I am planning on laying a new floor in my living room and connected kitchen. I liked the ideaof cork or maybe bamboo, so I decided to do some research. While I like the hardness of bamboo, I don't like the thought of having to nail it down. Cork, with its soft mold-proof surface would make a nice comfortable and quiet floor.. Cork is a soft flooring. It gets its softness by trapping air within its cellular makeup. It is manufactured in a variety of patterns and colors and it has natural finishes that don't have any lingering odor. It is made by harvesting the outer bark from the Cork Oak Tree from the base to the upper branches. From there it it is dried to make wine bottle stoppers. What is left is ground into different sizes and reconstituted to make an amazing variety of cork flooring and other products. You can buy cork laminated onto an engineered plank as a floating floor, or if you prefer, it also comes in tiles or on a roll. Both types need to be glued down. The floating floor plank is a good option for DIY'ers, such as myself, as it is easy to install and doesn't need any glue. Cork is naturally rodent, mold, water/moisture, and fire resistant. It gets its natural resistance from the presence of an antimicrobial wax called Suberin. Plus cork has excellent thermal and sound deadening properties. Bamboo is essentially a grass. It is laminated to its self, generally in 3 layers. Bamboo must be nailed down to keep it flat otherwise, it moves a lot with changes in moisture. Bamboo is as hard or harder than most hardwoods. With bamboo you need to make sure that the material you’re getting does not leave behind a noxious odor. I'm talking from experience here. I once had to tear out a brand new bamboo floor because the owner was allergic to it. The glue used to make bamboo flooring is generally toxic and can be irritating to the point of a major reaction for some. Bamboo comes in a wide variety of patterns and colors. Flat grain, which has a wide pattern or vertical grain which has a a narrow pattern. Bamboo is prone to warping. It has beveled edges and measures about 5 1/2 "x 3' per. plank. It is truly sustainable in that it doesn't kill the plant it comes from. I think I will go with cork but haven't made a final decision. Does anyone else have any experience with cork or bamboo flooring?
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