Cork Flooring Pros and Cons
If you are thinking of cork flooring, pros and cons will be of particular interest to you.
The advantages of laying cork tiles are numerous:
It’s 100% natural.
If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint, you will love the fact that cork flooring is totally natural. It is harvested from trees usually grown in the Mediterranean predominantly in Portugal.
The cork trees are left to mature and are then harvested in strict rotation every nine years. This means that no forests are destroyed when making this flooring.
Cost: Cork flooring is generally cheaper than other products used to cover the floors in your home.
Insulation: Cork board is a natural insulator. It will help to keep the heat in your home during winter but will also keep it cool during summer. Installing cork board floor tiles also reduces the noise level in your home which is always a good thing particularly if you live in close proximity to your neighbors.
Comfort: It is extremely soft and comfortable to walk on. It feels rather like soft foam and you will be warm enough to walk across the floor in your bare feet. Something you probably don’t want to do on marble or stone tiles.
Installation: One of the pros of cork flooring is the fact that it is so easy to lay. You don’t need to pay someone to come in and lay your cork tiles. With the cost of manual labor excluded, it is easy to see why this is a cost effective solution.
Style: Cork tiles can look very stylish particularly if combined with a contrasting border. You can buy natural cork flooring in a range of colors from pale to dark. If you want a more modern look you might want to buy some pained cork floor tiles.
But it isn’t all good news when it comes to cork flooring. As the title of this article suggests there are cons with cork flooring too. These include:
Water absorption – cork flooring is very absorbent so if you put this type of flooring into a bathroom or kitchen it can act like one large bath mat. This can lead to discoloration and your new floor can quickly look tatty. You can overcome this problem by sealing the floor but even with sealant you need to be vigilant with spillages mopping them up as soon as possible after they occur.
Trapped dirt – due to the porous nature of cork, dirt and other debris can become trapped in the flooring making it difficult to make the floor look clean. The key is to sweep and vacuum on a regular basis. If the floor is looking particularly grimy you can sand it gently using a floor sander and this should remove most of the grime. Reapply a coat of sealant.
Laying cork flooring – although it is easy to lay cork flooring and anyone should be able to do it, most people fail in the preparation. You cannot just lay cork floor tiles and hope for the best. You have to ensure that the floor is level. This could mean laying a plywood floor prior to laying the tiles. In addition to ensuring the floor is level this also allows you to stick the cork to the temporary floor rather than the original floor. Something you will thank me for later when you want to change your flooring.
You should also allow cork tiles to become accustomed to the room. Remove all packaging and let the tiles breath in the room for at least 48 to 72 hours before you lay the floor.
When it comes to cork flooring, pros and cons described above may have put you off the idea. Why not make a compromise. You can buy composite cork flooring which is a mixture of vinyl backing with cork on top. This allows you to limit the cons of cork flooring while exploiting the benefits.