Not wedding related carpet help..

lovemesomemonster

And mean the downstairs of my HOUSE for you people in the gutter  

We bought a house in foreclosure and the top and main floor had new carpet, the basement had been painted and I'm pretty sure they didn't even cover the carpet so I don't want to set anything up down there until we replace it. It is a walk out basement but not high traffic since it's currently a large temp controlled storage room. There is one bedroom, two open living spaces, and two unfinished rooms at the moment, one living space will turn into a movie room. This house is most likely not the "forever" home so we are thinking investment.. does anyone have suggestions on carpet that will hold up, is pretty neutral, but won't cost a small fortune? We have been looking at Great Floors and never done carpet from them, only vinyl for the bathrooms

Additional Question: If you were looking to buy a house with a super open walk out basement would you want it to all be carpet or would you like something else? I have been playing with the idea of a cork lined vinyl that looks like wood (for noise reasons) for the hallway and one living space, and carpet in the further living space for movie room and the bedroom.. I want to know what the masses think? 

novella1186

lovemesomemonster said:

And mean the downstairs of my HOUSE for you people in the gutter  

We bought a house in foreclosure and the top and main floor had new carpet, the basement had been painted and I'm pretty sure they didn't even cover the carpet so I don't want to set anything up down there until we replace it. It is a walk out basement but not high traffic since it's currently a large temp controlled storage room. There is one bedroom, two open living spaces, and two unfinished rooms at the moment, one living space will turn into a movie room. This house is most likely not the "forever" home so we are thinking investment.. does anyone have suggestions on carpet that will hold up, is pretty neutral, but won't cost a small fortune? We have been looking at Great Floors and never done carpet from them, only vinyl for the bathrooms

Additional Question: If you were looking to buy a house with a super open walk out basement would you want it to all be carpet or would you like something else? I have been playing with the idea of a cork lined vinyl that looks like wood (for noise reasons) for the hallway and one living space, and carpet in the further living space for movie room and the bedroom.. I want to know what the masses think? 

I wouldn't want carpet around an exterior door just for mud issues. I have two dogs, so that would get wrecked fast. I like your plan of doing a hard surface around the door and carpet in the other rooms. 

Also, you can get commercial-grade carpet that's affordable and will hold up really well (my parents have that on their stairs for the high-traffic issue). 

lovemesomemonster

novella1186 said:

lovemesomemonster said:

And mean the downstairs of my HOUSE for you people in the gutter  

We bought a house in foreclosure and the top and main floor had new carpet, the basement had been painted and I'm pretty sure they didn't even cover the carpet so I don't want to set anything up down there until we replace it. It is a walk out basement but not high traffic since it's currently a large temp controlled storage room. There is one bedroom, two open living spaces, and two unfinished rooms at the moment, one living space will turn into a movie room. This house is most likely not the "forever" home so we are thinking investment.. does anyone have suggestions on carpet that will hold up, is pretty neutral, but won't cost a small fortune? We have been looking at Great Floors and never done carpet from them, only vinyl for the bathrooms

Additional Question: If you were looking to buy a house with a super open walk out basement would you want it to all be carpet or would you like something else? I have been playing with the idea of a cork lined vinyl that looks like wood (for noise reasons) for the hallway and one living space, and carpet in the further living space for movie room and the bedroom.. I want to know what the masses think? 

I wouldn't want carpet around an exterior door just for mud issues. I have two dogs, so that would get wrecked fast. I like your plan of doing a hard surface around the door and carpet in the other rooms. 

Also, you can get commercial-grade carpet that's affordable and will hold up really well (my parents have that on their stairs for the high-traffic issue). 

Thanks! I totally agree, it has a little tile landing but I feel like that's probably not enough! I mean right now the carpet is so bad I wouldn't mind if you rolled around in the mud outside then came in and rolled on the floor! when you walk in there is the hallway and then the first living area goes straight to the outside door to the back yard so maybe we should look at keeping that area not carpet? 

chibiyui

Do you have any flooding issues?

