Laying A Cork Board Floor Can Be Difficult

Cork board flooring can be difficult to lay if you haven’t bought the tiles or plank version.

In fact if you are someone new to DIY you may want to see if you can swap your purchase for some cork tiles instead. Or else pay the professionals to lay your floor for you.

Preparation is everything

Before you start laying any floor you need to remove the old flooring if applicable. This can be a tedious job but you have to do it if you want to get a good finish on your new floor. The only exception would be if you have vinyl or cork tiles that have been glued directly to the floor. These will take a lot of time to remove and you may just want to cover them with a layer of hardwood. It really depends on your skills, budget and the time you have available. The better prepared the flooring surface the easier your job will be.

Get it as close as possible to the baseboard at least on one side of the room

If the cork board is too big it will be inflexible to handle. You have to try to get it as close as possible to the baseboards or you will have gaps. You also have to cut it properly to get a straight edge. Some people get around both these problems by investing in a base shoe to tack around the edges. This will help to disguise the more serious mistakes but it is best to try to avoid them to start with.

Use a template

If you are trying to lay cork flooring in a room with lots of fixed obstacles such as the bathroom it is best to create a cutting template. You can use sheets of brown paper for this purpose. Lay them on the floor and then cut around the various obstacles such as the toilet, washbasin pedestal and any piping that may be in your way. You can then use your template to cut out the cork flooring to give you a much better finish. Just be sure to take your time and don’t rush this job as once the cork has been cut you cannot piece it back together.

If you are using cork underlayment you should still try to get a good fit or you will reduce the noise insulating effect of laying the cork in the first place.