LESLIE: Joe in New Jersey, you’ve got The Money Pit. What can we do for you today?
JOE: I have a problem with my basement. It’s finished and last year we had a bad storm and water came up through the floor; not the walls, the walls are fine. And the carpet I had down there was ruined and I picked it up and now, you know, I want to put something down there. Well, I saw this product. It’s a rubber carpet, I guess you could it. It’s called Coin Grip. They’re in a lot of buildings on staircases and all. And I was wondering if I could lay something like that over the concrete floor that I have.
TOM: OK. First of all, carpet; very bad idea for basements for a whole bunch of reasons. It traps moisture; it is a food for mold growth and for other types of allergens. So carpet, definitely a bad idea. If you just want to cover the concrete floor, why put any kind of flooring down at all? You could use an epoxy finishing system and paint it. The epoxy systems look pretty good today. They seal the floor and they do a nice job. They’re two-part epoxies. You mix them together. You put them down. They cure within a couple of hours. Sometimes they have color flakes in them. There’s a product called DaiHard from Daich Coatings. There’s another one from QUIKRETE; works the same way.
LESLIE: And they’re very durable and they’re easy to maintain.
TOM: Super durable. If you want some sort of a finished floor we would recommend laminate.
JOE: I think that’s my solution then.
TOM: Yes, sir. Joe, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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