Ask Cristina: Cork Floor Comfort

Ask Cristina -- Cork Flooring
(sent via my website www.CristinaAcosta.com)

Did you utilize the cork flooring for your home? I want to use it, but my husband hasn't seen any homes with it, and he is skeptical, as it will cost us about $9000. What is your opinion about the value and benefit for utilizing a cork clik flooring system in a kitchen family room area? ( I have 2 artificial hips and feel that the suppleness of the cork will be wonderful)

Thank you. Janis B.

Dear Janis,

We have Wicander's Cork Oak flooring in our kitchen/great room and we love it. This is the 2nd year with this flooring. We installed it throughout our house except in the bathrooms, where we installed Marmoleum (because of the puddles of water that get on the bathroom floor). The cork is warmer to the touch when we walk on it barefoot and not as hard as wood. (Our floor is a click system).

I understand your hesitation about buying a floor before seeing it down. Check with Wicanders for a distributor in your area and then ask that distributor if you can see an installation of a cork floor. One thing our installer did that I've enjoyed is that he installed the panels (I think they are roughly 3' x 1') going width-ways in the hallway so as too "widen" the hallway visually (in a very subtle way). It really looks good.

To clean our floors we bought a vacuum with a HEPA air filter that doesn't have a rotating roller. You can't drench the cork, but you can damp mop it. (Mine has a WRT polymer finish). Here's a picture of my kitchen floor taken from my dining area.

Sincerely,
Cristina