Cork floor: adhesive, castle, pros, cons

Floor covering is almost the most important element of interior decoration. It should be durable, beautiful, easy to care for. It is desirable that it is pleasant to walk on it and that the feet do not freeze. Cork flooring meets all these qualities. Until recently, cork flooring was a very expensive pleasure. Not to say that now it is so cheap, but it is no longer so out of reach. 

Types of cork flooring

Cork flooring is divided into two types according to the laying method:

1. Adhesive, which is laid on a special contact adhesive. It consists of a layer of pressed cork, on top of which a layer of cork veneer is glued, because this material is also called “cork parquet”. It is rigidly connected to the base, varnished to improve performance. At a price per square meter, this type of coating is cheaper, but additional materials are required: glue and varnish. The laying process is quite complicated, so professionals often lay the adhesive cork. As a result, a meter of such a finished coating costs more than with a lock.
   

2. Castle. In terms of structure and method of connection, they resemble laminate and often this material is called “cork laminate”. Cork flooring of this type is not connected to the base, it does not need an additional protective layer, since the top layer is the lacquer or PVC layer.

If we talk about the appearance, there is a cork floor with a traditional pattern in different colors. But not everyone likes such a pattern, so collections have been developed that imitate wood, stone, sand, even lawn grass. The images are very realistic (photo printing), and they are applied directly to the cork layer – there is no intermediate layer, because such a floor is a product of natural ingredients. From above, the pattern is covered with a protective layer of polyurethane or polyurethane varnish. Here is a protective layer – not the most natural, but there are no alternatives to it – wood is also varnished or painted.

Advantages and disadvantages

Cork flooring has a lot of advantages. They are “quiet”, elastic, resilient, absorb sounds well, and conduct heat poorly. It is pleasant to walk on such a floor both in winter and in summer. It is easy to clean – almost does not electrify, the dust does not “stick”, the smooth surface is easy to clean. Some colors are so “non-staining” that debris is not visible. This is also a minus – a dropped small thing has to be searched for a long time.

It has few cons – softness and high price. Softness is bad in that the coating “breaks” under the weight – furniture, fallen heavy objects, heels. But this disadvantage is compensated when it is covered with several layers of varnish. And so that he does not miss under the furniture, they choose it on wide legs, and also glue felt on them. When rearranging, you should also be careful – put plastic covers under the furniture legs. They distribute the load well.

Structure

Both types of cork flooring – lock and glue – are multi-layered, but their composition is different. The glue plug usually consists (bottom-up):

• Compensating layer of pressed cork chips.
• A layer of natural cork – cork veneer (slate, photo printing).
  

In terms of thickness, this coating is thinner. It is more flexible. This determines the requirements for the preparation of the base: manufacturers recommend having an absolutely even base. Otherwise, any hole or hump will eventually be visible. Practice has established that the differences can be significant (up to 5 mm), but they must be smooth. No “steps” or cracks, but a smooth gradual rise or fall is not visible. The difference in size that occurs during laying is compensated by the elasticity of the coating.

The castle cork floor also consists of several layers:

• A layer of pressed cork.
• Base made of HDF (high density MDF) or moisture resistant PVC and quartz board.
• A layer of natural cork or cork veneer that can be photo printed.
• Protective layer of varnish or polyurethane.
  

Lockable cork flooring is more rigid and very similar to laminate flooring. But it is only similar, since the laminate is pressed paper coated with a film with a printed pattern. The same material mainly consists of natural components. It is the rigidity that determines the softer requirements of manufacturers for the base: there may be differences in height, but not more than 2 mm per 2 meters. Also, under this coating, you can put a substrate, improving sound and heat insulation.

Castle or adhesive?

How to choose which cork floor is better, castle or adhesive? Each is good, but has its own nuances. For convenience of choice and a clearer presentation, the properties of the coatings are summarized in a table.

