Cork Flooring Center

bathroom cork floor

Cork is a logical choice these days to use as flooring in our bathrooms. This is all due to its wonderful qualities as a material and the added strengths it receives from being processed in the factory. Let’s not forget that using cork is an eco-friendly choice which is just perfect should you be looking to turn your house green.

Cork has an innate beauty, quality and warmth that set it apart from other bathroom flooring options such as carpet, tile and vinyl coverings. Cork is produced from the cork oak tree; it is produced in a manner that does not kill

the tree thus making it a very valuable tree with a long lifetime and ecologically friendly. Since cork is relatively new on the flooring scene people are still unsure as to whether it is a suitable covering for the bathroom. This article will go through cork’s natural qualities and added strengths that make it perfect for use within the bathroom setting.

Cork flooring is naturally poor at moisture resistance and it is often purported by experts that you should not use cork in the bathroom where moisture levels are high and the likelihood of spillages is high. Cork flooring is available in two varieties, tile form and plank form. The plank form option if used in the bathroom will allow for moisture to seep between the boards and allow for the growth of mildew and mold in between the boards. If allowed to continue this could be very unhealthy for those using the bathroom.

However with modern advances in material design previous issues have been done away with and now you can buy cork flooring that is specifically made for bathrooms. In these special types of cork all of the original negatives concerning bathroom uses have been eliminated.

It is possible to still use standard cork tiles and planks with in the bathroom, but only if you take a few extra precautions you can make them more suited to the bathroom environment.

• Caulk all around all four sides of your flooring to ensure that your cork tiles are completely watertight preventing moisture seeping underneath them.
• Only use cork tiles and not cork planks as discussed earlier.
• If you want to give it that extra bit of moisture resistance you can add a layer of polyurethane to make sure everything is completely waterproof.

By using cork flooring in the bathroom you will have a well-insulated floor which cannot be matched by that of ceramic tiles unless you go to the expense of installing under floor heating. While carpet in the bathroom allows for mold to grow and harbor bacteria within its fibers, cork, when treated, is moisture resistant and is naturally anti-allergenic preventing the problems of carpet.

Overall cork is superior to the competition and you should definitely consider using it over ceramic tiles and carpet for the bathroom. Just be sure to use the special bathroom varieties or to take the precautions mentioned above.