I got some samples of glue down cork flooring. I can put fingernail marks in it really easily. How can this cork flooring hold up when so easily dented? Is plank floating floor less easy to scratch or dent? And can you glue down the plank cork so you don't need the 3/8 inch spacing all around the perimeter? I really need help from someone that has cork floors or someone who installs them.

Remember I like floating... These samples are all floating. Color wise they're all a silver grey. I was originally looking for a grey. The 2 Wicanders Art Comfort series samples are from the stone plank collection. To me, in these small 6"x6" samples, it reminds me of old hand scraped wood thats been left outside and weathered. I'm trying to attach a photo- 3 greys are all together, other 2 for comp. are an off white and a plain natural nugget style. (not the best pic, taken with my phone) This post was edited by luckymom on Sun, Jan 27, 13 at 9:11

We have the Santos Matte plank cork floor and really love it. Have not noticed any dings yet and it holds up well to water drops from the finish hand drying of dishes from our Bosch DW to the cupboard. Our cork floor is about 1/3" inch down from the adjacent tile floor. Our GC took a piece of oak floor and shaped it to be a good color match for the cork and a minimal bump transition between the two surfaces. It is enough that I notice it when I step on it but not enough for me to feel like I am stepping on a bump. The people who built our house did not put any transition strips between the indoor-outdoor carpet and the various hard surfaces in our house so we are constantly having to be careful when vacuuming and cleaning up to avoid stressing those areas. When it comes time to replace the carpet I will be looking for something to help make that less of a problem. Thus my advice is to have your GC make a small transitional strip to help protect your floor surfaces. Good Luck!

If the manufacturer says it's OK over radiant, I'd trust that. Duro Designs told me in writing [via email] that their glue down was fine as well, though I don't know if they've changed the website to reflect that. When you think about it, there's no less flexible material than grouted tile, but that's commonly used over radiant. I think the reason there's so much trouble finding radiant approved flooring is that once the floor and heat system are installed, the homeowner is in the drivers seat: there's nothing to stop you from trying for a little greater efficiency by turning the water in the pipes up to 120 degrees if you like, and that can cause a lot of materials to fail. So the flooring industry tries to limit it's liability by saying 'fine over radiant, so long as the water in the pipes is kept at 85 degrees'. When you think about it, that's just silly: every floor gets hotter than that when the sun shines through the window or the fireplace is burning or near a heater. So why 85? Because it 'feels' warm to your skin. There's no materials testing, no scientific standard in play other than that. FWIW, I have radiant accross my main and upper floors. The tile is noticeably warm under barefeet, the laminate less so, the floating cork less, the carpet [despite special pad] not at all. I think a glue down cork will transmit heat at least as well as the floating, and would have used it if my heat pipes weren't the sort that rest on top the subfloor, rather than below. It isn't that the cork feels cool at all, it's just that the warmth doesn't make itself known in the same way. BUT be sure to insulate well below the heat: we all know that heat rises, but it also follows the path of least resistance. Cork is a resistor, a 'dam' for the heat, so you'll want an even bigger heat dam below it.