Using Marmoleum Flooring in Basements

If you use floor radiant heating electric or otherwise, this can penetrate through any underlayment except lose with reflective foil. Depending upon the R-value for the underlayment the infra-red heat will penetrate through more or less quickly. In this case radiant heat, it is best to use an underlayment with the lowest R value. Our SCI 1/8" synthetic rubber pad is an excellent non-toxic pad with a very low R-value of .097 making it well suited to in-floor heating.



Can you use the other pads? Yes, but the response time will be slower. This means, if someone opens the windows or doors in the winter and the house gets cold, the response time to bring the temp back up to normal conditions will take a little longer if the heat has to fight its way through the underlayment. Having said that, we have confirmed with numerous customers that radiant heat works fine with cork flooring or marmoleum click flooring, both of which have cork underlayment built into them.




Instructions For Installing Marmoleum in Basements:

When you are installing peel and stick tiles ensure the subfloor plywood is the same temperature top and bottom for example the crawlspace or basement. This will make sure that the substructure does not shrink causing the tile to move. Before placing the new tiles on the floor surface make sure all boxes of tile are open and placed in the room which they will be installed for a minimum of 48-hours at room temperature.


Is Marmoleum  Toxic?


First off, Marmoleum in itself is not toxic, it is a natural and recycled material, however those materials that are placed under Marmoleum can be toxic so if you are doing a project, these are the materials to watch out foor.

There are many types of underlayment such as cork, rubber, and recycled. Some have vapor barriers built into them such as the EcoTimber recycled underlayment but cork and rubber do not. Almost every flooring manufacturer requires a vapor barrier to protect against moisture coming up from the subfloor. Therefore, a 6 mil polyethylene sheeting is required to be placed beneath the underlayment.

Our Moisture Block vapor barrier is a recycled plastic sheeting that is ideal for this purpose. All of our underlayments and vapor barriers are non-toxic and are listed along with each flooring product. Please read the installation instructions of each product for further details of what type of underlayment is required.