With the availability of variety of floors in the market, it is hard to choose one that is suitable for our house. Flooring is the base of any house and is important. Flooring being the permanent part of a house needs great care while we select it. Most of the people do not bother much about the flooring, but it is an essential part of the house.
Being such an important part of the house, it needs to be of good quality. Good quality flooring lasts longer and is highly resistant to wear and tear that mainly occurs on the floors. Out of all the types of flooring that is available in the markets, Cork flooring can be quite interesting. Cork flooring is natural as they come from the cork tree. Cork surfaces are comfortable and smooth to walk, durable in nature and has some natural insulation properties that makes it a perfect material for flooring.
If you choose cork for floors of your house, then it is important to check the originality of the material. Sometimes instead of natural cork, people buy artificial one, however, cork works best if it is natural. Otherwise, it will not last long and will not give desired results. It is therefore essential to examine the material before buying.
Following are some important things that one should know before installing cork in their places.
Properties of cork
Cork flooring is very soft, renewable and environment friendly. That is the reason for increasing popularity of cork for flooring. Softness of the cork makes it perfect material for small kids, as it will not hurt them when they crawl on the floors. Also being highly resistant towards sounds, it avoids most of the noise and keeps you shielded from all the disturbances around you. Besides having sound resisting property, cork also keeps the flooring safe from the harsh effects of temperatures. Making a room warm during winters and cool rooms during summers makes it a perfect material for flooring.
Installing cork flooring
One can install cork flooring at almost any place but requires a little more care at places that are moist and slightly wet. A smooth and completely dry surface is best to start with installation process. Being easy to install, it does not require any expert. You can easily install it all alone.
Protect cork from fading away
Just like any other wood products, Cork will also fade with time. So, it is highly recommended to keep it away from sunlight to avoid it fading away with time. Install a light colored cork to minimize fadedness of the flooring. Moving furniture from time to time can avoid fadedness and keep it as colorful as it was during installation. Apart from that, installing UV films on the windows can help in maintaining the original color of the cork.
Polish floors twice annually
Making cork-flooring look new again is easy. By applying two or three layers of polyurethane, one can make the floors look shiny and new again. Start by thoroughly cleaning the floor and then apply two layers of water-based polyurethane. It will take a minimum of 48 hours to dry and then you can use it again as ever before.
Avoid placing heavy furniture
Cork flooring is very soft. It is advisable not to keep very heavy furniture on it as it may lead to permanent denting that is hard it recover. Avoid dragging heavy furniture on this flooring, as it may leave you with a scratched floor. Take proper care to keep cork flooring safe. To keep it protected, place pads under the legs of the furniture.
Summary
Cork flooring is not very new. Everybody knows about it. Keep simple things in mind to take complete advantage of it. Advantageous properties of cork make it a perfect material for flooring. So, install cork flooring and enjoy using it.