From this we can conclude that it makes sense to lay the adhesive cork floor in rooms with high humidity (kitchen, bathroom) and high traffic (corridor, hallway). It can even be placed in unheated rooms or where there are high changes in humidity and temperature (in baths, for example). In living rooms, the castle cork flooring feels great. Ease of installation speaks in its favor, but it is worth remembering that it is made on the basis of MDF and, if water penetrates into the seams, the base will swell, the plank will deform. After drying, unfortunately, it will not return to its original form. But in this it is no different from ordinary laminate, so this is not such a big drawback in living rooms. It is only necessary to clean up the spilled liquid in time.

This does not mean that the adhesive coating cannot be used in rooms. It’s even possible. Many people like it more, because with a good layer of varnish it has excellent strength – it does not squeeze through heels and furniture. Also the castle. It can be coated on top with a layer of varnish (but not all firms) and used in the hallway, kitchen or bathroom. They also cover it with a special oil with hard wax (such as OSMO). The coating no less reliably protects against moisture penetration, but it is easier to apply and can only be renewed in some places. The downside is the high price, but the consumption of the locking plug is minimal – it is absorbed only into the joints.

Species and subspecies

Please note that there is an adhesive cork floor of different thicknesses. The thinnest tile is 4 mm, it can be laid in rooms with low traffic, but it is better to use at least 6 mm coating. For the bathroom, a special subspecies is produced – large squares 10-12 mm thick and 148 * 148 mm in size. A thinner coating of the legs of the bathroom will simply push through.

In addition, a glue plug is produced with the first varnish layer already applied. It costs, of course, more expensive, but the number of layers of varnish is reduced – even one layer may be enough. Also, the front surface of this type of floor finishing material is protected from dirt, and the cork gets dirty very easily and all stains become visible after varnishing.

There are subspecies of the castle cork floor. First of all, it is worth saying that there is a moisture resistant version. The base of this material is not high-density MDF, but a special PVC and quartz board, which is not afraid of water and high humidity. But this material does not have such a wide range of colors and costs even more.

Any cork laminate has a protective coating. But it can be made of two materials – varnish or transparent PVC. Lacquer is more familiar, but PVC is stronger. Although the laid coating with a varnish top layer can be revarnished, achieving high moisture resistance, but is it possible to do this with a PVC coating?

It is also worth considering when choosing an adhesive cork floor that after applying varnish, its appearance changes significantly. It becomes darker, the transitions are not so bright. To get a better idea of ​​the final result, find a castle cover with the same color. Your result will be about the same.

Producers and quality of cork floor

There are two major manufacturers of floor cork on the market: CorkStyle (CorkStyle) and Wicanders (Vikanders). They speak well of South Korean manufacturers. Their prices are not so high, and the quality is quite normal.

Specifically, in the selection process, pay attention to the cork conglomerate itself (pressed layer). To reduce costs, chips and other cheap material are added to it, but the quality of this product is already far from cork. It’s tougher and wears out faster. Therefore, it is better to pay a little more, but choose with a cork layer, albeit pressed.

Those who are inclined to choose a glue plug for the floor should know that even very good manufacturers do not have planks that are perfect. They differ in size – plus or minus 1 mm in width or length – these are normal tolerances. They are compensated by the elasticity of the material: when laying, the cork is slightly compressed so that the joints are tight. In addition, there are strips of different thicknesses. You can’t compensate for this in any way, you have to sort them out, sort them out. Thin ones are laid in one place where the transition will be imperceptible, for thick ones, the excess along the edges is sanded off with sandpaper until the required thickness is reached.

In addition, there are defects on the front surface of the cork. It is lined with cork veneer, which is a natural material. It has depressions, ugly color changes, etc. There may also be production errors – veneer peeled off in some places or sanded front to the substrate. Before laying, all tiles are inspected, unglued places are glued, the remaining planks are used when laying in certain places. Read more about laying here, where it is also written where to use these flawed planks.

The cork laminate – the castle cork floor has no such problems – the protective coating has already hidden all the flaws. But when choosing this material, pay attention to the reliability of the locks – in cheap materials, they are the main problem.