Cork flooring is a green, attractive, durable, warm and user-friendly flooring material, popular in the bathroom and kitchens but suitable for other parts of the house as well. In addition to all this, it is possible to get engineered cork flooring too, applying the same principles of assembly and construction as apply to engineered or wood laminate floors. The products we have available in this category are all hard-wearing, possess a protective top layer and are better suited than solid floors to rooms with underfloor heating.
The key difference between engineered cork flooring and the standard variety is that while the latter comes with stick down installation - where adhesive on the back is shielded by plastic covers that are removed before the tile is stuck down - engineered cork flooring is assembled like a jigsaw, with the different tiles clicking together without the need for glue or any other kind of adhesive.
The engineered cork flooring products we stock are all made by Florence Flooring, with the method of assembly being click installation. This is very simple and easy to install and does not require a large amount of skill or expertise. It can be installed over any subfloor and in nearly any room in the house, the exception being wetrooms. It is also well-suited to rooms with underfloor heating. Like other engineered floors, the structure enables it to avoid expanding and contracting as much as a solid plank or tile floor would. There should be an underlay fitted, with the kind used depending on whether the underfloor is a concrete or wood one.
Florence's range of products includes several different items with variations on the normal golden brown of cork. These can include patterns that resemble a medley of different pieces of cork bark all mixed together, providing a striking pattern of various hues and shapes. In contrast, a more uniform appearance is available if that is the design that you would prefer.
The products in the range have several aspects in common. All of them have a smooth finish, produced by the application of a UV micro-scratch resistant coating known as WearTop. This is particularly useful in beating off the sort of minor scratches that can be sustained by dust as well as general wear and tear. The wear layer is 2.7 mm thick on top of an HDF water-resistant core board, whereas the entire tile is 10.5 mm thick and 300 mm wide with a board length of 910 mm. This wear layer ensures that the tile has an addition element of durability that will help your cork floor endure whatever is thrown at it.
Because it is such a strong kind of product, each item in the range comes with a 20-year warranty, providing you with the reassurance that there is a long-term guarantee should anything go wrong, along with the expectation that, provided it is reasonably looked after, the flooring will not deteriorate and will stand the test of time, remaining as attractive many years down the line as it did on the day you first bought it.
