Laying a subfloor down in a basement.

I am buying a house that has a partially finished basement. The one thing that I need to do is put down a sub floor so that I can lay carpet or hardwood down.

I live in Canada, so, I want it insulated.

What are my options?

When I had the finished area of my basement carpeted, they glued down a high density foam padding about 1/4" thick first.

The first and most important question is; how dry is the basement?

slownsteady said:

The first and most important question is; how dry is the basement?

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There was a spot that is 1 square foot that was wet.

You need to find the source for the moisture before anything else.
Before considering subfloors, you want to look at ceiling heght, if you have furnace ducts that need to be boxed, 80" is min height but that isn't the nicest.
Have got a burried basment or is it walk out.

nealtw said:

You need to find the source for the moisture before anything else.
Before considering subfloors, you want to look at ceiling heght, if you have furnace ducts that need to be boxed, 80" is min height but that isn't the nicest.
Have got a burried basment or is it walk out.

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I think it is seepage from below the floor. I will be asking my home inspector that question.
I thought of painting the floor with a cement paint to try to seal it, then laya subfloor down. The water was not puddling at the time I saw it.

It is a buried basement and the current ceiling is about 8 feet.

swimmer_spe said:

I think it is seepage from below the floor. I will be asking my home inspector that question.
I thought of painting the floor with a cement paint to try to seal it, then laya subfloor down. The water was not puddling at the time I saw it.

It is a buried basement and the current ceiling is about 8 feet.

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What shows as very little moisture when it is open to house and can evaporate can suddenly get worse when flooring goes down. Water can easily find it's way thru concrete so there should be no water below the floor to come up thru it.

Best bet is lay down a few 1 ft squares of poly sheeting for a few day and maybe have those days include rainy days. moisture coming up thru the floor will show up then and you get a better idea of how bad it might be.

Does your lanscaping slope away from the house?
Do you know if there is a perimeter drain around the base of the foundation?
Where does the water from the downspouts go?

What are you thinking for flooring, tile, wood , carpet.

nealtw said:

What shows as very little moisture when it is open to house and can evaporate can suddenly get worse when flooring goes down. Water can easily find it's way thru concrete so there should be no water below the floor to come up thru it.

Best bet is lay down a few 1 ft squares of poly sheeting for a few day and maybe have those days include rainy days. moisture coming up thru the floor will show up then and you get a better idea of how bad it might be.

Does your lanscaping slope away from the house?
Do you know if there is a perimeter drain around the base of the foundation?
Where does the water from the downspouts go?

What are you thinking for flooring, tile, wood , carpet.

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Landscaping does slope away from the house.
No clue on the drain around the foundation.
Downspouts go into rain barrels.

I would like either carpet or laminate as the finished floor.

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/dricore-r-insulated-panel/863431
Would putting that down and then the flooring be a good solution?

I live in a basement suite with tile on most of the floor. Laminent in the bedroom. No real problem with cold in the bedroom floor at least compared to the tile. Just a vapour barrier below the bedroom floor.
There are two things that bring water thru concrete one is pressure on the other side or warmth. If there is any moisture at all I would use regular dricore so the water can still vent into the room and evaporate.. But just writing that gave me a sick feeling as you really want to figure out the water issue and do what you can about that first or this could be just a big waiste of money time and effort.

And when the rain barrels are full????

I looked at Dricore last year (even brought a few panels home) and decided against it. In theory it works great. The plastic cleats allow air circulation below the floor, and that should be okay for letting the concrete breathe. But basements get wet; a water heater breaks, heavy rains, plumbing problem on the floor above etc. I found an article at that time that showed some independent testing (sorry couldn't find the same article this time), and once the Dricore gets wet above the cleats, it's basically a throw-away. The particle board is subject to mold, just like particle board is anywhere.
You can find plenty of discussion here: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dricore problems&t=ffnt

nealtw said:

I live in a basement suite with tile on most of the floor. Laminent in the bedroom. No real problem with cold in the bedroom floor at least compared to the tile. Just a vapour barrier below the bedroom floor.
There are two things that bring water thru concrete one is pressure on the other side or warmth. If there is any moisture at all I would use regular dricore so the water can still vent into the room and evaporate.. But just writing that gave me a sick feeling as you really want to figure out the water issue and do what you can about that first or this could be just a big waiste of money time and effort.

And when the rain barrels are full????

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I see how they suggest additional venting that look like register vents. I will definitely do that. I will try to figure out where the leak is coming from before I do this.

The rain barrels lean slightly away from the house, so, when they overfill, they also flow away.

slownsteady said:

I looked at Dricore last year (even brought a few panels home) and decided against it. In theory it works great. The plastic cleats allow air circulation below the floor, and that should be okay for letting the concrete breathe. But basements get wet; a water heater breaks, heavy rains, plumbing problem on the floor above etc. I found an article at that time that showed some independent testing (sorry couldn't find the same article this time), and once the Dricore gets wet above the cleats, it's basically a throw-away. The particle board is subject to mold, just like particle board is anywhere.
You can find plenty of discussion here: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dricore problems&t=ffnt

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I read the link you get. What would you suggest for a finished floor that will not allow any mold?

Since I am in the process of buying the house, I am finding out my options. Once I move in, I will watch the water and see what I can do with it.

Just so you know the worst case would be a new perimeter drain and waterproofing the foundation. best from the out side but some things can be done inside.

I haven't made that decision yet. It's a project that i keep pushing back as my priorities change. But I do know that I would not be putting any kind of wood or wood laminate floor down. Tile or vinyl makes the most sense. They can be put down without a subfloor. if you choose carpet, perhaps go with one that is cheap enough so you won't feel bad when you ditch it. A lot of folks also opt for a polished concrete floor.

I have messed around in basements trying to make them living spaces most of my life. As a kid in the 50’s it was very common for the dads of the boomers to build their own house. Maybe half of the houses around here got built by the owner. None of them had the money to finish the house when they started so they built the basement first and roofed it and you lived down there for 5 years or more till the house got done. Most left the slab as a floor some painted and some glued down asbestos tiles that looked like you see in a school or hospital now minus the asbestos now. Those type floors lasted the test of time and people put area rugs down over them and if something happened to get water on them you could roll them up drag them out and dry everything out. I think basements work best when they are for the most part dry due to drainage and construction methods etc. but then are allowed to breathe and dry out if something gets thru. Wall to wall carpet or laminate flooring wouldn’t be my choices placed over a raised platform. IMO and I know many will disagree I don’t like knowing there is that closed in space below the flooring with no air flow and the chance of moisture getting in there. I would rather see a coating surface put down and then if I wanted carpet I would get it bound and laid loose or something like area rugs. I could also see Tile working as Neal mentioned. If I had 8 foot ceilings I might think about some in floor heating even if I was really going for more than a man cave type room.

Of course the better you drain water away from the house the better. And make sure the rain barrels have the overflow piped a good ways from the house.