Best Flooring For Basements In 2023

A finished basement creates more living space in your home and can increase your property’s value. However, the basement’s conditions and usage makes it different from the other rooms in your home, so deciding on the best flooring for a basement can be challenging.

In addition to considering aesthetics, comfort, and price, determining how it deals with moisture is essential.

Average Total Cost of Typical Basement Flooring

The average price of flooring for a complete basement is approximately between $1,500 and $4,500. The typical cost of 500 square feet of flooring is around $3,000.

You can expect to pay up to $22 per square foot for hardwood flooring and between $3 and $11 per square foot for carpet and laminate.

Average Total Cost of Typical Basement Flooring	Approximate Cost
Flooring for Complete Basement	$15,000 – $4,500
500-Square Foot Flooring	$3,000
Hardwood Flooring per Square Foot	$22
Carpet per Square Foot (Including Installation)	$3 – $11
Laminate per Square Foot (Including Installation)	$3 – $11

You can use our Flooring Cost Calculator to estimate the cost of installing new floors in your basement.

Basement Flooring Cost Breakdown

Here are some approximate costs for different basement flooring types.

• The average cost for a Nylon blend carpet is approximately $1 to $3 per square foot, including labor. And for Nylon pile 20-inch carpet tiles, the price is around $2 to $4 per square foot.
• The average cost of vinyl flooring per square foot is $1 to $5. Meanwhile, the average cost for professional installation per square foot is $1 to $2.
• The average cost per 12×12 ceramic tile is 80 cents, and professional installation costs approximately $5 to $10 per square foot.
• The average cost for laminate flooring per square foot is $3 to $5. There will be an additional $4 to $5 per square foot for professional installation.
• The average cost for engineered wood planks is approximately $1 to $20 per square foot. And to have it installed professionally will cost approximately $4 to $5 per square foot.
• The average cost to coat an area of 80-100 square feet requires one gallon of paint or stain, which will cost approximately $30.

Did you know? Insulating your basement’s exterior walls can help prevent condensation? This also helps to save energy and reduce heating bills.

10 Best Basement Flooring Materials

For your consideration, here are 10 basement flooring options with their pros and cons.

Flooring Type	Approximate Cost
Nylon Blend Carpet per Square Feet (Including Installation)	$1 – $3
Nylon Pile 20-inch Carpet Tiles per Square Feet(Including Installation)	$2 – $4
Vinyl per Square Feet	$1 – $5
Vinyl Installation per Square Feet	$1 – $2
Cost per 12 x 12 Ceramic Tiles	$0.80
Ceramic Tiles Installation per Square Feet	$5 – $10
Laminate per Square Feet	$3 – $5
Laminate Installation per Square Feet	$4 – $5
Engineered Wood Planks per Square Feet	$1 – $20
Engineered Wood Planks Installation per Square Feet	$4 – $5
Concrete Coating 80 -100 Square Feet Requires One Gallon of Paint or Stain	$30

Concrete Flooring

Concrete flooring is one of the cheapest options since it’s usually already installed. You can add an additional concrete layer or treat the existing slab. The existing concrete may require surface work like sealing, coating, painting, or staining the slab to achieve the look you want.

Pros

• It’s durable and resilient
• Easy to maintain
• Long-lasting

Cons

• It’s prone to cracking and shattering
• It does not retain heat

Carpet Flooring

Carpet flooring is considered one of the best options, especially if you intend to transform your basement into a comfortable space.

Pros

• It’s soft and comfortable
• It’s affordable
• It provides a moisture escape route

Cons

• It’s harder to keep clean

Luxury Vinyl Plank or Tile

High-end vinyl flooring, such as COREtec, offers more resilience than the conventional type. It’s also low maintenance and moisture resistance.

You can achieve a stylish look with high-end vinyl designed to mimic wood or natural stone, and it’s available in various colors.

