If you're basement is unfinished, at one time or another you've probably thought about remodeling it. But you never seem to get off that thinking part because as soon as you do you start to get nervous about all the work and expenses involved to get that basement of your dreams. Well, who says you have to do it all at once. Why not take it one step at a time. Get it cleaned out so you can start from the bottom up and lay the foundation that's going to be your special little place, the basement flooring.

Now that you've got it all cleaned out you need to decide what kind of flooring you want for your basement. You could go with carpeting, but carpets can be pretty nasty in a sub-level especially if you have any leaks or anything. The musty smells that could get trapped in the carpets can lead to some pretty solid nasal discomfort. You could just leave the concrete bare or possibly paint it, but sometimes that just doesn't work with what you want to do with the room. Besides that, plain concrete tends to be plain ugly if you know what I mean. Tile for a basement could work but you'd be left with that same cold feeling of concrete under your feet. Not only that, if you've never laid tile before, tiling a basement floor might not be the first DIY project you'd want to tackle. Probably the best flooring option for a first time DIY'er would be to install basement laminate flooring.

Can you put laminate flooring in a basement? That's a pretty typical and fair question to ask. Short and simple answer is yes. There are quite a few laminate flooring products on the market today that are rated for sub-level installation. You're definitely going to want to take some precautions to secure your investment but overall, check to make sure the the manufacturer's warranty will cover sub-level installation and you should be fine.

One of the biggest precautions that you'll want to take before installing basement laminate flooring is to just ensure that your concrete basement floor doesn't have any cracks that'll leak or that it doesn't seep water into your basement. There's some pretty simple practices you could employ to check if you have a damp basement, instead of rehashing all that stuff here, just do a search on google for how to check for a damp basement and you'll find tons of ways.

There are really two ways you can overcome this problem, the first being the most obvious, just slap some waterproofing epoxy down and once it all cures, do the tests again. The second is one that I'd suggest at a minimum and would double your protection on top of the waterproofing and that's to install a subfloor. Not one that would just sit on the floor, but would actually raise it a little to give it a good vapor barrier underneath. There are quite a few options on the market that would suffice that aren't that expensive and fit together like a puzzle, or you could build your own. But we'll save that for another time.

If you do this, there's really no reason why you couldn't put laminate flooring in your basement.

Armstrong Laminate Flooring is fashionably beautiful flooring that sports a ton of features that resemble real stone and wood. There laminate flooring really lives up to there slogan where "It only looks like the real thing". You'll find the wood features in these laminates to have very distinctive grains looking like they came from the real thing. These life-like looks give rise to the breathtaking splendor and design complexity originated in their assortment of laminate flooring. Long-lasting and reasonably priced, these floors are easy to install and can be installed virtually anywhere in your home, even in the basement. Which is one of the things that keeps Armstrong on top of the competition and perfect for the homeowner is that their floors are perfect for any room.

At the time of writing this, Armstrong has approximately 170 different laminate floors that you could choose from. Ranging in design from woods to stones and naturals, you're definitely going to find something appealing to install in your basement. Their wood-like collection runs from Ash to Birch, Cherry to Hickory, Maple to Oak and Pecan to Walnut. They've even got some of the more exotic woods in the collection.

According to their website, and looking at the installation portion, most all of their laminate flooring is rated as the easiest for DIY experience. Which they should be as they are just Lock&Fold type flooring, that's nothing more than to say that they simply "snap" together and make an excellent floating floor installation. They are rated to be installed either below, on, or above ground level which makes them a perfect choice for putting it in the basement.

Another major player in the laminate flooring market is Tarkett. One of the major concerns that most people ask is whether or not Tarkett Laminate Flooring can be installed in a basement. According to their own website, their laminates can be installed on all grade levels which would include basements. Tarkett has some really fine looking collections of laminates that would enhance any sub-level and totally fit with any decor that you might be trying to achieve in the end.

The Tarkett Journey's and New Frontiers collection feature 4 new exotic woods, but tends to be more on the darker side. Unless you have sufficient lighting or basement windows, you might want to shy away from this collection as it might make your basement look a little on the dark side. However, they do lighten things up a bit with the Escapade and Trek collections. In fact, I think the Trek - Walnut and Escapade - Williston Birch are two of the most beautiful laminate floors I have seen.