I’m confused. Rocketeer, the OP, is constructing a bathroom in a basement with some dampness. He was concerned about the cost of tile. So is it his son who’s getting into weightlifting or what?
I can’t imagine anything better than the ceramic tile I put down 10 years ago. I used cheap Home Depot tiles and followed the instructions.
It gets wet every couple of months when the sump pump float catches on something. The cats pee all over the place.
I drop whatever I want (no 45lb barbell plates though) and nothing happens.
If one were to break, I have a stash of spares: just chisel out the old and put in a new.
And it’s very satisfying to look at after I give it a good mopping.
Downside: the work. It took me a full week to do the job. I had to remove the crap paint that was on the slab, level it somewhat, cut several dozen tiles in special shapes, and then spend a couple long days laying the tile followed by one morning doing the grout.
Maybe you can replace the metal free weights with rubber covered ones?
Wait, I don’t even have a son! :rolleyes: All I’m looking for is a fairly cheap floor covering that’s going to stay in place on my dampish concrete slab.
Like I said, I like the interlocking mats. Easy to remove and clean when you get a flood. Also I like walking on it better than tile on a cold day. It’s fairly cheap and is a no brainier to lay out. And it comes in a variety of patterns that gives an air of steampunk. I like the stuff they have for a garage floor that looks like thread plate.
Comes down to how much work you want to put into it and what you will be doing down there. I like tile too and have it in the kitchen, bathrooms and entry ways; just didn’t fit into my basement vision. YMMV.
And hey, at least I didn’t recommend a heating system!
The floor will be cheap; the child support for your son is what will hurt in the long run!
Tile can be fairly cheap. As someone suggested, look for the clearance stock in the tile store or the big box store. And as also suggested, you’re not talking about a big room so it’s not going to cost much. Sheet vinyl would also be cheap.
This is where I get confused as my basement is the same size as my entire first floor of my house. Doing tile would have been expensive and taken a long time. How big of a basement are we talking here? Never saw it inferred that it was small . . .
The OP referred to a bathroom. For your whole basement it might get very expensive using quality tiles, but the clearance sale route is possible. I’ve used most of them now but I had about 80 sq. ft. of thick floor tiles that only cost me about $40. I bought them a while ago so they would cost more now, and of course finding enough in just one color/pattern would be difficult, but you can make floor patterns using many different color tiles as long as they match in thickness.
Damn, flew right by the bathroom part. Tile yes just tile the thing. 
Never understood why anyone would put cheap flooring in a bathroom.
I thought it was clear that I was replying to Rocketeer, who is building a bathroom in a damp basement.
Yeah, well I’ve been looking for an excuse not to work today.
Tiling a bathroom is cheap and the right thing to do. Now I have to go do some actual work. Hell I could have come over and tiled it for you in the time I spent BSing about it today.