NATURAL CORK FLOOR

Natural cork floors contribute to LEED credits.

Use of water-based polyurethane to finish the tiles and water based adhesives to install the tiles, further enhance the natural floor cork green story. Maintaining natural cork floor is simple, requiring regular dusting or vacuuming and use of water and mild cleaners. Well maintained natural cork floors can last decades and the long life cycle of cork saves energy.

UV rays will fade wood and natural cork floor. Window treatments which block out UV rays are necessary to keep natural cork from fading.

The key to a great installation is using three coats of water based clear matte polyurethane for the finish on both tiles and floating cork floors. After the installation it is recommended to use a dusting mop to clean the natural cork floor or the use of an acrylic based finish is also recommended. No harsh chemical should ever be used to clean any natural cork floor.

Other qualities of natural cork floors are buoyancy, warm comfort, light weight, resistance to liquid and moisture penetration, high coefficient of friction, compressible insulation, ability to absorb vibration, sound and stability. Natural cork floor is rich in texture, acoustically sound, environmentally friendly, and beautiful ?cork is a natural for your floor, be it in a hospital, church, library, museum or your home. While natural cork floor is resistant to liquid penetration, just like other wood flooring products, liquid should not he poured on cork when cleaning or be allowed to stand on cork.

Fire Retardant: A natural fire retardant, cork does not spread flames, and does not release toxic gases during combustion.

Hypoallergenic: Cork does not absorb dust, consequently does not cause allergies.

Impermeability: The presence of Suberin, a natural waxy substance, makes cork impervious to both liquid and gas. As a result, it does not rot.

Resilience: When cork is subjected to pressure, the gas is compressed and volume decreases considerably. The action creates a comfortable firm but cushiony walking surface. Durability: Cork is remarkably resistant to wear, as due to its cellular structure, it is less affected by impact and friction than other hard surface materials.

Insulation: Because 90% of the tissue consists of gaseous matter, the density of cork is extremely low, giving the material wonderful insulating properties, thermal as well as acoustical.

The unusual cell structure accounts for other unique features of cork.

The beauty of an aged natural cork floor includes indentations that years of use have left behind. These blend well with the natural imperfections and small voids created by the cork granules. This patina should be expected and appreciated as nature has created a flooring material which can last decades.

Because of its unique cellular structure, natural cork is a resilient product that bounces back when compressed. When pressure is applied, the air in the cork cells is compressed and once removed, the air expands to fill the volume previously occupied, returning it to its original volume. However, if too much pressure from high heels, spikes or improper furniture footing is exerted in too small of an area, the cells will collapse and the volume will be reduced resulting in permanent indentations.

After the bark has been removed using a simple axe, it is dried and boiled. The pieces of bark then are drilled for wine stoppers or orks? It is this post-industrial waste cork, which is ground up and used for cork flooring as well as other uses. Every part of the cork oak tree has uses, even the cork dust. Cork natural shade variation is based on baking time, temperature and moisture content of the cork grain; the ground up cork is put into molds and is baked at varying temperatures, offering natural shades from light to medium to dark. Due to the unique properties of the cork cell structure, which are bonded together by a strong natural resinous substance, little additional resin is needed to hold cork together.

For centuries, the bark has been harvested from the cork oak forest in Portugal and the other countries which border the western edge of the Mediterranean basin. Unlike other oak trees, the cork oak tree is an evergreen native to the Mediterranean Sea region. The harvesting process is laborious, requiring skilled labor and decades of patience. Each cork tree must be approximately 20 years old before it can provide its first harvest of cork bark, and it will be another 7-9 years before it will be ready again to provide another harvest. Fortunately, the stripping procedure is done with great care and the cork oak trees live for 160 t0 200 productive years, of which about 100 years offer good quality cork. Truly, a renewable environmentally-friendly resource, cork flooring is all-natural, from a renewable resource in forests that have their own eco-system.

Only nature could create the amazing and unique cork oak tree, Quercus suber.

Natural Cork Floor 'Green' Story

NATURAL CORK FLOOR FROM THE BARK OF THE CORK OAK TREES COMES FROM THE ABUNDANT CORK FORESTS NEAR THE SUN-DRENCHED BEACHES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA.