First up is simply the flooring form. Form, if you recall from the first part of the series is nothing more than the actual shape of the flooring material. These days, flooring comes in an absolute wide range of materials. From carpeting to laminate, tile to stone, they all have very distinct shapes ranging from squares to planks to sheets to rectangles. Just think for a moment if you can about tile flooring. You can have large squares or small squares. You could even have a mixture of both. Think of laminate flooring for a sec and see what you come up with. Bet you didn’t know that you could have either rectangular planks ranging in widths from three to eight inch planks or wider or you could actually have laminate squares that are actually square. Still another form to think about would be carpeting for your basement. Carpeting is a continuous roll with no breaks. You get the drift, flooring comes in many different forms. Next let’s move on to pattern.

Patterns are exactly what you might think, it’s a pattern. But with patterns you can think out of the box, they don’t have to be symetrical and don’t have to follow grids. So many people get caught up in a symmetrical design these days just because they simply don’t take the time or have the vision to see something like the floors in your basement in a “big picture” style. If you could, the best thing that you could do is just step back for a bit and not rush into something and make a rash decision. Look at something for a visible appeal. They could be floral prints if you want or a rigid stone look laid out in a different color pattern. They could even be geometric figures and shapes laid out in a fashion that would look good imprinted on the basement flooring of your choice. Bottom line is there are all kinds of patterns for you to work with already pre-printed on different flooring of your choice.

Patterns and form in your flooring can completely transform your basement into the room of your dreams and give it a mood and style all it’s own. If you are looking for an informal room you could start with a flooring pattern small in design and it would inevitably soften the rooms glow. Looking for something more formal for your basement? Think about using laminate flooring or an engineered wood flooring. Because of there linear rectangular designs mixed with other features of the basement could lend to adding a degree of formality to your basement. Looking for something more in an elegant appeal, I’d suggest wider planks.

Here are a few things to keep in mind for using scale and pattern in your basement flooring design. If you have a small basement already, stay away from the larger patterns. Larger patterns will make the room look smaller. Smaller basements will benefit more from smaller patterns. The inverse is absolutely true for large basements. Larger rooms will benefit more from larger patterns. Why? Simple, large patterns can dominate small basements and small patterns will disolve away and get lost in large basements.

Just remember, the best thing that you can do for yourself when choosing an appropriate flooring for your basement and getting the overall design that you want is to take your time. Step back away from it a bit, look around at the styles and patterns that you like. Find a way to fit them in and fit them in nicely. Most every decision that’s been made that turns out to be a bad one you can bet happened irrationally and quick. Make your basement a place that you want to be and not something that you dread anybody ever laying eyes on. Above all, remember it’s yours and nobody else’s and if you like it, who cares what the neighbors think.

This is really part 2 of a 3 part series for basement flooring design:

1. Basement flooring design with color
2. Basement flooring color choices
   
3. Basement flooring forms and patterns

To get a good example to look at for your basement flooring project that complement each other very well, you’ll need to start thinking of saturation. Saturated colors tend to complement one another. Imagine a dark walnut laminate basement floor with a blue counter-toped tile bar setting in your basement. Or what about some peach colored walls with a very light pastel carpet for a perfect living arrangement. You could even take on a contrasting perspective if done moderately in small basements. Why? contrasts tend to make things look smaller than they really are so go sparingly in smaller basements. A good feel for this might be a basement that is done in a checkerboard type fashion with black and white ceramic tile flooring. Personally I think this would look awesome as someone’s nascar themed basement or a playroom for the kids.

There are a few guidelines so to speak when choosing a basement floor color. I know, design is personal, so these are just guidelines. First, practice the art of restraint. To much color can have differentiating results. Too much of the same and it’s bland. Too much pop and its uncomfortable. If you don’t want a single color to dominate your basement in your flooring, think about selecting grid patterns. Carpeting for basement floors can come with either grid or speckled looks. Darker laminates can be used in different colored parquet patterns for particularly beautiful basement floors.

Here’s some helpful tips when selecting the colors for your basement floor:

1. Names are cool, but select the color not the name. Home Depot orange or Barney purple sounds good, but will they look good with what you are planning.
2. Trust the gut! You know what you like.
3. Narrow the selection down and then take the samples home to check out each basement flooring color in your own home to see what might work.
4. Check the colors at different times of the day. This is especially true if your basement does have outside light shining in. Even if you don’t, different light sources will give different results on your basement floor.
5. If you are doing a “make-over” session and already have a finished basement, cover up everything you can so as to not interfere with your decisions. The eye catches a lot and will be lying to you in those situations.
6. Most of all, take your time. This is not a have to make it now decision, but a decision that you will be spending that hard earned cash on that will be around for a while.

Thanks again for stopping by Basement Flooring Guide and hope these little color tips helps you in selecting the perfect color for your next basement flooring project.

