My wife has come up with the idea of using cork flooring. She said it is easy on the legs/back with some sound deading and insulation quality. Has anyone tried the cork flooring?
Lloyd
I have not tried cork and do not know how it would wear. We have done rubber in the kitchen of our last house. It was comfortable to walk and stand on, definitely easier on the back, and very easy maintenance. In our last bus, the one I am selling now, we had a large anti-fatigue mat made to cover the entire kitchen. That also worked out very well.
Quote from: lloyd on March 25, 2008, 10:31:59 PM
My wife has come up with the idea of using cork flooring. She said it is easy on the legs/back with some sound deading and insulation quality. Has anyone tried the cork flooring?
Lloyd
A friend used cork flooring in his MC8. He said it helped with both sound and heat insulation. The only drawback he mentioned was "dings" from dropping stuff like tools and ladies high heels. I have not seen him or the bus for several years, so I do not know how well it holds up over time. Jack
Got me curious so I googled it and found this interesting site on cork flooring that answers some of the questions of durability and benefits:
http://www.nfpimports.com/faq.html (http://www.nfpimports.com/faq.html)
I used cork underlay (1/4" thick) with laminate flooring and i'm happy with the sound deading and insulation quality.
Ron
After a lot of research, I have just put cork flooring in our house. The modern cork floor products come in tiles that install exactly the same as laminate floor. Lots of benefits over other options such as carpet, hardwood, and laminate, yet no downside that I have discovered except that it costs a bit more than some of the other products. We have used laminate in the past (over foam underlay). That was pretty good but cork is way better (and no, I'm NOT a cork salesman, lol :D). The cork tiles do not require underlay. As for dings, maybe that was with some earlier or cheaper cork product? The stuff we have came with a 25 year warranty so it must be pretty durable. We will definitely be putting cork in our bus.
I have two friends that have it in the house and they like it. I will be installing some in my 9 soon. It is the only flooring I am considering. The only down side I know of is that it does not like large amounts of water so I guess I'll have to stop cleaning the bus with the fire hose. Jim
I used 1/8 inch sheet cork on the entire coach floor as an underlayment. Put it down about 6 years ago and have never put the other flooring over it. We have 3 dogs and solved the "ding" problem, somewhat, by putting in a 28 inch carpet runner from front to back. Also use saddleblanket rugs and mats in strategic places. (Kitchen sink, lav, stove, dining, etc.)
It made a real difference in the road and engine sound (we have an amidships engine). A few damaged spots over the years, but easily fixed. I added wood parquet in the bath commode area and will, one day soon hopefully, do the entire coach over the cork . Meantime, I'm glad I did it.
FWIW :-X
RCB
RCB: Cork underlay (the type that comes in rolls) is quite a bit different than the cork floor tiles I'm talking about. I think it all comes down to the amount of compression used in the manufacturing process. The stuff designed for use as a finished floor is highly compressed and therefore much more resilient than the stuff used as underlay, wall tiles, or bulletin boards. If you're getting good results with just the underlay, imagine how it would be with actual floor cork (which is also much thicker).
Probably the ideal combination for a bus would be to use the rolled cork as underlay and finish with the cork floor tiles on top. Although the finished cork floor tiles do not require underlay, adding a layer of rolled cork underneath would probably provide even better insulation and sound dampening.
I know it would be fun to empty all of those bottles to make the floor! ;D
Yes, cork does come in rolls....and sheets...I ordered sheets of UNDERLAYMENT-- softer and very absorbing of heat and noise. Recommended by the manufacturer for my purpose. Not the same as the cork tiles for floors. Reason being, I wanted sound deadening and heat "softening".
I have heard...read...that thje tiles are still susceptible to damage from furniture, etc. I have hardwood parquet, 6 inch squares, that I intended to put over the cork and so far it has held up very well in the commode area as well as some heavy traffic areas in my home.
RCB
I am in the middle of a kitchen remodel, then on to the basement. I have done extensive research on the type of flooring I want to use. I have settled on the cork floor listed below:
http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=5191&source=FloorFinderResultsPage
I have estimated that it will cost about $2500 but the look will be spectacular.
The cork floor has a look all it's own. When someone sees this in your bus, they will immediately want to know, "What the heck is it?"
Really, isn't that the reason we all want a bus for?
Bro - before you buy from LL - you might want to check out Simple Floors - their price on some laminate I just bought was way less than LL and that was drop shipped, not picked up (they have contracts with suppliers all over the US) - 1800 sq.ft. of laminaate for $1500 delivered - HTH