Floor for a Playroom Looking for Advice

If you want something a little warmer and softer for the basement, they have those carpet "tiles" now that you can take out just one square to clean it or replace it if something happens to it. It is a shorter nap than regular carpet I believe, more like industrial carpet. Otherwise, linoleum seems like the best bet for cleanups, convenience, and cost factor.

We have pergo in our son's room and we love it.. Not sure about cleaning up crayon. I would stay away from carpet, it is much more challenging to keep clean than a floor that you can wipe up for spill and puke (sorry for being so descriptive). But, is there a chance that water can get in there? If so I would go with the Laneolum as wood is very unforgiving for lots of water.

I would do linolium and make sure you keep washable everything markers, crayons etc. will be a lot easier to clean up. my 3 year old wrote with washable maker all over her brothers walls last night all I could do was laugh while cleaning it up.

I have a friend who did wood in her basement - a month later a pipe broke and her floor got totally ruined. I would stay away from anything that is damaged by water.

TARKETT FIBER FLOOR check them out online. I live in SLC and I know they sell it here at Southerlands. It is awesome!! Mold-Mildew & Water Resistant. Scuff proof and easy cleaning!! It's also insulated and feels alot warmer to the touch than our cement basement floor did prior to install. The best part is it was was sooooo easy to put in no adhesive or glues or other chemicals, you just cut it to size, lay down in place and install your baseboards and your done. We literally did our bathroom in 30 minutes with the help of and air compressor and a nail gun to install the wooden baseboards. It was great. It was $1.40 a sq ft (another perk) Even my 17 yr old son commented on how much warmer the floor was. It also comes in tons of patterns to choose from. Even some cute kid friendly ones with little cities and streets that would be great for a playroom. You really need to check it out I think you would be very happy I know I am and can not wait until we have the money to do more rooms in our house. Good Luck

I would recommend the linoleum. There are even kinds that can be glued down like vct tiles. This way moisture is not as much of a concern. Pergo is great as far cleaning is concerned, but since it is a composite material it is not forgiving to moisture problems. If you want some thing softer use a lot of area rugs and runners. Good Luck

I see that a lot of people have recommended linoleum. I agree that would be a very good choice--although it will probably be cheaper and easier to find vinyl flooring. Linoleum has certain properties that purport to make it non-allergenic. If I remember correctly, it also has anti-static properties. You can create unique designs if you have a skilled installer to make "inlaid" patterns. Of course, vinyl now comes in all kinds of attractive patterns as well.

Cork is a great option, but it can get expensive. The benefits being that it is a little warmer and forgiving if you drop something. It can dent, although some denting will rebound over time. It is also renewable and eco-friendly. And may be hypo-allergenic as well.

Carpet is the warmest option--sometimes important in a cool basement. But if you plan to let your kids do craft projects on it, it will obviously be more difficult to keep clean.

Have you looked at the rubberized tiles?

A last option is to stain and seal the concrete floors and use throw rugs where needed. I have nearly 5000 sq ft of colored and polished concrete in my home. We love it--it was stained the color of rootbeer and looks a little like leather tiles. (Leather, another option, but not very practical for a child's play area). I wax it once every two weeks or so.

Good luck!

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I agree with your leaning towards linoleum (they have some nice looking and better quality kind out on the market) I hate the tile in my kitchen...the grout always looks dirty and things break on it. We have stained concrete in the rest of the house (except the master, which is carpet...on its way to becoming wood...too expensive to clean) and I like it but i feel like its hard on the joints after being on my feet all day. Area rugs are always nice to use strategically on whatever hard surface you choose.

depending on what you want to spend you could look into cork flooring. its safe and strong-good for kids to play on.

we have laminate wood flooring and love it. The boys love to shoot their cars down the hallway and see how far they can go. It is durable, and it is easy to clean up.

I had the same exact question when we were finishing our 700 sq ft. basement a few months ago. I thought carpet would keep it warmer, but that was then only positive with the carpet. We have a dog, plus a 1 and 2-year-old. We ended up doing bamboo pergo and it is lovely, holds up and cleans up great. It was $2/sq ft. which I thought was excellent. Plus it looks nice.

We did Berber carpet in our basement in MN and it holds up very well and is easy to clean - we did get the kind with stain master in it as well. To further cushion and protect the floor we had the big foam mats that you can buy at Lowe's or online - One Step Ahead now offers some that are a "natural wood" color and would look great on laminate or linoleum and would provide you baby with a nice cushy place to roll around on or crawl and can easily be moved around. My son (now 2.5) uses his mats to build pretend things like houses and garbage trucks so they've definitely grown with him!

Not sure where you live and I understand the flooding concern, but for us carpet was a better choice because the basement floor would have been too chilly if we went with linoleum or laminate but maybe temp isn't an issue for you :)

i have no idea what pergo is but my mom's basement has a special plasticky very short carpet that is basically waterproof and made for basements. i wouldn't put anything down there that you'd be heartbroken if it got wet and ruined. have you talked to anyone in the field?

Have you looked at cork? They have some new engineered products that install like a Pergo floor. It is warm, neutrally colored, and has some cushion. It can be vacuumed and damp mopped (depending on the surface treatment). There are many grades. The biggest downside is that it can be dented by heavy objects.

UPDATE: Dallas store's website is www.green-living.com The product I was thinking of is called MARMOLEUM.

There is a store in Dallas called GREEN LIVING, where I saw a display of the linoleum-like product. Was it made from cork?? I do not remember. But worth a trip to Dallas before you decide. We installed Pergo in our kitchen and living room when it first came out, around 1997. It wore well for the 5 years we used it, but we never had a pipe break, so never saw how it would stand up to water damage. When we rented the house for several years, the claws of 2 inside dogs had it pretty scratched up.
NOTE: Oops, I just saw that you don't live in Texas! Not worth your time to "drive to Dallas" like I said!! But find that store online - - and call them and ask them the name of that flooring product that they used to carry. I thought it was so cool, because you could get bright colors for kids' rooms. Perhaps make a purple border?