Good Morning All,
What is everyones’ experience with cork flooring. Is it easy to damage (can a woman with heels walk of it)? Does it need to be treated? Is it easy to install? What are the good manufacturers?
Good Morning All,
What is everyones’ experience with cork flooring. Is it easy to damage (can a woman with heels walk of it)? Does it need to be treated? Is it easy to install? What are the good manufacturers?
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Replies
Greetings TWG,
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again which will increase it's viewing.
Perhaps it will catch someone's attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
every court needs a jester
I have lived with cork in three houses now. The answer is that cork can be incredibly durable or can be VERY easy to damage depending on the type you buy.
In our current house we have Moderna cork planks from BHK. http://bhkuniclic.com/home.htmI I would definitely not recommend them. They scratch and tear at the slightest provocation. A $5,000 mistake.
However, real 12-inch square cork tiles that are glued down are great. They're indestructible. My mom has them in a house by a lake that have been underwater at least five times over the last 20 years. When the floods come, all she does is hose the mud out of the house and let it dry. The floor still looks great.
The secret is to have an absolutely flat subfloor. The cork lets the tiniest irregularity (in the subfloor show. I would also have them installed by a professional.
I finally decided to abandon the idea of Cork in favor of 1/4" rubber; primarily due to high cost of good cork flooring; need to treat/maintain the cork; possibility of damage in rough use. Mine is for a 550 sq ft playroom/excercise studio.
Roger <><
I, remember helping my dad put down a cork floor in his sisters house in the late 1950's Last time I saw it , late 90's, looked like the day it was put down. 12 inch squares, glued down, waxed. Jim
I have been selling flooring products for years. Cork floor is the one floor I have never sold, and not for a lack of trying. It is apprently a very tough floor. Problem is that availability can be difficult. If I remember correctly, they harvest cork off the cork tree once every ten years. This makes it difficult to get a company to stand behind their product. I sold a special order cork floor 2 years ago. After three months of waiting for the floor to come in the customer finally cancelled the order.
I had always been told that the floor was popular in Quebec, but I could never get any sound info on the products performance. I always found it to be unattractive and over priced.
My advice, research as much as possible before buying
Dave
"If I remember correctly, they harvest cork off the cork tree once every ten years. This makes it difficult to get a company to stand behind their product."There is more than one cork tree.They don't just get cork once in 10 years..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
You're welcome.
There was quite a bit of discussion about cork flooring earlier. I think the title was "Cork flooring in kitchen?" If you do a "search" you may be able to find it.
Thanks for the bump and helpful answers.
I have seen some really bad cork and it may scare us away. Our dogs are not nice to any flooring and this would be right outside the dog room.
Check duro-design.com. They have six patterns and 56 stock colors. They can custom color also. They can sell you everything you need and their web site is excellent. You can get glue down or floating.
I used about 700 square feet of glue down in a vacation home and have no regrets. Nice on the feet, not as cold or hard as ceramic. They sell a catalyzed finish that has proven quite durable. Cork is easily cut into fancy shapes so you can let your creativity go wild with patterns and borders, etc.
I just put down a W.E. Cork snap together floating floor--for my residential purposes it works really well. It is fantastic in bedrooms for walking on--a bit resilient and "warmer" than wood. My floor is prefinished and I suspect not up to serious dog use.W.E. Cork also offer the more typical glue down floors.I know DuroDesign has a multi coat finish system that goes on after the cork goes down and I suspect W.E. cork does also. That is probably more what one would want for dog use.Like everything there isn't really a one sentence to sum up cork as a flooring material.
We have a dog, and a cork floor. The cork flooring has actually held up much better than the hardwood in terms of doggy damage. Ours is a floating cork floor, and while I was very sceptical about this flooring initially I have grown to like a great deal.