Floor surface for basement table

D

DaJokerz

Registered
AS some of you have read, i am nearing the finish of my basement build out for my game room. I have a new table coming, and its time to put something down on the floor.

The wife wants to put down a plush carpet. Not sure how this will endure over time. However, commercial flat carpet is not very appealing from a nice finished basement point of view.

Ive contemplatied wood, but wood floors in basement are frowned upon a bit.

Thoughts?

-Jason
 
DaJokerz said:
AS some of you have read, i am nearing the finish of my basement build out for my game room. I have a new table coming, and its time to put something down on the floor.

The wife wants to put down a plush carpet. Not sure how this will endure over time. However, commercial flat carpet is not very appealing from a nice finished basement point of view.

Ive contemplatied wood, but wood floors in basement are frowned upon a bit.

Thoughts?

-Jason
Click to expand...

I was in the same boat about two years ago when we finally finished our basement.

My wife and I looked at all kinds of options. Carpet was pretty much ruled out right away because my wife doesn't like it. I looked into staining the concrete, but figured it would be to cold.

We ended up with a laminate wood floor. After talking with several flooring stores we chose Home Depot. I fell in love with their Bamboo wood. It's a type of laminate with real bamboo wood for the top half of the laminate.

Home Depot has two different bamboo's. one has a hardness of 2 and the other a hardness of 5. Their Oak flooring hardness was 4. Needless to say we went with the harder bamboo. Because its a basement, we had to have a 3 in 1 vapor barrier installed and the bamboo flooring is a floating floor. Nothing is nailed or glued.

Home Depot also did the install and it came out amazing. Every time I look at the floor I just can't get over how beautiful it is. In some spots the floor deals a little spongy. After over two years the GC4 is still level and the room looks awesome. We did have a battery backup installed for the sump pump. The bamboo cost over $3000 but Home Depot sent the estimate to their bid department and it came back with a 25% discount. The installers we super good also.

Jim

After Tony's post the bamboo must be engineered hardwood.
 
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When I redid my basement 3 years ago, I did both. Hardwood and Carpet.

I used engineered hardwood for an area underneath the pool table, and carpet around it. My reasoning was to make it easier to replace the carpet in the future, since it is not under the pool table.

Engineered hardwood can be placed directly on a cement slab.

p.s. If I move and sell the house, I will just market the space as a dance floor.
 
carpet

I have had berber carpet, might not be right spelling, but it has been in 15yrs and it is comfortable warm, and easy to take care of. I play alot and have raised 3 kids have grand kids it gets used.
 
We used floating vinyl tile made by Armstrong. Reasonable cost, nice look, comfy on the feet, easy self-install, and very durable. It is relatively static-free compared to carpeting. You can work up quite a charge pacing around a pool table for several hours.

Whatever you get, if you buy from the Big Box stores, make sure you can get more in the near future. Ours was a "Lowes Exclusive", and when they decided to discontinue it two months after the start of the project, they never called and said, "Say, guys... need more of that flooring before it's all gone?":embarrassed2:

Our mistake, we should have bought more, but when we found out it was also unavailable from Armstrong, we kinda freaked. We were gonna be two boxes short.

I put up a bit of a stink, so they said they'd ask around other Lowes stores. They got way more than we needed, but we bought it all at $3.75/box. Original price was about $75/box. :grin:
 
I like carpet around a pool table....it's easier on the feet and you can make a better stance.

I would suggest carpet tiles...because you get wear spots around the table,
especially where you turn at the corners.

In most commercial rooms with carpet, when they replace it, only about 25%
actually needed replacing...carpet tiles make sense...usually more expensive
initially, but cheaper in the long run.
 
Tony_in_MD said:
When I redid my basement 3 years ago, I did both. Hardwood and Carpet.

I used engineered hardwood for an area underneath the pool table, and carpet around it. My reasoning was to make it easier to replace the carpet in the future, since it is not under the pool table.

