Sustainable cork flooring is an attractive and unique product for your home. Cork is a natural, environmentally-friendly, rapidly renewable resource made from the bark of cork oak trees. The bark of the tree is harvested by hand without damaging trees, and the bark regenerates every nine years. Cork oak trees (native to Portugal and Spain) can be harvested up to 20 times in 200 years!
Cork flooring is very energy efficient, and low-maintenance. Some additional features and benefits of cork include:
Comfort: Cork has 200 million air cells per cubic inch, making it one of the most comfortable hard surfaces to walk or stand on.
Impact Resistant Cork flooring surfaces “bounce” back from impacts, and reduces heel strike impacts to reduce leg and back stress.
Warmth: The cellular structure of cork creates thermal insulating benefits, significantly inhibiting cold transfer from the subflloor.
Quiet: The air cells in cork result in excellent acoustical benefits for efficient sound reduction above and below the floor.
Hypoallergenic: Suberin is a natural component of cork that is highly resistant to the growth of mold, mildew and bacteria.
If your feet are always cold and you wear socks or slippers around the house to avoid walking on cold flooring, you’ll appreciate cork’s ability to stay at room temperature and therefore feel warm to the touch. Like a cushion underfoot, cork’s ability to relieve stress on your back and legs, making it a good fit for any room in your home where you’ll be standing for long stretches of time, like the kitchen.