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Posts Tagged ‘cork’

When it comes to replacing your bathroom floor, you may want to consider putting in a cork floor. Cork flooring is about as green as you can go. It is made of tree-like tropical grasses which replenish themselves inside a few years’ time. It is also a great flooring material because it is soft and warm to walk on with bare feet and as it is extremely immune to the moistness that’s an inherent part of any bathroom environment. This type of flooring repels moisture and keeps mold, mildew, and bacteria at bay, and cleaning cork floors is fast and easy. All-in-all, cork is an excellent choice for your bathroom floor.

Bear in mind that with cork, just like with any other kind of wood flooring material, your floor will be subject to contraction and expansion based on climate factors. It wi expand during the warmer summer months and contract during heating season. It does have a tendency to be a more stable product than other hardwoods, though. While most wood only contracts and expands across the grain, cork expands in all directions. If your floor is laid correctly, it’ll be ready to go with the flow of climate changes without an obvious difference in the way it appears to be.

Floating cork floors are not recommended for bathroom use. Floating suggests that rather than being nailed to the sub-floor, the boards are fixed to each other, and while this technique of cork flooring installation can give your floors a great look in other places in the house, the moisture and possible spillage in the bathroom makes it a poor choice. Cork floors are simple for you to lay without professional help. After you’ve installed the flooring, ensure you caulk around all of the outside edges. You do not need to leave any gaps where water can creep under your floor and cause damage to sub-floors or walls. Although the cork itself is impervious to moisture, these other materials aren’t.

Some experts will recommend that you not use any type of wood floors product in a bathroom because of possible water damage. Other people report they have had cork floors in their necessary rooms for a number of years with much success. Exotic flooring materials, for example cork and bamboo, have become very hip with householders thanks to the fact that they’re environmentally-friendly, look good, and can be less costly than other types of flooring. The choice is up to you.
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Tags: landscaping, plumbing, electrical, remodeling, home improvement