Do you want to renovate and bring greater comfort to your basement by redoing your cellar floor? To do this, choosing a flooring can seem complex in this room that we know has special characteristics. Follow our guide to the best basement flooring choices.
The characteristics of a basement and a cellar
The basements of all buildings have characteristics of their own that can appear as barriers to comfortable and aesthetic development. Basements and cellars indeed tend to be particularly damp rooms.
In order to counter moisture when renovating a basement and to cover the floor of a cellar, it is necessary to act in the very foundations of the floor. For this, it is possible to install moisture barrier materials that can help prevent moisture from entering the building. To do this, select the best insulating floor materials on the market such as plastic, felt, adhesives or specific paints.
In the case of a damp basement, you can also choose to raise your flooring from the concrete floor. This technique allows air to pass between the floor and the ground in order to evacuate as much water as possible and not infiltrate the upper layers. If you prefer this option to the previous technique, choose to use membranes that you will place directly on the basic concrete floor.
Choosing a material for a cellar floor
Before making a choice of flooring, take the time to think about the use of your cellar which will be the determining factor for the choice of material. If you choose to convert your cellar into a living room, if you choose to dedicate it to wine storage or if you want to make it a music studio, you will need a different flooring.
However, always choose a flooring that has the following qualities for your basement room:
– Easy maintenance
– Waterproofing
– Durability over time
– Aesthetics
– Efficient insulation
Depending on the use of the cellar, the expected qualities and the history of the room, you can choose between different floor coverings:
– Engineered flooring: this type of flooring installed with a moisture barrier or raised plays an important role in the comfort of your cellar, especially in summer, as it maintains thermal inertia. It is also a very solid, resistant and aesthetically beautiful material in a cellar that you want comfortable.
– Paint on concrete: installing a concrete floor allows you to obtain a solid and durable floor that you can personalize with concrete paint. Easy to maintain and quickly refresh, the paint must however be chosen as water-repellent in order to pay attention to potential moisture problems that can affect cellars. If you have a higher budget, opt for epoxy which is more durable than simple paint.
– Tiling: easy to maintain but difficult to install, tiling is a solution that must be well thought out according to the use of your room. Indeed, while it is easy to clean, it is however fragile and not necessarily resistant to impacts.
– Vinyl: you can also opt for vinyl which has the advantage of being cheaper than tiles and wood. It is even possible to have vinyl that imitates wood or tiles.
In any case, before laying your floor covering in the cellar, you will need to prepare the support and repair the floor to ensure the waterproofing and insulation of the room. This preparatory work is mandatory because the cellar is a damp room. For the installation of a cellar floor, do not hesitate to call on flooring professionals who can inspect your basement room and choose the right materials according to its characteristics as well as your needs in order to have a solid and durable coating.
