I’m wondering if anyone can enlighten me on kitchen floors. We will be replacing ours soon and I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about cork. It will butt against a wood floor on one side and carpet on the other. My husband does not want to extend the wood and would prefer linoleum or similar.
My questions: Does linoleum wear better than cork? Can linoleum tiles be used in a kitchen without all those seams being a cleaning/germ issue? (We were looking at the snap together kind.) Will cork dent? (We have a small eating bar.) How does one clean cork, and is it impractical to use in a kitchen because of moisture?
Thanks for any input!
Replies
Cork flooring is grrreat for kitchens. We have installed quite a few. Very easy on the feet and great if you have kids - for quiet and crawling.
Easy to install, but not as easy as linoleum tiles. Lots of prep. not as forgiving. Do plenty of research. Most cork tiles are available in 12x12 and 12x24 sizes.
As for wear:
Only the finish should wear off any floor. When it is noticable, apply another coat of finish. The finish protects the material.
The finish (polyurethane) seals the cork so it is no longer absorbant.
you clean a cork floor the same way you clean a poly'd wood floor.
The floor will dent. How long the force creating the "dent"/ compression was applied will determine how long it take to bounce back.
F.
Frankie...
When you install cork floors, do you put a layer of foam, felt, or rosin paper down on the subfloor, or just right doen on the subfloor?
No! No! No!
You must first skimcoat the subfloor with Ardex SD-F Feather Finish. (ALL subfloor imperfections and textures will telegraph through.) Once dry, apply a coat or two of non-flamable contact adhesive (spec'd by floor'g manufacturer) and set cork tiles.
F
skimcoat the subfloor with Ardex SD-F Feather Finish
I'm curious. So, what steps do you take to get the subfloor Ardex-"tight"? (I'm thinking of retrofits where a person finds diagonally-laid subfloors particularly.)Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I would first lay down 1/2" underlayment (This way you minimize the # of seams) and then skim the whole floor - not just the seams.
The SD-F is great stuff. Very short pot-life though - 15-20 min. The material on the floor dries in 15 min. Super smooth finish
F
lay down 1/2" underlayment ... and then skim the whole floor
Thanks for the advise.
I've been thinking about cork for my kitchen, which presently has DIY armstrong vinyl over some sort of VCT (neither is real pretty <g>). I'm half afraid of the archeology under the bottom layer of vinyl tile--it's dead level with the narrow strip pine in the other 64% of the house.
What's your preference for thresholds with the cork?Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
If you have narrow strip pine in the adjacent room to the cork, use a similar pine. Narrow or wide is an asthetic decision.
F
Thanks for the encouragement. Although the "how to's" are over my head, they'll be great for my husband. I appreciate the feedback!
use a similar pine
I might, but matching to the 52 year old, likely mixed-on-site stain (to look like stained HW) might be a tad problematic. Cork offers some comfort to go with easy-care in the kitchen considerations.
Not that it's anything likely to happen anytime soon, barring a big lotto win (which would mean buying a stinkin' ticket <g>). The kitchen wants a gut-level, to-the-studs rehab in any event.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I think I'm talking about an entirely different kind of cork flooring. It's about 1/2" thick with a layer of cork on the bottom and a variety of patterns and colors on the top lamination. Comes in 12" X 36" panels and clicks together with a tongue and groove system.
Not familiar. Do you have a web address for the manufacturer?
F
Yes...they say with this type, since it has a layer of granulated cork laminated on the bottom of the tiles, you don't need to put doen a layer of anything:
http://www.infinitycork.com/home.htm
couple years ago installed engineered type panel, t&g, w cork facing you're talking about worked good, if remember correctly, they recommended waterborne polyurethane coating check w manufacturer for their product, think mine used foam underlayment contractor and me beat on panels w hammer, wood, took some punishment more forgiving on subfloor surface than old glue down type cork squares