Q: I’m finishing a basement on a concrete slab, that is about 800sq ft and I want to do a small bathroom also in the area, the home is at the beach and even though the basement is dry I’m concerned about moisture.
What product do you recommend for the floor in the basement and can I use a pergo or similar floor for a bathroom floor, my contractor suggested an engineered floating floor.
Thanks
Dr Brenner
A: With any basement installation, moisture is a concern; however, it is fairly easy to over come these issues. One important factor here will be what floor you choose. Laminate, like Pergo, and floating engineered hardwoods are good choices in a basement, but you can also look into glue down engineered floors as well.
Keep in mind the key here is to ensure you have a moisture barrier. In the case of glue down floors, the adhesive itself acts as a moisture barrier, but for floating floors you will need to install 6mil polyethelyne or visqueen moisture barrier. Ensure that all of the seams are properly taped up before laying down your underlayment and installing your floor. When installing the moisture barrier, make sure that you bring the 6mil poly (or equivalent) about two inches up the wall to protect the sides of the floor.
For your bathroom, you can install Pergo or similar laminate, or an engineered wood floor. Although moisture heavy areas are not great for wood floors, with proper care during installation and if you prevent water from getting on the floor (standing water, wet clothes, etc) then you should be fine. A quick tip for these areas, make sure you put a small bead of glue into the joints of the floor to act as a back up moisture seal.
As always, when installing any wood floor, especially in areas with a concrete subfloor or more moisture, give the flooring itself plenty of time to acclimate, preferably in the room it will be installed into.
