Delta-FL

[ChadTower]

Anyone ever use this?  Opinions?

[shardian]

Very interesting product. I am considering a basement overhaul myself, as the wife will probably never let our baby down there for fear of mold particles and such in the air from the carpet.

Have you found any pricing info yet?

[ChadTower]

No, I'm still trying to find out where I could find it locally, if possible.  Certainly beats the snot out of a wood framed floor in terms of time... and in my basement I need to conserve every inch of ceiling height I can.

EDIT:  Distributor list at the manuf website

Lowe's
DELTAŽ FL can be special ordered at your local Lowe's store. Special order number is 132387.

EDIT2:  Having trouble getting pricing... I've called two of the distributors listed, neither of them know about it but say they can get it... but they both say price will depend on quantity and don't have an idea of "per foot" pricing or anything like that.  I've investigated a couple of products like this and while they look good they cost way too much, so I'm hoping this is different, but so far it's not looking that way.

[shardian]

http://www.dricore.com/en/calculator.aspx

This stuff seems to be mentioned as being good. It is available at Home Depot. In a forum topic, a guy mentioned it is approx. $1.55 per square foot. Considering it also acts as your subfloor, the price isn't too bad at all.

[ChadTower]

I've seen that at Lowe's.  It does look like it would work pretty well and I'm hoping to get a cost comparison for the two methods.  Dricore definitely looks like the faster way to go so the difference between the two will be the key, I think.

[ChadTower]

I'm seeing forum references to a $170/roll price point... that's a 5' x 65.6' roll, so figure 0.55 to 0.60 per sqft once you figure in overlap and waste.

The website says the dimple height is 5/16"... so I figure total height is probably about 6/16"... if you are moving cabs around on it, I'd think 3/4" ply would be a good subfloor?  That works out to 1-1/8" + whatever carpet gets put onto it, likely thin to accommodate the cabs.  This is at probably 0.55/sqft + cost of plywood (anyone offhand know the cost of 3/4" tongue and groove ply?).

Dricore, on the other hand, specs at 14/16".  That's only 1/4" lower.  Lowe's lists it at 5.64 per 2x2 panel which is 1.41/sqft.  And the Dricore does seem much easier.

[shardian]

I'm seeing forum references to a $170/roll price point... that's a 5' x 65.6' roll, so figure 0.55 to 0.60 per sqft once you figure in overlap and waste.

That isn't bad at all, especially if you are going the laminated wood flooring route.

[ChadTower]

That isn't bad at all, especially if you are going the laminated wood flooring route.

That's the big question, and probably what tips one product over the other.  I don't know that I want laminated flooring with cabs/pins on it.

Here is one more comparable product.  Still need to dig up price.

EDIT:  Barricade's site only says it is available at Lowe's in certain states, none of which are anywhere near me.  Barricade is out.

[ChadTower]

Okay, just got home from Lowe's...

The Drilock there is 5.89 per 2x2 square = 1.67/sqft

Delta-FL is figured to be $170 a roll for about 320 usable sqft at 0.53/sqft.  3/4" tongue and groove OSB subflooring at Lowe's is 13.75 per 4x8 sheet for 0.43/sqft.  0.43/sqft + 0.53/sqft = 0.96/sqft.

So, while these numbers aren't in a vacuum, we're looking at Drilock costing 0.69/sqft more or roughly two thirds more than the Delta-FL and standard subflooring.

That's pretty convincing considering the results will probably be the same.

[billf]

What kind of square footage are you guys finishing in the basement?  I didn't go this route when I finished my last basement mainly because of the cost - I finished 900 sq. ft. in my previous house - that would come out to nearly a grand using the Delta-FL option.  We went with just sealing the concrete floor and then had carpeting and padding installed directly over that.  Never had any problems.  This was also a newer house (only 3 years old when I finished the basement) with no moisture/dampness problems whatsoever.

[SavannahLion]

That's the big question, and probably what tips one product over the other.  I don't know that I want laminated flooring with cabs/pins on it.

