Flooring in basement, with kids/cats

[luckyme]

My old kitty has taken to peeing on the carpet in the finished basement from time to time. We took him to the vet and he's healthy, so the vet thinks its behavioural -- maybe stress related?

Anyway, the carpet has to come out. What do you guys think would be good in a basement with kids and cats? I've been reading about floating laminate wood flooring, but I'm not sure about the noise and warmth of it.

I don't want anymore carpeting because it's a pain to keep clean.

What do you have? Any recommendations?

[sastampink]

I do not like laminate at all. I have it in my bedroom and my girls room. It looks nice and all but if you spill anything on it and don't realize it, the water seeps between the seams and it bubbles up. The thing I LOVE the most is full sheet vinyl flooring. I have it in my kitchen and in my art studio (kitchen floor was not cheap from my local floor store, I got the best armstrong grade and it cost 1600 installed) BUT, in my new art studio I also got Armstrong (with a lifetime home warrantee and 5 year commercial warrantee) from Home Depot it was $700 installed. Looking back I wish DH just installed it himself since it was just a simple shape. Seriously, this is not like the old hard vinyl floors at all It is flexible and soft. I can't say enough good things about todays vinyl. If the room is bigger than 12 feet in one direction you would have a seam which should be put in the least used location. The best part about the floors is they take a massive amount of abuse and it's super easy to maintain. Just sweep or vacuum and mop. I use a lipman wonder mop on my floors, its like a swifter wet jet but you can use whatever soaps you want and the pads are washable and reusable. Totally awesome and it is a breeze for cleaning and quick cleaning too. Love that thing more than anything (got it at walmart).

This is the kitchen floor:


This is the studio floor:


The warranty, brand and millimeter are all the same. The price is MUCH better at home depot but the selection is very limited. The awesome thing about vinyl flooring is that they add all the wood grain or grout lines and texture into it. People are always surprised that my floors are vinyl.

[sastampink]

On a side note, I had problems with my cats not using the litter box exclusively, there are lots of resources out there about working on that. One of the biggest things being easy access to very clean litter boxes. He might prefer a fresher box, or increasing the number of boxes with a minimum of one box per floor of the house. Or switching from dry food to wet food, as dry food makes them drink more water.

I will say that if you take out the carpet I bet he stops going on the floor but watch out because he might start peeing in your laundry, on your couch or on your bed....ask me how I know this

[marlathrall]

My basement has flooded several times (yuck!) and the carpet is all stained and gross. The next time it gets wet or when I've decided I'm tired of it, I'm going to just pull the carpet up and stain the concrete... It looks pretty and won't be near as hard to take care of.

[luckyme]

I'm reviving this old thread! After living with a giant hole cut out of my basement carpet since August, we were finally able to replace it over March Break. (Hubby is a teacher so we needed to wait for his break to have the time to do it...) We picked out vinyl plank flooring and I love it! You *cannot* tell that it's not wood. It feels like wood - it has grooves and texture. It's amazing. I'm loving the clean-up too - just sweep or barely-damp mop.

Sorry for the bad pic but it gives you an idea. (Hubby collects license plates - that's what you see on the wall, haha!)

[MamaBee]

oh that is pretty!!

[marlathrall]

Love it!!

[LoriJ]

that is gorgeous, I need new floor in my basement too. It flooded before Christmas and I had to pull up the carpet and now it is just the old concrete. That floor of yours is lovely!

[misfitinmn]

That looks great, Heddy! We installed vinyl planks in my basement office and I love them!

[rach3975]

Looks great! We want to replace the old, stained carpet (and a little tile) in our main level in the next few months. We want wood in 2 of the rooms and the small entry, maybe even in all 3 rooms. We haven't started pricing it yet, but it's good to know that some of the vinyl "woods" might be an option if we need to go that way.

[NeverendingJen]

love it! We have vinyl wood tiles in our kitchen and it is fabulous. One of my neighbors has the same flooring for almost every room and it looks so nice and feels great- and it's not slippery and cleans easily.

[flergs]

We have the same and we love it! Wish we could do our whole house.

[CA Dreamer]

That room look wonderful!

[thompsonc2007]

That looks great! I love how you are displaying his license plate collection!