Carpet in Cellar
We are renovating an apartment with a cellar space. The floor in the cellar is concrete right now, and is pretty uneven. Since we want to use the area as a playroom, we are thinking of putting in carpet with padding to both even the floor and provide cushioning for kids if they fall. The…
We are renovating an apartment with a cellar space. The floor in the cellar is concrete right now, and is pretty uneven. Since we want to use the area as a playroom, we are thinking of putting in carpet with padding to both even the floor and provide cushioning for kids if they fall. The cellar smells musty but there hasn’t been any water leaking in (at least not in the last 6 months) as far as I can tell. Does anyone have advice on installing carpet in a cellar? Also, any recommendations about good carpet to install (decent quality, not too pricey) would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
1–There is no question you will get water in that cellar and have to tear up the carpet. Even if it takes as little as a day to do so, you will start to get mold down there. You don’t want your kids breathing that stuff, believe me.
2–We installed industrial strength linoleum. Don’t laugh. There’s some wonderful decorative linoleum out there. Think about alternating brightly colored linoleum tiles sealed with a waterproof sealant. It will make your kids playroom a happy place. Some gym pads, like those recommended above, are a good idea.
3–If there’s a musty smell down there, you obviously already have a moisture problem. Get a few heavy duty dehumidifiers and run them. Check for mold and mildew. Again, you don’t really want your kids, or yourselves, breathing that stuff.
nyc_sport has good point. I saw basement flooring done with rubber mats and it was pretty good and reliable. It was Japanese style room and the mats had consistency and form of tatami mats. So it looked very pleasant as well.
Try marine carpet. You can buy it at HD or Lowes. i believe you can alse get it with water proof or water resistant padding. The only drawback might be narrower widths than std. commercial carpeting.
The foam tiles sound like they’d be great, but from person exp., if the basement is cool and you get heat from upstairs in the summer, the tiles will sweat and mildew will form.
If this is only for a playroom, why not put down those interlocing rubber or foam tile gym mats.
We did this about 8 years ago. First, when did you last have water in the basement — from below, from the sides, or from above? Ask the previous owners if you don’t know. This is important.
Our contractor put down tar paper over the rough concrete and then laid down 4′ x 4’panels of underlayment. We got the underlayment at Home Depot. It was a water-resistant gray material similar to Chinese laundry shirt cardboard but 3/8″ thick. I had seen it on “This Old House.” Be sure to allow space between the panels for expansion. Then we had Home Depot install an inexpensive but tough berber carpet.
We had one near disaster about 2 years ago when my elderly neighbor had a pipe break in her back garden. The water came under the foundation wall, into my basement bathroom and laundry room and then proceeded to stain the 20′ x 20′ carpet. Fortunately, I was able to cut off the water (I had keys) and mopped up most of the water. I used all of our bath towels to sop up the water that had seeped onto the carpet and then ran fans for several days to wick off the trapped moisture. Although the carpet was now dry and there was no sign of mold on or under it, there was a noticeable water stain or shadow where the water had intruded.
My homeowner’s insurance did not cover ‘seepage,’ but my neighbor’s insurance paid for a complete steam cleaning which came out very nice.
Good luck.
go to Home depot and look at indoor/outdoor carpets and buy one that will be ok if it gets wet….better safe than sorry.
we used home depot for a very similar situation. very cheap and they measure and install. we did have water after a few years,had to tear up carpet and replace – but since it was so cheap we but the bullet and used them again. we clear drains often and hope the water won’t find us again. good luck!
You WILL get water leakage at some point, guaranteed. I wouldn’t install carpet for this reason. Maybe a large area rug or two would work better, so you could at least send it out for cleaning once in awhile if needed.