Can You Put Laminate Flooring in Your Basement?

Laminate flooring offers a homeowner the look and feel of more expensive flooring with easy installation and little or no maintenance. In basements, laminate flooring can brighten dark rooms or add a touch of color and style. Many basements, however, are not suitable for laminate flooring. To determine whether you can install laminate, a little research is necessary. Basically, if you can eliminate moisture problems, you can install laminate flooring.

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Heavy plastic sheeting Duct tape or plastic tape

1. Evaluate the concrete floor in your basement. Look for two things: large cracks and sloped floors, and the amount of moisture present in the concrete.
2. Determine the residual moisture content within your concrete floor by cutting heavy plastic sheeting into 2-foot squares. Cut enough squares so that you can place one every 15 feet apart on your basement floor. If you have linoleum tiles, you can do this test on top. However, if you have any type of carpeting or solid linoleum, it will not work.
3. Place a square of plastic sheeting on the floor and secure it with duct tape, sealing all edges. If you are testing over linoleum tiles, include as many seams as possible underneath the sheeting.
4. Leave the test sheets alone for three days and then check each to see if any water accumulated underneath the sheeting. If it did, your basement is not suitable for laminate flooring. You may try applying a concrete sealer and retesting.
5. Install a solid-cell foam liner underneath laminate floors if your basement is not subject to excessive moisture. If you have little or no evidence of moisture problems, you may install laminate flooring. You can prevent future moisture condensation by laying a solid-cell foam underlayment.