Walk Out Basement: Ceremic Tile or Laminate floor?
 

While all my friends are laying laminate floors in their slab basements, I
decide
to use the ceremic tiles as ceremic tile floor:
1. Last longer.
2. Don't need to worry about water spills, and would not cost as much damage
if basement get flooded from power outage (sump pump).
3. Less worry about bring dirt into basement from the backyard.

However, laminate floor is more appearing, and feels more comfortable,
particularly
we don't wear shoes in the main floor.

Now question is, do most people prefer laminate floor, and therefor make the
house
easier to sell, or sells for more?

We will stay in this house for 20+ years, I hope. The laminate are ususally
warranted for
25 years or more. The total cost for ceremic is a little cheaper than
laminate floor.

I think you should not take 25 years warranty in absolute terms: think
of it like 25y laminate should be better than 15y laminate, but that's
about it.

On the other hand, if you happen to live in a seismic area (like
California), ceramics on a slab surface may easily crack during an
earthquake. And ceramics will certainly cost you more once you take
into account the installation.

Tile transfers cold and feels colder it is harder on the feet and
slippery wet. If I wanted cool and lived in Arizona or Mexico tile would
be better. Tile will last 10x longer than laminate.

"G W" wrote in message news:uvX5e.3950$jd6.700@trnddc07...

While all my friends are laying laminate floors in their slab basements, I
decide
to use the ceremic tiles as ceremic tile floor:
1. Last longer.
2. Don't need to worry about water spills, and would not cost as much
damage
if basement get flooded from power outage (sump pump).
3. Less worry about bring dirt into basement from the backyard.

However, laminate floor is more appearing, and feels more comfortable,
particularly
we don't wear shoes in the main floor.

I went with engineered wood. www.mannington.com Looks and feels better
for a living space, IMO. Ceramic is a superior product in the ways you
point out, but it just does not look as nice in the family room in New
England. I had thought about tile for accents where the door is and around
the wood burning stove that is now on slate. Just figured it may be too
many elements.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Within the last 2 years I refinished our basement with a slate tile floor.
we installed underfloor heating so the tile actually feels good on our feet.
The advice above are good points to take into consideration. Cold feet are
not very comfortable. One thing I never took into consideration was noise.
We have three kids and the tile just reverberates all the noise. It's a
"loud" basement. I'm sure linoleum would absorb more noise. 1400 sq ft of
tile took myself and a helper approx. 40 hours of work(x2=80). Also, is
floor level enough for tile installation? Any stress cracks you see in
concrete will eventually show up in tile, so I'm told. By no means am I
trying to talk you out of tile. I love it. Just some points to consider.
Also I'm not sure where you get the big cost savings from between tile and
linoleum. With all factors weighed I'd bet their pretty equal if not the
tile being more expensive. Especially if not a DIY project.
"G W" wrote in message news:uvX5e.3950$jd6.700@trnddc07...

While all my friends are laying laminate floors in their slab basements, I
decide
to use the ceremic tiles as ceremic tile floor:
1. Last longer.
2. Don't need to worry about water spills, and would not cost as much
damage
if basement get flooded from power outage (sump pump).
3. Less worry about bring dirt into basement from the backyard.

However, laminate floor is more appearing, and feels more comfortable,
particularly
we don't wear shoes in the main floor.

Now question is, do most people prefer laminate floor, and therefor make
the
house
easier to sell, or sells for more?

We will stay in this house for 20+ years, I hope. The laminate are
ususally
warranted for
25 years or more. The total cost for ceremic is a little cheaper than
laminate floor.