Cork flooring?

[Homer]

Anyone tried this? It’s just like the laminate click together flooring in strips but instead of a wood grain for that upper micro-thin top layer, it’s a layer of cork.

Wife likes it but wondering about durability, scratching, but also, the pattern makes me think it’ll look dirty all the time with the irregular pattern and dark spots.

Dunno, anyone have thoughts? Thanks!

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[kayo]

We have cork floors throughout our house and love them. We had two big dogs for most of the time we’ve had the floors and while they did scratch it some, the scratches are difficult to see because of the random visual pattern of the floor. The positives are many. It is warmer and softer than hardwood so very nice underfoot. It is easy to install. It is easy to clean (I use Bona hardwood floor cleaner or a little water to mop it). The negative is that you do have to watch water on these floors. I would not install in a bathroom. We have it in our kitchen and we have a few seams that have popped up a little where the kids have spilled water a little too often (and we did not get to the spill fast enough). We also have have some sunbleaching in a few spots that get very bright sun. That is less of an issue with the newer cork we’ve installed that has better UV resistance. All in all, it is a great flooring material. It is a floor so like any floor it will get banged up, but ours has held up surprisingly well given the kids and dogs. We love it and would install it again without reservation.

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[Homer]

Thanks so much Kayo! Great review! My only other concern is that because of the random pattern, do you ever feel that it is dirty (needing sweeping or mopping) more than an uniform pattern floor like wood? My samples have nice patterns but some black spots as natural cork does and to me this makes me think it will always look like it’s needing a sweep, despite it most likely not needing it…

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[kayo]

Well, I have kids so I have to keep the vacuum handy because it gets crumbs and other kid dirt on it all the time, but I actually think dirt shows up less than it would on a uniform hardwood or tile floor, plus it is anti-static so does not attract dust (one of the reasons we put it in is due to my dust allergies.). Our cork has a strong visual pattern and a warm wood tone so it definitely makes a strong statement, but I don’t think it looks dirtier than a hardwood floor would given the messiness of our home. Our dogs scratched it up quite a bit in spots and even that is not very obvious unless you look closely.

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[celeste17]

Kayo you should invite Homer over for a look see. Lets do a WEB Forum meetup at Kayo’s house to all inspect the floor and see how it holds up to foot traffic. :)

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[Homer]

HAHAHA, yes, real life trial!

Kayo, do you mop your with lots of water or just a wet swiffer type mop? We’re used to tile/wood so we use a sponge mop and not sure if this will affect it.

Also, does your cork have natural depressions in it where there is some variation (like the black spots) or is it completely smooth?

Oy, sorry, one more. Where did you buy yours. Big box stores seem cheapest but wonder if that means it’ll be a micro thin layer of cork on top of the backer material rather than a more generous layer of cork. Thanks!!!

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[kayo]

Lol, celeste17.

You definitely do not want to mop with lots of water as it is not sealed between the plank seams. I have a Bona mop with a washable mop head. I get that damp and spray the Bona hardwood floor cleaner directly on the floor while I am mopping. It mops easily and quickly this way.

Ours has depressions and black spots. It is APC Cork Cronus Natural (http://apccork.com/assortment.php). We bought ours from an online retailer and had it shipped. I think http://www.floormall.com. They had a shipping sale so watch for those. We also just got some floors (purchased and installed) by ifloor which has a showroom down in southcenter. We were doing our basement for that job so just went with a really inexpensive more uniform cork for that. They did a good job and it was done in a day instead of the week or two it would’ve taken my husband. All in all, we have cork from 4 different manufacturers and so far the APC is holding up the best. The stuff that we’ve had down for 8 years is more beat up, but it still looks pretty good. No worse than a hardwood floor would with two large, elderly dogs slipping around on it and digging their claws in it. It is a floor after all. :)

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