Our PVC Basement Flooring

Our 100+ year old basement will probably never be true finished living space, but earlier this year, we decided it was time to fix it up a bit.

Our goal was to clean out anything we weren’t going to use again (primarily old construction materials), freshen up the surfaces, and – most importantly – have it be a space where we didn’t feel like we needed to wear shoes anymore!

So, we cleaned the “big room” at the bottom of the stairs out, scraped/primed/painted the walls, installed some new lighting & outlets, and removed what was left of the old carpet.

We knew we’d need to do something more with the floor, but the concrete wasn’t in perfect shape. It wasn’t completely level, it had ridges from old carpet glue on it, and when we got really heavy rains, it would sometimes leak a bit. And we didn’t want to spend a fortune fixing any of that.

We priced and considered a whole bunch of options: sheet vinyl, vinyl plank, epoxy, etc. After much debate, we decided these Norsk PVC interlocking tiles were the best fit for our situation.

It’s maybe a bit of an unconventional choice for a basement (these tiles are typically marketed for garages) and I actually have yet to see an actual picture of them installed indoors, but they met our needs perfectly:

  • They are flexible and conform to all of the places where our floor is a bit out of level.
  • They won’t soak up water if any leaks in – and the bottom of the tiles is designed with a bit of an air gap to help with drying.
  • They are easy to pull up if we happen to take more than a little water during an especially rainy period – a feature we’ve already used once!
  • They were budget friendly and an easy-DIY installation (we used a mallet to lock the tiles together and a circular saw to trim around the edges).
  • They are super easy to keep clean with a vacuum and occasional spray mop.
  • The manufacturer (Norsk) was great to work with – they were able to price match the big box store and offer free shipping on enough boxes from the same color lot to complete our project.
Our delivery of Norsk PVC Tiles

We bought enough tiles to do the floor in the big room at the bottom of the stairs, a small hallway and the basement bathroom. So far, we have the big room and the hallway done – we’re waiting for winter (when the yard work is over!) to finish installation in the bathroom. I can’t wait!

We are super happy with the result. While still not a finished basement (it likely never will be), the floor is warmer and SO much easier to keep clean. I saw a show on HGTV one time where they talked about the goal of having a “finished unfinished basement” – and I feel like these PVC tiles are a perfect fit for that!

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One thought on “Our PVC Basement Flooring

  1. Karen says:

    This is a great idea for your specific needs! It looks great too!

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