Floating Laminate Floors in basements.

[4x4Dakota]

Hi,
Brand new to your site and all I can say is I wish I would have found this site sooner.

My question is I'm putting Floating laminate flooring(7mm thick) in my basement directly on the concrete. The local stores recommend different types of underlayes. Being that the floor will be installed in a basement the underlay most have a plastic barrier to keep moisture or dampness down.
Remember winter temps go down below -30ºC outside here in Canada, so I need something that is a type of insulation aswell.
Some have recommended cork, and others tell me to stay away from cork. There's one underlay that has really got my attention and it's called Quietwalk (has foam than plastic than foam again) and measures about 6 to 7 mm thick.

Any suggestions you guys may have would be great.

Thanks.

[blt]

Hmm... basements and -30oC are not something most australians would be familiar with :)
This may be a dumb idea, but given the problems with dampness a lot of basements supposedly have, would it be worth painting the floor with a flexible waterproofing membrane (like the ones used for shower recesses) before laying the flooring? Usually floating flooring doesn't handle any moisture well - it can buckle/swell. There's quite a few messages on this board regarding "click" or floating floors and potential problems with dampness.
I think cork would make a nice insulating layer for your floor, but it's a bit harder to maintain than some other flooring & can dent badly... depends what you're planning on using the basement for!

[nik]

I agree with the whole basement and minus 30 degrees celcius thing being hard to come by in Australia. But I may be of some help, Parador make a product which they claimed was moisture resistant, i didn't pay much attention to it because it didn't fall into the product group that I required, but i can remember reading that and it just stuck in my head. I'm looking at their website as I'm writing this and they call it Clever Click with AQUA-PROOF substrate. Goto www.parador.de and go into the english site. Once there click on flooring and then laminate and it should be there under Clever Click. I've used Parador before and it's a good product, and you'll find if you did go with the Parador then they also make underlay's and also other accessories that would suit your requirements. But you should expect to pay for the added quality and moisture resistance, but it's worth it in the end. You should order their free catalogues, they are very informative.

my 2 cents worth has now run out.

Nik.