Flooring over concrete suggestions

lickcreek2 · #1 02/24/10, 11:24 AM

First off, to explain, we have a walk-in basement house with a half story above where the bedrooms are located. All other rooms are downstairs, with concrete floors. We are looking to replace the flooring in the downstairs rooms, and are trying to decide what would be the best flooring to use in the mudroom, eat-in kitchen and bathroom.

DH wants to put ceramic or porcelain tile, as they will wear well, and not show the scuffs and scratches that our current vinyl is showing. I love the look, but the tile he put in the gunroom makes the floor so cold! I don't think that's what I want in the rest of the house.

We are hoping this will be the last time we remodel in our lifetime.

So we are trying to find something for the kitchen that will hold up to the dining room chairs without immediately showing the "divets" from the chair legs. It would be nice if we could use the same flooring in the mudroom, and carry it on through the hallway and bathroom. Which means it would need to do well damp bathroom as well, especially if something overflows, which can happen on occasion. And, I want it to be reasonably warm. I know, I'm asking a lot.

I did bring home some samples of vinyl tile that, if I understand it correctly, can be grouted. The tile was much warmer on my feet, and I like the idea that we could replace individual tiles if need be. What I don't know is how well the grout holds up to traffic/chairs/etc, or if it would be a good idea to use it in the bathroom and mudroom as well.

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of tile? Or have any other suggestions for floor coverings that would work well in this application? Please, no suggestions of carpeting. We will replace the carpeting in the livingroom, because DH insists it remain carpet. But I won't deal with carpet in the rest of the house!!!

Maura · #2 02/24/10, 12:28 PM

Depending on how much you want to spend... Have you looked into infloor radiant heat? You lay the tubing over the concrete, pour gypcrete (concrete with gypsum making it lighter), then lay your flooring over that. The warm water from your hot water heater, runs through the tubing. With the concrete slab, your floor will warm up and stay warm when the electricity goes out longer than it would with FHA. Your feet will stay warm and you can have tile.

lickcreek2 · #3 02/24/10, 03:37 PM

Maura, I will look into that. All we had seen was some kind of electrical wiring that could go under the tile. That makes me really nervous.

Also, I guess it would depend on the thickness of all of this. As it is, I don't have a full 8 foot high wall now. I don't want to make it noticably shorter! LOL!

fixer1958 · #4 02/24/10, 08:53 PM

My brother did this in a 15x20 room and loves it.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/lee92.html

Ladyhen · #5 02/24/10, 08:57 PM

Maybe cork? One thing about tile is that if you have any cracks in the concrete, the tile will usually eventually crack along the same line.

I love prefinished hardwood. Could you use that and only tile in the area you'll be using as a mudroom?

Tim1257 · #6 02/24/10, 09:04 PM

if you didn't want real wood there is laminate. You could stain the concrete. I really like concrete floors and countertops.

MN Gardener · #7 02/25/10, 08:08 AM

I would do engineered wood in the living / dining (it is a step up from laminate) and then do heated tiles in the bathroom and mud room. You can put area rugs in the rooms to keep your feet warm. The heated coils are designed for bathroom use and usually have grout put over them and the tiles over that. Check them out at the home center and get more information. I think you will find out they are very safe. I would do them in a heart beat!

7thswan · #8 02/25/10, 08:44 AM

I saw on one of those home improv. on TV, they put down carpet that came in squares. It had a adhesive backing.

lickcreek2 · #9 02/25/10, 08:52 AM

Ladyhen, we did look into cork once. It was wonderfully warm underfoot, but would not hold up to the kitchen table and chairs, or cans that inevitably get knocked off cupboard shelves. And it scuffed easily. At least that was the case with the sample we were allowed to take home and "put through the wringer". And we weren't sure if prefinished hardwood would be recommended for kitchen and bathroom use. These are the rooms we are really concerned with. It would just be nice if the same flooring could be used from the mudroom, through the kitchen and on into the bath, since they all somewhat connect.

Tim1257, we are not sure about using real wood, as it is in a basement over concrete, and not sure if it would hold up well in this application. Plus I'm not sure it is ideal for kitchen and bathroom floors. I need something that can hold up to water. Not that I plan on leaving standing water on the floors for any amount of time, but accidents do happen, and I don't want to use something that would be immediately ruined if one occured.

MN Gardener, I don't know much about engineered wood. Would it be recommended for a kitchen?
Oh, and DH had talked about the heated coils under the tile. They are electric, correct?We could not find anything that said it was safe for use in a bathroom. It looked rather expensive, but if it would be cheap to run, and helped with the heat bill in the long run, it might be worth the initial expense. We also could not find any real information on what it cost to run them. I really think I would be more interested in heating the bathroom and kitchen floor. The mudroom wouldn't be as important to us, as we really only "pass through" that area. The kitchen and bathroom floors are the ones we would spend a lot of time on.

So, no one has any experience with the vinyl tiles that can be grouted?