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About John Michaels
Expertise
All questions pertaining to all indoor floor coverings regarding best products to choose, proper installation techniques, and proper maintenance techniques.
Experience
We are a nationwide floor covering inspection service. We inspect all types of indoor floor coverings in every city and town in all 50 States and in all the Provinces of Canada. We see where errors in choice of product, improper installation, and improper maintenance lead to complaints being registered and we are then called upon to inspect those products and issue certified reports indicating from where those complaint issues eminate. We have done this type of work for over 40 years.
Publications
Floor Covering Weekly & Floor Covering News
Education/Credentials
Carpet, vinyl, and hardwood manufacturing, installation, and maintenance, prior to just inspecting, and a division of our Company specifies proper floor covering choices for residential and commercial uses.
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You are here: Experts > Style > Interior Decorating > Flooring and Carpeting > Subfloor in basement
Expert: John Michaels - 10/2/2008
Question
Hi, I live in Canada and have a question concerning subfloor on a concrete basement floor. I have read about two main options for subfloor onto which I would then install my laminate. The first is to put down rigid foam insulation (XPS) followed by tongue and groove plywood over the top, then installing the laminate. The other is using prefab 2 X 2 foot panels that have a raised polyethylene plastic on the bottom (dricore.com, subflor.com). We have never had a problem with moisture in our basement. Just wondering which method would provide the best insulation and moisture management in a basement. Thank You
Answer
Hi Brian;If you have purchased your laminate, so be it. If you haven't purchased your laminate remember that carpet is one of the healthiest floor coverings one can have. It has a pile that traps, filters, and holds harmful track-in soils, air polutants, and allergents until they are properly vacuumed away, and on occassion, properly professionally cleaned away. Hard surfaced flooring is non-absorbent, so those harmful soils remain on their surfaces and become airborne with normal foot traffic and normal home air currents. The human lung then becomes the trap and filter. Depending upon the traffic flow in your home, the population of your home, and the environment in which you live, hard surfaced flooring may have to be maintained on a daily basis. The true cost of any floor covering is product, installation, and maintenance over its useful life. Carpet costs less as a product, less to install, and less to maintain, and offers good insulation factors. Visit the website of The Carpet & Rug Institute, <carpet-rug.org>, and obtain proper health information, along with their lists of vacuums, spot cleaning agents, and professional cleaning systems they have tested and certified as being truly 'green' product. Since the carpet industry is way out front in producing truly 'green' products, some of which are totally recyclable, view their CARE program on that website to learn about their great strides in collecting and recycling carpet. If you rethink your floor covering purchase and consider carpet, please feel free to get back to me for construction specifications I would suggest for your home.
Laminate should not be cleaned with water, so, in a basement, if you think moisture may be a problem now, or in the future, I would suggest not installing laminate. If you decide to install the laminate, remember that ALL floor covering manufacturers are in the throes of producing 'green' products. Floor coverings being made today are vastly different than those made just 1 or 2 years ago. So are the sundries such as underlayments, adhesives, etc. Because of those changes, various manufacturers of the same type of flooring have different installation specifications. You must obtain the installation specifications published by the manufacturer of the laminate you choose and read them thoroughly. They will list acceptable underlayments, proper methods of handling and installing the laminate before, during, and after the installation, options such as the acceptable use of radiant heat strips that can be used, and many, many other things. Don't rely on hearsay or what other people tell you. Obtain proper information from the manufacturer to protect your investment. Also, BEFORE you go any further, obtain the published maintenance manual of the manufacturer of the laminate you choose. That manual will list proper cleaning agents and techniques, proper furniture leg protectors that must be used, allowable footwear (some laminates cannot be traversed in high heels and unclipped pet's nails), the need for proper, absorbent walk-off mats that should be used, and properly maintained, at all entries to your home, and many other important information so you can learn your responsibilities needed to protect your investment and keep any warranties in place.
Before the installation is started, I would suggest having a moisture test done on the concrete. If you have any type of moisture that is minor and slowly evaporating so you don't see it, once you cover the concrete you may be inhibiting that normal evaporation, causing water to pool and become very evident, causing the installation to fail. The moisture test that should be done is not the calcium chloride test, but the new test that requires drilling into the concrete for an inch or two and taking a moisture reading below surface level. A general contractor or an engineering firm should do that type of testing, again, all to protect your investment, so if there is a problem, it doesn't become a 'surprise' and negatively affect the installation and your investment. Basements are candidates for moisture, since concrete is absorbent and always moves. I would not specify laminate or hardwood for a basement. Carpet, vinyl, and stone are candidates, after a moisture test has been done, and, you can use a radiant heat strip under the installation of those products, again, following the installation specifications of the manufacturer of the flooring you choose. If you have any other questions, please feel free to get back to me.
Cordially,
John Michaels
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