Vinyl flooring in the basement (concrete slab 1960)?

Hello forum,

we have recently completely renovated a house built in 1960. There are still a few small things to finish here and there, but now a room in the basement is up first, which is supposed to become the "workshop." Currently, there is only the bare concrete floor (floor slab – should be 10 cm – no further details known – with a drain in the middle). To make it a bit "warmer underfoot" and more comfortable to walk on, the idea is to lay a vinyl floor there. My concerns / questions:
- How great is the risk of condensation under the vinyl? (the room itself is dry)
- The drain in the middle should remain open. It is only used in exceptional cases – but that shouldn’t be a problem with vinyl, right?
- Does it make sense to lay an impact sound (in this case more heat) insulation under the vinyl covering, e.g., 2mm cork?
There is no heating in the room (possibly an occasional fan heater).

Further suggestions and thoughts are welcome!

Thank you,
Micha

Hello, well I would choose an epoxy primer (moisture barrier), then level it and then glue down the floor covering. Alternatively, you could simply paint/seal the leveling compound and that’s fine...

Regards

For a workshop, I find vinyl (full vinyl 100% waterproof) to be a suitable covering. Easy to clean, inexpensive. Installing impact sound insulation to have more "foot warmth" I consider unnecessary. Hopefully, you will wear more than just "safety socks" in the workshop? We have these Dutch wooden shoes standing at the entrance of a community workshop ;-) Heavy equipment/machines would crush this insulation anyway. Falling workpieces or tools would damage the floor more. Epoxy primer presumably costs significantly more? Otherwise certainly also a good choice. I would level the floor beforehand anyway. You can hardly do that after setting up the workshop, and otherwise, it’s always so "üselig" when unlevel.

: The topic "foot warmth" can be completely dismissed, as there is no possibility for it with an earth-contacting floor slab without appropriate thermal insulation layers beneath a floating screed! For smaller room dimensions, one could lay a loosely installed elastic floor covering for optical room design purposes. However, this is not a recommendation from my side! Everything else that is being considered here will not be successful. The basement floor was originally assigned a subordinate use in planning. With a reasonable effort, a "new use with elevated requirements" is not possible. For a workshop floor, a simple coating with a concrete paint should suffice, which will only be beneficial for the appearance. -------------------- Regards: KlaRa