I feel like I just talked about this on WTF with regards to our old house, but that was actually in 2020... Anyway, different house, different issues (also, more financial resources, yay!)

So, the new house has a walk out basement which includes a finished room, a finished bathroom, and then two unfinished rooms and a crawl space.

The finished room will be Mr. SK's studio. It also has a Murphy bed that is attached to the wall (and is actually super, super nice.) We considered removing it or converting it to bookshelves, but we're going to keep it (if nothing else, we'll sleep down there during nighttime tornado warnings!)

The finished room has carpeting, which looks relatively new and is fine. But if there's a water event, all bets are off. So we're trying to decide if we want to get rid of the carpeting and replace it with some kind of waterproof flooring.

The trouble is the details. There's a carpeted stairway, then there's a strip of... I don't know what, sheet vinyl? And then the carpet. Photos below.

So I'm thinking we could have the carpet removed and replaced with flooring, but leave the strip of vinyl and leave the stairs carpeted? Would that be weird? I can certainly get a quote for doing the stairs.

But if we do the stairs, should the stairs be the same as the new flooring? And then if we get rid of the carpet on the stairs, do we also want to get rid of the vinyl strip?

Oh and if we do the stairs, how much do they need to match the main floor?

Also, eventually, we probably want to install a railing on the outside of those stairs, do we need to do that at the time that we do the flooring or could it wait?

Ok, here are some photos. Oh, also, this room will be painted, the walls will be a warm off-white or cream color (not yellow, but not in the gray family). Probably we'll use one of the colors used on the main floor.

Last ETA: I see a lot of options for waterproof flooring that are wood-look (LVP etc.) but another option might be to get rid of the carpet and have the whole floor be like the floor by the stairs? Mr. SK is at the house now and he's going to check to see if the previous owners left any of that flooring behind so that we can see what it is.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice!

No one good answer but a few considerations:

It looks good now and has been there for a while. If you like it I’d keep it until there is an issue and let your insurance company replace it if need be. You’re going to file a claim for damaged doors and drywall anyway.

Does your house have a sump pump? The way it’s sited on that hill I suspect it may not. If you don’t have a sump pump a water issue isn’t real likely as you probably have “daylight drains” which tend to be very reliable.

If you do have a sump pump, when was the last time it was serviced? If there is a battery backup, when was it serviced? How old is the battery?

If you maintain the sump pump setup a water issue isn’t very likely on a newer house like yours.

P.S. one more thing I have on my radar. Carpet can hide an uneven floor, and I worry that there may be things about the floor we won't know until we get the carpet pulled up. One local flooring place said they can do an in-home estimate and that the floor could be leveled if need be, but it gets kind of complicated with the baseboards, the murphy bed and so on...

So there always is the path of least resistance, which is to do nothing...

In terms of water concerns, the way the land around the house is, I'm not super worried about it. There is one sump pump, we're adding another, and on the other side of this room is another room and then the crawl space, so in many ways, it seems unlikely that we'll have water in here.

But never say never. So if we do change the flooring, it will be to get rid of the carpet and replace it with something waterproof.

But yeah, not replacing it now is an option.

Any thoughts about that would also be appreciated!

TIA!

Thanks Steve! looks like we simul-posted.

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It looks good now and has been there for a while. If you like it I’d keep it until there is an issue and let your insurance company replace it if need be.

Yep, this is definitely one option.

quote:

Does your house have a sump pump? The way it’s sited on that hill I suspect it may not. If you don’t have a sump pump a water issue isn’t real likely as you probably have @daight drains@ which tend to be very reliable.

What is a @daight drain@?

quote:

If you do have a sump pump, when was the last time it was serviced? If there is a battery backup, when was it serviced? How old is the battery?

There is a sump pump on the opposite side, in the work room. We are actually going to get another one installed because there's a little bit of water seeping into part of the crawl space. The rest of the basement looks like it's never had water.

quote:

If yiu maintain the sump pump setup a water issue isn’t very likely either on a newer house like yours.

Yes, so maybe rather than doing the floor, we should install back-up batteries on the sump pumps. And leave the floor as is...

Maybe.

But if we do do the floor, only doing the carpet side is the path of least resistance... But what to do about that vinyl part....

It’s pretty easy to detect an uneven floor by walking around it barefoot even if there is carpet. If you can’t detect it I’d ignore it.

“Daylight drains” are pipes that lead from the “French Drain” (perforated) piping that channel water from around your house out in to the yard somewhere. At the lake house they drain directly to the lake.

But apparently doesn’t sit high enough for that setup and you have a pump. No worries, they’re common. Just make sure it works.

Battery backup pumps are separate little pumps that go in the sump along with the main pump and run on a battery. They only start when the main pump can’t keep up - due either to a power outage or failure of the primary pump. They generally include an alarm that sounds when the backup pump turns on so you know there is an issue.

