At some point, you may need to know how to level an uneven basement floor. Whether it’s for a vinyl flooring installation that’s going to go over a moisture barrier or simply a tile installation that’s going to go directly on your concrete basement slab, if it’s not even you will likely have some headaches down the line. So before you go putting down that basement flooring, make sure your slab is level first.

As your home ages, your concrete basement floors will have a natural tendency to cure and settle/shift a tad simply due to the nature of the materials. These slight changes will likely cause your concrete to either crack or roll slightly leaving you with an unsightly surface to deal with. Lucky for you, it’s a fairly easy process to level the concrete surface making your flooring project much easier to manage as well as add longevity to the life of the new flooring material. Just follow these 6 simple steps.

Step 1 – Get Materials To Level Your Basement Floor

Unfortunately, this job really isn’t one where you are going to be running out in the middle of it to pick up something you forgot on your list. It’s best to make sure you have everything up front prior to starting this task. Here’s what you are going to need:

• Self-leveling compound
• 5 Gallon Bucket
• Stirring rod (even better if you’ve got a cordless drill and rod to mix with)
• Concrete trowel
• Concrete caulk
• Caulking gun
• Expansion tape
• Broom and dustpan

Now, I can already hear the questions formulating about “how much self leveling compound am I going to need” or “how much concrete caulk do I buy”. And my straight forward answer to you is this, I don’t know. It’s all going to depend on how many cracks you are going to need to fill and how big your basement concrete floor is that you are going to cover. If you take your measurements to one of your local home improvement stores, they will be able to give you a better estimation based on the compound you purchase to cover the square footage of your basement. As far as the concrete caulk goes, you are going to need enough to fill the cracks in your concrete whatever that amount may be.

Step 2 – Clean Out Your Basement

If you’ve accumulated anything down in your basement, now’s the time to get it out. Old storage boxes that have been thrown in the corners, discarded furniture that used to hold a treasured place in your living room, maybe even a toy or two that’s been dropped down the basement stairs. Bottom line is if it’s on the basement floor, it needs to get out of the basement now. Find a new home for all these objects for the time being so that you can get started. Once everything’s been removed, use that broom and dustpan from the list and get it all swept up so that you are looking at a clean, dust and dirt free floor.

Step 3 – Repair The Concrete Cracks

Now that you can see your concrete floor again, it’s time to repair and chips or cracks that you may have in the concrete. Load up your caulking gun with the concrete caulk and then simply follow the manufacturers instructions. The only thing you need to pay particular mind to other than that is to get rid of the excess caulk that will extrude from the filled surfaces. Use your trowel and scrape it down like you would mudding tile. Before moving to the next step though, make sure that there has been proper time allotted for the caulk to dry.

Step 4 – Build Your Expansion Tape Perimeter

If you are going to use a lot of leveling compound and expect it to touch some walls or possibly even go wall-to-wall, you are going to want to build out a perimeter around your floor. Basically, all you do is take the expansion tape and cover up the 90 degree angle where your concrete floor meets the wall. Half of the tape should be on the concrete while the other half should be on the wall. This provides for a means of keeping your compound in a contained area as well as give the compound an ability to start self-leveling instead of running everywhere.

Step 5 – Level The Basement Floor

Now comes the part of the project where you are likely to get a little dirty. Take that 5 gallon bucket and start mixing out the self leveling compound as per the directions. This is where that variable speed cordless drill with mixing attachment will come in handy and save your back and arms a bit. If you’ve got one, I definitely suggest using it or you’ll simply need to use that manual labor to get the job done. Just be careful and don’t splash it everywhere so mix slow and steady. Once the compound is mixed to the right consistency, simply pour it in straight even lines along the surface of your concrete floor. You’ll likely be mixing and pouring for a little while. Once you’ve got the floor covered correctly, you’re ready to move on to the next step.

Step 6 – Finishing The Newly Poured Leveling Compound

Here’s where you get to work the self-leveling part of the compound. Take your concrete trowel and start spreading the mixture around a bit. As you do this, be sure to work out any little inconsistencies that may be part of the mixture. The reason we are spreading it around a bit now is to help the compound a little in gaining that level surface. By spreading it around, the level compound will work itself back into a nice flat surface with a little help by gravity pulling it back into the uneven spots.

Special Note:

Here’s one thing to keep in mind when you do this. Most all self-leveling compounds take a long time to dry and cure properly when you are leveling the basement floor. Make sure you have planned for this and by all means, keep the kids, dogs and cats away while it’s curing or else you will likely end up with little footprints that you really didn’t want in the first place.

