I own an early 1930s craftsman style house. Lots to do, needless to say. The kitchen and nook area, the hall and the bath are carpeted. I'd like to replace all the carpet with cork. But since that's a very big expense, I'd like a temporary solution. I'd like to know if it's possible (reasonable, crazy, mad, or brilliant) to use OSB with a layer or 2 (or more) of urethane as a temporary flooring solution. That way I'll already have my new sub-flooring in place, ready for the cork. Of course, the prep work of ripping out a layer of linoleum, a layer of sub-flooring, another layer of sheet vinyl, and a layer of indoor/outdoor carpet that's been glued down will be a breeze. (ha!) Thanks for any help, suggestions, or rantings you may have.

i think you should give yourself a slap on the back for thinking outside the box.but aside from that,i don't think it would work, o.s.b. was not intended to be a finished floor, i think any finish you apply may pass right through,also any kind of wear might kill it for use as an underlayment.(and i'm not sure you can use o.s.b as an underlayment for cork.i think it has to be plywood.)plus any finish would have to come off for an adhesive to stick .i'm sorry i can't think of any advise to give you ,maybe some one else will post. good luck

Thank you! Repairing and remodeling this house is all about thinking outside the box. I hadn't considered the wear factor of OSB. As far as the finish passing through, I thought I'd try putting urethane on a scrap piece of OSB as a test. The cork I want to use does not require glue. It comes in snap and lock strips, like a floating floor.

The original flooring is possibly fir, probably extensively damaged, and undoubtably covered with next-to-impossible-to-get-off-glue used for the linoleum. Do you think I might be better off ripping up all the layers of flooring and simply sanding the original wood floors? Would you say ripping and sanding would be less labor intensive than the OSB idea?

i did not know cork flooring was available as a floating floor ,please post the brand mgf,cost, size, ect. what i would do is pull up all the old flooring down to the sub floor,get every thing on the same level,then put down your o.s.b.
one other point,i'm not clear on.is the subfloor fir ,or was it a finished floor?if at one time it was the finished floor it might be worth the hassel of sanding.
in my area a lot of people think they have found a hardwood floor under the underlayment,when all they have is a softwood sub floor .good luck

Start with this Web site for more information on floating cork flooring: http://www.cerescork.com/

At one time, long ago and far away, it was a finished floor... I ripped up a section and had someone else look at it to verify my archeological find. By the looks of things from the basement, I'd bet there was a significant amount of water damage. Plan A would be to sand the floor and be done with it. Plan B is to put down cork flooring if the original flooring is too dreadful.

thanks for the info on this product,i sent for samples.i went through the install info and as usual its not all that clear, i would e-mail or call them on the osb.
back to your last post, can you try sanding one room to see if you like the results?good luck