In January 2024, we discovered a cracked pipe that was connected to the sump pump in our basement. This wasn’t an electrical issue, it was literally a pipe that was somehow cracked in half. This caused sump pump water to spray all over our basement storage closet! We were able to clean up the muddy water and clean the items that were sprayed. Most items are stored in plastic bins, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. However, then we discovered that the water had seeped into the adjoining room that shares a wall with the storage closet. This meant we had to rip out the carpet, have a company come in to dry the floors and baseboards, and figure out what to do with the floors. Here is what we decided – the look of LVP flooring in our basement home gym.
The Room Before
The room adjacent to the storage room has been many things over the years! Kid’s lounge, craft/game area, video game area, a place to sleep when sleepovers happened, etc. It’s basically just an extra bedroom in the basement. When we initially finished our basement, we added carpet to the room. It was still in good shape, but it got completely soaked with the sump pump incident. It had to be ripped up. With our kids getting older and using the space less and less, we decided that this “flood” would force us to decide what to do with it once and for all.
The Mini Flood
As mentioned before, we had an incident with a cracked pipe leading to our sump pump. It sprayed dirty water all over our storage room and eventually leaked into the adjacent room. We had to have the space dried out and the carpet ripped out. The joys of homeownership, am I right?!
Creating a Home Gym
Forced to make a decision about this extra space, I decided to turn it into a little home gym for myself. Once that was decided, we figured we didn’t need carpet in this space anymore. That started me on the process of looking for flooring options – tile, hardwoods, painted concrete, LVP, etc. I knew I wanted to bring samples home in different colors and textures and materials, so I called up my flooring contact and and brought home some samples and did some brainstorming and researching.
Choosing LVP Flooring
There were several things to consider when choosing LVP over tile or real hardwoods. My friend has LVP in her basement gym area, so we went over to look at it. She loves it and recommended it. This room butts up to tile floors as you can see above. Should we carry that throughout to keep it cohesive? We have real dark hardwood floors throughout the rest of our home. Should we just do this space too, to keep it the same? Would light colored floors look best for a gym space?
My flooring contact also though LVP would be a great option for this space being that it is super durable, water resistant, easy to install, and easy to clean. And, it’s a lot cheaper than real hardwood floors that scratch and dent more easily. Ultimately, I decided to go with the dark color that is similar to our floors upstairs as to not introduce another different option.
LVP Details
Exact Details of our LVP Flooring
COREtec VV023-00202 in color Deep Smoked Oak
It comes with an excellent warranty and is used in commercial projects so I know it’s durable. I like that the flooring pieces fit together tightly and look seamless, while also giving the look of real hardwoods floors.
This LVP flooring was installed in a few hours and we have loved having it in the home gym area! This is our first and only time using LVP, and so far so good. I still love our real hardwood floors for the main living areas, but in this small space, it fits perfectly. Let me know if you have any questions! xo
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