Ok...From a former cork flooring professional, here is my advice. Loose lay the cork underlayment and then install the floating floor on top.
Cork sheets provide less waste and are MUCH easier to install. You lay them down like a blanket and you are done. It is that simple. The 'glue' down is ONLY for a glue-down hardwood sitting on top. We call that a double stick. You do NOT need to get to that level. You have a floating floor. The 'perimeter glue' is for ROLLS of cork. Why? Because the roll always curls. Always. You will 'loose' the last 2-3 curls on the inside of the roll. That is ++ waste of an expensive and highly valuable product. Hence the reason builders prefer the sheets.
Do NOT use tape - OF ANY KIND. Tape deteriorates and starts to make a CRINKLING sound. Imagine how annoying that would be. After 6 months your floor starts to make a noise like stepping on crumpled up newspaper! Not fun.
Here's what you do:
1. Chose the DIRECTION of the plank for installation (north-south or east-west?)
2. Lay the sheets of cork in the OPPOSITE direction (ie. perpendicular)
2.a This is a good way of keeping long seams from lining up with long seams. You will create a brick pattern = always good building practices.
3. Like your floor, you will stagger the cork underlay joints. Butt the edges together (no tape) and keep going. That means if you start with a full sheet of underlay on your 1st row, you will start the 2ND row with a partial sheet...thus producing a brick-pattern for the underlayment.
4. Lay roughly 1/3 of the room with underlayment and then start installing your flooring.
5. The sheet underlayment can move a snick so you do not want to walk on it too much. Like laying ceramic tile, you work with a small amount of mortar/thinset while you set the tile. Cork underlayment is the same. You lay a little bit of underlayment (enough to 2-3 runs) then lay a little bit of flooring
6. Leave the 1/2" expansion gap at the wall JUST LIKE your cork floor needs. Both the underlayment and the floor need room for movement. This is super simple. Use your spacers at the wall WHILE you install the underlayment. Leave them there while you install the planks.
It is that simple. If you float your flooring your cork sheet underlayment is floated as well. That's why this is SUPER simple. Installers love working with sheet cork. It is insanely simple and they still get to charge another $0.25/sf - $0.50/sf to lay it. Yet they hardly need to do a darn thing.
Q