Engineered hardwood can be placed directly on a cement slab.

p.s. If I move and sell the house, I will just market the space as a dance floor.
Click to expand...

This!!!!!!!!!!
 
I used vinyl tiles in the "pool room" and poker areas and dining room... I sealed the concrete floor, and then glued (even though they were self stick) the tiles down. I bought good 1/4 tiles with 25 yr warranty.

Thus, no worries about beer spills, pizza slices falling off the plate, etc... Plus, if any water comes in, gonna be pretty easy to fix... The floor is over 10 years now, and not one tile has even a "turned" corner or edge.....

After a pool or poker party,,, a quick mop the next day, and I'm back in business.

I did use carpeting in the gym and in my son's gameroom (yep, kids don't have playrooms now, they are gaming rooms !!!)... but if I get water... I'll just trash it, and put in some new stuff... but everywhere else it will be easy to deal with.

SO, far in 10 years no water... but I too have a double batter back up just in case... and a whole lot of insurance as well :)
 
Yep, vinyl tiles, the standard industrial product. It is about the least expensive flooring (hey, I'm Scottish), and with proper sealing (and resealling periodically) it will look like new for decades ... especially if you wax it. Ya, wearing shoes in my basement is a good idea.

Most of my pool team are flooring pros. They said the wear pattern around a pool table is the one reason they would not put in carpet.

Dave
 
I used engineered wood flooring looks pretty good. i used a special under layment to avoid moisture it kept the floor from being 100% installed correctly. I should have gone with the plastic and felt under layment

If I did it again which I likely will I'd go with cork
 
jtompilot said:
I was in the same boat about two years ago when we finally finished our basement.

My wife and I looked at all kinds of options. Carpet was pretty much ruled out right away because my wife doesn't like it. I looked into staining the concrete, but figured it would be to cold.

We ended up with a laminate wood floor. After talking with several flooring stores we chose Home Depot. I fell in love with their Bamboo wood. It's a type of laminate with real bamboo wood for the top half of the laminate.

Home Depot has two different bamboo's. one has a hardness of 2 and the other a hardness of 5. Their Oak flooring hardness was 4. Needless to say we went with the harder bamboo. Because its a basement, we had to have a 3 in 1 vapor barrier installed and the bamboo flooring is a floating floor. Nothing is nailed or glued.

Home Depot also did the install and it came out amazing. Every time I look at the floor I just can't get over how beautiful it is. In some spots the floor deals a little spongy. After over two years the GC4 is still level and the room looks awesome. We did have a battery backup installed for the sump pump. The bamboo cost over $3000 but Home Depot sent the estimate to their bid department and it came back with a 25% discount. The installers we super good also.

Jim

After Tony's post the bamboo must be engineered hardwood.
Click to expand...

If your "Laminate" has real bamboo as the top layer it is really an engineered product. And bamboo is really a grass-not wood. Laminate is a pergo style product. It is a very thin vinyl sheet laminated to a cheap substrate.In the flooring business we call it crap and that's being kind.
Engineered wood of a good quality should be glued down on a concrete floor or stapled on a wood floor if a heavy pool table is to be on top of it. If you float it over foam it can not expand and contract as it is supposed to and there is a chance it will buckle.Make sure the manufacturer has approved it for below grade and staple or glue down installation. Not all engineered products are so recommended.
Has anyone considered cork flooring? Very durable-absorbs sound-soft to walk on and comes in a variety of styles.
 
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I went with the cheapest plain jane pattern for the pool room, in the main house i have some nicer patterned stuff.

this is engineered in large click loc panels with a cork back for insulation.
It's easy on the back and feet, very warm and quiet too.

 
Looks real nice slasher! Did you put a hard surface for under the legs or is cork?
If its cork, did it settle below the rest of the floor?
 
TheKman said:
Looks real nice slasher! Did you put a hard surface for under the legs or is cork?
If its cork, did it settle below the rest of the floor?
Click to expand...

I was surprised even the big snooker table did not settle much, just a some thin wooden leveling shims under the legs.
 
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