Experience with cork flooring? (floating installation)

[AwakeCantSleep]

Please talk to me about cork floors. I'm looking at replacing the flooring in much of my small house (ca. 65 square metres to be replaced). It's currently mostly carpeted (which I hate). I was originally thinking of an engineered wood floor (Kährs), but then came across cork floors. E.g. https://wicanders.com/en/home/productdetail/cork/Identity-Eden-I806002

My house is of cowboy builder construction and poorly insulated. The cork feels very pleasant underfoot. Much warmer than wood, and has better sounds insulation. It's s nicer to walk on, too, and also apparently easier to install.

But I'm unsure how the flooring will be affected by general wear & tear and exposure to sunlight.

If you have a cork floor, I'd love to hear your experiences

We got cork put down in the bedrooms three years ago and once I decorate the hall and get rid of the carpet we're putting it down there too. It's been brilliant - no dents, no lifting, easy to clean and isn't slippy. We used siesta cork tiles and I got a recommended fitter through them. We went with the natural ones. We have suspended floors (50's bungalow) and they put down ply boards and glued them on. They were then sealed with some kind of eco friendly stuff!

The tiles aren't a uniform colour - I think that adds to them! They do have dyed tiles if you did want a different look - you can get samples sent.

Following as also like the look of cork, thinking of it for kitchen...

Thank you @Ruu ! I've fired off an enquiry to Siesta. Can you remember how thick your tiles are? And can they be repaired or refinished?

I love the natural cork look, but I fear it is too dark for my tiny terraced house.

4.7mm thick - I checked my emails! I think you can sand them down to repair any bad dents.

You can get some bleached whitish cork flooring - we ended up with regular coloured cork for our bathroom but almost went paler...

Thanks all. The product I'm considering is an engineered floor which is installed by clicking the planks together. The cork layers make up 4.6 mm or so, similar to @Ruu 's tiles.

I love the natural colour of cork, but I worry that it will be too dark for my small house with tiny rooms. The new floor will be laid in the hallway, lounge, dining room, up the stairs, landing and the bedrooms.

If I go for natural colour it will be this product: wicanders.com/en/home/productdetail/cork/Originals-Symphony-O830003

One shade lighter is this one: wicanders.com/en/home/productdetail/cork/Identity-Eden-I806002

Those with natural cork, how do you get on with the colour?

We installed the floating planks from corkfloor.co.uk. Generally really happy with it - love the colour, it's very forgiving to dust etc, soft and warm underfoot. Definitely get a good latex screed first though, we didn't and our tiles move slightly underfoot. We have a few small scratches but they're very hard to see given the colour difference. I love my floor and it was much better value than engineered wood.

Thanks @wineymummy . Which range/colour did you go for from corkfloor.co.uk? I'll order some samples from them, too.

You have me worried about movement now The subfloor is chipboard, and it does move in places. Might have to get a builder or carpenter in to sort the floor out first.

They don't move side-to-side, once they're clicked together they're pretty secure, they just have some bounce because the floor is so uneven beneath. We should have sorted it but were too tight to pay for the latex - regret that now. Did the cork install ourselves which saved a lot of money. We went with Classic Sand. Had one problem when they sent us boxes from 2 different batches which didn't match but they replaced them quickly with no quibbles.

Thanks @wineymummy , very helpful! Yes that's what I meant. My subfloor is slightly uneven and has "bounce" in a couple of places, so presumably the cork planks will, too. Definitely need to look into that.

How did you finish the edges of the room? Did you take the skirting up before laying the cork, and replace after? I was told that an alternative is to leave the skirting in place, and cover the extension gap with silicone.

Do you have the cork on stairs, by any chance? I'm wondering what to do about the stairs.

No it was in our existing kitchen and new extension, so we took skirtings up where existing and replaced them over. I wouldn't do the silicon, the expansion gap is meant to be 5-10mm so that's a big bead of silicon. Didn't have it on the stairs either, not sure how that would work - maybe cork on the treads and a timber upstand?

Thank you. I will definitely take the skirting up downstairs. Not sure about upstairs yet. The whole house needs decorating, too.

The stairs are giving me a headache just thinking about them. I don't want carpet (hate it with a passion) or a runner. They are currently carpeted. If I can find matching stair nosing, I could just paint the upstands white and have cork on the treads.

I adore cork and it is a mystery to me why more people don't have it.
I had the same as your first link in my kitchen and living room. It did bleach in the sun, this didn't bother me but even after one summer you could see e.g. where the door mat had been. It was warm and easy to clean. We did make a special effort to avoid it getting wet. DH managed to gouge it once dragging furniture but otherwise it was very resilient.
I couldn't say about it on stairs - personally I prefer carpet there to deaden the noise and soften falls!- but recommend it everywhere else.
I would put in new skirting and definitely re screed so the sub floor is flat. Otherwise the planks will bounce.