Replacing Flooded Basement Flooring

Tom Kraeutler asks,

We recently replaced carpeting with laminate flooring in one room of the basement. Yesterday the pipe broke on the sump pump and flooded the basement floor. As a result, we’re pulling out the rest of the carpeting in the basement floor and replacing it.

We are wondering if we have to pull out the new laminate flooring? This is the room all the water went through to get to the carpet. I’m worried about mold.

Our Answer

Replacing the carpet in your basement with laminate flooring was a great move. Even if you hadn’t had a flood, carpet is a really bad idea for a basement. Basically carpet in a basement is mold food!
Mold needs three things to grow: water, air and organic matter. Carpet holds dust and dirt, which can be very organic. Plus, the backing material on carpet is also very organic. This plus the allergens carpet holds, like dust mites, make it a very bad idea for basement flooring.
Laminate, on the other hand, has no such limitations. In fact, it can be submerged for days on end and suffer no deterioration whatsoever. Since laminate is totally inorganic, you should have no worries about mold on your laminate floor. Just dry the laminate floor, damp mop it with a 10-20% bleach to water solution, and the laminate floor will be good to go.
Also, you might want to talk to an insurance adjuster about your flood. With any luck, you could claim enough damage to pay for the rest of that new laminate floor!