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Flooring Design Dilemma

cork floor in Idaho

last month

We want to replace the carpet in our bedroom and thought cork sounded like a great solution. I haven’t been able to find a showroom to see any cork. All of the information on here seems to be a few years old.
The only brands that come up are icork and Wicander.
Does anyone have any experience with these or any other brands of cork flooring?

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Comments (8)

beeboo22
last month
We had cork in our last kitchen— click tiles from iCork. I really liked it — such a forgiving surface, but our lab’s nails really scratched it up. Noticeably more than the hardwoods. That said, I would use it again in the right application.
amystoller
last month
My mother put cork flooring in her kitchen more than 60 (yes, sixty!) years ago, and it has held up amazingly well. No pets, but plenty of human walking around. No idea who the supplier was then.

I can't vouch for suppliers, but can add one more source just in case it helps.

WeCork
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So it's been a couple of years since I checked in on this forum; I apologize to those who may have emailed. I've since updated my profile and corrected my email address so I'm accessible again. To answer this question (though I'm sure I'm way too late), in case anyone else might be wondering, the cork is installed in all the main living areas (living room / dining room / kitchen / stairs and hallways) and master bedroom; the guest bedrooms are wood laminate and the bathrooms and laundry room are tile. In retrospect, with the 60lb beast of a dog, we may have been better off with hardwood, as the softer cork is quite easily scratched. However, as I said, with the pattern, it's less noticeable...but IIIII know it's there - and my husband doesn't shut up about it. I ultimately chose the cork because I wanted something unique; I also like its sound dampening qualities. Our main living area has high ceilings and there was a lot of echo before the cork. Anyway, I'm back now, so if there are any further questions, I'd be happy to answer them. :)
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I put in Forna engineered cork flooring 5 years ago in my kitchen. I chose the interlocking planks because I could not find anyone to install the tiles in the area where I live. Cancork supplied the planks I bought. It was sold as a possible DIY, but I had a remodeler do it anyway. The floors do dent, but it hasn't bothered me at all. It is a busy pattern and the dents are really not ugly. Of course, we have a more rustic style in our kitchen. The thing that bothers ma A LOT, and that I would be careful of is that the cork surface chips off and it's apparently not covered by warranty (although reading the warranty, you wouldn't know that--it's only when you ask that they "interpret" the warranty to exclude the chipping and flaking issue.) These are not gouges, they are chips. We used the very expensive Lobo polyurethane that they recommended and applied it exactly according to directions and it immediately peeled up and hasn't protected the floor like they said it would. Disappointed with Cancork and their product, but I still really love the cork. I like the way it looked, the way it felt--just think this is a poor example of the material.
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Ok...From a former cork flooring professional, here is my advice. Loose lay the cork underlayment and then install the floating floor on top. Cork sheets provide less waste and are MUCH easier to install. You lay them down like a blanket and you are done. It is that simple. The 'glue' down is ONLY for a glue-down hardwood sitting on top. We call that a double stick. You do NOT need to get to that level. You have a floating floor. The 'perimeter glue' is for ROLLS of cork. Why? Because the roll always curls. Always. You will 'loose' the last 2-3 curls on the inside of the roll. That is ++ waste of an expensive and highly valuable product. Hence the reason builders prefer the sheets. Do NOT use tape - OF ANY KIND. Tape deteriorates and starts to make a CRINKLING sound. Imagine how annoying that would be. After 6 months your floor starts to make a noise like stepping on crumpled up newspaper! Not fun. Here's what you do: 1. Chose the DIRECTION of the plank for installation (north-south or east-west?) 2. Lay the sheets of cork in the OPPOSITE direction (ie. perpendicular) 2.a This is a good way of keeping long seams from lining up with long seams. You will create a brick pattern = always good building practices. 3. Like your floor, you will stagger the cork underlay joints. Butt the edges together (no tape) and keep going. That means if you start with a full sheet of underlay on your 1st row, you will start the 2ND row with a partial sheet...thus producing a brick-pattern for the underlayment. 4. Lay roughly 1/3 of the room with underlayment and then start installing your flooring. 5. The sheet underlayment can move a snick so you do not want to walk on it too much. Like laying ceramic tile, you work with a small amount of mortar/thinset while you set the tile. Cork underlayment is the same. You lay a little bit of underlayment (enough to 2-3 runs) then lay a little bit of flooring 6. Leave the 1/2" expansion gap at the wall JUST LIKE your cork floor needs. Both the underlayment and the floor need room for movement. This is super simple. Use your spacers at the wall WHILE you install the underlayment. Leave them there while you install the planks. It is that simple. If you float your flooring your cork sheet underlayment is floated as well. That's why this is SUPER simple. Installers love working with sheet cork. It is insanely simple and they still get to charge another $0.25/sf - $0.50/sf to lay it. Yet they hardly need to do a darn thing.
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How much of a difference does going with a cork vs foam attached pad make for warmth? I've never noticed a difference between the two. How much of a difference does adding the 3 mm cork underlayment make? I'd only add an additional underlayment (gotta be careful with warranties on this one) to deal with sound below a room or to raise the level of the floor so I don't have to mess around with resetting baseboards. One installer suggested going with glue down, which he says would require less levelling, and putting some of the savings into a thicker floor. As he says, "$3000 would buy a lot of slippers. Or rugs." Thoughts? You need more prep work for glue down to look good, not less. I'd be very concerned with that guys quality of work. I'm in Canada and the only cork-backed LVP I can find is Coretec. Does anyone know other cork-backed LVP available here? Coretec pushes cork because the original parent company of coretec was primarily a cork manufacturer. It's an effective product, but I wouldn't go out of my way to look for more. Also, you mentioned wanting a cushy feel. You should be aware this sort of floor, even with extra underlayment doesn't have a cushy feel. The locking joints have very low tolerances for flexing and the underlayment used with them have little give. If you want a hard surface with a little bounce you may also consider looking into some higher end sheet vinyl as well. Some of the fiberglass backed sheet vinyl products are thick and bouncy enough to make a noticeable difference in the fatigue you'll experience from standing on them for long periods of time.
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wvugal
10 days ago
We used WE Serenity floating cork flooring when we remodeled our kitchen and dining room in 2014, and we have loved it. It's easy on the feet, not noisy, and has held up well to a family of four and a 100 pound Bernese Mountain dog. We also liked the fact that you could drop glasses or other breakable items on the floor, and they wouldn't break. That was always a pleasant surprise.

