Love cork floors, hate the color
I have finally narrowed down an agonizing floor search to cork, after feeling it installed in a kitchen (and reading about it here); my only problem is I hate the bulletin board like look to it. I have read raves from people on Brownstoner who mention colors; can anyone direct me to where, hopefully in…
I have finally narrowed down an agonizing floor search to cork, after feeling it installed in a kitchen (and reading about it here); my only problem is I hate the bulletin board like look to it. I have read raves from people on Brownstoner who mention colors; can anyone direct me to where, hopefully in Brooklyn or LI, I could find a better selection? I’m been to Lumber Liquidators (and a few of those floor stores on 12th St.), Lowe’s, and HD. Thanks, in advance.
went to Aronsons the other day to see their selection…not great. it’s worth a stop in if your
in that neighbor hood but not worth it otherwise. they do have some interesting
samples as Deda posted (checks, geometrics). The most interesting thing i saw there is that almost the entire floor of the store is a lovely coffee brown cork floor that seems to have help up nicely over the 8 years (they say) it’s been there. So it was nice to see how
something like that looks after a while…sometimes it’s hard to tell if you havent seen it in person.
Thanks — we were told that the floor shouldn’t go under the cabs since the floating floors need to expand/contract a bit and having the cabinets on top would keep it from being able to move properly. Also, having plywood under the cabs kept the cost down a bit, since that meant we had to buy less cork.
I think we got our cork from US Floors — I think they bought US Cork and changed the name so I’m a little fuzzy on details. We bought it a while ago, and it’s been sitting around while the rest of the kitchen gets more and more behind schedule. At least it has had plenty of time to acclimate.
Yeah crazy prices at aronson’s, although their selection features some interesting patterns, little geometrics, checks, stripes and stuff.
Our floor goes under the cabinets so there’s no gap there – the gap is around the entire floor. (The cabinets and appliances sit on top.) Actually that gap must be smaller then an inch since our baseboards cover it where the cabinets don’t. And we bought a little wooden saddle/ strip in the same color from the cork people that covers the entry.
I love this floor – it feels and looks great.
Whoa; $20./sf. I am eagerly awaiting samples coming from Globus; the colors looks really great online.
Curious, Deda–does anything ever get in the gap between the floor and the cabinets? food, wet, etc?
We found ours (dark espresso color without much corky mottling) online for about $4 a SF, but shipping got it up to closer to $6. Our install went under the cabinets but has about an inch gap between the tiles and the wall – we were told that with a floating floor you want a little room for the tiles to shift / stretch. The seams are really tight and haven’t gapped at all. Aronson’s has some groovy patterns but they cost $20 a Sf, and the same thing is available online for about $5.
Wow, Globus is more than I thought (I thought at “Natural” colored tiles at Lumber Liquidators and they were 3.79/sf). Most NON-accent colors were 7.60/sf. I guess it is fruitless to hope for good color/less $$ anywhere?
just make sure that your subfloor is absolutely rock solid and perfectly smooth. every joint, seam, or screw hole must be filled and leveled.
there is no gap or grout between the tiles so any flex–even the tiniest bit–will cause the tiles to lift, usually at the corners.
the tiles are very thin and pliable–any imperfections in the subfloor will telegraph through the tile and wear unevenly.
i think cork is a dynamite floor–but only when it’s done right.
Hmmm–I believe the latter, as you describe it. I am paraphrasing what he told me about the installation; ours is still being built but he described the kitchen he did that we viewed. He relayed this in light of discussing the cost; that is that there would be less flooring used since you are subtracting the area where the cabinets and appliances are. That sounds like what you describe as having the cabinets slightly below the floor. Their point was no weight resting on the cork keeps it from stretching, I guess you could say, the cork and ultimately creating gaps. I remember they said they would create a 1/4″ filler piece stained to match the cabinets between the flooring and the cabinet edge. I also recall their saying a rubber netting of sorts went under the cork (and over the sub-floor) to reinforce that soft feel.
sogo — can you explain a bit more about what your contractor did for the installation? Mine is planning on putting down plywood (the same height as the cork) under the cabinets, and then laying down the cork in the rest of the kitchen. This keeps the cabinets and appliances from being sunk below the floor grade — is that what your contractor did, or did they just allow the cabinets to be slightly below the floor?