For 50s style flooring, my favorite choice is Azrock Cortina #423
Mid Mod Pam on Apr 01 2006 at 10:54 pm | Filed under: attic & basement, bathroom, flooring, kitchen
Forced to make final decisions about my kitchen reno, I have settled on this Azrock Cortina tile - #423 Autumn Haze. I haven’t installed it yet, but the sample looks FABULOUS. Very streaky — rather than “blotchy” like so many of the other VCT tiles today. I am going to install the tile at a 90-degree angle to each other.
In my research - looking through many old 50s kitchen catalogs - I think this particular tile is a great replica. My biggest regret is that I must buy it in 12″ squares. All tiles today seem to be in this size, at minimum, it seems. In the ’50s, from what I can tell, 9″ tiles proliferated. In my home, all the tiles (under carpet in the basement, the original kitchen flooring) were 9″ square — as is the parquet in the dining room and the cork tiles in the foyer and bedrooms. In my back hall, the beige/white/black/coral streaked linoleum (fabulous) is 6″ square. Fabulous! Oh well.
I also think that Flex-Tile is worth a look:
- Flex-thru tiles, Architectural series — http://www.flextile.net/
Here is the url for Azrock Cortina:
- And Azrock Cortina — http://www.tarkett-commercial.com/floors/site/en-us/topic/azrock/article/12533/article.asp
Note: The Azrock people were great about getting me samples. Give them your business!
Hi Pam,
I was wondering how you take care of your kitchen tile floor. Do you wax it? (visions of yellow waxy buildup in my head) Or did you put some sort of coating on it that lasts?
I was pretty much settled on installing cork tiles in my kitchen, but now I’m thinking again about speckled vinyl tiles (or rubber flooring) after seeing your renovation.
Hi Femme 1. I have to admit: I don’t put anything on my Azrock Cortina floor — because I don’t want to have to worry about the yellowing of polish. However, I am at heart a floor freak, and will likely do it soon. Plus it’s looking a little scratchy, which honestly doesn’t bother me. There is so much visual stimulation going on in my kitchen, you don’t notice it at all.
I had a VCT floor in a previous house, and I used Armstrong commercial floor polish, which I buy at Home Depot. I get my floor really really clean. Then I apply the stuff with clean rags, on my hands and knees. A couple of times. IMy previous floor did yellow and had to be stripped now and then, also a pain. See my post called “The Hard Way” this past Sunday. This goes under that category.
If I do this again, I will also try it with a buffer to see how high shine it can really get.
Finally - another reader, Kay, has a wonderful shiny VCT floor she sent me a photo of. I asked her what she used on it, but I don’t think I’ve heard from her. I will keep running this down, and plan a fullscale post on this.
I think you’ve got to be careful about water on cork, even if they say it has lots of poly on it. It’s soft. I know this will sound strange: but you may want to consider certain vinyl flooring also. They are the best for ease of care. And, there are some patterns that existed in the 50s, pretty close! I have some literature on this. Will also do a post soon.
You may laugh, but you’ll probably understand when I say that I’ve been looking for JUST the right flooring for my kitchen for over two years now. Do I have trouble making decisions? About something of this magnitude?? Yes!
I’ve checked out: cork, marmoleum, vinyl, hardwood, varnished plywood (I’ve seen it in old ranches and it can look really cool), ceramic tiles, and small mosaic tiles.
I totally and utterly understand. I am the same way. I tend not to think of it as “having trouble making decisions,” but rather, waiting til the perfect solution finds you. I believe in decorating gods. I’m watching out for your floor, too, femme 1. A couple of months, there were a gazillion 9″ 1950s VCT tiles on ebay. They went cheap, as I recall, and even with the shipping, which surely was horrendous, as they weigh a ton…that would have been cool. Sit tight.
We used the Cortina Red (V951) for our basement entry (pine panneled) and it looks great! My brother said it reminds him of our Grandfather’s basement bar room. Be aware though that there appears to be a lot of vatiation in the dye between lots, so make sure you have left over tiles for repairs. Our installer did not leave us extra tiles, so we just ordered new ones to replace some that are breaking due to spalling, and the color is close but you can tell they do not match (also pattern is slightly different in the new lot).
Thanks for the info, Woodcrest. Would you like to send a photo of the entryway for everyone to see? If so, feel free. Meanwhile, thanks for the tips on buying extras! I’ll look of V951 and aim to feature it soon as a winner!
[...] so much focus these days on hardwood, tile, cork and here, of course - VCT - flooring, it’s easy to forget that in postwar homes, carpet was very [...]
[...] I think it would have been 100% appropriate for my kitchen — a very nice alternative to the Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze #423 that I’m so crazy about. You can see that for the room shot, Armstrong even paired this floor [...]
[...] More, true streaky choices to supplement my previous only favorite, Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze. Thank you, Laura! . [...]