Hi there,

We are looking to replace our carpeting. We need a flooring that is durable, resiliant, easy to clean, relatively inexpensive, environmentally conscientious, and fairly easy to install. and have fallen in love with the look, environmentally friendliness of, and reasonable price of cork. I do have some questions for the "pros" however before we make a final comittment.

1) We have three dogs (one large, one small, one growing puppy), two cats and two teenagers. Our berber carpeting has held up extremely well (far better than we expected -- it's 13 years old and only now getting shabby, though I hate to THINK about what's IN the carpet!) Will cork flooring be as durable? Or will it begin to show scratches/wear in high traffic areas? We keep our pets' nails trimmed but they are inside almost all the time, and over time...well...

2) Are any brands, colors, or finishes less likely to show wear than others? I was looking at the APC (?) floating, glueless flooring.

3) We live in Florida and so we have a concrete subfloor. Is installing the floating/glueless type cork floor fairly straightforward? We've tiled, and I actually removed our vinyl kitchen floor and painted the concrete subfloor to look like slate (looks fabulous and has also held up remarkably well), but we've never installed any type of hardwood or plank flooring before.

Any help or advice you can offer regarding cork flooring (or other alternatives that might better suit our lifestyle and price restrictions) would be great and would help us make this important decision.

In my limited opinion Cork is not the floor you should have with the active family of pets & children you have. However you need to list what your prioities are in a floor is it ( for example)

1. Enviromentally good
2. Durable
3. Looks
4. Easy maintenance
5. etc.,

then make your choice - if point 1. is most important to you then maybe cork is the answer.

Art

Yes, I guess I should clarify -- I'm not too concerned about everyday wear and tear type scratches and the like. I understand that with any flooring other than tile or concrete, you're going to get wear and normal aging. I just mean that I don't want it to look like crap after only a couple of years. I've always been drawn to the hardwood floors because even in houses where the floors are worn the wood looks "shabby chic" rather than "filthy" (as carpet would). Also, our dogs are well-behaved and pretty sedate, as are the teenagers (well, mostly). I think what I really want to know is will a cork floor wear to look "lived in" and wear gently over time (kind of like hardwood) or are their properties to cork that make it wear unevenly and unattractively. Sorry this is such an inquisition! It's just that cork floors are not common here and so I have a lot of questions.

Zoe

Cork floor will last a lifetime - they need the same maintenance as hardwood floors. They can be re-finished (re-screeded) a few times in their lifetime. Get a good one however - there are many varying price points from the mid $3 to $9 range and like most things you get what you pay for.


Good luck

Art

Zoe:

The click type APC floors are very similar to laminate floors regarding installation. They can be recoated quite easliy too--refinished ony once in my opinion. Recoat kits run about $100 and will cover 500 square feet. I would avoid using it in high traffic areas such as a foyer, but they're ideal for great rooms, dining, and bedrooms. Also being in Florida the key is allowing proper expansion areas and making sure you have no moisture problems with your slab and proper drainage away from the home.

Thanks all! We're still talking/considering all of our options. One final question...any other brands other than APC that are worth looking into in terms of price and quality?

Tarkett have a nice one

Art

Tarkett? In the cork flooring business? Oh, linoleum.

No Ken -Tarkett- the Harris Tarkett people - you know - making wood for over 100 years in US!
It's sold well in Canada but may not be available to you. Uses Unilin locking method and floats.

Art

Sure it's available--handled it many times--probably be on the site in April. Click is news to me. Have any links I don't know about?