Rental grade carpet vs laminate in my basement, still torn

I spent three weekends in March debating this for my finished basement in Columbus. The carpet was cheaper at $1.89 a square foot with pad, but I worried about moisture from the slab. Ended up going with vinyl plank because a buddy who does floors said carpet traps musty smells down there. It went in easy over the weekend, looks decent, but now I regret not testing the concrete humidity first. Anyone else pick wrong and have to rip it out later?

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logan_white5921d ago

That "buddy who does floors" line got me, because I had the same advice and went against it. I put carpet in my basement in Cincinnati back in 2019, and it was fine for about three years until a slow leak from the water heater turned one corner into a soggy mess. Ripped it all out last fall, spent more on the tear out and haul away than I saved on the original carpet. Your vinyl plank is probably the smarter move, even if you skipped the humidity test.