2. Vinyl Vinyl, especially luxury vinyl plank (LVP) or luxury vinyl tile (LVT), is another popular basement flooring option.

Vinyl plank flooring (VPF) and vinyl tile flooring (VTF) are similar to click laminate flooring, but they're better in three ways. First, VPF and VTF are impervious to liquid and vapor moisture.

But stay away from this flooring option if you’re prone to allergies or dislike the strong odour of linseed oil. Also, expect to pay $2 to $4 a square foot, installed, for sheet linoleum.

Vinyl, ceramic tile, carpeting, linoleum, cork, laminate—all of these materials, and even some less common ones, can be successfully used as basement flooring.

For decades, finished flooring such as carpet, vinyl and even hardwood was installed directly on concrete basement floors, in the same way it might be installed in first- or second-storey spaces.

Transition pieces can be used to go from one type of flooring to the vinyl. In this case, the long transition was “welded” to the existing vinyl in the entry hall.

We mentioned loose-lay vinyl to Tom from Koester’s. He said they had a wide variety of patterns to choose from, so we went to the store and brought back samples. Q: What did you have installed?