advice on refinishing a basement floor...

Ok, we're replaced out old oil furnace with a nice, new, efficient natural gas burner and hot water heater. A side benefit of this job is that the natural gas furnace vents directly through the exterior wall, not through the chimney in the middle of the house.

So, in a couple of days the installer and I are finally ripping out the old burner (the new one is installed), the old oil tank, and I'm suddenly going to have maybe 150 square feet of usable space in the basement. Kegerator, TV, guitar amps, heavy bag, and there should be enough room for a couple gymnastics mats so my daughter has some space to burn off some energy.

The issue that I'm looking for advice on is dealing with the floor. It's an old slab in pretty poor shape. Lots of pockmarks and holes. Lots of ad-hoc patchwork. There's some higher parts around where the oil burner is that I'm going to have to remove. Basically, I need to get it leveled off and cleaned up.

The basement doesn't really get wet, but it's damp. There's only one section (on the opposite side of the basement) where water ever seeps in, but if you leave something on the floor for a few days you can see the moisture when you pick it up.

So, what are my options for cleaning it up? I've thought about putting down a layer of self-leveling cement to get myself a nice, smooth surface, but that stuff doesn't seem like it would hold up to any real wear and tear. I thought about doing that and then putting down a coat of epoxy paint to protect the surface, but that seems like a bad idea with the moisture. Same obviously with carpet or any kind of wood.

Any other ideas? I was pointed in the direction of Tractor Supply, some rubber surfaces that are designed for going in horse stalls. There's an interlocking system for like $400, or just buy a bunch of 4x6 rubber mats and lay them down. I'm not looking for anything particularly fancy, just a surface that's not going to rip and tear any gymnastics mats we lay down and that might have a little more "give" to it.

My brother was advocating for tearing out the whole floor and laying down a clean slab, but there's no exterior entrance into the basement and I don't want to spend all summer on this.

Any other thoughts? How to refinish the floor in a semi-damp basement?

how permanent of a floor do you want to have there ultimately and how much work do you want to put in?

I think tile is a reasonable way to go but I'd put Ditra down first if you've got moisture wicking up through the slab. http://www.schluter.com/6_1_ditra.aspx

Well, the basement will not be "finished," per se, and doesn't need to be. I'm not going to frame in the exterior walls or do anything with the ceiling. Half the basement is workshop, anyway. Just looking for options for a clean, simple, floor surface for the section my kids might be hanging out in.

Frankly, if I didn't have any moisture I'd just resurface it and put down some epoxy, but pretty sure the epoxy will flake up.

EDIT: I've done plenty of tiling, I don't mind doing some more. The Ditra will take care of the moisture problem? I've been worried the moisture will "pop" the tiles out of place.

Don't stain it. I regret ever doing that in my brew shed.


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Leveler is not going to work. It's supposed to have a wear surface on top of it. They make a decent waterproof paint for damp basements, and I'd suggest getting a good sized dehumidifier at least. Not sure how to level those high spots without renting some kind of power tool for it.

I have seen some rubber tiles that you join together like a jigsaw puzzle. I wonder how they would work on top of the floor...

Homercidal said:

Leveler is not going to work. It's supposed to have a wear surface on top of it. They make a decent waterproof paint for damp basements, and I'd suggest getting a good sized dehumidifier at least. Not sure how to level those high spots without renting some kind of power tool for it.

I have seen some rubber tiles that you join together like a jigsaw puzzle. I wonder how they would work on top of the floor...

Click to expand...

That's one thing I'm wondering - if those rubber tiles are enough of a wear surface. Alternatively, if an epoxy paint is enough of a wear surface (but the moisture probably rules that out).

Although reading on the DITRA, I'm thinking about just doing it right and laying tile down. Maybe I'll head up to the tile store this week, see what they've got (maybe some 18"ers, go down quicker). Price out the DITRA, too.

I don't have much moisture coming up through my slab at all but I did lay down those foam interlocking squares for the kids to play on.

Ditra lit claims to be suitable as a slab moisture barrier. Thinset is stable in moisture since it's a cement based product. If you put the tile directly on the slab, the grout would always be wet.

I'm thinking probably the cheapest route would be to put a scratch coat over the the area the smooth out the rough spots on the floor and paint it with something like water tite paint. Then just throw down your mats over the top.

You could do the self leveling concrete, then ditra, then tile, then your mats. It would look nice, but it's more expensive. Also, if you decide to start lifting weights down there, or you drop a keg on the floor you risk busting up the tile.