A Cold Tiled Basement is Transformed Into a Fun Playroom for Kids

Brooke Berry
by Brooke Berry
1 Material
$3000
3 Weeks
Medium
Houses typically come with a blank slate of concrete floors, framed and insulated exterior walls, and endless possibilities. Our basement came partially finished with carpet and tile flooring, but no ceiling and not to code plumbing, electrical and heating.
To start with a clean slate we had to remove the tile flooring, haul away the heavy tile pieces, and remove the thinset. It was an exhausting and time consuming project. Never again will I do this job while still living in the house.  If I bought a house that needed tile removed I would do the disgusting part before anything we owned was moved into the house. SO. Gross.
The basement flooring during the removal process. The tile floors were so cold and so dark.
I really liked using the jackhammer to remove the tiles. We fought over who got to use it!
It is finally feeling like a blank slate. Now to haul those heavy and deathly sharp tiles out.
Sanding away the thinset was such a gross job. I will never look at tile floors the same way, thinking of how much work they are to remove.
Boxes and boxes of flooring.
Tools used to install - a chalk line, rubber mallet, tapping block, and jigsaw.
Late nights installing, moving furniture around the room.
Beginning the first few rows - using a spacer to allow room for expansion and to keep the boards in place as we added the next pieces.
It feels so bright and clean. My kids love being able to run and play in this space. Be sure to check out the post for all the details, tips and tricks on installing a vinyl plank floor.
Suggested materials:
  • Allure Isocore Vinyl Plank Floors   (Home Depot)
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  • Rene Ewing Rene Ewing on Oct 01, 2017

    Why did you have to remove the old tiles? If you had to jack hammer they must have been down real well.

  • Dot Dot on Jan 04, 2018

    I have ceramic tile floor in kitchen and laundry room.. Can I install this over the tile that I have..


  • Nanou Nanou on Jan 31, 2018

    i love the way it all looks. what a good job you did. what is the cost and where you got the planks /

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  • Sherrie Sherrie on Oct 01, 2017

    I love love love the Allure flooring!!! I worked at THD when it first came out, and the stuff that had sticky sealing I wasn't so impressed with, but when the tongue and groove stuff showed up? Oh My Gosh!!! I put it in my bathroom, and it was beautiful!!!! I can't wait to redo my bathroom in my new place, Allure is my floor of choice!

  • Rick Chong Rick Chong on Jan 01, 2018

    Allure Isocore Kingsley Oak is what we used in our whole house. These were xlong (6 feet X 8.7") Love it. They don't make Isocore anymore. They have changed it to Lifeproof. Isocore we felt was much better. We lucked out and managed to get enough between 2 different stores as none of the stores were getting anymore. Glad we were still able to get it

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