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    • Home » Kitchen Help Category » 25 companies that make flooring — cork, linoleum and vinyl — suitable for a midcentury house

    25 companies that make flooring — cork, linoleum and vinyl — suitable for a midcentury house

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    linoleum floorDo you want retro-style, resilient flooring for your kitchen, bathroom, basement — maybe even your entire house? We tend to write about new designs one at time — when we, or readers, spot them. And we’ll continue doing that. But realistically, if you are in the market for new resilient flooring, I recommend that you prepare your eyeballs and start looking through all the styles available from every manufacturer. “Every manufacturer?” Yes — and to help, I’ve begun the following list. 

    “Resilient”: meaning not tile or concrete, but cushioned flooring stuff that kind of bounces back underfoot.

    Shown above: Dave and Frances’ Marmoleum-brand linoleum floor.

    Where to look for linoleum flooring — available in sheets or in tiles:

    I know of three companies in the U.S.:

    • Marmoleum
    • Armstrong
    • Johnsonite

    Where to look for vinyl, luxury vinyl and vinyl composite flooring — sheet and tile:

    azrock-flooring-1

    Brian and Keri chose an Azrock 12″ vinyl tile for their kitchen update.

    In alphabetical order:

    • American Bilt-Rite
    • Amtico
    • Armstrong
    • Azrock
    • Congoleum
    • IVC
    • Johnsonite
    • Karndean
    • Lonseal
    • Mannington
    • Olympia Tile
    • Tandus-Centiva
    • Tarkett

    Important research tip: When searching these companies’ websites, look at the Residential/Homeowner sections of these companies’ websites, of course. BUT, you may be most likely to find flooring that suits our midcentury sensibilities in the Commercial/Contract sections.

    I started to try and bucket and sort particular lines by size and type… but immediately became frustrated because there are so many options. Perhaps I will do this someday — but it will need to be an X-Y chart. There IS a lot of cool stuff available.

    Meanwhile, check out this IVC basic sheet vinyl collection — these sheets are 13’2″ wide — you could get this in most midcentury kitchens, I bet, with no seams.

    Where to find glue-down cork flooring:

    cork-flooring

    Rebecca and Keith installed cork floors in their mid mod kitchen remodel.

    Re cork flooring, I don’t know anything about the new floating floor technologies, so for this list, I focused on companies that sell original style glue ’em down cork flooring, just like I have in my 1951 bedrooms and foyer. When and if I ever redo these floors (the foyer in particular has seen better days), I will be using glue-down tiles from companies such as these:

    • Duro Design Cork Flooring
    • Expanko
    • Evora Cork
    • Forna Cork Flooring
    • Globus Cork Flooring
    • Jelinek Cork Flooring 
    • Lisbon Cork Flooring
    • Nova Cork Flooring
    • U.S. Floors
    • Wicanders

    Note: I have no idea how to vet the quality of one manufacturer’s cork floor tile vs. another’s. I do note in their product descriptions, however, that some tiles are thicker than others. I’m betting thick = longer lasting. As I mentioned, I have cork tiles in my foyer that were installed in 1951. A few years ago, I actually had them refinished. Yes, we started by trying to sand the top layer — but that didn’t work too well, the machine kept clogging. So then, my floor refinisher did some scraping thing. He then recoated the floor in some sort of liquid finish (I did not take the name down, my floor refinisher recommended it). The floor is gougy in some places — this was a bear of a job — but you don’t really see the scrapes unless you squat down and look for them sideways in the light — moreover, it salvaged my floors for another long time, probably decades.

    I think we are not very hard on these floors compared to prior residents; in the 10 years since they have been refinished, I don’t see any visible further deterioration.

    All this to say: It seems like you can refinish cork — the glue-down kind. (I do not know whether this is possible with the floating floors.) So the thicker the tile you start with, the more times you could conceivably refinish the floor.

    Note, Precautionary Pam reminds: Be sure you know what’s in the vintage layers of your house — they could contain vintage nastiness such as lead and asbestos …. consult with a professional to assess what you have so that you can make informed decisions. For more info and links see our Be Safe / Renovate Safe page here.

    All of our flooring research
    is filed in the category Kitchen Help / Flooring

    Thank you, dear readers: I was turned on to a number of these companies — likely, most — by readers. Thank you a million times over!

    Are we missing any companies, readers?
    If so, please comment and let us know!

    Be-Safe-graphic2.3

    Comments

    1. We put red Armstrong linoleum in our kitchen – love it! But it was hard to convince our contractor that we really wanted linoleum and not vinyl. And then he had to subcontract out to a couple of older guys to actually lay down the linoleum, as he was in his 30s and didn’t know anything about it!

      Reply

    2. Very timely! We’re going to be renovating the kitchen in our midcentury modern cabin this spring. The current floor is an aqua tile that I love but is disintegrating all over the place. I’m hoping to find a very similar replacement.

      Reply

    4. I bought a 1955-1965 home (addition in 1965) three years ago with very old wall-to-wall carpeting in the main floor and cheap laminate in the addition. We opted to replace that entire main floor with cork planks–similar to hardwood planks, but not quite. It’s a floating floor, brand name USFloors Natural Cork, in a light gray color that’s not the cork board look, but doesn’t look quite like wood, either. It runs through our family room, bar, dining room, and kitchen. (We use FLOR tiles in the kitchen to protect the floor from spills.)

      I can’t recommend cork enough. My feet are rarely cold, the shock absorption is a dream, and nearly everyone who visits the house remarks on how comfortable the floor feels underfoot. Maintenance is similar to hardwood. Best of all, it’s sustainable. Even though the style we picked may not be 100% true to midcentury, we’re very happy with the results and I’d recommend the material to anyone.

      Reply

    5. The glue-down cork tile I used in my kitchen/dining area/family room was purchased from Lumber Liquidators. It’s not the thickest tile, but it worked perfectly in my house, keeping the floors in those areas from being raised too high over the neighboring rooms. I laid it in a herringbone pattern inspired by one of the Time Capsule houses featured here.

      Reply

    6. This flooring article came at just the right time. I was lucky enough to find Elgin steel cabinets in the right size and format, with an intact countertop (the sink needs replaced). I’ve got the vintage stove to go with it…but the cabinets sit in my mudroom (with original blue and white asphalt tile!) until we can decide on flooring. It’s turning out to be a far more monumental undertaking than I originally thought it would be!

      Oh, and for icing on the cake, the owner is not only saving the doors of the house for me…all of this stuff was found only twenty minutes from me!

      I can’t wait to get to the point where we’re actually putting things into place!

      Reply

    8. Just finished installing my VCT Imperial texture floor and couldn’t be happier. Colors we Colorado Stone, Blue Cloud and Teal

      Reply

      • Well, those are very interesting. But at a minimum order of 1500 square feet–basically I’d have to do my whole house in it–I’d have to pass.

        Reply

    10. I need help with a big decision. I’m considering installing 1200 sq ft of Natural Acacia hardwood flooring in my newly purchased 1965 mid century home. My kitchen has orange peachy and wood grained Geneva kitchen cabinets. All in an open concept with HUGE windows facing woods and creek! Counter tops are creamy white formica and I’m going to paint the walls with a neutral color..I think. Anyway, what does everyone think about hardwood…Natural stain…lots of variation and random length boards for my mid century?

      Reply

      • If you want wood floors with authentic midcentury style, I think the answer is: Oak tongue-in-groove, natural stain.

        I don’t know about Natural Acacia….

        Reply
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