Are you thinking of a home improvement project in your home that involves installing new floors? Well, you’re one of many homeowners that get to choose from one of the many different types of flooring. You have hardwood floors, vinyl, rubber, ceramic, concert, laminate and more to choose from. This can be a pain to research each of these flooring solutions and figuring out what is best for your home. We would like to make that choice easy and introduce you to natural cork based flooring.
Natural cork flooring is a wood based, sustainable, eco-friendly flooring product. You’re probably wondering how a wood based product can be eco-friendly. You might be wondering how a wood based product can be sustainable and eco-friendly. Well, to fully understand how natural cork based flooring can achieve this you need to know more about cork. Cork is the primary ingredient in this flooring product, along with a few other things depending on the manufacture. Cork is actually made from bark and said bark is obtained from the cork oak tree. Commercial producers of cork simply remove a thin layer from the trunk of the tree, leaving the cork oak tree intact. This means they’re not required to kill or remove the tree to harvest cork. In fact, most of the countries that produce cork have strict laws protecting these trees and the harvesting process.
Natural cork flooring also has quite a few benefits, in fact it seems like it has all the benefits of multiple flooring products rolled into one. The two most important benefits are durability and comfort. Wait, you might be wondering how you can have something durable and comfortable at the same time. Well, this is all thanks to corks natural cellular make-up. Cork material has billions of tiny honeycomb shaped cells; inside these cells is trapped gaseous material. This gives cork extremely durability since it can absorb impacts, shocks and other types of physical abuse. While at the same time this also allows cork to cushion your feet and joints. This actually makes natural cork flooring an excellent solution for the kitchen, where you spend a lot of time standing.
Now, comfort and durability aren’t the only benefits of natural cork flooring. You as a homeowner would be interested to know that cork is naturally resistant to mold, mildew, bacteria, moisture and allergens. Since cork naturally resists mold, mildew and moisture it makes this flooring product a good solution for the bathroom and the basement. What’s nice about natural cork is the fact it’s also hypoallergenic. This is because it can resist allergens such as dust, dander, pet hair and pollen. Last but not least we can’t forget to mention the beauty of cork floors. The color, pattern variations and shades of cork rival any other type of wood flooring. However, manufactures can actually add dye in the manufacturing process to achieve virtually any color the customer may want.
So, if you want a beautiful, durable, comfortable flooring solution that rivals all other competitor products that you need to learn more about natural cork flooring. We’ve provided below some links where you can learn more and even view pictures of cork being used as flooring in households.