When my parents bought their home the downstairs had Berber carpet, and then the office and my bedroom just had regular carpet (I have not been paying enough attention to my In Laws business, otherwise I'd have a shit ton of carpet knowledge.) Problem was, everytime we got a significant amount of rain, it flooded. (bi level, walk out downstairs, my window facing front was about 4 feet in the room and ground level out front) We eventually put furniture on blocks of wood so they wouldn't get wet, then finally one day I was like fuck it and with moms help tore up the carpet in my room. Then they did the office and the rest of the downstairs. 

Anyway. Long story short, they have painted concrete floors now.It looks very nice. If you don't have flooding vinyl wood or tile floors would look nice, and a commerical grade carpet for the more living areas.

theartistformerlyknownas

The biggest consideration when doing carpet in a basement is the padding. You need to get a special kind that's made to go over concrete. Regular padding will degrade quickly from the chemicals in the cement.

I agree coming in from outside into a basement, I'd prefer a pretty big section of tile, like a mud room. Cork floors are great to provide insulation from the cold.

doeydo

I'd want something that looks like wood or a tile of some kind.  I hate carpet, personally.

penguin44

If you are going to go with cork or wood, you will need to do a floating floor. You won't want the flooring touching the slab in case of water damage. For carpet, I would call around places near you. I think pricing will be dependent on your area.

lovemesomemonster

Thanks everyone! To answer some questions, we don't have any flooding issues so that's not going to be a problem. I personally don't love carpet and if this was a "forever" home I would not be putting any down there. There is a tile landing when you come in from the outside door and my biggest concern is that it will show nicely when we go to sell in 5ish years from now. For us the basement is kind of an afterthought since it's way too much house already for two people, but the neighborhood we are in a very nice family neighborhood so people looking to buy up here will most likely have kids or be thinking about them. I hadn't thought of cork floors but that's a great idea as well! I'm playing this balancing act between what I think is perfect, and what people will be happy to see when looking to buy a home while not sinking a ton of money into this basement. 

penguin44

lovemesomemonster said:

Thanks everyone! To answer some questions, we don't have any flooding issues so that's not going to be a problem. I personally don't love carpet and if this was a "forever" home I would not be putting any down there. There is a tile landing when you come in from the outside door and my biggest concern is that it will show nicely when we go to sell in 5ish years from now. For us the basement is kind of an afterthought since it's way too much house already for two people, but the neighborhood we are in a very nice family neighborhood so people looking to buy up here will most likely have kids or be thinking about them. I hadn't thought of cork floors but that's a great idea as well! I'm playing this balancing act between what I think is perfect, and what people will be happy to see when looking to buy a home while not sinking a ton of money into this basement. 

It isn't that you have water issues existing, but the concrete slab sweats with temperature changes. If you already have concrete, you may already have a subfloor built. But if you put cork directly on the concrete, it will swell with water.

I would do cheap gerber carpet down there. I think it's usable and people will be fine with that in the basement.

theartistformerlyknownas

lovemesomemonster said:

Thanks everyone! To answer some questions, we don't have any flooding issues so that's not going to be a problem. I personally don't love carpet and if this was a "forever" home I would not be putting any down there. There is a tile landing when you come in from the outside door and my biggest concern is that it will show nicely when we go to sell in 5ish years from now. For us the basement is kind of an afterthought since it's way too much house already for two people, but the neighborhood we are in a very nice family neighborhood so people looking to buy up here will most likely have kids or be thinking about them. I hadn't thought of cork floors but that's a great idea as well! I'm playing this balancing act between what I think is perfect, and what people will be happy to see when looking to buy a home while not sinking a ton of money into this basement. 

I'm one of those oddballs who loves carpet, but I still wouldn't want it in a walkout basement. We went with a floating composite wood floor plus a big fluffy rug for warmth in the TV room. My craft room is just the wood so it's easy to sweep up paper, fabric and thread scraps. (Not that I actually sweep, but that's beside the point.)

