Cork flooring advantages

Cork flooring is a natural and silent flooring alternative to hardwood floors. Its unique cellular structure contains air pockets that provide acoustic insulation.

Cork floorings special quality

What makes cork so unique is its naturally occurring 14-sided durable cellular structure that makes it flexible, waterproof and airtight. Cork is actually a bark

that is harvested from the cork oak tree in Europe.

Cork flooring is environmentally friendly

A green choice for flooring, harvested from trees in a sustainable manner every 10 years, cork continues to grow and is a renewable resource. Removing the bark of a tree can cause damage, but regulations in most growing areas restrict the frequency of harvesting and the amount that can be removed at any one time.

Cork dampens noise

Cork flooring is a natural acoustic insulator and is an excellent choice for apartments and condominiums as it muffles the sound of heavy foot traffic.

Cork is also a good underlayment choice for other floating floor systems to reduce the “hollow echo” sound and to give your floors a more permanent natural sound.

Feels good to walk on

Cork is soft underfoot and has a gentle give under pressure. It has good memory and bounces back to its original shape. It also provides a cushioning effect for items that are dropped on it, often preventing them from breaking.

Cork has many resistive qualities

Cork is fire resistant and will not spread flame, naturally repels insects, has antimicrobial qualities that resist rot.

 
Cork flooring is a good insulator

Cork is a decent flooring thermal insulator that provide better insulating r-values that most carpets. This is another benefit of cork flooring that can help reduce heating costs over time and help pay for itself.

Antistatic and hypoallergenic

Cork does not shed gases or fiber or attract dust and debris, so it makes for very easy cleaning. One cautionary note about gassing if the fact that cork flooring requires an aggregator or bonding agent to hold the small graduals of cork together. Look for low emission producers that use natural bonding agents and proteins as opposed to heavy chemical compounds that could release noxious fumes and gases over its lifecycle.

Color fading

Cork will fade over time in direct sunlight and turn slightly yellow with age, so don’t install cork in areas of direct sunlight unless you have good window coverings.