Huffy Flounce

Let me begin with a preemptive strike: I don't think so, Tim.

I got really annoyed at the state of our basement recently. There is one section of it that basically serves as a normal room: it's carpeted and we've put a bed in it. It's also closed off from the rest of the basement, which houses the laundry appliances, the water heater, the furnace, and some storage space. That area is entirely utilitarian and doesn't really need to be nice to look at. The floor, though, has been bothering me ever since we moved in. It's a concrete floor that has all these holes in it and was painted gray at some point, but the paint is peeling in a lot of places (and we're not even sure when it was painted, so lead paint may have been used). We put down a couple rubber mats to make a path to the washer and drier so we don't have to step directly on the floor, but whenever we have to step on areas outside of the rubber mats, crap gets tracked onto them.

So I just got fed up with it recently and decided to look for a relatively economical solution to covering up the concrete floor. Turns out the Home Depot is selling a type of durable self-adhesive vinyl tile that's perfect for the job. It's even groutable!
http://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficMASTE ... /206394138

I figured it would be cool to get a picture before and after tiling, but the thought only occurred to me after I had already patched some holes in the concrete and laid down a few tiles. This is what it looks like now:


What you see there is probably less than half of the space in the unfinished part of the basement, but it's the only part that I'm really interested in tiling because it's the one we use most.

It's the first somewhat major project I've undertaken since we bought the house, so I'm pretty excited. I'm particularly excited that the job can be done in small chunks - it's easy to fit in 10 to 20 minutes of tiling if that's all the time I have because there is no prep time involved and I just have to wash my hands afterwards. Looking decent so far. We'll see how it turns out.

Nice work! I have a huge job in my basement as it's Victorian house from the late 1800s so it leaks by design. Fitting a berm and a sump pump in the next few weeks to deal with that, then I can start planning.

Cool beans. Do they recommend sealing the areas on the floor that were patched before applying the tiles?

Sealing? Will that help prevent shrinkage etc as it dries?

Well, I'm thinking more adhesion. Though I would guess concrete floor patching compounds would be self-sealing, as they are meant to be covered over with either tiles, paint, carpet etc.

I'm just kinda spitballin' here.

Sealing of patched surfaces wasn't mentioned in the instructions, but I'm not that worried about adhesion anyway. So far, the tiles seem to be sticking pretty well, and once I add the grout in the gaps between tiles, that should also help them adhere - at least along the edges.

Well then git 'er done, boy.

I admire your efforts and support your decision.

My own basement is a Stygian abyss, filled with vile things and the products of broken dreams.

I have no basement. Luckily previous owners of our townhouse suspended shelves above our garage door, or there would be no place for our junky stuff that's not really junk.

My basement has a shooting range in it. True story.

We don't have a basement of our own yet (since we are still renting) - but I very much look forward to having one. A finished or semi-finished basement will definitely be a must-have feature when we are in the position to house-hunt, so that Goiter can have his room-without-windows and so that we can have a gaming space. I won an award at work last year and my prize was a very nice Goose Island branded dart board set which just decorates my room sad and unused.

I dug a hole in my basement yesterday. Sump stuff. Made me feel like a real man.