When you’ve successfully leveled an uneven basement floor, you’ll see that it really is a fairly simple task to accomplish. Problem is, just because it’s simple doesn’t mean that it won’t take quite a bit of time to do from cleaning out the space to being patient and letting it dry. If you’ve done this particular job before, please feel free to chime in below and tell us how it went for you, send us a pic and show us what you did, or give your tip(s) for what you found to be the easiest way to level a basement floor.

Installing basement carpet, or any other type of sub-grade installation, you need to make sure that you have a dry basement. These rooms are typically problem areas for a lot of homes as they are by their sheer nature a moisture magnet due to being underground. If you don’t, there are some precautions that you need to take in waterproofing the room. Unless it’s completely dry, year round, a carpet is going to cause you problems and you’ll end up replacing it more often than not and more than you’d want to. However, if your basement is dry and you’ve done all the precautionary measures to protect your investment, then you should be able to install some good carpeting downstairs.

Is carpeting good for basement floors?
Well, there’s definitely a few things that you’d need to check out first. First it’ll depend a lot on what exactly you are planning to do in your lower-level, like whether you are having it as a family room, workout room or laundry room. That’ll determine whether or not you should use carpeting or some other form of flooring. If it’s going to be a laundry room you’re not going to want to put carpet in it, maybe something more along the lines of some ceramic tile. The second is whether or not you have a dry basement. If you don’t have any water problems and never had any to start with and you can without a doubt say it’s dry, then you should have no problem using carpeting. I would suggest installing a good subfloor first just in case you do ever come about some water issues from leakage or seeping if you have the headroom and to also protect the carpet from getting wet and producing mold or mildew.

What is the best carpet then?
There’s nothing particularly required for installing or selecting a carpet for your basement, but there are a few things that you need to keep in mind to get the best basement carpeting for your needs. You’d really go about it any way that you would choose carpeting for any other room as to whether you’d want a loop or twist style carpet. If it’s going to be a high-traffic area or a place where you’re pets are going to roam free, you might consider an inexpensive version or brand that you won’t mind replacing after it’s had a few years of use like you would any other of this type. But if you’ve addressed all those other issues and want one that’s going to last for a while you’re going to have to spend some more money. The only real item of importance on my list when selecting a carpet for the basement is that it don’t have a jute backing. This is a pretty normal backing for most less expensive carpets these days as it stands up well above ground level. But due to it’s strong resemblance to an old potato bag, you can bet that it’s not going to stand up to any type of moisture pressures that could be put into it below grade as you can tell from it’s picture just to the right. It’s quite porous and the water will seep through to the carpet fibers. I do like the carpets that come with the new Dow polyurethane backing. This will offer your carpets a strong tuft bind, moisture resistance, delamination and anti-edge raveling. Not only will they retain their characteristics but they also have a natural adhesion to nylon fibers. This makes them able to to stand strong in those high-traffic areas for years to come.

Additional Precautionary Carpet Measures
So let’s just say that you are able to qualify your lower-level as being “dry”, there are a few other things that you should consider to help you along the process of keeping it that way. The first thing to do is try and create a very dry environment to keep the mold and mildew down. These little buggers simply thrive in a moist environment like a basement and will ultimately end up making your freshly installed carpet smell to high-heaven. By installing a quality rated dehumidifier you can get one step closer to solving that issue. Just make sure it’s one that’s rated for basements as the air is typically much cooler down there and harder to remove the moisture from. The second step is if you have the headroom, put in a ceiling fan. This will keep the air moving and not allow it to get stagnant, not to mention keep the room a lot more comfortable in the process. The third thing is if you are going to use a carpet padding, make sure it has an anti-microbial built into it. This will help in that it won’t be a conducive surface that will support mold and mildew growth. If you’re going to put carpet downstairs, you might as well take the precautions to protect it fully.

Alternatives
Although it’s not an impossible task to carpet a basement especially if your dead set on the look and feel of it all, it’s probably the right choice for you. Even if you have the driest basement on the block, you still have some alternatives to basement carpet that you should keep in mind as they could save you some money in the long haul. One of the newer trends is actually staining and finishing your concrete basement slab. Although beautiful with some of the more decorative surface patterns being etched in, I’m still not a very big fan of implementing this in a basement as you’ll end up with same cold surface for your feet as you had before. Sure you could throw some rugs down to cover the more trafficked areas but I guess it depends on what you have planned for the room, hey, to each there own. Another alternative instead of a fully laid carpet is to use the newer basement carpet tiles over a properly installed underlayment. These aren’t just your regular carpet squares here. They are thick pieces of rubber backed carpeting that come in a multitude of decorative designs and patterns. You can really design your whole flooring with these and in the end still look like you have a one-piece carpet installed. There are many other alternatives to carpeting that you can choose from and instead of going into all of them here, I’ve just listed a few. If you want more feel free to click around the site for other options for your floor.