I'm in the middle of a basement reno (2 year old house), and am going between various types of flooring ...
we have an office, bathroom, and general "great room" with a home theater setup. I'm pretty much set on having ceramic in the hallway an the bathroom (connecting) laid out in a brick pattern. but can't decide on rest (carpet, more ceramic, or possibly cork).
I was wondering if anyone's installed cork in a basement? on a concrete floor?
1. I've read that cork is great on fairly level floors - aren't basement floors not level by design? aren't they formed to slope towards the drain?
2. I imagine a vapor barrier would be required between the concrete and the tongue & groove cork - is this the same material you use for laminate flooring?
3. how easy is cork to cut? would i just use my table saw / jig saw for odd-shaped pieces?
4. how would the cork hold up in an office where you have rolling chairs and heavy desks?
5. I also have pets - which on occasion have accidents - I guess the cork would absorb the stuff you didn't want absorbed - that would suck. what about their nails?
6. what's the price comparison on cork to ceramic? I've seen some posts at $6/sqft ... but I can't even find cork readily available - my local home depot doesn't even carry any on site for sample. Any national stores that carry cork?
7. what would you use to bridge the threshold between cork and ceramic? how do you transition from one flooring to another?
sorry, lots of questions ... I've done some reading on the internet ... but always prefer the opinions of actual DIYs!
thanks in advance for any advice / hints / tips!
we have an office, bathroom, and general "great room" with a home theater setup. I'm pretty much set on having ceramic in the hallway an the bathroom (connecting) laid out in a brick pattern. but can't decide on rest (carpet, more ceramic, or possibly cork).
I was wondering if anyone's installed cork in a basement? on a concrete floor?
1. I've read that cork is great on fairly level floors - aren't basement floors not level by design? aren't they formed to slope towards the drain?
2. I imagine a vapor barrier would be required between the concrete and the tongue & groove cork - is this the same material you use for laminate flooring?
3. how easy is cork to cut? would i just use my table saw / jig saw for odd-shaped pieces?
4. how would the cork hold up in an office where you have rolling chairs and heavy desks?
5. I also have pets - which on occasion have accidents - I guess the cork would absorb the stuff you didn't want absorbed - that would suck. what about their nails?
6. what's the price comparison on cork to ceramic? I've seen some posts at $6/sqft ... but I can't even find cork readily available - my local home depot doesn't even carry any on site for sample. Any national stores that carry cork?
7. what would you use to bridge the threshold between cork and ceramic? how do you transition from one flooring to another?
sorry, lots of questions ... I've done some reading on the internet ... but always prefer the opinions of actual DIYs!
thanks in advance for any advice / hints / tips!