Cork Floor

[Larry Davick]

We have installed a click together cork floor in one of 4 rooms so far, and I'm working on the rest. I just wanted to post that I love this stuff! We bought it from

and it is really good looking, seems to be tough, warm under foot, and quiet.

The installation is as easy as any other click lock floor, I suppose, and the cork squishes just enough that you can not easily tell where the seams are.

Our beloved cat has christened it with a hair-ball, and it cleaned up with a paper towel. Beautiful! Larry Davick

[wayne]

glad you like it I have been thinking about it but have been hesitant which floor did you get?

Can you add a layer of polyurethane over the top to seal the whole thing?

Wayne

[Larry Davick]

Actually it is a "white boxed" special. I understand that it is the same as Natural Cork's "Cleopatra" -

. This is reported to have 5 coats of acrylic already, however we could add a coat afterwards if we wanted to.

It has a cork underlayment (very much like a "cork board") attached to the board, MDF-ish mid section (with the interlocking profile), and the finished cork surface.

It is really stunning to look at. The planks are fairly large - about 1' x

3', and they cut like butter with my table saw, and my buddies compound miter saw. Both saws have 10" blades with 80+ teeth, but I don't know that that is necessary for this. It is very easy to work with.

Our only finding is that installing per instructions was a pain. If you lock the short end first, then tip and lock the long end it wants to fight you. We have had no trouble at all tipping the long edge together and tapping the short ends with the butt of our hands to close up the short end joint. Believe me, we will take a piece of scrap and a hammer for the rest of the floor. My hands would not take the abuse of another 1,000 square feet of this pounding!

[Paul Furman]

Sounds awsome. Is it expensive? I like what they say about it feeling warm. I wonder if it would defeat an under-floor radiant heat system or compliment it?

Larry Davick wrote:

[wayne]

It would probably defeat it cork is a pretty good insulator. Radiant works best with a tie floor

Wayne

[charlie]

in article DK2Kb.60710$xX.378031@attbi_s02, Larry Davick at [e-mail] wrote on 1/4/04 8:04 PM:

we put the 1 x 3 cork in our bathroom. we used the glue down instead of click type. then put 4 coats of poly on it. we love it.

[blue]

We just installed click together cork by Granorte in our kitchen and hallway. Due to those being high traffic areas for a residence, the company actually recommends a light sanding and a couple of extra layers of water-based finish (we used Verathane). We previously researched cork by another company (QuickStyle) and they also recommended extra layers of finish in high traffic areas. This was due more to the wear on the finish than the sealing effect I believe, although the sealing will be a bonus, especially in a kitchen.

[blue]

I know some manufacturer's say that it can only be installed over a water-based underfloor heating system and not an electric one and that the heat should never exceed a certain temperature (can't recall the temperature right now). Our instructions say to contact the company first before installing over underfloor heating.

[Larry Davick]

It was about $4 / sq. ft., and the installation instructions have a paragraph that describes how to install over heated floors. Actually it specifically makes note of how to install over electrically heated floors.