A search of the web will yield many pro’s and cons. Unlike hardwood floors that can be cold on bare feet cork is wonderfully warm. It has enough cushion that it’s like wearing cushiony sole shoes even when barefoot. While pricing used to be a concern with cork floors it isn’t any longer.You will see stories of people having horrible results with floating floors in kitchens and bathrooms and other stories of people who’ve had them for years with no issues at all. This is great in a kitchen if you spend a lot of time there. Cork has really come down in price the last few years and is comparable to hardwood or bamboo in terms of price.The trees can be harvested after they are about 25 years old. They click together with a snap together tongue and groove joint. More often than not they also have a thin layer of cork on the bottom that acts as an insulator.The floating cork doesn’t always work well in bathrooms because the substrate (HDF) swells and buckles when immersed in water for prolonged periods.It’s been over a year since we put or cork floors in. You wouldn’t notice it at all even if you are standing right at the faded area. The warmth of the cork really works in our family room.This post has been getting quite a lot of traffic so I wanted to update readers on how they have held up. We have a floating cork floor that encompass or living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallway. There really isn’t any signs of wear anywhere on the floor. I tended to baby the floor when we first put it in because I was worried about how it would hold up. The only thing I can see that might be a negative for some is that there is some fading near the our sliding glass door. It just blends right into the darker area smoothly. It’s our favorite place in the house in part because of the floors.The moisture content won’t affect the cork itself as it’s impervious to moisture but it could affect glue adhesion. They often come unfinished and need a polyurethane coating when installed. Once a week sweeping and a slightly damp mop every couple of weeks is really all that’s needed. Also because of the nature of the material you won’t see the small scratches and nicks that will happen over time.
We both love the look and feel of hardwood floors and started out in that direction. Durability– We know that whatever we decide we’ll have to live with for a long time. We don’t like formal dining rooms or rooms that look too “designed.” We don’t like furniture that’s too pretty to sit on. (As we wrote earlier, one of our guiding principles is Good enough is good enough.) With that in mind we decided to look at engineered glue-less floating floors. We both liked the look and all the variety of colors and textures available.I think it probably largely comes down to the quality of the product and how you use your floor. Much of these properties are due to the structure of the material. The floating floor can be a do it yourself project so you can save the big expense of installation. Because the material is so soft extra care has to be taken if using a commercial drum sander.If you use bath mats and wipe up water from your floors after a bath I don’t see any reason floating cork shouldn’t last a long time in that area. Cork has a very open cell pattern with micro air pockets. This is also what gives it it’s insulating qualities. No fancy tools are needed and the skills can be quickly learned and mastered. Too much pressure can sand right through the cork layer.We are much more form follows function than high design. Resale- We aren’t necessarily thinking of this as our forever house. We want to make sure the floors we lay down won’t be an impediment to selling later. It did come in an engineered snap lock variety and the price point was right.We’d like it if they actually add to the resale value. As I wrote above, I tend to over-research things, so I went online and read everything there was about cork flooring.