I highly recommend them. If you have them or plan to get them, please post on it and I’ll walk you through how to set them up. The setup in my daughter’s house wasn’t done right and their finished basement flooded even though there was never a power failure.

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It’s pretty easy to detect an uneven floor by walking around it barefoot even if there is carpet. If you can’t detect it I’d ignore it.

Ahh, good call. We can check that. The only reason I have it on my radar is because the old house, the floor was uneven enough that they told us we couldn't use our chosen flooring, and then there were questionable tiles, so the contractor wouldn't do the leveling, and we had a pretty tight budget. For this house, if the floor isn't level, we can likely pay for it to be leveled, but I'm a little worried bc of the baseboards and the murphy bed. Anyway!

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Does your sump have a battery backup? Why a second sump?

The current sump doesn't have a back-up. That seems like low-hanging fruit, for starters.

We're getting a second pump because this house has a crawl space that runs the total width of the house, and the current sump is on one end, so we're getting on on the other end. There's a dip there and the inspection found water there. We had a "crawl space doctor" inspect it and quote us for a second sump, so we're planning to do that, mostly for peace of mind but also because there is a bit of water there. It seems like it's never gotten into the basement though.

This is not to scale, but maybe it helps?

ETA: the idea is to put in a sump pump where it says "water pooling."



I probably should have drawn the stairs... They are along the line between the workshop and Mr Sk's room.

Where it says garage, that's the main garage (which is on a slab)

If you have a flood the vinyl be ruined along with the carpet. Once water gets under it it’s toast.

Ahhh, good to know!!

So if we redo the floor, we need to redo all of it or what's the point.

Yes, but mind that if you get a flood you’re going to be replacing damaged drywall, doors, and baseboard anyway. A little vinyl either either way won’t be consequential.

A second sump for the crawlspace sounds like a good plan. My only concern would be how it’s getting in there and if you could do something to keep water away from there. Grading? Crack repair?

As yiu say it hasn’t been an issue but it wouldn’t hurt to look around.

quote:

if you get a flood you’re going to be replacing damaged drywall, doors, and baseboard anyway

My thinking is, if we get a little bit of water, carpet will be toast even if the walls weren't impacted. But waterproof flooring wouldn't be.

Maybe that's not the right way to think about it.

What happened at Kim’s house was that the primary pump failed and tripped the circuit breaker. It shouldn’t have failed but I’m told that they should be replaced every 5 years anyway. I don’t know how true that is but basements kind of freak me out anyway and I had a new one put in when we moved here.

Their backup pump should have taken over but it didn’t for two reasons: the battery charger was on the same circuit as the primary pump so the battery wasn’t getting charged - and - the battery was 5 years old and probably wouldn’t take a charge anyway.

So-

When the electrician comes in to wire up the new sump pump, insist that s/he run two circuits, one for the primary pump and one for the battery charger. At the same time, install a second circuit for the battery charger serving the primary sump.

There is a school of thought that says the battery charger, which is a very light load, should be on an existing circuit that serves other loads like lights and receptacles. If that circuit trips you’ll know because other things will stop working.

Probably overkill but that’s what I did.

Steve that's super helpful!!!

I'll talk with Mr SK about this and see what he thinks about keeping the carpeting vs not.

Random thoughts, in no particular order.

The finished area is likely carpeted because the previous owners were using it as a (probably) guest room. I think a lot of people prefer carpeting in sleeping areas.

Also it's a basement floor, so it's probably a bit warmer with carpeting and the padding underneath.

The non-carpeted area (let's call it vinyl flooring) is there because of the outside entrance. Carpeting would have gotten dirty with any traffic from outside. Makes a lot of sense for it to be there.

I'm cheap. If the carpet and vinyl flooring are in good condition and are a color I can live with, I wouldn't be changing anything just to avoid a possible future water intrusion problem. Like Steve said, wait for a problem to happen (which it most likely won't) and deal with it then. Saves a lot of money.

General rule - I think that minimizing the types of flooring always looks nicer than having different floors in adjacent areas. That said, whoever picked the carpet and the vinyl flooring did a very good job of matching color and pattern to make it look like there's one kind of flooring in there. If you did decide to take out the carpet, I would definitely take out the existing vinyl and make all the flooring look the same. Otherwise it looks like you cheaped out by not replacing the exiting vinyl.

Changing the flooring on the stairs wouldn't be an issue for me either, assuming it's in good shape. Heck, installing a railing on those basement stairs wouldn't be a priority for me either. It's not like you have kids in and out who might fall off the stairs. There's also a railing on the opposite side. From a design perspective, I wouldn't replace it just to have it match the basement area. I'm a fan of carpet on stairs. Better footing and less noisy.

What does Mr SK prefer for his studio, carpet or something vinyl?