What product do I use to cover cement floor in basement?

Question

My basement flooded 3 times before I could afford to have pipes going out to street fixed. Fixed pipes and had to pull up stick on tiles. The old asbestos tiles under that came up also. Now I have a cement floor with old black glue all over it. Any suggestions?

Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com · Answer

You have several Lorraine, You can install new vinyl tiles that would glue back down over the black cement left over on the floor. That is the easiest and cheapest,
You can install porcelain tile without having to work to hard on existing glue that is stuck on floor. But price for materials and labor starts going up. 
Assuming your floor is really dry there are products that can be placed on floor to raise it slightly to create a platform that is ventilated below and then install carpet or wood floor, Price goes up even more again as does the labor. 
Again if the floor is not suffering from any water issues the floor can be ground down using a special machine that will remove the black adhesive that held the tile down. Then paint the surface. Hard in prep, easy to paint.

Only issue you have is that its very likely that the black adhesive that remains on the floor could contain asbestos fibers. Not from the tile removed, but in the glue mix itself. So you need to use proper protection when grinding down the old glue.

My personal suggestion would be to use the porcelain tile. Choose a plain color that will go with anything you place in basement. This type of floor will not grow mold, its water proof and looks great.

Lorraine V · Answer

Tyou so much!

Terry's Flooring · Answer

You have black out on your floor that was under the asbestos tile ...Take a roller & Kilz and paint the floor ..The cheapest way for you, is to go over it with carpet , then next would be sheet vinyl , then ceramic tile ...

Terry's Flooring · Answer

Don't worry about getting up the black out on the floor , just kilz over it ...You don't want to have things floating in the air ( That's the dangers of asbestos when it becomes air born , so just roll over it with kilz )

Marion Nesbitt · Answer

Porcelain tile. Lots of colour choices - I'd go lighter. Easy to clean. You can also get an area rug to lay on top if you want cozy.

Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com · Answer

Never use a carpet on a basement floor, nor an organic type of material. Reason being is the cement floor if its below grade almost all the time has dampness issues. Some more then others. This dampness becomes trapped under wood floors, so they become moldy and warp. Tile is really the best option for any below grade install. As far as priming the old adhesive, I personally would not bother if your going to install a tile type finish. But if you plan to paint, I doubt the surface of the adhesive is smooth enough to get away with simply priming. Complete removal is really the best method. 
However, Its really dependent upon what you are planning to do with the floor on how you deal with any of the old black glue that remains. And there are instances that prime paint can be sufficient for the asbestos prevention issue.

Lorraine V · Answer

thank you all so much!

Rescon Basement Solutions · Answer

You should use a subfloor and then lay carpet or another type of flooring. Vinyl flooring has come a long way too and you can install that over a sub floor. It is important to install a subfloor that is essentially moisture and mold proof. http://www.resconsolutions.com/our-solutions/Basement-Finishing/basement-sub-floor.aspx

Connie Wilkinson · Answer

Either paper bag floor or you can paint it. I did a gazebo floor painted it black laid out squares with painters tape and painted it dark green and took a feather and ran black paint ever so slightly thru the green and it looked awesome. You could do any colors.

Diana Deiley · Answer

I'm thinking stained & polished cement floors would look unique and awesome. Sure would be a conversation piece for you. Best of luck.

Agnes Chrzanowska · Answer

I would only paint that floor

What product do I use to cover cement floor in basement?

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What product do I use to cover cement floor in basement?

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