ᐅ Steps between basement rooms

Hello everyone,

In our basement, one room and the hallway have underfloor heating. The other three rooms do not have underfloor heating. Therefore, the floor buildup is 14.5 cm (5.7 inches) in the rooms with underfloor heating and 8 cm (3.1 inches) in the rooms without it.

Now there is the option to install insulation under the screed to make the floor levels even. For the storage room (water crates, food supplies, etc.) we think this makes sense to avoid having a step. For the laundry room and the utility room, we are unsure if it is practical, since in case of water damage it might even be an advantage if water does not immediately flow into the other rooms. What do you think, or how have you handled this in your own homes?

Best regards,
Oliver

Hello Oliver,

we only have underfloor heating in part of the basement rooms (hallway and guest room).

However, all our finished floors are at the same height, so there are no steps between the individual rooms.

To achieve this, our screed was poured at different thicknesses, since the various floor coverings have different thicknesses.

However, we are only talking about differences of a few millimeters.

Can you drain your laundry and utility room through a central floor drain with a slight slope leading towards it?

If this is possible, I would prefer this option of a “stop step” into the rooms.

Regards,

Dirk