Sunday, December 11, 2011

Cork Floors are Green, Sustainable and quiet walking

Husband and I went to Home Depot looking for cork flooring. Home Depot had two samples up of cork flooring and they were in a plank style, as opposed to the cork pattern.  The only sample we could obtain of cork is a muddy color brown.  Holding it up to the sie looks like 3/16 cork, the rest fiber board and the bottom has 1/16th of cork.  This is going for $3.98 a yard and is called Smoky Mineral Plank Cork, although the front has no plank pattern.  It is 5 1/2" Click.  We then went nextdoor to Office Max and bought two laptops.... one for me, one for his mother.  Go figure.


Next stop was Carpet Liquidators.  The had Belgium Blocked Cork FLooring by Pacific Mat.  The thickness of the cork layer on the plank was far bigger than Home Depot and it was also $3.98 (on sale).  It seemed far better quality, but I didn't care for the mosaic and wanted a plank.  It has 3 coat Urethan finish and an MDF core.  The planks were 11 5/8 x 36" for total thickness of 10.5 mm.  It just seemed higher quality.  It was usually $4.99 per sf.

7 comments:

  1. Bad review on Wicander

    http://www.amazon.com/review/R2D1LRM08T9L9S/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R2D1LRM08T9L9S

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  2. This has good info on how to install Lisbon Cork Matisse Cork:

    http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=5191

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  3. Easy enough if you've every installed laminate. If not the tap and click is not as simple as it looks and takes a while to get the hang of. Also don't get too aggressive or you'll damage the edges. Invest in one of those laminate installation kits and knee-pads. Looks great once it's done. I haven't decided if I'm going to coat it with poly as they recommend.

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  4. You will need a tap block to get all the joints tight.

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  5. Comments about Lisbon Cork Matisse Cork:
    Although the floor looked terrific before I sealed it, once I sealed it with Bonakemi Traffic, as recommended, the seams of the floor became water-logged and rose up slightly. Whereas prior to sealing, the floor looked like one smooth piece of cork, after sealing, you can now see each individual plank and it doesn't look nearly as good.

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  6. Comments about Lisbon Cork Matisse Cork:
    The large tiles (1 ft x 3 ft) made it seem like it would be a quick install, but the tongue and groove channels required a good bit of force and some finesse to lock together. Also, once a tile is cut to fit (you cut off the tongue or groove) and it becomes unusable again. But even with the difficult install, the finished product is beautiful, the seams disappeared and it is a seamless floor with character, warmth, and what we hope will be durability and longevity. After only two weeks, it is still easy to clean and maintain, but we would hesitate to recommend to others due to the headache-inducing installation.

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  7. Comments about Lisbon Cork Matisse Cork:
    Easy to install. Trimming was simple. Product was relatively uniform in shade and really looks great.
    Our only issue was when we sealed it with a Verethane Satin water based poly, the floor dried extremely slippery. Great appearance, but quite a surprise. Not sure how we will deal with this.

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