Installing Carpeting Over Basement Concrete Floor
diyer1
| Posted in General Questions on
Hello All,
I can really use some help. I would like to install carpet over my concrete basement floor. Here are my questions;
1. Sub-floor: DMX (“airflow” or “step 1”?) or “DryBarrier”? Which do you recommend?
2. Name of synthetic carpets (make/model) which have the highest R-value, to keep us warm & toasty?
TIA!
Jim Pascale
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I can't recommend carpet in a basement. It will get wet, and when it gets wet it won't dry.
Luxury vinyl plank flooring is what I recommend. Lifeproof at Home Depot is a good place to start.
TY, DCContrarian, for your response. I’m committed to carpet in the basement since I can’t conceive of how where I live (PA), in the winter, I can get my basement floor adequately warm enough for my taste. I need to bump up the floor Rvalue which, to my knowledge, only carpeting can provide. That’s not to say adequate protections won’t be taken; ie I currently use a dehumidifier & I intend to use a state of the art underlayment (see my original post) & the carpet will be 100% synthetic.
So, to return to my original questions, for those who have gone through this process;
1. Sub-floor: DMX (“airflow” or “step 1”?) or “DryBarrier”? Which do you recommend?
(since my original post I found another possible product called, “Thermaldry”- anyone?)
2. Name of synthetic carpets (make/model) which have the highest R-value, to keep us warm & toasty?
Thanks to all who took the time to read this. Jim
Put in a vinyl floor and put area rugs over it. That way you can throw them out when they get wet. The flooring is about 3/8" thick and somewhat insulating and somewhat padded, it's softer underfoot than carpet over concrete.
If you want insulation and you have the headroom, put down a subfloor of rigid foam insulation or rock wool board. This thread discusses the technique:
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/question/is-it-possible-to-install-rigid-foam-just-below-laminated-flooring
90% of the extra cold floors in basements come from leaks at the rim joist and basement windows. Stack effect brings in cold air from the outside which settles on the floor making the ground feel extra cold. Fixing that goes a long way for basement comfort.
After that, there are insulated subfloor tile products that come with rigid insulation on the bottom that are not much extra cost.
There is no magic high R value carpet. All of these work by trapping air so you are getting between R3 to R4 per inch of thickness. Thickest carpet will be the warmest, if you feel a bit retro, go for shag carpet.
Basement carpet is something that is universally removed around here. LVT or click laminate is a much better option for basements.