Wet flooring... replacement

[eyes4eeyore]

Hi all!
Ugh, flooded out last night thanks to the remnants of Lee. Carpet in the downstairs family room/computer area and bathroom was soaked and the decision was made to remove it. Now I'm lost with what to replace it with. Here's more info....We live in a bi-level with the rooms in question being semi-underground and leading to the garage .This is the first time in the 7 years we've lived here that we took on water. It seeped in through the cracks in the floor....the ground is SO saturated. We don't have any kind of floor drain or sump pump. The question is.... what would you do from here?
PS...I HATE tile. Sorry!
TIA!

 

[cbg1027]

Vinyl Plank Flooring. It looks like wood laminate, but it's very water resistant.
I would guess that if the area flooded again and the water got under the floor, the planks would get ruined, but as far as spills, leaks, puddles, and animal accidents (anything just sitting on top of it), vinyl plank is waterproof.

I just got it in my house and it's wonderful! I love it....it's super easy to clean and care for. It's very scratch resistant and looks great. 90% of the people who come in my house think it's real wood.

It's cheaper than wood or tile, but more expensive than carpet and some laminates.

This is what I just got, Armstrong Luxury Vinyl:
http://www.armstrong.com/flooring/l...l-resilient-vinyl-tile-A6805/floor-117518.asp

 

[Evi]

We had a carpet in our finished basement and had some minor water damage a few years back due to rediculous rain fall. I'd see about figuring out where the water came in from foundation wall, Window ledge or below grade. You can then address where the water comes from and then install a porcalain tile floor. Porcalain is like 99% waterproof. This is what we were advised to do and in the end its what we did. I love the tile we chose and am so happy to be rid of the funky carpet.

 

[pediatric-rnp]

One word - Tile. This happened to us last year also, (been in this house since 1986 and never any issue with water until then, when our ground was also so saturated that the water came up thru the concrete, soaking the rug) and I asked about the plank laminate. All the flooring places told us tile was the only thing to go with if there was any possibility of water again. Then you just have to wet vac it up, rather than removing or replacing flooring. the only place to rcommend the plank laminate was HD, and I think their people just don't always have the correct answers. They now have tile that looks like wood - it is amazing! love it!

 

[eyes4eeyore]

I should correct myself. I don't hate tile..I hate grout! Wouldn't the grout crack if water was pushing on it?

 

[disny_luvr]

to you OP. I have no advice; I just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking about you and everyone else affected by Lee. This is a total mess! I live in western Lebanon County, about two miles east of Hershey. I can't believe how bad it is around here. No school yesterday or today. Thankfully we didn't take on any water but our sump pump has been running non-stop. My DH is afraid the motor is going to die and he wants to buy another one as a back-up, but there are none to buy anywhere around here, plus I feel there are other people around here that need one more than us. I feel like I'm stuck in my house; there are so many buckled roads and sinkholes that we can't get anywhere. Good luck to you in cleaning up your basement.

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

from me too (no advice either) We are super fortunate to be about 15 miles from any flooding. We're on the other side of Montoursville, we watched the news all day yesterday, hearts breaking for everyone in all that mess! Best wishes to you and God Bless

 

[Angeni11]

Before you put in new flooring of any type I would have a professional come out and help you find a solution so it doesn't happen again. Unfortunately sometimes the solutions can be costly.

After that if you hate cleaning grout (lol I agree with you on that) I would probably put carpet back down. Probably the easiest thing to take up and replace if it happens again.

 

[eyes4eeyore]

to you OP. I have no advice; I just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking about you and everyone else affected by Lee. This is a total mess! I live in western Lebanon County, about two miles east of Hershey. I can't believe how bad it is around here. No school yesterday or today. Thankfully we didn't take on any water but our sump pump has been running non-stop. My DH is afraid the motor is going to die and he wants to buy another one as a back-up, but there are none to buy anywhere around here, plus I feel there are other people around here that need one more than us. I feel like I'm stuck in my house; there are so many buckled roads and sinkholes that we can't get anywhere. Good luck to you in cleaning up your basement.

Hey! I live in Fredericksburg! Nice to meet you neighbor! Our kids just might even go to the same school district.
Hoping your pump makes it through. If not I just read of a place that's supposed to get some toady. I can get the name if you want it. Yes, the damage is incredible...so thankful the swattie is dropping. I'm glad you are doing well.

 

[disny_luvr]

Hey! I live in Fredericksburg! Nice to meet you neighbor! Our kids just might even go to the same school district.
Hoping your pump makes it through. If not I just read of a place that's supposed to get some toady. I can get the name if you want it. Yes, the damage is incredible...so thankful the swattie is dropping. I'm glad you are doing well.

