Walking All Over It

Retirement gives you a lot more free time than you might be used to, and sprucing up your household is a great project to devote yourself to in later life. If you are a retired homeowner on a home improvement binge, and you're looking for a new flooring material for your living room, bedroom, or any room, cork flooring can be an excellent choice.

Cork flooring has been used for a long time but has recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, and for good reason. This extremely forgiving flooring material is particularly suitable for older homeowners. Here are four reasons why cork flooring is an ideal flooring material for your retirement palace:

Soft Underfoot

Cork flooring is about as soft as the cork you would find in a wine bottle and provides a pliant, cushioned feel underfoot as you move around your home. If your bones and joints aren't as robust as they used to be, cork flooring can make standing and walking for extended periods much more comfortable. This makes it an ideal flooring choice for kitchens.

Easy To Maintain

When cork flooring is manufactured, its top surface is sealed with a durable waterproof resin. This makes cork flooring very easy to clean and maintain. For the most part, cork flooring only needs to be swept every once in a while to remove dust and hairballs, although liquid spills should be cleaned up with a damp mop. If you find pushing a heavy vacuum cleaner around challenging, cork flooring can save you a lot of trouble and effort.

Good Heat Insulator

Cork flooring also has excellent heat insulation properties, and the tiny air bubbles trapped beneath its surface prevent a great deal of unwanted heat transfer. When installed in upper-story rooms, or flooring over an uninsulated basement or wine cellar, cork flooring can help to trap heat inside your rooms, lowering your heating bills — useful for anybody living on a relatively modest pension.

The heat insulation properties of cork flooring also ensure that it remains relatively warm to the touch, even during the coldest winters. If you are tired of getting out of bed and stepping onto freezing cold tiled or hardwood flooring, cork is an ideal alternative.

Can Be Refinished

Many retired homeowners who remodel their homes want their newly improved home to last the rest of their lives, and cork flooring is an excellent long-term investment. Like natural hardwood flooring, cork flooring can be refinished when its top layer starts to show signs of wear and tear. Sanding a thin layer of cork away from your flooring and resealing the newly exposed cork can make your flooring look as good as new, and can be repeated many times.