Preparation

• Cork flooring is held down by the floor trim in the room, so the trim has to come up before you lay the floor. Remove it carefully with a hammer and prybar, taking care not to split or break it, so you can re-install it at the end. If there is carpet in the room, pull it up and remove the carpet tack strips from the floor. Any other kind of flooring can stay. It's important to remove any obstructions from the floor, like raised nail heads. Make sure the floor is clean, dry and doesn't have any soft or loose spots.
  
  

Layout

• You'll lay your cork flooring strips starting along one wall (generally the longest wall in the room) and working your way across in courses. Before you start, though, it's important to make sure you won't end up with a very thin cut at the opposite wall. Measure the width of the room and divide that figure by the width of a plank, to figure out how many plank widths it will take to cross the floor. If the final strip is going to be less than half a plank width, split the difference with your first course, ripping the strips lengthwise on a table saw so the first and last courses will be the same.
  
  

Installation

• When you lay your cork floor, you need to leave a 1/2-inch gap between the edge of the floor and the wall all around to allow for expansion. (The gap will be covered by the floor trim.) Set your first course of planks 1/2-inch from the wall, after ripping the length if necessary. Tap them together at the ends, so the tongue-and-groove connection is tight. Cut the last piece of the course to size on a miter saw. Repeat with the other courses, locking the long edges of the courses alongside each other. Once the whole floor is laid, reinstall the floor trim so it sits on top of the edges of the flooring.