We're looking at cork glue-down tiles for our kitchen/dining room, and after doing various scratch/damp/visual/barefoot tests, the one that keeps coming up the favourite is the plain untreated cork tile - it looks natural, is fairly pale and not the almost orange that varnished tiles can be, has some texture and isn't slippy. But it's obviously not viable because it would deteriorate from scratches and moisture damage, they're designed to have a protective layer applied.
Found these ecork and Spectrum tiles intriguing, but when the samples arrived it looked like a thin layer of some material had been attached over the top of a cork tile - if we're not going to see the actual cork then we might as well go with vinyl as it would be cheaper to buy and fit.
So what is the most natural finish to use on unsealed cork tiles? Not looking for a mega-shiny varnish or a big gloss finish, just something to protect it without changing the colour or visual texture too much. Have ruled out wax as too much maintenance involved.
Found these ecork and Spectrum tiles intriguing, but when the samples arrived it looked like a thin layer of some material had been attached over the top of a cork tile - if we're not going to see the actual cork then we might as well go with vinyl as it would be cheaper to buy and fit.
So what is the most natural finish to use on unsealed cork tiles? Not looking for a mega-shiny varnish or a big gloss finish, just something to protect it without changing the colour or visual texture too much. Have ruled out wax as too much maintenance involved.