Help With CORK FLOORS

I am trying to get some cork floors in my place that look the ones shown in this picture:



I spoke to the person who actually owns the place and they said that they paid $10.11 / Sq Ft to have these installed. I could use some help with the following questions I have since the $10.11 / Sq ft seems high to me.

1. Where is a good place to buy cork floors?

2. Is there a difference in the quality of cork floors depending on place, or is cork pretty much a generic thing?

3. I have seen cork floors at various sites for $3 - $4 / sq. ft. - so I imagin it's not too much more ($1 - $2 / sq ft to have them installed)?

4. Also, before installing cork, should there be something placed underneath, plywood, etc?? that would inrease the cost?

5. Does the cork need to be treated with Polyurethane first to increase endurance?

6. What is the all-in cost I should expect to pay for doing a 1100 sq. ft. place with such floors?

Thanks for all your help....I love this forum.

Vik

I just installed about 1800 sf of cork in our house so I may be able to help.

1. Where is a good place to buy cork floors?

We bought it online at ifloors.com. Very professional, came exactly as ordered.

2. Is there a difference in the quality of cork floors depending on place, or is cork pretty much a generic thing?

I believe there are a few types. First is an enginered floor which a layer of MDF sandwiched between two pieces of cork. This is what we ordered and are very happy with it. Second, I believe there are all cork tiles but I know very little about them. Last, I believe there is a product that consists of rolls of cork that are glued down to form the floor. These are very difficult to work, or so I was told, because your sub floor needs to be perfect.

3. I have seen cork floors at various sites for $3 - $4 / sq. ft. - so I imagin it's not too much more ($1 - $2 / sq ft to have them installed)?

I spent $2.50 to install but its a floating floor and you should be able to do better or even DIY.

4. Also, before installing cork, should there be something placed underneath, plywood, etc?? that would inrease the cost?

Not with the floating floor.

5. Does the cork need to be treated with Polyurethane first to increase endurance?

It comes treated. I need to find out when/if the coating must be re-applied.

6. What is the all-in cost I should expect to pay for doing a 1100 sq. ft. place with such floors?

We spent about $3.25 for the materials and $2.50 for the install.

Hi,

I second the suggestion of floating cork by artvandelay. We also ordered from ifloor and they had the best prices and very professional service. I paid $2.59 (no tax or shipping) sf for my flooring when it was on sale. I haven't yet installed the floors but I have played with a few of the planks and I am very impressed with the quality.

I can't imagine that using glue down tiles would be easier or cheaper since some preparation for the floor is involved with that method.

Here are my $.02.

The solid tiles are 12x12 and are always glued down. They need a perfectly flat sub-floor or imperfections will telegraph through. But, since you probably do not want to glue them right to a sub-floor, an underlayment is a good idea anyway (can lead to damaging the sub-floor when you need to pull a the finish floor up). I have not seen these tiles prefinished, but I think the finishing process is much easier than with hardwoods.

The engineered glue-down planks (generally 1'x3') do not require a perfect sub-floor, but you still should have an underlayment so that they are not glued directly to the subfloor.

The floating engineered planks (also 1'x3') are the easiest to use, do not require an underlayment and are prefinished.

I recently purchased cork from [url href=http://amcork.com]http://amcork.com[/url] The quality and service were both very good. Check out their specials - they tend to have pretty good deals.

What are the benefits of using Cork flooring? I would think that cork's porus nature would make is difficult to clean. I'm thinking germs and bacteria.

Or am I missunderstanding how it's used?

Thanks,

Paul

The primary benefit of cork is that it is resilient. It's much more comfortable to stand on for long periods of time than most other surfaces. And a dish is less likely to break if you drop it.

Regarding its supposed porosity, that's just it--cork isn't porous. If cork were porous, it wouldn't do a very good job of sealing a bottle of champagne, would it? It's true that the surface of natural cork, and of unfinished cork floors, is irregular and not perfectly smooth, but on floors that problem is mitigated with a good finish, be it wax, an oil varnish, or polyurethane. And it's only a problem in the sense that a smooth surface is less work to clean than an uneven surface.

I think people are overly obsessed with bacteria. Bacteria are all around us, not to mention inside of us. Use of antibacterial cleaners only serves to select for resistant strains, so that when an infection does occur, it's that much worse. Virulent strains such as [em]E. coli[/em] O157:H7 have become prevalent only with the help of antibiotics that have killed off the more benign strains.

