Theater Room: Cork Flooring

After all of the jackhammering and dust, we are getting to the fun part. As part of the theater room project, we took out the red ceramic tile floors (see below), and are in the process of replacing them with a floating cork floor.



These are 1'x3' prefinished glueless planks that have a "tongue" and "groove" on each side so they can snap and lock together.

We chose cork mostly because of its mid-century look and environmental friendliness. As opposed to most wood floors, cork is a sustainable product. Cork comes from cork oak trees. The bark is peeled from the trees, and it grows back within 10 years without causing any harm to the tree. These trees live to be 200 years old.



There are 3 layers that make up the floor. The first layer is a 7 mil vapor resistant plastic that lays directly on top of the concrete slab. This is to prevent moisture from getting into the floors from the cement. Next we layed the cork underlayment. It not only smooths out the unevenness of the floor and makes it easier to walk on, but it also helps deaden the sound; perfect for a media room. Now we are putting on the cork planks.

After we finish, we will have a better idea of the furniture we will purchase to fill our new room. Stay tuned for future theater room projects: molding, lighting, speakers, and more!