My wife’s quite keen on getting posh cork flooring for the living room and hallway.

Looks nice in the pics and it’s supposed to be softer and warmer than wood. Doesn’t seem very common though and there are no showrooms within about 150 miles.

Anyone got this at home? How do you like it? Has it proved durable? Does it live up to the promises? Have you got a dog? Who do you think will win Celebrity Big Brother?

(feel free to ignore last Q)

We’ve got cork flooring in our kitchen (6mm), our bathroom (4mm) and throughout our loft conversion (4mm). My wife is a big fan of it, and I can see her point after living with it for a few years. It’s warm, quiet, comfortable to walk and stand on, things don’t break if you drop them, waterpoof, very easy to clean and sustainable (if you care about that sort of thing). If you drop something very sharp on it it can mark, but bizarrely seems to heal itself over a couple of days. We’ve not got a dog but have had plenty visit, and we’ve got two kids and two cats who are pretty destructive.

It’s also very easy to lay with a stanley knife and some glue, as long as the subfloor is good.

The only drawback to ours is that it fades in the sun. Our kitchen is south facing with a big 3m x 2.5m door, and the direct sun has faded the cork by the window. Otherwise, I love it, even though people think it’s too seventies or just react against the idea of it, rather than the reality.

this is our kitchen, bike still for sale 😉

[url=https://flic.kr/p/h5F99E]image[/url] by Soph and Ian, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/kH2mex]Untitled[/url] by Soph and Ian, on Flickr

It’s the same stuff that is used commercially, so I’ve got no worries about durability, e.g.:

There’re cork floors in my parents kitchen and bathrom.

On the one had it’s getting on for 25-30 years old, so it does last. On the other hand, it looked past it’s best 15 years ago when they (at the time we) moved in. It would probably have lasted better with more regular waxing/oiling or whatever it it it needs, but it’s a house full of muddy boots and a dog, so that’s never going to happen. So it’s faded/worn/darkened where people walk or stuff gets spilt on it (round the toilet/sink/cooker).

I think it’s only there because the floors far too uneven for laminate, the floorboards underneath are functional rather than asthetic, so it’d be a choice between lino or cork. I’d get proper wood unless there wasn’t another option.

When they look tired, they can apparently be sanded down as long as they’re not laminate – just take off the very top layer with 60 grit and then smooth with 100 grit sandpaper (hence why we went 6mm in the kitchen). They’re sealed with a water based varnish – dries in two hours, so not a big deal to recoat. Not that we’ve bothered…

good info cheers ian – any other corky cats out there?

I laid some in our old house.

This was a cork tile, but vinyl coated. Very durable as it just needed washing and the occasional buffing. This was genuine cork, not a printed look a like. No idea if it’s still available.

Survived 3 kids and lasted for over 15 years. Still there as far as I know.

Hth
Marko

I’m also interested in this. Looking at it for a garage utility area. Can it be laid on fairly uneven concrte flooring? Concrete is rough with a fair amount of ridges so would get to put down self levelling if I was to tile but if this could gop on top that would be ideal – sorry for the hijack

Cork? That belongs to the seventies. No wonder you can’t find it.

It’s easy to lay but needs lenty of polyurethane varnish to protect it.

Bumpity bump.