-Steve

I am going to throw in a plug for linoleum here. For about $6/sqft, it is resilient, anti-microbal and anti-static (easy to clean). For these reasons, it is the flooring of choice for hospitals. I seem to remember have hearing claims that cork is also anti-static and anti-microbal. All this being said, we are planning to use the cork planks in our house (second floor) with linoleum in the bathrooms. I'd use the linoleum more extensively, but the cork is cheaper (DIY) and our entire first floor will be the foundation slab with a sealer on it. They are both great products.

One thing to note which I don't think is common knowledge is that any of the more intriguing patterns, from any of the distributors I have seen, are actually only thin (1/32) veneers over (~1/8)regular cork. This in either floating or tiles. Some salespeople may genuinely be unaware of this as you have to look closely. I haven't met any who brought it to my attention unasked. It looks tough and of course the salespeople when cornered state that it is as durable as the simpler, solid patterns. Its worth being aware of however as you wouldn't want to sand down an uneven edge and find you have a patch of plain old wine-bottle cork exposed.

That's very true. What I've found is that the patterns that are made up of relatively small chunks of cork (up to about 1/2 or so across) tend to be solid; that is, the pattern goes through the full thickness of the tile (usually 3/16 or 1/4 ). But the patterns that look more like sheets of cork tend to be veneers.

I have a box of samples of Expanko cork tiles from [url href=http://www.environmentalhomecenter.com/]Environmental Home Center[/url]. Of the sixteen styles, four are veneer and the rest are solid.

-Steve

One more question on cork floors if you guys don't mind. How resistent to twisting heels is it? This would concern me more in a kitchen where turning on your heels would be more common than say in a hallway. Especially with the thin veneer type of cork mentioned above.

Thanks,

Paul

[quote:turt1e format=text/plain] How resistent to twisting heels is it? This would concern me more in a kitchen where turning on your heels would be more common than say in a hallway. Especially with the thin veneer type of cork mentioned above. [/quote]

I can offer my experience as a woodwind player. The joints of my clarinets are covered with cork. Cork is ideal for this type of application because it retains its shape after you take the instrument apart. It continues to form a tight seal day after day for many many years. I am sure the application that I've seen on my instruments is much more abusive to the cork than the occasional high heel.

Cork is also very water resistant and keeps the wood from swelling at the joints where it's most vulnerable.

But aren't the joints on a clarinet smooth metal? I can see that if you twist the smooth metal up against the cork it would never cause any real wear on the cork. However, a man's dress shoe with a hard rubber grooved sole might act like a serrated edge. Now add a spinning action to that sole and I'm picturing shredded pieces of cork under foot.

Yes, the outside tenons are bound with metal but the inside is wood, and you're right, it's smooth. But the little strips of cork sure see their use and hold up to moisture and constant pressure. I've also ripped cork joints out before and it takes quite a bit of jabbing to make a dent.

I can see how someone would be nervous about the resilency of cork if they've ever had a cork split in half while uncorking a wine bottle.

I really believe that the cork flooring I purchased will hold up to many years of traffic. I've seen cork floors in Museums where there is constant foot traffic and they still look great. I also went to a school once that hosted a constant stream of events and the cork floor there was over 15 years old and it still looked really good. Anyway, I'm all out of weird examples...

Just make sure nobody tries the moonwalk in a pair of stilettos

i am pricing out cork for my (soon to hopefully be) dwelling in atlanta. probably for at least 1800sq. ft. although i have not seen the actual product yet, i have found cork tiles at lumberliquidators.com for $1.19/ sq. ft. Is this too good to be true?!:zz:

$1.19: nice price. Do they have enough to do the job?

Are they solid cork tiles? If so, then you will probably need an underlayment and finishing. The bid I got for the install of solid tiles was about $3/SF. Getting the job done for under $4.50/sqft is a great deal... Where did you see those tiles again?

Sara,

Since I don't actually remember ever stepping on a cork floor, your personal account is much appreciated. I guess I'll have to find a local cork supplier and get some hands on experience with the product. Think they'll let me throw a few tiles down and do some heel spins on them?

I found the following link while reading up on eichler homes. It has some good info on cork floors being used with radiant heat.
http://www.eichlernetwork.com/HDint_remod1.html

Paul

Hi everyone.
I need a advice. I am constructing my house. I am very confuse on which kind of material i should use in flooring. I have heard about decktiles is this material good for ecofriendly home environment.

http://www.decktiledirect.com/