Cork flooring pros and cons

The benefits of cork flooring are many, and the drawbacks are small but significant. A cork floating floor can be installed using a floating flooring install – this is the same as a laminate floor. A cork floor can be site-finished to make it impervious to surface spills – just like a hardwood. Cork offers a warm surface that is easy on the joints as well as the ears – just like carpet. These are the benefits to cork – in a nutshell it can take over the jobs of three flooring options. This allows for continuity through a space without having to compromise colour schemes or fluidity of movement when working with open flooring plans. The floating floor is perfect for basements, it keeps the chill and playrooms to keep the noise at bay.

A cork floor can be installed in place of in-floor radiant heat. If you are looking to take the chill off of a room a cork floating floor with cork underlay can increase the heat retention of the room to the same extent as ½ inch solid Styrofoam insulation. It may not add a source of heat but it will retain the heat the room already receives. All for less than the cost of the radiant floor system – not to mention the installation costs.

The drawbacks of cork is that it requires refreshing (site-finishing, reapplication of the finish, call it what you will you have to do it) every 3-7 years. This is very much the same as a hardwood floor or engineered hardwood that is factory finished with urethane or polyurethane. Cork is the softest “soft wood” in the building industry and therefore dimples will occur when heavy objects are left in place for long periods of time. This can be annoying for some people or hardly worth mentioning for others. The dimples left behind can recover or spring back given enough time. This is very different from hardwood, bamboo or laminate. Like any wood finish, cork floors can be scratched. Most of the time this is a surface scratch that has been taken in by the finish but on the odd occasion the scratch is serious enough to penetrate to the cork. Gouging can occur if sharp, heavy objects are dragged across the floor (like a bookshelf or refrigerator). Thankfully cork can be repaired using wood glue and a utility knife. The similarities to hardwood floors continue with the exception of the spot repair.

Floating cork floors cannot be installed in bathrooms – but the glue down version (100% cork tiles ) can produce a water proof flooring option for all of those areas that are subject to high humidity or large amounts of surface water.

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