Here are 3 cork flooring PROS:

1. Cork is softer under your feet than other flooring leading to less fatigue.

2. Cork is quieter than other flooring naturally absorbing sound while feeling great.

3. Cork is resilient and can be very tough if properly well maintained – even in some commercial flooring situations.

(there are other pro’s to cork flooring, but this post is focusing on the top 3 pro’s and con’s for cork floors.)

Here are 3 cork flooring CONS:

1. Cork Flooring’s look, while viewed as distinctive and unique by many, is often seen by others as a turn off and not a viable option. So this aspect of cork flooring is both a PRO and a CON.

2. Cork Flooring can gouge easier than some other flooring options and nothing should be dragged across the flooring.

3. Cork can change color (typically fade) when exposed to lots of light. This is a natural reaction to light (especially bright direct sunlight) that happens to natural cork flooring and not a defect.

Cork flooring has a series of PRO’s and CON’s that are outside of these top 3 – but these factors should be considered when shopping for cork floors.

So rather than give a complete history hear are some of the highlights:

1) Cork is resilient – that means it is inherently tough.

2) Cork is hypoallergenic – that means it is good for people with allergies.

3) Cork is unique visually – that means you will either hate it or love it.

4) Cork is very dent resistent – although denting is something that most cork can recover from due to it’s natural structure it can gouge easier than other floors

Recently there a new e-commerce introduction from www.homeimporters.com caught this blogger’s attention by also adding an important key additional feature:

5) Cork is very affordable – prices vary by pattern – but the prices that are available on Cork Flooring at www.corkimporters.com are very compelling.

All of those reasons together makes cork flooring a great choice for kitchens, family rooms, offices and more. The only caveat on cork is that if your finish starts to wear then you should recoat the floor with a hardwood flooring finish to insure a long life span. The other note is that bright direct sunlight can cause cork to fade which is not a huge issue, but you should at least be aware of it.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The real question at the heart of that idea remains: Is buying the brand name worth the extra money?  

In the flooring market there are some industry brand names, but most end users especially consumers are not aware of brand names. Very few consumers without being prompted can name one or more brand names of flooring. When asked about a name like Armstrong, Mohawk or Pergo some people will have an awareness of those names, but not really have a strong brand image for each one.

Apparel, fragrances even plumbing fixtures and windows have well known brand names and flooring as an industry is in stark contrast to that.

The manufactures of flooring say that because consumers don’t buy flooring very often it is hard to justify the branding expense. (Although stainmaster is a brand that would prove otherwise, it is only a licensed name not a manufacturer.) Whatever the reasons are can be discussed by experts elsewhere the only question poised today is: is it worth extra money to pay for brand name flooring.

Rather than putting together a 20 page case study let’s just cut to the chase: No it is not worth it.

If you as a consumer, builder or end user of whatever type are not familiar with the brand name then they are all equal to begin with. Now you should compare features and benefits AND price. The big brands of the world would have you believe they have superior features and benefits to newer products in the market and that justifies their higher prices. Most often that is not the case based on case studies over the past 10 years.

It is now very common to find flooring with similar or superior specifications available below the comparable prices of industry leading brand names. As always, you have to trust who you buy from so just because someone says it is as good or better than a leading brand name doesn’t mean it is, but if you trust your supplier then you have every reason to trust that you are getting a better value.

Architects and designers would specify this type of flooring in the most demanding commercial flooring environments like museums or other high traffic areas and then order a stain and finish to be applied to the surface of the cork flooring just like a hardwood floor.

Most often the cork that was used was the small random sized cork granules and therefore could be refinished over the years as well. This type of classic cork flooring is making a comeback even today in the early 21^st Century!

Since the recent turn of the century however, the classic look has taken a back seat to the newer styled cork which offers numerous décor types and stain color and most often using an HDF click core board to make the installation of cork flooring something that a DIY (do-it-yourself) flooring shopper can handle.

The newer patterns have a much more broad range of granule sizes and shapes. The basic cork flooring cost equation is that cork flooring with larger granule sizes, which are much harder to get, cost more than the small easier to find cork board style granules. Cork itself is the bark of the cork oak tree and getting large enough bark to create large granules is very difficult and logically carries a higher cost of production. One fact that a lot of people miss is that cork of this type uses a thin veneer of the pattern on top of the base cork material which has the smaller granules which makes it impossible to refinish, however, that is not a downside if you maintain your flooring properly. In fact you can add coats of finish to a cork floor (often referred to as a recoat) just like a hardwood floor to create a long term floor.

Although people often wonder why the cost of one cork is $1.99 and why another pattern is $8.99 it often related to the granule size, width and overall quality of the floor. In traditional retail stores cork ranges from about $4-$12 per square foot. Online shoppers that are smart can often find cork at 50%-70% below those ranges, but as always make sure you are being from someone you trust because not all cork flooring is made equally.

Not only is cork a very earth friendly floor because it is 100% recycled it is also very soft under your feet and can be a very durable floor when used in the proper way.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The file linked below to the flooring catalog is 3.5 megs so give it a little bit to open. It is PDF format so it allows for easy viewing and terrific zoom features.

ifloor catalog

flooring cork transitions ifloor, originally uploaded by steve_simonson.

The first line of coordinating CORK flooring specific patterns was developed by IF Moldings and sold on www.ifloor.com.

I believe that the variety of coordinating trims and moldings for cork flooring is unbeatable. Only now are others waking up to this very innovative solution to moldings for cork flooring.

In years past it was common to see cork flooring priced in the $12-$18 per foot range and that was not considered anything special.

Today it is common to find deals on cork planks with easy click together systems for prices below $5.00. There are still some patterns and designs that demand a bit higher cost and some really cool new things coming that will redefine the upper part of the market, but those are still very affordable in the $5-$7 range which is more than 50% below the old range of cork flooring prices.

Below I will share a few photos from a cork workout room in a basement that was installed over concrete flooring using a vapor barrier:

cork flooring in a basement

cork flooring from westhollow

cork flooring for your home gym