It was time to re-do this home's multi-purpose room and cork was selected as the flooring of choice. The room is pretty much the first room you see upon entering the home and with its ragged and stained carpet, it wasn't a pleasant welcome. Installing cork would ensure a clean, stylish look and by beveling the edges of the tiles, provide an additional pleasing visual. Cork also serves the multi-functional purpose of being a warm floor both in look as well as function. The honeycomb cellular structure of cork that is created from enclosed air cells makes cork a natural thermal and acoustic insulating material - created by nature.
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| Before: A multi-purpose room is ready for a make over. |
The Transformation
After removing the carpet and prepping the room, the installation process began. To add an additional thermal and acoustic layer to the floor,
QuietCork underlayment was installed first. This was followed by a plywood subfloor. The holes, seams and any imperfections on the subfloor must be patched with filler prior to installing the cork floor tiles.
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| QuietCork underlayment is installed over the original subfloor providing an additional acoustic and thermal insulative layer. |
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| Plywood subfloor installed over the QuietCork layer. |
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| Patching and filling the plywood subfloor. Making the subfloor smooth helps keep imperfections from "telegraphing" through to the cork tile. |
Once the subfloor is complete, its time to start prepping for installation. As this is a glue-down cork floor tile, water-based contact cement is applied to both the back of the cork tiles as well as the subfloor. Once it dries, the tile and the floor adhere to each other.
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| Laying out the tiles and rolling contact cement on the backs of the tiles can be an easier process however be careful contact cement doesn't get on the front of the tiles. |
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| Rolling contact cement onto the prepared subfloor. |
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Once the contact cement dries thoroughly on both surfaces, its time to install the cork floor tiles.
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| Once the contact cement is dry on both surfaces, its time to start installing the cork tiles. |
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| The cork floor is installed! Note: This is an unfinished tile so there is still more work to be done. |
Now that the floor is installed, its time to finish the floor. To seal and protect the floor, typically three coats are recommended. In this case, one coat of sealer was used followed by two coats of finish - a water-based polyurethane.
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| Sealer is applied to the installed yet unfinished cork floor. |
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| Once the sealer is dry, two additional coats of water-based polyurethane are applied. |
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| The floor is finished! |
Once the floor is finished and the polyurethane has dried, its time to furnish the room!
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| The room is finished! |
What a transformation!!!
Cork Flooring: Jelinek Cork Flooring (glue-down). Pattern:
Madrid. Extras: Custom beveled edges.
