HELP us understand Cork flooring / Linoleum flooring

I have been a home owner for several years and still feel like I know nothing about anything home related. I have just started a once-every-10-years home refresh, and chose to work with a local contractor whom I watched renovate a house in my neighborhood. He recommended the Floor Store. I am in the middle of having Coretec Stone (cork underlay) installed in my kitchen. The previous flooring was rollout vinyl, which seemed to hold up OK for about 10 years, but it has now been 20 years and it was in overall bad shape.

We have renovated homes using both true linoleum as well as cork and I would be happy to talk about the differences but maybe you should just give me a call.

We have renovated homes using both true linoleum as well as cork and I would be happy to talk about the differences but maybe you should just give me a call.

In the meantime, the very best resource if you want a healthy homeAnd you want to be able to access people who are truly knowledgeable about what they’re selling, and there’s no toxic chemicals for children and adults who live in the homes to deal with offgassing, I would absolutely recommend EcoHome in Berkeley on San Pablo. I would veer away from the floor store myself.

I can't speak to linoleum flooring, but we recently installed cork flooring in our new-addition bedroom and LOVE it. We get so many compliments about how pretty it is, it's soft and comfortable on my middle-age feet, and it doesn't get cold like other flooring does (which is nice since our bedroom is basically in the basement). We got it from Flooring Alternatives on San Pablo in Berkeley, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. They only do eco-friendly flooring. Talk to Mari--she was great to work with. 

Hi there, We had cork flooring in our old house in SF. It looked great, was nice on your feet, but sunlight fades it. And in a short amount of time! I wouldn't use cork if you have windows that let direct sun stream onto the floor.

Hi! Full disclosure, my husband owns a flooring company (Flooret.com) that sells vinyl flooring. Here are a few thoughts: Linoleum can be more eco friendly, but make sure that it is actually made from linseed oil. Marmoleum is a good brand. The downside with it is that unlike vinyl, it's pretty limited with the designs, since it's a solid material. There is no print film. So it can't look like wood, though they try their best. They can pigment it, and play with how they texture it, which is how they try to mimic wood and stone, but traditionally it's just a solid color. Same with cork. 

Linoleum is pretty water resistant, but some brands put it on an HDF core so it can click together and the core isn't waterproof. Cork is a little less waterproof. 

My pitch for vinyl (not that you're want to switch) is that it looks much more like wood if that's what you're after. Also it is virtually waterproof, tends to last longer and requires less maintenance. Neither linoleum or cork is as scratch-resistant as vinyl if you're interested in that. Environmentally - vinyl is not as good, but my husband's company recycles all of the vinyl it sells to make new floors which is pretty awesome. 

I installed a cork floor in my office in 2018 after looking at linoleum/Marmoleum and other options, and I'm very happy with it. It's held up better than I thought it would to kid traffic, heavy furniture and dropped objects. I ended up getting click-together floating (no glue required) cork planks by Duro Design - I think they were from Lumber Liquidators. Our regular handyman installed them - it looked pretty straightforward and I considered doing it myself, but ended up hiring someone to get it done faster. We installed it over a concrete slab (with moisture barrier but no other underlayment) and it's nice and cushy.

We used Frick Flooring for our Marmoleum and it turned out great. Love Marmoleum!

https://www.frickflooring.com/

We checked colors at Berkeley Design Center:

http://www.berkeleydesigncenter.com/green_marmoleum.html

Our friends a few house away from us installed cork floors in their kitchen about 10 years ago and like it because it is soft and comfortable. The issues they have is that the sun has faded parts of it, there are wear patterns in front of the counters and it has to be refinished about every five years which is rather expensive. We installed Marmoleum (the new linoleum) in our kitchen 7 years ago and, like cork, it is eco friendly as it is made from linseed oil and other natural products. It is a bit firmer than cork but there are no wear patterns on the surface as the color is solid all through the material. There is no veneer to wear out. Care is easy as one uses a liquid cleaner sold by Forbo (the manufacturer) and others. For more information you can look at the website: forbo.com and see lots of information about the product. You can even order samples. If you want to look locally Abbey Carpet in El Cerrito, Berkeley Design Store and The Floor Store in Richmond have samples you can look at. For installation I can highly recommend Frick Flooring at 510-758-2122. John works by himself and does an excellent job. He has installed several marmoleum floors for us and is scheduled to install two more this summer.

Hello, we also did click-together cork flooring in our kitchen. We love it because it is warm underfoot, and things don't break as easily when they hit the surface. It's stood up well; we are a small family and no pets, so maybe that's helped. As for previous posters' issues, it does not get direct sunlight (north-facing windows in kitchen) and we put a gel mat in front of the sink. The housecleaners do a light wet mop of it every two weeks and it seems to stand up to that too. Honestly, it probably has some stains and nicks, but since it's a darker color and has natural patterns, I don't really notice them!  :-)