I'm in the middle of installing some laminate. We've already moved couches and stuff onto the areas already completed and the floor is already getting noticeable scratches. This is just from us moving some boxes around.

So yeah, unless you're prepared to install felt underneath every cabinet once a year, go with carpet.

[shardian]

That's the big question, and probably what tips one product over the other.  I don't know that I want laminated flooring with cabs/pins on it.

I'm in the middle of installing some laminate. We've already moved couches and stuff onto the areas already completed and the floor is already getting noticeable scratches. This is just from us moving some boxes around.

So yeah, unless you're prepared to install felt underneath every cabinet once a year, go with carpet.

With hard wood or laminate, it is almost a requirement to use those mover pads.

Anyways, I looked at laminate and the underlayments this evening and I'm not even sure this Delta stuff is even necessary The 3 in 1 blue stuff is also rated for concrete installations. The flooring specialist suggested that laying down heavy mil plastic before the underlay padding would be quite thorough protection for " peace of mind".
Don't know if you guys have a Value City near you, but the one here has a substantial wood laminate flooring section. Apparently they bought out a HUGE quantity of flooring, as they've kept their store stocked well for some time. The stuff is on sale for $19.99 a box/20sq ft. Seemed like pretty decent stuff as far as the laminates go - IOW, none of it is as good as real wood, so no point in buying the expensive stuff.

[Zero_Hour]

Recently did approx 1200 sq ft of our house with laminate wood flooring (Bamboo and Brazilian Cherry)

I knew that furniture and anything else that would be sitting directly on the floor would need to have some sort of felt padding applied, and that really did the trick as far as preventing scratching. Home Depot and the like have precut adhesive backed material in just about any size you would need. Makes moving the furniture around a breeze as well.

My other concern was the Pin and Juke I have. The Juke weighs as much or more than the pin and has a smaller footprint, and I was concerned as to how likely longterm placement would affect the flooring (indentations). It's only been 6 months, but so far so good.

I didn't have to deal with installing a sub floor, just a vapor barrier / pad, so I have no advice on that route, but the Dri-Core looks sweet from an installation point of view. Good luck with the project whichever route you go.

[ChadTower]

My issue isn't moisture, we have pretty much zero of that (by some miracle).  What we have is cold.  The floor is frigid during the winter and the basement as is hovers in the 50 degree range.  I'm working on all of the ways of sealing in heat before I start enclosing walls and floors.  I'm not entirely sure of the square footage of the basement yet but it won't be that big.  The whole house is 1100sqft over two floors above.

So, really, I don't have evidence to be concerned about moisture... I need to insulate, and heavy mil plastic has no R rating that I know of.

[ChadTower]

Reading more DIY forums about Delta-FL vs Dricore... people seem to be universally happy with Dricore, especially with ease of install.  They're usually happy with Delta-FL and OSB, though some people have said they get some "bounce" to the floor that way because of unevenness of the slab.

[boykster]

It looks like Dricore will get you an easier install, including as you noted levelling the subfloor over an uneven concrete slab.  Over a smallish install, the biggest delta isn't going to be cost, it's going to be installation labor.  If the dricore is a single step install that includes the ability to adjust height, then I'd go that way.

Simply getting an airgap between the concrete and your subfloor will do wonders for the floor temp, as will putting carpet on top of it...

[ChadTower]

You can't adjust the height of Dricore without shims or something... the reason it doesn't bounce is because it is 2x2 squares rather than 4x8 sheets, so it will contour to the slab better.  With a rug that's fine, with a laminate or hardwood I imagine that would suck.

[shardian]

I'll be moving ahead with my basement main area renovation this winter mostly due to this thread. Since I'm only doing the main area, I'm only looking at approx 400 sq. ft.

No store in my area has heard of Delta-FL. I'm just going with vapor barrier and 3in1 underlay.

[ChadTower]

The website does say you can special order it from Lowe's and even has the inventory number, if that helps.  None of the stores near me have heard of it either but they all say they can get it.