Subfloor Basement Carpet

I strongly recommend subfloor tiles.

Subfloor basement carpet.

Never install carpet or any kind of finished flooring directly on a concrete basement floor. I would suggest that you use moisture block paint for carpet or wood floor but it is not necessary for ceramic tile. This will raise the temperature of the floor in winter make your carpet more pleasant to walk on and most importantly prevent humid air from cozying up to the concrete and triggering mold growth. To install carpet in your basement you will need to apply a poly plastic moisture barrier under the carpet and pad and many contractors may suggest that you first apply a concrete paint that is formulated to block moisture.

If your basement is really dry as you suggest carpeting directly on top is fine. Find flooring products such as dimpled vapor barrier and subfloor panels with dimpled plastic underlayment. For a dry mold free finished basement floor always install a vapor barrier before laying a wood subfloor or carpet pad. You risk condensation and poor indoor air quality if you do.

Several contractors visited and told us that all we need to do is lay down the carpet and padding on top of a vapor barrier skipping subfloor construction. Subfloor tiles started to become popular in the late 1990s and they make it much easier to create moisture resistant comfortable finished floors in basements. If it s bone dry you should be ok. In case your basement is wider than 12 ft you ll need a seam and have to buy extra rolls to cover the area.

See what goes into waterproofing a basement too. If you want to carpet a very damp basement you will need a layered surface. Nevertheless it requires substantial floor prep smoothening the subfloor as otherwise the surface of the subfloor will break through. Take a 1x1m sheet of plastic garbage bag would do and tape it to the floor making sure it s sealed all the way around.

Leave it there for 24h at least and see if moisture appears at the bottom. Usually sheet vinyl comes in 12 ft rolls. No water issues in the basement since we ve lived here so this appears to be an obsolete feature due to likely corrected basement water problems.