We live in Palmyra, but we moved here from Jonestown. I saw that NL was the last school in the county to close. That is just crazy. From the pictures I saw your area got hit really hard. I want to make it down to Lebanon to help my parents with the mess they have but Rt. 422 is closed in Palmyra because of a huge sinkhole and also down in Annville because the road buckled. There are many sinkholes in Palmyra causing tons of road closures. I have never, ever seen anything like this.

 

[czycropper]

OP - sorry to hear about the water in your house.

We're dealing with the same thing here in Somerset County, New Jersey - my DDs school actually had a "snow day" yesterday on their 3rd day of school! We didn't get water in our house (other than the chimney) but our church got flooded for the 2nd time in the last 2 weeks, at least this time we had already gutted the area so it's now just dirt clean up and praying that it won't happened again after all the new kitchen stuff & classroom things are put in.

I would also suggest tile, easier to clean and disenfect with Clorox. It can get kind of expensive for carpet if it happens again. The water can get under the vinyl and mold can grow - I saw a lot of that happen when I was helping with the clean up after the 2007 Flood here in New Jersey. The poor people still had to replace the vinyl flooring and clean with Clorox for the mold issues.

My prayers are with you and all the affected people in PA!

 

[Dizneydaz]

I know you don't like grout but let me tell you about our floor-

We bought the house, new, 10 years ago (in fact we moved in just before 9-11 happened) Anyway, the builder put in the builder grade carpet and vinyl downstairs (on slab). We upgraded the upstairs carpet.

Shortly after moving in we replaced the family room and kitchen flooring with laminate. Then about a year later we replaced most of the remaining carpet downstairs with more laminate. (installed ourselves-bought at Sam's).

4 years ago this past June we had a leak under our kitchen sink. We were home and the water ran for about 5 minutes or so (I was in the shower at the time). In that 5 minutes there was enough water to ruin the kitchen and family room floors and part of the dining room. Luckily our insurance company paid off really well (though we are still paying increased premiums on our insurance, but next year, 5 years after, our rate will go back down )

Since we are experienced remodelers (some of us are contractors) we did the work ourselves and were able to do more than replace our floor.

We chose tile for our kitchen, family room, laundry room, and bathroom. Carpet in our living and dining rooms. We selected Dal-Tile, special order from Home Depot for under $2 PSF. We used 12" and 18" square tiles in a staggered pattern. We chose tile with a mottled pattern, in dirt color. We also chose a matching grout, in a sandstone-ish color.

We have a lot of traffic in our house (inc. my 2.8 y/o nephew we watch 5+ days a week) and we have yet had to clean out grout. I absolutely LOVE our tile. And I didn't think I would. I was glad we lost the laminate as we found it's upkeep a lot of work. Everything showed on that floor.

Since we did the labor ourselves (it's not that hard) we got a new floor for less than $3 PSF. And it looks beautiful. We found 2 carpet remnants for the living and dining rooms in a nice neutral shade (light brown/taupe-again dirt colored ) and our downstairs flooring is almost no-maintenance.

Nice thing about the tile we selected is that since it has spots, etc. in the pattern spots of dirt on the floor don't show up easily. Sometimes I'll try to clean a spot and realize that it's in the pattern.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

Our Pergo-like laminate flooring is completely ruined because the water is seeping in underneath. There is a foam sheeting underneath, as well as the underneath part of the laminate flooring basically being pressed cardboard. It's all going to need to be replaced, so if you think it will flood *again*, I don't think it's any more waterproof than carpet.

I'm not sure what we're going to do yet, but I'm thinking the best solution is tile with some sort of bound carpet as a rug over top. I really like the look of the laminate or engineered wood (as I understand, *real* wood flooring isn't an option on concrete) but I really don't want to have to deal with this again if it floods!!!

 

[eyes4eeyore]

OP here. Thanks so much for all the well wishes and prayers for those of us affected by the water. Likewise, my heart goes out to those of you dealing with it too. My family is so fortunate to have only lost a carpet. Besides, I'm getting over it quickly now that it's on a heap and starting to stink...
I so appreciate the opinions and help with replacement...we are starting that search tomorrow and I'm armed with the best advice around...fellow budget board members! Thank you!

 

[Evi]

I stick with my original advice. Find out where the water is and then fix it so it doesn't happen again or if it does it will be better contained. Then go for porcalain tile. Check out the pricy tile shops for ideas then go to home depot and come up with a design you like. There is an orange sheeting you put under tile floors to keep them from cracking if the ground moves etc. You can also choose colored grout so your not dealing with a traditional white grout line. My floors look like they are super expensive I chose a tile at home depot that looked almost identical to one that was going for $40 a sq ft at another shop. I also purchased accent tile at another shop and had it all worked into a pattern I liked. I chose colored grout that matched the litghtest shade of the tile I used and I get tons of compliments. End of the day if it gets wet I can have if wet vacked and mopped it will be ok and I won't be replacing it anytime soon.