Ladies and Gentleman, good evening (actually morning):

Just finishing up my first 1,000 sq. ft. of floating cork flooring, and since there were a few people looking to install or wondering about doing the same thing, I thought I would pass along some feedback…

I went with Lisbon (Lumber Liquidators) dry-fit floating cork with integral economy cork underlayment. Planks were about 3 ft. long, 12 inches wide, 11mm thick – core of green mdf. About $3 per sq. ft. Installed over concrete slab.

This stuff goes in pretty slowly at first; took me about an hour to lay 3 planks when I got started! After much hassle, and several planks that were beat to hell trying to get them to interlock, I picked up a few tricks.

1.) First, no matter how easily they tell you these planks go together – they are lying. Expect to work for a good, tight fit. I found that a scrap of 2×4 held against the outside edge of the plank acts as pretty good protection for hammering the pieces together.

2.) To seat the planks, make sure that the preceding “groove” is clean and free of broken/chipped mdf. These grooves are delicate and break easily as you hammer them into place – which is fine because it doesn’t interfere with the integrity of the floor as a whole – a well designed plank will still work even with a broken tongue or groove.

3.) As with any floating floor (I imagine), unless the first row is bearing solidly against a wall, the pieces bend and joints open up as you install the second (and sometimes third) rows. This is especially problematic when going across door openings because there is no solid backing. Sometimes it helps to traverse any openings with a solid piece of blocking to keep the floor from deflecting as you hammer on additional rows. The good news is that 2 rows is usually enough to keep everything sturdy, then you can move faster with the subsequent rows.

4.) It took me awhile to learn this one, but I recommend that you don’t kill yourself tryign to fit pieces into impossibly tight areas like closets, and against far walls (last row). Don’t be afraid to take out the block plane and shave the “tongue” of a plank to make installation easier in tough spots. Also, I left planks staggered in some areas (like door transitions) then laid out the Festool track, trimmed the edges clean and square, and used PL to glue in a filler where two rooms meet at a doorway. Worked like a charm, and no hassle.

5.) check back on previously installed rows as you work. A little hammering here, will open up a gap over there. A few strategic hammer blows will tap everything back into place, but you need to stay on top of it before you get too far away from the gaps to correct them.

6.) Lastly, don’t be afraid to hit these planks hard. I had to stay on my helper about “not hitting like a girl” – some plank tongues and grooves took damage, but they still work with no problems.

7.) if you damage the surface of the cork installing it, remove the damaged piece and replace. The mottled look of the flooring will hide minor imperfections, but don’t expect to ignore major edge chips, they stick out like a sore thumb. I havent’ come up with any great ways of fixing chips, but if it’s a chip that’s still attached (like a hinged chip, I suppose) I used some wood glue and weighted it down till it dried – worked well enough.

All in all, a nice looking floor to be sure. But it definitly has a learning curve. Buy extra, and charge extra (if you are working as pro) the first time around.