InspectAPedia®   -   Search InspectApedia

Resilient flooring cork (C) Daniel FriedmanCork Flooring Guide
Resilient floor coverings using cork tiles or sheets

Guide to historic & modern cork floors & cork resilient flooring. This article describes the properties of cork floor tiles & cork sheets installed to provide a quiet resilient floor covering. We give sources for current cork floor covering products.

This article series discusses and provides a best construction practices guide to the selection and installation of building interior surface materials, carpeting, doors, drywall, trim, flooring, lighting, plaster, materials, finishes, and sound control materials.

This article includes excerpts or adaptations from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction, by Steven Bliss, courtesy of Wiley & Sons. Our page top photo shows a cork tile floor installed in the Vassar College Library, Poughkeepsie, NY.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Cork Floors - a Resilient Floor Natural Alternative to Vinyl

Cork floor, Vassar College (C) Daniel FriedmanHomeowners who want a resilient floor covering but are looking for an alternative to vinyl should consider the new cork products as well as traditional linoleum, which is enjoying a comeback in residential applications.

[Click to enlarge any image]

Cork Floor Properties, Selection & Installation Procedures

Cork is a renewable resource that is harvested every 9 or 10 years from the outer bark layer of cork oak trees in Portugal and other Mediterranean countries.

Cork has a number of desirable attributes for a flooring material: its air-filled, watertight cells are strong, soft to walk on, and insulating, making it a good choice over a concrete slab.

To make it into flooring, manufacturers grind up the cork, mix it with a chemical binder, bake the material, and slice it into sheets. Cork flooring products range in thickness from 3/16 to 7/16- inch for some laminated products.

Most cork flooring is sold as tiles and installed with adhesive, similarly to other resilient tiles. Tiles are available either unfinished or prefinished with carnauba wax or a more durable polyurethane or acrylic coating. Tiles tend to have natural color variation and can be purchased in light, medium, or dark tones.

As with wood floors, wax finishes need regular buffing and periodic re waxing, depending on use. Polyurethane-finished cork typically needs re coating in four to eight years. One advantage of purchasing unfinished tiles and finishing in place is better protection against moisture penetration between tiles. The cork itself is moderately water-resistant.

A variety of other cork and cork composite products are now on the market, including tongue-and-groove (T&G) floating floors and cork and vinyl laminates.

A number of manufacturers now offer 12x36-inch floating T&G planks with an MDF core sandwiched between a cork underlayment and aggregate cork wear layer.

Cork Floor Tiles or Cork Planks

Cork floors, real cork flooring, were and are a wood product made out of cork from the cork oak tree (Quercus suber) native to Mediterranean countries, primarily Spain and Portugal. The bark of the cork oak is or was harvested once every nine or ten years, without injuring the tree. The epitome of a resilient floor, cork flooring can compress up to 40% and still return to its original shape.

Early cork flooring product names found in North America included Kencork™, Linotile™, and Corkoustic™, and modern cork floor products continue to be widely available, as we describe below.

Cork flooring is a resilient relative of linoleum made with cork chips. The chips, ground less finely than the cork used in linoleum, were pressed into molds and baked.

This process melted the cork’s natural resins and created a homogenous material. After World War II, manufacturers commonly added resins to strengthen cork tiles. - Wilson & Snodgrass, U.S. FPL (2007)

Armstrong Cork Floor Tiles

Cork flooring (C) Daniel FriedmanIn the U.S. Thomas Armstrong, a Scotch-Irish immigrant, began his business as a cork cutter in 1860, delivering hand-carved bottle corks by wheelbarrow. The use of cork expanded to the construction of corkboards (bulletin boards) and cork-insulated brick.

By 1909 Armstrong had begun producing linoleum. "Corkboard led to fiberboard, fiberboard led to ceiling board, cork floor tile led to linoleum that ultimately led to vinyl floor coverings, in both tile and sheet vinyl forms.

Armstrong's familiarity with cork grew into today's Armstrong Corporation worldwide as one of the largest flooring producers.

See ARMSTRONG FLOORING HISTORY

Dodge Cork Floor Tiles

The Dodge Cork Company, a second Lancaster PA flooring company, also has a long history in floor covering production, dating from its founding in 1926.

Dodge Cork notes that their cork floors were used by Frank lloyd Wright at Falling Waters and of course in many other buildings and that the company was producing a million square feet of cork floor tiles a month by 1962, probably a peak in the cork floor market.

As our photograph above indicates (Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY new cork flooring), cork flooring installations from various manufacturers continue to be placed today.

But as the company indicates at their website, "Dodge Cork Products are manufactured in Portugal in accordance with USA specifications and regulations."

Cork floor tiles were considered a warm, quiet, but less durable (by some sources) resilient floor covering than some of its harder-surfaced competitors.

Actually some early cork floors installed in the U.S. (the 1930's U.S. Department of Commerce building) are still in use today, arguing for its durability.

