Cork Floors in studio?

lotusstudio · Post by **lotusstudio** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:09 am

I've been considering flooring options - oak, laminate, bamboo, etc. BUT cork seems totally awesome. Manufacturers recommmend it for studios, but I can't seem to find any real life examples.

Has anyone used or thought about CORK flooring in a live room or control room? It is said to have acoustical sound absorbing properties, to be durable, absorb footfall noise, is waterproof, hypoallergenic, and comes prefinished in a huge variety of colors and textures in pre-engineered glueuess planks.

Seems too good to be true.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:40 am

Cork is not waterproof for basement/flooding purposes.

lotusstudio · Post by **lotusstudio** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:04 am

Studio will be on the 2nd floor of my garage.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:36 am

I think you'll like the cork. I'm using rubber tiling made out of recycled tires (the same stuff used in weight rooms).

It has helped a lot with the mid hi freq smear in my space. Not so much from the mixing position, but for tracking recording. Easier to hear instruments and amps clearly, maybe a small dB reduction. I'm guessing you'll get a similar effect.

If you have heavy gear, you may want to platform your gear so you don't ruin the cork.

Electro-Voice 664 · Post by **Electro-Voice 664** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:00 am

A couple years ago I looked at a cold storage facility that was for sale, it was lined with 5? of cork on the walls and ceiling (old-school insulation). The floors were wood, with cork under the wood. I had just read ?Temples of Sound? and was totally excited by all the cork in this huge warehouse. But I couldn?t afford it so now it?s a storage warehouse for paper documents. Anyway in ?Temples of Sound? they talk about pouring concrete over a cork layer. They might have also used springs in conjunction with the cork. This wouldn?t work upstairs in a garage, but you might put the cork down first then put another layer of something over it.

lotusstudio · Post by **lotusstudio** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:58 am

Cork floors today are high fashion and can be high dollar. If you google "cork floor" under Images the array of colors and patterns of the engineered planks is stunning.

The t&g boards have cork on top ad bottom with a layer of mdf in the middle.

I wonder if I would be able to get away without using a heavy layer of underlayment with such a product.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 11:08 am

Talk to Dave Harris at Studio B in Charlotte. I'm pretty sure he's got a cork floor in the mastering suite.

I think the floors at Universal were cork, but had something else on top.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

sears · Post by **sears** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:33 pm

like a matador with his cork floors, while we're all dying of laughter

passnthru · Post by **passnthru** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:05 pm

Heck, I'll chime in here.
I have grown up in the flooring business and have recently acquired a business that specializes in cork flooring. I'm new to cork but I am learning a lot about it. It is beautiful and adds a lot to a room. The "floating" or "engineered" products will not perform like a glued down version. For cork to be successful it needs to be properly installed. It needs to be contact cemented in with 3 coats of polyurethane on top of the existing prestained/prefinished product. Any one can do it with care.
What's news to me is the former owner of the company swears by it for his home theater acoustics and just pointed out there is a local studio he'd installed it in that specified it specifically for studio purposes. He really believes it adds a lot to a room's sound. I'll find out more about it and add later.
But I can assure you you'll love the product.
JP

passnthru · Post by **passnthru** » Mon May 05, 2008 8:51 pm

I figured I should follow up what I have found out.
To begin with it is fairly waterproof once it is sealed with urethane. One of my workers has it in a basement that gets a fair bit of moisture each spring and he just wipes it up when he finds it. I think his floor is over 10 years old at this point and looks great.
It is a really wonderful product. And there are limitless possibilities for style, colour and pattern. (We actually hand paint them to look like ceramic tile or even natural stone.) The good stuff is sold in tiles (not the snap together planks although some would say "no porblem"), most likely 12" x 12" or 12" x 24" and is intended to be installed directly glued (contact cement) to the floor (an underlay is recomended as it will show whatever "smoothness" or lack thereof below it) but right to concrete is good to so long as it is smooth. A big part of a succesful install is to apply 3-4 coats of "OmniGold" urethane on top. It will last for years and I think it is one of the most exciting products we sell.
And it doesen't have to look like a bulliten board. There are a bunch of patterns laminated to a cork core as well.
It is a natural insulator and because it is elastic and composed of air filled cells it actually is similar to a random diffuser in the way it effects sound that hits it and is reflected. Some credit it with "warming up sound" too. I have done no tests but I have found a fair bit of propoganda that backs it up http://www.corkfloor.com/faqs.html as well as a couple of local studios that swear by it.
Costs here are anywhere to $3.50/sf through $10. Expect another $3/sf for installation if you have it done for you. But you really don't need a pro to install it. A pro can install 100 sf in an hour.
I'll admitt to not installing any yet but I'm going to do one shortly and I'm confident it will go perfectly.
All the best if you go that route.
JP

lotusstudio · Post by **lotusstudio** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:03 am

Thanks!

junomat · Post by **junomat** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:24 am

i used bamboo... it's well priced, a renewable resource and it's beautiful.

dont bother with laminate. it sounds horrible.

check out http://www.lumberliquidators.com/home.jsp

lancebug · Post by **lancebug** » Tue May 06, 2008 12:08 pm

Just put cork in the kitchen. Went in in a couple hours. Very pleasant and worm to the touch. It is floating, so that might be an issue. Full renewable resource. I imagine it could be glued down if need be. Got it from a local small green products distributor. Cost: $5.50 sqft. I have a basement studio with the rare but real potential for minor water leakage so its probably not on my list of options unless I float the whole floor with some type of moisture gap.

Gyefinger · Post by **Gyefinger** » Thu May 08, 2008 2:44 pm

I can vouch and the newer cork flooring is snap and click already finished and ready to go once you lay it down. I just finished installing the floor in my studio and it looks beautiful and really isn't much different then standard laminate flooring on the surface. The feel is awesome to walk on and it looks incredible,

No underlayment, already finished. It was a joy to put in, It is a little spendy if you get the good stuff but trust me you do not want to mess with sub standard flooring.

I bought mine from simple floors. http://www.simplefloors.com/products/Co ... ng540.aspx

It was about 2,000 for a 16x28 room

andrewfoshee · Post by **andrewfoshee** » Sun May 11, 2008 7:29 pm

Well ... I don't know about a live room or a control room, but I know that Brushfire Records (Jack Johnson/Emmet Malloy's studio) has certain rooms made with cork floors among other eco-friendly materials. In fact, it's one of the world's first green studios. You can check out a tour at the link below - it's pretty cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E3lJ0Pa7bU

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