Since I'm at suburban of Chicago so I guess we pretty much share the same
weather. Assuming you are selecting flooring because you want to finished the
basement to convert it into living space. As for the walkout basement flooring
you'll need to deal with two things an below grade basement does not have to
content with: 1. traffic 2. outdoor temperature difference. Each demands very
different design objective.

Since it's a walkout basement and you are not supposed to nail shut the door
down there so the flooring better be able to handle the traffic in/out from your
back yard under all kinds of weather. Unlike the front door where people walk
in from paved surface, now you'll have rain/snow, mud, grass clipping etc. Thus
will make tiles or vinyl looked very appealing and carpet/wood not very
feasible. Before you make the decision, we'll have to look at the second design
objective. The walkout basement is just like house on a slab on one end. It does
not have the earth insulation of below grade basement. As the result it has to
deal with the harsh winter subzero temperature. The outdoor ground temperature
is below zero and the inside heating is coming from the forced air above (for
most of the walkout basement in Chicago suburban). You may chose tiles (or
vinyl, or wood/bamboo) if you don't want to be in the basement during the winter
for it'll be very uncomfortable to put your feet on the ground. In this case,
the better flooring will be carpet with a thick padding to give you that extra
insulation to avoid the uncomfortable cold feet

I'd suggest put tiles on the basement entrance area to take care of the in/out
traffic and put carpet with thick padding in the rest of the area or add an
extra layer of sandwiched sub floor like Dri-core before other flooring material
to insulate you from the very cold floor during winter.

FC

On 6/30/2003 3:13 PM, pinball gizzard wrote:
I have a full walkout basement where the front portion is entirely below grade
and the back portion is entirely at grade level. The house is 45 years old
and located near Chicago. I've owned it for 1+ years, and have noticed no
water problems in the basement.

I've read a lot of information on this subject on the net, and I've talked to
some salesman at flooring stores and home centers.

I've heard ceramic tile, carpet, and vinyl are good choices for the floor.
I've heard hardwood is bad and that bamboo would be good.
(snip)
Can anyone out there help me sort all of this out? I'm inclined to go with
bamboo if it is appropriate for this project.