Cork flooring was sold in both tiles and cork planks, often for use in residential dens, family rooms, or other warm, low-traffic areas, and it may have been popular (research needed) for use in areas where workers had to spend long periods standing - where it would have competed with rubber floor coverings.

Led by flooring producer Armstrong, cork flooring was popular in the U.S. particularly from 1900 to 1945. By 1952 cork flooring sales made up just 2% of total floor tile sales. -- Rosato p88.

Don't mistake actual cork floor tiles for vinyl-asbestos cork pattern flooring.

See ASBESTOS FLOOR TILE PHOTO ID GUIDE - detailed photo guide to asphalt asbestos and vinyl asbestos floor tiles, 1900 -1986

Our lab photos, below, show close ups of fragments of cork flooring found in a 1949 home (the flooring may be newer) contributed by reader R.D., Tonawanda, NY.

Cork flooring (C) Daniel Friedman Cork flooring (C) Daniel Friedman

Watch out:  vinyl-asbestos flooring was produced by several manufacturers in patterns that closely resemble actual real cork.

See ASBESTOS FLOOR TILE PHOTO ID GUIDE for examples. Examination of a flooring sample in cross-section (above) shows the use of cork materials throughout the 5mm (3/16") thickness of this sample that was painted or coated on its upper surface with a light white/beige coating.

Where to Buy Cork Floor Tiles or Cork Floor Coverings

Manufacturers producing modern cork flooring in tile or sheet forms include Korq, Inc., American Cork Products Company, and Nova Distinctive Floors, which offers a unique no-glue option.

Some manufacturers offer a composite product with an inner layer of cork sandwiched between a thick vinyl wear layer and vinyl backing.

See BUY INTERIOR FINISH PRODUCTS

While cork products appeal to healthy-house advocates, the binders and adhesives used with tiles, and the fiberboard or vinyl layers used in laminated products, may not provide the completely nontoxic, non-offgassing material desired. Using solid-cork (aggregate) tiles with a low-VOC adhesive is probably the best choice for those seeking natural, nontoxic materials.

Cork Flooring Manufacturers & Sources

Does Cork Flooring Contain Asbestos?

Reader Question: can you identify these cork pattern floor tiles as probably containing asbestos?

Great website you have, it's been a good resource for me. I suspect that these are asbestos tiles. Any idea? - G.M. 1/1/2013

Vinyl asbestos floor tiles in cork tile pattern (C) InspectAPedia & GM Vinyl asbestos floor tiles in cork tile pattern (C) InspectAPedia & GM

Reply: vinyl asbestos floor tiles in cork pattern compared with true cork flooring materials

Cork flooring sample (C) Daniel Friedman

Your photos (above) look like vinyl-asbestos floor tiles in the cork pattern.

Actual cork floor tiles would be unmistakable as those would be actual cork material. Our photo at left, for comparison, shows the cross-section of an actual true-cork floor tile. It's unmistakably a wood-product material even without microscopic examination.

More photos of true cork flooring are

at FLOORING MATERIALS, Age, Types and also

at FLOOR, RESILIENT VINYL or CORK (this article in the text above).

Take a look at ASBESTOS FLOORING HAZARD REDUCTION and also

see MASTIC, CUTBACK ADHESIVE, FLASHING CEMENT ASBESTOS

Bottom line: real cork flooring does not usually contain asbestos. However there were some cork products including cork bulletin boards, and possibly some cork flooring and cork wall coverings that did include asbestos for fire-resistance and possibly for strength.

See ASBESTOS CORK PRODUCTS

Vinyl asbestos tile flooring made in a cork pattern may indeed contain asbestos.

Reader follow-up:

My new plan is to replace the tiles I've already taken up with new tile, then put a floating wood floor over the top. According to everything I've read containment is the best way to go. Seeing as I have three other rooms with tile I think this is the easiest fix for me. What do you think?

Also, my tiles don't seem like vinyl to me. They're not plastic-y...if you know what I mean. Does vinyl get rigid?

Reply:

You can glue in floor tiles or use a leveling compound to make the floor smooth before installing a floating wood floor atop. Typically the floating floor will use a rosin paper or other underlayment as well. Makes sense to me.

Yes vinyl floor tiles can get very rigid and brittle; if the tiles are thick, say 1/8" and dark inside they may be asphalt based; else probably they're vinyl. I think that the cork pattern as well as other light-colored floor tiles will generally date back to early vinyl or "plastic" floor tiles.

One of the reasons manufacturers liked vinyl is that lighter colored flooring was easier to produce when you don't start with (black) asphalt.

Reader follow-up:

Okay, that makes sense. They're not dark inside though. So they must be vinyl. So, I'm just going to cover them up.

Vinyl Flooring Products 1900 - 1986 in a Simulated Cork Pattern May Contain Asbestos

Solid vinyl floor tiles from the 1960's typically contain asbestos (C) Daniel Friedman

Similar to inlaid sheet vinyl, the color and pattern in solid vinyl tiles run through the full thickness of the tile, making them very durable. Because the color and pattern extend through the tile, they do not wear away with heavy use, but choices are limited.

