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Have you got stone, tile or hard wood flooring in your home? No surprise. For the last century almost every home had one of these types of flooring. But in the last couple of decades advancing technology and new innovations have brought a wider range of materials to homeowners, giving them a variety to choose from for their flooring needs. Newer to the DIY flooring market is a contender who is becoming increasingly more popular. Which one you ask? Cork. Yep, that’s right! The wine stopper is now reintroducing its stint as a floor covering. Wondering what it is about cork flooring that is causing the buzz? There are several reasons. Cork flooring is affordable, durable, easy to maintain and versatile. In addition to all of this, cork flooring is also environmentally friendly, which is something that most other flooring cannot boast of. Cork is derived from the bark off the cork oak tree. The bark is first peeled off in layers for the production of wine bottle corks. The remaining bark is then pulverized in a machine. Crushed cork nodules are then mixed with a non-toxic adhesive, after which it will be compressed to form a cork tile. These tiles are then used as the base for cork flooring. The environmentally friendly aspect comes in the fact that no tree is felled. Once the tree is debarked, it’s left alone to regrow a new skin. Nine to twelve years are allotted to this regeneration before the tree is deemed ready to be harvested again. The structure of cork is such that it is comprised of tightly packed cells. These cells are filled with air. These air filled chambers give cork flooring some pretty unique properties. One of the properties is insulation against noise and temperature changes. If you drop something heavy on a stone floor, guaranteed you will hear a loud thump.With cork flooring, you won’t hear the loud noise as the air in the cells absorbs it. This can be a boon if you happen to be living in an apartment or if you have young hyper-energetic kids. The air-filled cells also help to keep the temperature in a home at an ambient level. It is a great asset for winter as cork flooring does not transfer cold from the subfloor. As a result you will not need to have the heating set high just to get a room warm enough. This can help to save a considerable amount on your power bills. The opposite is true in summer. Cork does not heat up in sunlight. It remains cooler than wood, stone, tile or carpet. Again, the absorptive (read: insulating) properties take all the heat out of direct sunlight. Even in the height of summer, your floor – and therefore your home, will remain a constant, even temperature. No massive swings from day to night time temperatures! Another beneficial feature of cork is that it is naturally insect resistant so you don’t need to worry about damage done by most types of insects. It’s the Suberin – the natural waxy substance that These are just a few of the benefits of installing a cork floor, come visit us at Icorkfloor.com and learn more. See why it is a good idea to change over to cork flooring. Cork Flooring is replacing all other types of flooring in terms of popularity in recent years. To know more about how cork is made from the cork oak tree , go to iCork Floor.
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