Flooring a Restaurant – Is Cork a Good Idea

Q: Im looking at using cork flooring for a commercial kitchen. is this a good idea…do you have a better suggestion or a specific type of cork flooring to use?
Thanks,
Steve
A: Before we get into too much detail, I’d like to get a bit of information on your project. My guess is that this kitchen will be in a restaurant or hotel or something similar, if so, how large will this kitchen be, how many people will be actively working at a time and what performance are you looking to get from the floor itself?
If you are expecting a certain amount of durability (such as what you would see from tile or linoleum) there are certain methods that will need to be put into place during installation to ensure the cork will be spec’d for a bit more battering from dropped items or heavy traffic (hence why I ask the size of this kitchen). I look forward to hearing back from you on these questions, but before that let’s get into a bit of basic advice.
With cork in a commercial application, your best bet is to use a glue down cork tile with a site applied finish. This allows for the utmost protection and sealing against moisture, as well as giving you a tough and even finish across the entire floor. With the floating engineered tiles for cork, you sacrifice a bit of the moisture resistant capability to get easier installation, which is generally suggested for something like an exercise room or living room in a home rather than a kitchen or commercial application where heavier traffic is expected.
Reply: our commercial kitchen will serve a quasi-fast food place (burgers and wings). we will also use it for outside work such as pick up deli and salads and trays. Finally, eventually we will have a private dinning room for special events. our two retail spaces are connected. we were guessing about 600 square feet (20×30) for the kitchen and counter area for the burgers and wings joint. the counter people would eventually work the fryers and griddles while our chef would be doing outside work and private dinners. my guess on average would be 4 people at any one time.
we are intrigued by cork but really just want the best floor at a good price (see cheap in the dictionary) for the kitchen area. so far we have looked at tile (terra cota), epoxy, cork. Is there something im missing? could we use a laminate. I think concrete may be out of the question since there is a basement below and im not sure of the load it could handle. i want something that isnt going to kill our chef being on 12 hours a day.
A: As far as comfort is concerned, Cork is the king of your choices here (with only carpet being better). As far as the most durable floor you can get is concerned, you would want to look into vinyl composition tile or ceramic tile, but then you run into a floor that is a bit painful to stand on all day. As far as economy is concerned you can look into purchasing a prefinished cork tile, which will save a bit over the site finished approach; however, in doing this you lose a small bit of durability.
Keep in mind that with cork, you will want to use a glue down tile, and apply it using a contact cement rather than the standard troweled on adhesives. My guess is that you will be having a builder do the installation work for you. They key during the installation is to roll the cork with a 100lbs. roller once an hour until the contact cement cures. If this is not done, you will run into a problem where the tile will begin to cup and pull away from the subfloor.
As far as a laminate is concerned, you can use a laminate in a restaurant (which is a fairly popular choice that I have seen). There are a couple of precautions you have to take when installing a laminate for a commercial application. Normally laminate is not found in the actual cooking areas (usually this is a tile of some form, like vinyl composition tile found in grocery stores / hospitals etc) because you can run in to potential problems with moisture getting into the seams of the floor as there is limited protection against moisture and spills in these areas. Some applications I have seen utilize cork underlayment to give some comfort under foot, but keep in mind laminate is still fairly tough and will be similar to walking over a tiled floor.
To sum up, many floors will have great success in this environment depending on how they are installed. In commercial applications, the installation process and taking time to plan is critical to not only finding the right floor, but also to making that floor last.