Is the laundry in the basement? That opens up prime flooding potential even without exterior moisture issues. 

lovemesomemonster

@penguin44: Thanks, that is what we were leaning toward, we want to showcase that it's a great bonus space to the house, but know that the basement is not where we want most of the remodel funds to go (bathrooms are currently in the works, kitchen is next). The floor is also already carpet, just terrible carpet (as in they painted without covering it when the house when into foreclosure).

@lolo883: If this was forever I would be doing the same thing! the house is currently half carpet, half wood, but I get tired of vacuuming so much space! Laundry is not in the basement, it's on the main floor above the utility room in the basement which we will not be finishing. FYI is in construction management so I'm sure he has all of these things at the back of his mind.. 

novella1186

FI and I were house hunting last year (ended up not buying-- long story) and anytime we went into a basement that had carpet, I immediately thought of ripping the carpet out. Mostly because the carpet was nasty/smelled/dirty/mildewing/or just a weird color. But also because I prefer hardwood floors or some kind of hard surface. It's easier to clean and more durable, in my experience. 

If there was a ton of carpet, we had to factor the cost of removing it and then having something else put down. So some of the houses we looked at were crossed off the list if there were a lot of extra costs like that adding up. 

No matter what, I'm sure people expect to make aesthetic changes to any house they buy, but hard surfaces are easier to deal with because you can always put down an area rug or something like that. If there's already wall-to-wall carpeting, then for me the only option is to rip it all out and replace it which can get expensive. 

penguin44

lovemesomemonster said:

@penguin44: Thanks, that is what we were leaning toward, we want to showcase that it's a great bonus space to the house, but know that the basement is not where we want most of the remodel funds to go (bathrooms are currently in the works, kitchen is next). The floor is also already carpet, just terrible carpet (as in they painted without covering it when the house when into foreclosure).

@lolo883: If this was forever I would be doing the same thing! the house is currently half carpet, half wood, but I get tired of vacuuming so much space! Laundry is not in the basement, it's on the main floor above the utility room in the basement which we will not be finishing. FYI is in construction management so I'm sure he has all of these things at the back of his mind.. 

I agree that bathrooms and kitchen are bigger selling points than basement flooring. I think carpet will probably be your cheapest bet. I haven't bought flooring in a while though.

climbingsingle

I hate carpet with a passion so I would be happy with anything else.

lovemesomemonster

This string is exactly what I need! You never know what will be a make or break for someone! We personally will never buy a house that doesn't need something so if I walk in and see flooring I want to replace that is my perfect house! The only thing that can turn me off of a great layout and location is a structural issue. But being on the other side of it I want it to be a cost effective solution that will attract the most people... So you all are my most people! Whatever we do will be pretty close in cost, we would hire someone to do carpet and FI will do anything else so you knock out labor costs.

mrsk616

lovemesomemonster said:

Thanks everyone! To answer some questions, we don't have any flooding issues so that's not going to be a problem. I personally don't love carpet and if this was a "forever" home I would not be putting any down there. There is a tile landing when you come in from the outside door and my biggest concern is that it will show nicely when we go to sell in 5ish years from now. For us the basement is kind of an afterthought since it's way too much house already for two people, but the neighborhood we are in a very nice family neighborhood so people looking to buy up here will most likely have kids or be thinking about them. I hadn't thought of cork floors but that's a great idea as well! I'm playing this balancing act between what I think is perfect, and what people will be happy to see when looking to buy a home while not sinking a ton of money into this basement. 

we never had issues until a big rain storm in 2006 and then again in 2014. my parents live at the bottom of a hill (bi level walk out basement). across the street is higher than us so the water runs down into our yard. front stairs end up looking like the grand rapids and basement floods. all it takes is 1 decent rain fall and your basement is done. 

