The greater Seattle area might not be known for flooding, but with the mountains close by, every winter we get at least one large snowfall followed by warmer temperatures and torrential rains. The result is flooding. It isn’t a surprise to those that live along the rivers or in the Flood plains, but if you live up in the foothills and come home to find your basement flooded by a broken washer supply line, frozen pipe or a plugged toilet, the devastation is no less tragic or costly. A few times a year, we get calls from clients who have had their basement flooded. When they get to replacing the flooring, many are looking into Decorative Concrete options not just for their beauty, but because a decorative concrete floor would be impervious to damage from flood waters should the space ever get flooded again. We recently did a floor in a rental home where a faulty toilet flapper and a plugged toilet combined to flood the better part of a downstairs. The idea of a floor that was extremely durable, beautiful and wouldn’t need to be replaced if another flood happened, made it a perfect choice for the homeowners. Since the basement was already torn apart to dry things out, they decided to move the shower into the old closet space to create more room in the small bath. Having the plumber install a floor drain while he was at it, seemed like affordable insurance to hopefully prevent or minimize damage from any future water problems. On this particular job there were some ground moisture issues with the concrete basement floor that became apparent after all the demolition. We installed an epoxy moisture barrier, and then did a second coat of epoxy with a quartz broadcast to make the transition from epoxy materials back to concrete materials, to finish the floor. We used a self-hydrating concrete mix to get the appropriate slope to the floor drain, and to allow us to re-coat the following day with a decorative concrete overlay. The clients chose a trowel on micro-topping product that was put down in two coats and then colored with a stain. We put a clear urethane top-coat on to protect it and the result was a beautiful decorative concrete floor will hold up to the abuse of renters and will not need to be replaced should the basement ever flood again. Fixing the damage from a flood is extremely costly and time consuming, even when covered by insurance. If your current basement flooring is in need of an upgrade, decorative concrete is a beautiful, and durable choice that can cost about the same as many traditional types of flooring, and should you ever experience a flood, would offer one less headache and expense in putting things back together. For more information about decorative concrete flooring options and pricing please give us a call or fill out the form here: http://www.seattlesurfaces.com/contact_us.htm