Pros

• It withstands moisture well
• It’s easy to keep clean
• It can be twice as thick as conventional tile

Cons

• It scratches easily
• It requires a clean surface for adhesion

Engineered Wood Flooring

Engineered wood flooring offers natural wood beauty, warmth, stability, and moisture resistance.

Pros

• It’s easy to keep clean
• It’s aesthetically pleasing
• It’s durable

Cons

• It’s expensive compared to other options
• It may warp if exposed to water spills for long periods

Ceramic or Porcelain Tiles

Ceramic tiling is excellent for the basement as it’s robust, moisture-resistant, and withstands floods better than any other rugged flooring type.

Pros

• The tiles can be cut into different shapes
• It’s easy to maintain
• It’s incredibly durable and tough

Cons

• It’s difficult to remove and replace
• Installation is a consuming DIY project

Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring is an inexpensive option that looks great. A layer of subfloor panels can help eliminate its lack of moisture resistance.

Pros

• It snaps together easily
• Its underlayment makes the floor more comfortable
• It’s available in natural-look materials and styles

Cons

• Stagnant or excessive water can cause it to swell
• It can’t be refinished or sanded

Pro Tip: If you’re considering installing laminate flooring, you should know that heavy furniture like a pool table or a loaded bookshelf can pin down the laminate. This can cause it to either push up as it expands or separate as it contracts.

Plank Tile Flooring

Plank floor tiling is durable and highly suitable for high-traffic areas. Plank-sized porcelain tile flooring is moisture-resistant and, surprisingly, resembles natural wood.

Pros

• It’s attractive
• It has smaller grout lines
• It is slowly gaining a higher resale value

Cons

• It’s difficult to remove
• It’s more expensive than conventional-sized tiles

Rubber Flooring

Rubber flooring is ideal for transforming your basement into a gym, dance studio, or play space.

Pros

• It offers a soft walking surface
• It offers maximum insulation
• It withstands moisture

Cons

• Not aesthetically pleasing for a living space
• Not entirely waterproof

Cork Flooring

As the name indicates, cork flooring originates from cork trees. It is comfortable and warm, but also susceptible to water damage. If you decide to use cork flooring, you need to fit a subfloor system first.

Pros

• It’s great for sound absorption
• It offers good insulation against a cold basement floor
• It feels nice to walk on

Cons

• It deteriorates easy
• Rolled cork can be difficult to install

Sheet Vinyl Flooring

Sheet vinyl flooring is a type of vinyl flooring that creates an almost seamless, water-resistant surface on your basement floor. By contrast, tile vinyl has multiple seams that may invite moisture infiltration if water is left stagnant.

Pros

• It’s inexpensive
• It’s warmer to touch than concrete or ceramic tile
• It keeps water at bay

Cons

• It’s generally considered a cheap fix
• It can be difficult to remove

Things to Think About When Picking Basement Flooring

When choosing your basement flooring, there are several factors to consider for your satisfaction and, most importantly, to avoid an expensive mistake.

Consider Moisture and Flooding

Remember that the basement is different from the rest of your home spaces. It is very humid and extremely prone to flooding and leaking.

If a flooding or leaking event occurs, you won’t want a flooring material installed that you’ll need to rip up and throw away.

Be sure to consider how the type of flooring you choose will be able to handle a common basement occurrence, such as a burst pipe or a sump pump overflow.

Avoid Wood Flooring

Wood is easily ruined by moisture. It will absorb the moisture in the air and swell as a result. Even if hardwood flooring is exposed to high humidity just for a short period, it will start to cup.

This means the plank edges will become higher than the center due to humidity build-up in the room.

Consider Installing a Subfloor

If you’ll be using your basement as a comfortable, livable space with synthetic flooring, consider installing a subfloor. The subfloor creates some cushioning between your feet and the hard concrete.

It also adds a layer of warmth by creating a thermal break between the concrete and the subflooring itself. The air pockets that sit between all the perforations assist in reducing the coldness of the concrete floor. It also creates a barrier by allowing moisture to distribute beneath the subfloor.

