more) to finish the project. But now you find out that man-made vinyl products are usually available for 18mon or so...and then they are gone forever. Never to be found again.

Which means you would have to purchase 15% waste in the original order (and store them perfectly flat in a conditioned space for several years while anticipating another flood) just to get the old floor 'reinstalled'.

Whew! That's a LOT of work (and extra material and extra effort and extra cost) just to have a floor that *might be saved. I've heard of several people who found out (the hard way) how difficult it is to 'save' a vinyl plank floor (they did all the steps above). They vowed never to try again. They will simply buy a whole new floor at the time. It is sooo much easier/faster. They won't bother with the 'save the vinyl' ever again. And had they KNOWN how difficult the 'saving' the vinyl would be, they would have gone with laminate or more carpet and moved on.
ncage30 thanked SJ McCarthy
ncage30
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
SJ McCarthy thank you so much for taking your time in your post. Its spells out what they don't tell you about VLP. Honestly after a LOT of research i'm pretty sure at this point i'm not going to go with VLP. I've heard to many horror stories of having to be ultra careful so you don't scratch it. Even with the more expensive stuff that has a thick wear layer on it. How true this is i don't know but i've seen enough complaints that i'm concerned. On top of that you kind of spelled out that its water proof properties won't save you that much.

When they came out and measured i had them do an estimate for VLP and an estimate for Porcelain ceramic. I thought porcelain was going to be double the price of VLP installed but honestly it wasn't. It actually wasn't that much more. Of course the price per square foot of the flooring was cheaper but the install, of course, is much more. I think i'm going to go with porcelain ceramic that looks like wood:

Maybe this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/TRUE-PORCELAIN-CO-Farmhouse-Chestnut-6-in-x-24-in-Porcelain-Wood-Look-Floor-and-Wall-Tile-Common-6-in-x-24-in-Actual-5-75-in-x-23-75-in/1000698198

Though i can say it doesn't look quite as good as the VLP i was looking at it still looks pretty good but i'm safe if something ever happens.

I'm also considering laminate, and like you said, if you get a flood just throw the old away. In the end VLP won't save you much. There were also quite a few cheap laminate styles i liked.

I see VLP as not being that great. Maybe it would be ok in situations where you need a little more water resistance than laminate like a bathroom or kitchen but if you have a flood type situation happens (toilet line breaks, water heater, ect..) i don't think it will help you that much.

Granted after going through this i'm going to install quite a few leak sensors, get a water backup system, ect so it "shouldn't" happen again but i'd rather be safe than sorry.