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

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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3 of 14 questions

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Rene Ewing
on Oct 2, 2017

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

1

Answer this
- Brooke Berry
  on Oct 2, 2017
  
  It was in a basement, so the tiles were glued down to concrete. If it were on a higher floor we could have just ripped out the subfloor and it would have been so much easier. Also, the flooring could go over the tile but only half of the room had tile. Its so much easier to start with a clean slate!
  
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Dot
on Jan 4, 2018

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

1

Answer this
- Brooke Berry
  on Jan 4, 2018
  
  Yes you can install it over tile!
  
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Nhe24712250
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 /

1

Answer this
- Brooke Berry
  on Jan 31, 2018
  
  The planks are from Home Depot - the brand is Allure Isocore. You can get the exact color and details on my blog post, linked above. The cost would depend on how much square footage you need, my basement was about 800 sq. ft.
  
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Sherrie
on Oct 2, 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!

1
Reply
Rick Chong
on Jan 2, 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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A Cold Tiled Basement is Transformed Into a Fun Playroom for Kids

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