Basement floor options

[misiu]

Finishing my basement. 500sq ft. Sealed it (floor and walls) with the Behr product, walls are in, now want to put in floors. Doing it myself. Home is new to me, aprox 15 years old. No history or evidence of water/flooding. Using space for a guest room and kid play room/workout/TV room. Walk out basement. We are in New Hampshire. Basement gets humid in the summer. Cold and dry in the winter but it is now heated. Would appreciate advice regarding options for floor. Looking at vinyl vs. laminate vs other options(bamboo?, engineered?). Want durability, good looks, good value, increase house value. Will put in myself. What brands/products have a good reputation/ are a good value? Don't want to glue anything down to the slab.
So far have seen Konecto product- liked it but has a plastic look to it (this could be my bias knowing that it is)
Local store selling Manington laminate for a good price, but not sure?!
Appreciate the help.

[Nick Arrera]

Welcome to the site misiu ..
What kind of budget are you working with ? That will help determine what choices are available to you ..
I been told Wood is the only floor that increases the value of your house .. Other members will correct me if I'm wrong ..

[stullis]

Tile and stone increase the value as does wood.

So what is a good price to you?

If it's too good to be true it probably is. You get what you pay for typically when it comes to flooring.

[kwfloors]

Kahres wood floor, Quickstep laminate, Konecto,carpet, etc.

[Jerry Thomas]

Wilsonart laminate is a good product, but cost more than alot of engineered woods.

[Kman]

When you say "workout room", is this just a treadmill, or is there a weight machine, or maybe free weights, or other heavy equipment? I wouldn't recommend any kind of laminate, wood or floating floor for something like that. You would need something more solid that is attached to the floor, like VCT. I would even consider leaving the area where the heavy equipment is without any floor, just bare concrete.

Even just a treadmill could cause some damage to a wood floor, although a rubber mat underneath could prevent it.

[Barry Carlton]

Kman said When you say "workout room", is this just a treadmill, or is there a weight machine, or maybe free weights, or other heavy equipment? I wouldn't recommend any kind of laminate, wood or floating floor for something like that. You would need something more solid that is attached to the floor, like VCT. I would even consider leaving the area where the heavy equipment is without any floor, just bare concrete. Even just a treadmill could cause some damage to a wood floor, although a rubber mat underneath could prevent it.

If it's a real work out room with weights and the like the best option would probably be rubber flooring like ECO. Although this would need to be adhered. I think Costco used to have snap together rubber flooring. They fit together like puzzle pieces. The rubber flooring is a minimum of 1/4 inch in thickness and goes up from there. Johnsonite also carries rubber flooring. Some rubber is considered green as it's made from old tires.
barry

[steve h]

Welcome to TFP. As for flooring product in your basement, which is not heated or has air-conditioning to control your heat and humidity. Wood is definitely out of the question because it's humidity range is between 30 and 60%, where it has a nice warm fuzzy feeling to live in otherwise you'll have all kinds of problems with wood and that we also include laminates, bamboos, and so on. As far as in your workout area. I would go with a rubber floor, an there are a lot of manufactures out there to research in on the Internet look them up. And then go shopping, but I would suggest a commercial robber flooring, 39" x 39" and is together and lay flat very easily. I would recommend that workout area is used in all commercial workout gyms. I know I've installed thousands of feet. As for the rest area nearly 2 options left is ceramic tile, which figure yourself that would probably be my suggestion or carpet.

HAVE A. GREAT DAY

[misiu]

Thank you everyone for all of your suggestions comments.
Clarifications-
--the basement is heated, and have a dehumidifier. Plus it is sealed as well. Havn't done the syranwrap test yet
--work out room = bowflex or something that can disapear easily if needed.
--budget.. well 3.50$/sq foot would be max.

I checked out konecto a bit more. I realy like the idea but gun shy given some feedback of the glue comming undone. I found a good price for prestige line, comes out to 3.21/sq foot delivered. this is from the floorMarket company who have assured me that the problems are solved and that teh 25year warranty stands b/c they are a brick and mortar place.
Anyone deal with this company before?? Do they sell the scraps for the dogs?
THey are selling Shaw laminates for a good price as well.