Don’t Install Multi-Layer Flooring

Avoid installing multi-layer flooring in your basement. This type has several problems in basements, including it being difficult to dry. The humid basement air can cause multi-layer flooring to warp, twist, rot, as well as grow mildew and mold.

An Uneven Surface

Basements tend to be rough in terms of construction, and the floor may need leveling, or cracks filled in before the flooring is installed. When working to a budget, consider the prep work required before installation and how much it will cost.

Pro Tip: Several solutions are available to enhance or bring natural light into a basement, including solar tubes, glass doors, or glass partitions.

What Type of Floor Is Best For Basement?

The best flooring for a basement is vinyl – vinyl planks, to be precise. Because it’s made of PVC material, it’s waterproof. Vinyl flooring is available as vinyl tile and vinyl plank, and both styles offer the look of hardwood and stone flooring with the advantage of being waterproof.

Another advantage of using vinyl flooring in the basement is its strength. It’s made from inorganic materials that make it withstand high-traffic areas.

What Is the Best Flooring Over Concrete?

Several flooring options are available, and some types are more suitable than others. Here are some of the best flooring options for a basement.

Luxury Vinyl Tile Flooring

This synthetic flooring material is made from UV-cured urethane. It’s ideal for a livable basement space as it comes in finishes that look like marble, stone, real hardwood, and other natural materials. With the proper maintenance, this type can last up to 50 years.

Other qualities include affordability, pet and kid-friendliness, and moisture resistance, which make it ideal for basements.

Carpet

Although carpet isn’t known for being moisture-resistant, it can be used as comfortable basement flooring when the area is sealed and waterproofed.

In addition, you’ll likely need to install a solid subfloor system over the concrete to make it work. Carpet squares are a great alternative to wall-to-wall carpeting, and they can be removed easily if there is water damage.

Carpet is one of the warmest basement flooring options, improves sound quality for home theaters, and is an ideal play surface for children.

Engineered Hardwood Flooring

Engineered hardwood is also one of the best basement flooring options since it is a strong and durable material that is less susceptible to warping.

It looks like genuine wood, too, so great for an attractive living space.

Engineered hardwood flooring constructed with a cross-hatched plywood base that maintains its shape if exposed to limited amounts of moisture.

Laminate Flooring

Laminating flooring in basements is popular for several reasons, including a pattern layer that mimics the look of several flooring surfaces, including the traditional wood floor.

Conventional laminate flooring in the basement can work with the inclusion of a proper raised subfloor system. Subflooring and the laminate’s foam underlayment protect against vapor rising from the concrete.

Pro Tip: An egress window is a great way to create natural ventilation through your basement. And they are big enough to be used as an emergency exit.

Which Is Better For Basement Flooring, Vinyl or Laminate?

Vinyl and laminate flooring are popular choices that look like natural hardwood or stone. They can be mistaken for the real deal; at times, it can even be challenging to differentiate between them.

Although both are affordable options, vinyl plank flooring is better than laminate for basement flooring.

Vinyl plank or luxury vinyl is made from plastic and therefore is impenetrable by water – it is waterproof in addition to water resistant. On the other hand, laminate flooring will swell if pools of water remain on top of it.

Vinyl plank is easy to install with no special tools or subfloor requirements. It snaps together like a puzzle and is removed easily. In comparison, it’s best to install laminate flooring on top of a raised subfloor, especially if moisture is a problem.

These days, luxury vinyl plank flooring looks more like hardwood than it previously did. When installed, it can be difficult to tell whether it’s hardwood or not.

Laminate flooring, meanwhile, looks like a poor imitation in comparison and is considered not as attractive.

What Is The Best Flooring For A Basement?

Verdict: Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring

The basement is a below-grade room subject to humidity, moisture, and water-related damages. There are many factors to consider when deciding on the best flooring for a basement.

However, Luxury vinyl plank tends to tick most of the boxes. It’s considered ideal for basement flooring due to its durability and waterproof qualities.

It’s affordable, easy to install, and has an authentic look that gives many other basement flooring options a run for their money.