I'm looking for some experiences with basement floor coatings or flooring options. It's unfinished and will be for the foreseeable future, but we're planning to use some of it for a home gym, craft area, and storage, and the dust/dirt keeps getting tracked upstairs (some may be from construction, some efflorescence?). It's smooth concrete at the moment, about 5 months old. I've called/emailed a few places about epoxy, concrete stamping, acid staining, polishing, etc and can't seem to get a response. Two of the epoxy guys I did get a hold of wouldn't do it because they couldn't get their sander down the stairs. I'm not sure I'm up for a DIY project right now... have enough on my plate for the next few months. Cost is a factor too and the area is roughly 1200 sq ft.

Maybe a water based sealer would work for you.

No need to use a sealer on it unless you're having condensation issues.

What exactly are you wanting to do with the floor? There are multiple options that you have to choose from. The down side is that all of them will require you to etch you floor. This is going to make your new floor more porous so your coating will have something to grab onto. You can buy concrete etcher from Lowes or Home Depot, but you'll need to find a way to completely clean the floor afterwards. Most people will use a power washer to really get the newly etched floor clean. This is the way to go if you have a drain in your basement. If this is not an option, you'll have to get a sander to take care it and then deal with all the dust.

Of course you can skip all of that if you want to redo it every couple years. Concrete paints work decently, but it all depends on the amount of traffic its going to see. Epoxy is awesome stuff, really tough, and lasts a long time. Another option would be tiling it, ceramic or vinyl will work. Vinyl can be laid directly on top of the concrete floor. Ceramic can also be laid direct on the concrete floor. But, I'd put a vapor barrier down first if you plan on going with ceramic. Ceramic on top of concrete can cause some condensation issues if you have much humidity in Colorado. You can also go with a durable laminate flooring with a felt pad.

Race-deck. Then u can take it with u if u ever move again.

I learned about etching a long time ago (probably another good reason I'm avoiding those DIY kits... haha).

The basement itself is going to stay unfinished for 8-10 years most likely. We may eventually finish it and add carpet and tile, but to be honest we have enough room upstairs, so I just want to make good use of the space. Workout, crafts, storage, maybe a winter workbench and that's probably all I'll use it for. The workout stuff will see use almost daily. The rest will sit until needed.

I thought about vinyl but can't believe how expensive it is for the not-so-hideous stuff. It's as much as ceramic, which I started looking into last night. Not much humidity here and I struggle to keep the house at 40%.

Not a bad option, but at $3.50 sq/ft...

Another inexpensive option to the Race Deck would be Harbor Freight. They have some foam squares that might work for you, and a bit cheaper too.

I Don't Know.

I'm in a similar situation, unfinished basement that I will eventually finish, likely 2-5 years down the road, but wanted to cover the concrete floor temporarily.

I went to a carpet outlet store and found some cheap ass bulk carpet tile squares, and bought enough to cover the basement floor with, it's simple and just requires adhesive.

Once you want to remove them, you just lift them with a putty knife and clean the leftover adhesive away with mineral spirits.

Gives you a comfortable flooring, albeit not very padded, that can be easily removed and reused or donated to others when finished with it.

I also epoxied a corner where I have a work bench, HVAC/Water heater and I know it will always be a rough/work bench area even when I finish the basement.

I cannot remember how much the squares cost me, but it was the cheapest option that was long lasting, easy to maintain and removable when I looked at all the options.