Flooring for a 5,200 sq. ft. finished basement

[samir.r.shah]

Hello:

We are in the process of constructing a 5,200 sq. ft. basement. It is for a brand new home construction (the land has not even been excavated yet). We are in the planning phase and were wondering what type of flooring we should use in the basement.

We were thinking of carpeting but then are having second thoughts because the basement is going to be used for parties and to entertain guests...thus, there will be food, drinks, and dancing...which will ruin the carpet pretty quickly.

Secondly, we were thinking of using the polished concrete floors (we're utilizing a poured concrete slab foundation) as the flooring for the basement. This option, however, would make the basement feel very cold.

Tiles would be too expensive to place on 5,200 sq. ft. area (lot of labor = lot of time = lot of money). So we are stuck at this point...hoping an expert could help us out. Thank you in advance for any responses we get.

[Tim]

Hi it is good that you are thinking about all of these things in advance. First of all I would install an interior waterproofing system (http://www.basementsystems.com/basement_waterproofing/) before they pour the floor slab (much less expensive to do at this stage). Now to the flooring, you can install our thermaldry flooring system (http://www.basementsystems.com/basement_waterproofing/basement_floor/). This works best when using carpeting, it keeps the floor warmer and wont let water vapor wick up into the carpet and cause mold.
You were saying that carpet may not be your first choice and you may want to go with the polished concrete look, which is nice and to solve the cold problem you may want to go with a radiant heat system for warmth.
Which ever way you plan to go I would suggest you go to the sign up area and have a local dealer (http://www.basementsystems.com/forms/contact.php) come and give you suggestions on how to proceed. The planning stage is always the best time to get suggestions from the professionals.