Where cork earns its place
- Home offices and studies — quiet, warm, kind to standing
- Upstairs rooms in flats where footfall noise matters
- Kitchens, if sealed properly and spills are wiped promptly
- Children's playrooms — soft enough to matter when someone falls
Getting the specification right
Glue-down cork tiles need a factory or site-applied sealer, and the number of coats determines how it handles water and scuffing. Click cork planks come pre-finished with a wear layer and go down faster over a slightly less perfect subfloor.
Use furniture cups under heavy legs from day one. Cork recovers from rolling and standing loads far better than from a point load left in place for a year.