my furture house in 2011 we found out the idiot before us took out the sump pump and we had a good 6 inches of water in the basement. (huge snow fall and then huge rain storm in the course of 2 days). i would avoid carpet in the basement. do painted concrete or something.

lovemesomemonster

mrsk616 said:

lovemesomemonster said:

Thanks everyone! To answer some questions, we don't have any flooding issues so that's not going to be a problem. I personally don't love carpet and if this was a "forever" home I would not be putting any down there. There is a tile landing when you come in from the outside door and my biggest concern is that it will show nicely when we go to sell in 5ish years from now. For us the basement is kind of an afterthought since it's way too much house already for two people, but the neighborhood we are in a very nice family neighborhood so people looking to buy up here will most likely have kids or be thinking about them. I hadn't thought of cork floors but that's a great idea as well! I'm playing this balancing act between what I think is perfect, and what people will be happy to see when looking to buy a home while not sinking a ton of money into this basement. 

we never had issues until a big rain storm in 2006 and then again in 2014. my parents live at the bottom of a hill (bi level walk out basement). across the street is higher than us so the water runs down into our yard. front stairs end up looking like the grand rapids and basement floods. all it takes is 1 decent rain fall and your basement is done. 

my furture house in 2011 we found out the idiot before us took out the sump pump and we had a good 6 inches of water in the basement. (huge snow fall and then huge rain storm in the course of 2 days). i would avoid carpet in the basement. do painted concrete or something.

That sounds like a NIGHTMARE! I'm so sorry you had to deal with that! I am weird about basements anyways because of these reasons so this house is the top of the hill and it's a walk out so only half is under ground but I for sure get what you are saying about the potential for flooding (got to deal with a sewer issue in the last house, at least it wasn't a finished basement)! The carpet in it right now is original to the house built in 2000 and no flooding or water issues yet.. hoping the last 15yrs are a good look at what to expect! My only hold up with painted concrete or something less finished like that is that it is a walkout so it's counted in the square footage of the house and doesn't feel like a basement, so we want it to feel like a continuation of the house.

mrsk616

lovemesomemonster said:

mrsk616 said:

lovemesomemonster said:

Thanks everyone! To answer some questions, we don't have any flooding issues so that's not going to be a problem. I personally don't love carpet and if this was a "forever" home I would not be putting any down there. There is a tile landing when you come in from the outside door and my biggest concern is that it will show nicely when we go to sell in 5ish years from now. For us the basement is kind of an afterthought since it's way too much house already for two people, but the neighborhood we are in a very nice family neighborhood so people looking to buy up here will most likely have kids or be thinking about them. I hadn't thought of cork floors but that's a great idea as well! I'm playing this balancing act between what I think is perfect, and what people will be happy to see when looking to buy a home while not sinking a ton of money into this basement. 

we never had issues until a big rain storm in 2006 and then again in 2014. my parents live at the bottom of a hill (bi level walk out basement). across the street is higher than us so the water runs down into our yard. front stairs end up looking like the grand rapids and basement floods. all it takes is 1 decent rain fall and your basement is done. 

my furture house in 2011 we found out the idiot before us took out the sump pump and we had a good 6 inches of water in the basement. (huge snow fall and then huge rain storm in the course of 2 days). i would avoid carpet in the basement. do painted concrete or something.

That sounds like a NIGHTMARE! I'm so sorry you had to deal with that! I am weird about basements anyways because of these reasons so this house is the top of the hill and it's a walk out so only half is under ground but I for sure get what you are saying about the potential for flooding (got to deal with a sewer issue in the last house, at least it wasn't a finished basement)! The carpet in it right now is original to the house built in 2000 and no flooding or water issues yet.. hoping the last 15yrs are a good look at what to expect! My only hold up with painted concrete or something less finished like that is that it is a walkout so it's counted in the square footage of the house and doesn't feel like a basement, so we want it to feel like a continuation of the house.

STUCK IN BOX

I would do the cheapest carpet as possible. IMO the cheapest isnt the greatest and for a basement its perfect.