It did fade a bit near the French doors to the outside, but that wasn't an issue for us. It was only noticeable when the rug at the entry was moved. We have always used the Bona spray cleaner, and have been happy with it. We are getting ready to build a new home this summer, and are seriously considering using the Serenity flooring again, because we're afraid that we will be disappointed with other flooring.
ltricker
Original Author
10 days ago
Thanks for your detailed comment. We have a 100lb Bernese too! Did you get your floor from a showroom, or order online? I’m in Boise, ID and can’t find anything locally. Is WE serenity wecork, serenity pattern? I’ll be going to look it up now
wvugal
10 days ago
We're in northern WV, and got ours in Morgantown at a flooring store that is now closed. I did a search on the WE Cork site, and it looks like the nearest store to you is in Hailey, Idaho at Sun Valley Rug and Tile. It also showed a store in Clarkston, Washington that had it--Applied Surfaces Technology. Serenity is the name of the collection that we chose.

Hope this helps--good luck!
Kendrah
10 days ago
My mom put cork flooring down in her kitchen 10 years ago and I love it. So nice on my back. I looked for it three years ago for our kitchen and it was nearly impossible to find. I live in NYC where you can find anything. I found one obscure vendor in NJ who had lots of lines, many had been discontinued, they were not nearly as shock absorbent as the one my mom had. We decided to not to use cork. Too bad. I really loved her floors.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
10 days ago
Careful with a rug on cork please. Sunlight darkens the perimeter where the rug isn't.
ltricker
Original Author
10 days ago
Is the we cork serenity line as cushioned and sound absorbing underfoot as the other we cork lines? We are looking to replace the carpet in our bedroom with cork. Does anyone have experience with the other we cork products? Thanks!

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