Our photo (left) shows cork-pattern solid vinyl floor tiles from the 1960's. Typically vinyl floor tiles, or VAT (vinyl-asbestos tile) from this era contain asbestos, and special procedures are required if the floor is to be demolished.

See ASBESTOS FLOORING IDENTIFICATION

and
ASBESTOS FLOOR TILE IDENTIFICATION PHOTOS 1949-1959

and
if your building contains these products, see

also ASBESTOS FLOORING HAZARD REDUCTION

Modern solid vinyl tiles are cut from a solid block of material and come with a low-gloss finish.

One type, vinyl composition tile or VCT, is essentially the same product as solid vinyl, but with other binders and fillers. Both types require waxing and buffing, both to seal any gaps between tiles and to create an easy-to-clean surface.

- - Adapted with permission from Best Practices Guide to Residential Construction (Steve Bliss, J Wiley & Sons) .

 




ADVERTISEMENT





Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

Question: How Should I Handle Exposed Sheet Flooring Underside I can See in My Duct System?

I have these pictures of the flooring surrounding the floor air vent in the bathroom of my house. Both are taken from inside the vent looking up.

The white overhang is the bottom of the relatively new sheet flooring which is placed over the 1978 bathroom floor which is most likely some sort of sheet vinyl/linoleum . It's a typical bathroom floor.

Between the wood floorboard and the white overhang (new floor), you can see a brown looking material. I'm not sure if this is backing of the original floor, backing of the new floor, or something else entirely.

Without speculating too much, was the asbestos paper backing used on old flooring typically white in color? I'd like to rid the idea that the brown part you see (although blurry) is an asbestos backing. if realistic. I understand testing is the only way but im not about to rip it out.

Thanks for your time and I enjoy your website. it's very informative. I refer many people to it. - J.L.

Reply: Yes old sheet flooring asbestos backing is typically white, but it could be a different color by now - here's what we'd do:

I am sorry to say that the photos were too blurry for me to have much of an opinion - I know how tough it is to get the camera to focus in those odd awkward places. That said, here are some things to consider:

In my (limited) experience with asbestos-containing backing on sheet flooring, yes it's usually quite light or white in color.

But of course if it was exposed to dirt, dust, debris, spills, its color may be changed from original. If you think the flooring you see was installed before 1986 it's reasonable to presume it contains asbestos and to treat it accordingly - meaning don't make a mess.

It sounds as if it's all covered with other layers so it surely isn't much of a fiber release hazard in your home in general.

But I agree that if asbestos-suspect material is exposed in the air path of your HVAC system ductwork, it would be prudent to see if you could cover or encapsulate it - probably you'd use a spray on coating if you can't reach the exposed surface to laminate something over it.

That'd be much less disturbance than tearing up floors unnecessarily. - DF

 

9x9 Cork-like floor tiles for identification (C) InspectApedia.com  L.Low. 9x9 Cork-like floor tiles for identification (C) InspectApedia.com  L.Low.

Question: are these 9x9 floor tiles cork flooring or an asbestos floor tile?

I’ve attached a couple of pictures of floor tiles in my house. (9” X 9”)

House was built in 1914, but I am not sure these tiles were original….

Any thoughts on if they are cork or Asbestos?

Thank you in advance!

Regards, - Anonymous by private email 2020/04/10

9x9 Cork-like floor tiles for identification (C) InspectApedia.com  L.Low. 9x9 Cork-like floor tiles for identification (C) InspectApedia.com  L.Low.

Reply:

I'd be surprised if that floor dates to 1914.

It looks like a wood product - fiberboard - or most-likely, deteriorated cork; I can't quite see sharply-enough in the photo, but on our cork flooring identification page

CORK FLOORING

you will see some detailed photos, including cross-sections and pieces of damaged cork flooring that look much like yours.

While it is not a flooring product, you might also want to compare your flooring properties with the images and properties shown at

FIBERBOARD SHEATHING IDENTIFICATION

I've posted your images at our web page on cork floor tiles to invite comment from other readers.


...

Continue reading at RESILIENT VINYL or CORK FLOOR or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

Suggested citation for this web page

CORK FLOORING at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to BUILDING FLOORING

Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

Or see

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to BUILDING INTERIORS

Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

Try the search box just below, or if you prefer, post a question or comment in the Comments box below and we will respond promptly.

Search the InspectApedia website

Note: appearance of your Comment below may be delayed: if your comment contains an image, photograph, web link, or text that looks to the software as if it might be a web link, your posting will appear after it has been approved by a moderator. Apologies for the delay.

Only one image can be added per comment but you can post as many comments, and therefore images, as you like.
You will not receive a notification
when a response to your question has been posted.
Please bookmark this page to make it easy for you to check back for our response.
Our Comment Box is provided by Countable Web Productions countable.ca

Comment Form is loading comments...

Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.



ADVERTISEMENT