This is really part 2 of a 3 part series for basement flooring design:

1. Basement flooring design with color
2. Basement flooring color choices
3. Basement flooring forms and patterns

Why is color the most important? Simple. It’s typically the first thing that anybody notices when you walk in a room. This includes the basement and the color of the flooring that you choose. Not only that, the color of flooring could instantly affect your mood and how you feel about being in a basement. To effectively use color in your basement flooring design you must understand the design elements of color: the shade or tint, the hue’s and the value.

The first thing to understand about flooring color is the “hue” that you are looking for. Hues are nothing more than the pure colors so to speak. Red, blue and yellow would be hues, in fact they are what is called primary hues. People tend to get hues and shades or tints mixed up all the time. Shades and tints altogether though are not so different than hues as a shade or tints primary makeup is a hue. Here’s the simple facts of it all. A shade is nothing more than a darker form of the original hue and a tint is just a lighter form of an original hue. Shades and tints are made by adding either black or white pigment to the primary hue respectively. Pink is a tint of red and navy is a shade of blue. Make sense?

Where people tend to get lost the most on basement flooring color is the color value in the design element. The value of a color is nothing more than how bright the color may be. Bob Dylan, I think that’s who it was, said it best as “shades of gray”. This is in essence the color value. In other words, if you took a color and put it in a black and white picture, how would it show up. Typically, darker colors generally have lower color values while lighter colors tend to have higher color values. Darker color valued flooring will tend to make a basement feel smaller. Lighter color values in flooring will open the place up more and make it stand out.

Hopefully this will give you a better understanding on basement floors and what you can do with colors. So, what’s your idea for the best basement color flooring? Drop us a comment here at Basement Flooring Guide and let us know.

Basically, laminate basement flooring is made of several layers of plastic-type resins. It’s then compressed under high pressure to a hard fiber or particleboard core. Then a type of melamine backing is applied and on the surface a printed pattern is placed. Laminates can be made to look like basically any type of surface, but wood, marble and flagstone appearance seem to be the most common. But you do have a choice. It’s typically put together in a tongue and groove fashion just like most natural wood flooring, however, unlike natural wood flooring, laminates are generally not attached to the subfloor. Most laminates carry at least a 10 year warranty against fading or staining. You just need to keep in mind that if it does get wet and absorb moisture, it will damage it. You can put precautions in place and you will probably hear a lot of difference of opinion on the subject of wet basements and if you should use laminate as a basement flooring. If you’re not on the concrete though and using a subfloor like ones recommended on this site that sit off the concrete, I’d say if it’s what you want then why not. Just be sure to read the manufacturer’s suggestions to ensure that they don’t advise against having their’s as laminate basement flooring, as some do advise against it. Test out your basement floor first for moisture though cause when laminates go bad, they are hard to fix.

A key point to make about laminate basement flooring is that the basement floor needs to be flat. It has to be level. Uneven basement surfaces are not wise to install laminate flooring over. A general rule of thumb for laminates is that within a 10 foot radius there shouldn’t be more than a 3/16 of an inch difference between the high and low spot. If there is you would need to start levelling basement floors. And you’d definitely want to fill in all the bumps and bruises along the way. Still no worries though, there are plenty of float leveling products made to level floors and they will work just as well for basement flooring.

Engineered wood floors are built having multiple thin ply layers (usually three to seven layers cross-stacked) that are glued together. They are then laminated under extreme high pressure and heat to create a very water resilient flooring material. The inner cores are generally either a hardwood and/or soft plywood type of material. This inner core is what makes up the tongue and groove system. Plus engineered basement flooring is available in almost every type of hardwood rendition. Because engineered flooring is virtually impervious to humidity, it’s a perfect match for basement flooring application.

Engineered basement flooring can be either floated or glued down, but check with the manufacturer as to which application is suitable for their type of engineered flooring. Engineered flooring can be installed at basically any grade level and if your using it for basement flooring you can do it either with or without the subfloor, meaning you can go direct to concrete. However it is not advisible if you live in a humid environment or have a damp basement. A subfloor installation is always better in our opinion in this case before installing engineered basement flooring.

So, what are the other differences between engineered and hardwood floors when you go to look for basement flooring? Nothing really other than one is solid and the other is manufactured of strips. Other than that, they really run about the same price and visually you really can’t tell a difference. The only real difference between these basement flooring options is durability and cleaning.

One of the big advantages of having engineered basement flooring is being able to utilize the exact same flooring throughout all levels in your home. From your kitchen flooring to your washroom flooring to your basement. Also they are very easy to maintain. You can sweep them or vacuum them. Mopping is discouraged for this type of basement flooring, however one little trick that we use is Windex and a Swiffer. A couple of little squirts and then use the swiffer like a mop over the sprayed surface works wonders in our home.

Overall, engineered basement flooring is an excellent choice for those moderately humid or more tropical type climates but works just as well in sub-tropical climates. Thanks for dropping by Basement Flooring Guide and as always, if you have any questions or would like to know more on a specific basement flooring alternative, feel free to drop us a line.