Thread: Corks - WTF do you do with them?

My kitchen floor is cork. A friend used to live in a house that had cork insulation.

I think if you can get them ground up, you can make them into pretty much anything.

My buddy in CZ added a large glass plate on top of a half-wall about six inches from the actual wall of his wine cellar. There is another six inch opening at the top in between the glass and the ceiling. He throws the corks into the space between the glass and the wall, looks great.

wow, never heard of collecting corks... throw them away ....

Originally Posted by 2Props

After 15 or 20 years of wine drinking, and saving corks, I asked myself the same question.
When we built our cellar, the builder asked if we had considered a cork floor with a 1" thick epoxy sealant buffed to a glass finish. The rest is history. 15' X 30' room with wine corks for the floor.

I have to see this, I can't imagine the time it took to make the floor. Considering most epoxy has to be applied in thin layers to prevent cracking

It took a weekend to set all the corks in place. We used sub-flooring on top of the concrete, and basically hot glued each cork into place, showing the stamp / vineyard, etc. Once that was complete, the builder / flooring contractor sealed the cellar, and started applying the finish. If you google Bar Topper (or are familiar with it) you can pour it on / over items in tables and such.

Because ours was so thick (about an inch) it took a few weeks to dry completely. Here is a link with a product that essentially does the same thing. Pourable Clear Epoxy Bar and Table Top (Bartop) Coatings - INFO PAGE - Professional Grade (view images)
Scroll down for images.

When I'm back at the house I'll try and snap some picks of it and post them to the forum.

It's an expensive route to go considering how much of the epoxy you need, but it never fails to bring out great conversation with people who see it / walk into the cellar.

I had a pretty lengthy discussion on it at Wine Spectator when we were kicking the idea around. I'll try and dig up that too for reference.

Here is what inspired me to do so:
Champagne Corks for flooring:
champagne cork floor on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

And about 3/4 of the way down on this page:
Phoenix Commotion: progress!

Originally Posted by Justdrive

That's what my wife does with hers.. saw it at a friend's house one night, and started her own.

I save them. Write the date on it and put them in a tall glass vase.

I use em for pick protectors on my ice axes.

Originally Posted by MSRT8:Nik

I love the idea that pottery barn/ crate & barrel did was take a large floor glass vase and just throw them into those- cheap and easy way to show off your past and current collection!

One just like that!