Here's the background: We currently have an unfinished concrete basement floor. We are slowly turning it into usable living/entertainment space... morphing it into a rec room/family room/office. Our house is in an area where there exists a very real possibility of flooding in the event of an extended power outage if we're not home to fire up the backup generator. (No city water backup can keep up with the water flow) We want to first coat the basement floor so that in the event one of my wife's cats decides not to use the litterbox, it doesn't get absorbed into the concrete.

I know there are several different options ranging from concrete paint to epoxy and everything in between. From an owner's perspective, what material works well, holds up well, but isn't the most expensive material out there? I don't need anything commercial grade, but I don't want to have to re-paint it every couple of years either.

Do-it-yourself is preferred as we're on a pretty tight budget right now, but if anyone knows of a material that's not too expensive to have it professionally done, I'm all for it.

Also, it's not going to be possible to do it in a one-shot deal... We're going to have to move everything to one area, do 3/4 of the basement, then move everything out of the way to do the rest. Pulling everything out of the basement just isn't gonna happen...

Thanks, gang! I'm all ears!!

-Joe

loose lay vinyl is great for area's like that......

Not sure about sealing the concrete, a simple concrete epoxy should work since you are going to cover it up with flooring right?

loose lay vinyl will allow you to pull it up and clean underneath it, dry it out, clean it, then put it back down. Loose lay would require some floor prep (fill in expansion joints) but not much.....but the vinyl itself does not get glued down so it can be removed easily.

We have this at our lake house in the kitchen and bathroom......... the stuff is awesome, so easy to install, it is alot like a big place mat we used to use at the dinner table as kids

Luckily we don't have any expansion joints to worry about... It's one of the few things our builder did right. It's one big slab with one pole in the middle... The main area we want to cover is roughly 25 x 30, and the 'office' will be 12 x 15... I'm not planning on ever needing to remove it, but it would be nice to be able to should the need ever arise... That's part of the reason I don't want to tile down there... if it ever got water underneath the tile, I'd never get it out... Same for adhesive tiles or regular vinyl flooring... Carpet might not be a bad option, but we're figuring on just using area rugs down there for ease of cleaning...

Where can you find that stuff? Is that something the Big Box stores would have?

big box stores can get it but they are a RIP OFF

try your phone book or service magic.com

My wife owns a flooring company
Her brother works for Home Depot

Home Depot, Lowes, Carpet Exchange, whatever are a rip off

Find a local ma and pa store

The only reason I said vinyl is because you said it may flood down there

Flood = carpet must be pulled up, padding removed and replace, carpet re-installed and then cleaned.

Carpet is not a bad option, loose lay vinyl is cool for an office/basement
I didnt say laminate either because if it gets wet its ruined

Servicemagic.com is a free service that works very well for getting flooring /vinly companies to CALL YOU

On the carpet note, we were thinking of getting a few pieces for the 'family room' area... Once the floor has something on it, we can throw down a nice piece of carpet with the edges whipped... 12 x 15 is less than $200 with a piece of pad to go under it. Should it ever get wet, we can suck it dry enough to haul it out and thoroughly dry it outside.

I only mentioned the big-box stores as a place to take a look and see what's out there... I seldom buy stuff like that from there. It's much less costly at the mom-and-pop places, but the mom-n-pop places don't always have odd stuff on hand, let-alone in-stock.

Wish you guys were closer so I could order something from your wife. Shipping at todays fuel prices would KILL me though!!

You need to find your local flooring warehouse guy, the guy who supplies all the local shops and is loading out the installers every morning.

This guy will stock alot of materials directly frmo the mills or manufacturer, and usually they take walk in off the street clients
this cuts out the middle man, allows you to see loose lay vinyls for yourself with no push sales people, etc
I am not sure if Home depot and the like carry loose lay in their showroom but it doesnt hurt to call and find out!

just remember loose lay is vinyl that does not get glued down. Its nie and thick so it hides alot of imprefections in the floor below, its a fiarly new product