Op, is your basement prone to flooding?

We just "finished" our basement, but our basement used to flood frequently. We have a sump pump in the corner, and the basement floor has a gutter than runs around the perimeter.

Before I moved all the pinball machines down there, we installed this stuff called "DRIcore" before laying down any flooring. It's a little expensive, but it effectively raises the floor up about a half an inch, and it has plastic feet so the water can run under the floor into the sump. Since then, we haven't had a single water issue, even through both hurricane Irene and Sandy.

dricore (resized).jpg

After we laid down that raised subfloor, we went for simple and cheap, and put down indoor/outdoor carpet. It's not the nicest thing in the world, but it's easy to clean when someone spills their beer or the cats drag their litter out of the litter boxes.