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Cork is harvested from the bark of the cork oak tree found in the Mediterranean, with Portugal supplying about 50% of it. Cork bark is made up of a tiny sealed honeycomb cellular structure (14-sided polyhedrons) containing gas of 90% air. These cells provide resiliency (cushion) and insulation and there are about 40 million of these cells per cubic centimeter. Cork can be compressed up to 40% and quickly returns to its original shape. This all works to make cork a very special flooring material.
Comfort & Softness: Cork provides a natural shock absorbing feel to the floor. It's a perfect floor where you are standing a lot such as in a kitchen providing relief for your feet, back and legs.
Noise Reduction: Unlike hard materials like tile, wood or vinyl, cork is quiet and reduces impact noise such as something dropping on the floor or the sound of walking by people or pets.
Healthy and Safe: Cork has natural properties that are anti-allergenic and resistant to insects. A naturally occurring waxy substance in cork called suberin repels insects, mites and mold and protects cork from from rotting when wet for a long time. In addition, suberin is naturally fire resistant and cork doesn't release any toxic off-gassing when it burns. These natural properties plus the coatings used to seal cork flooring make it healthy and safe for adults, pets and baby.
Durability and Ease of Maintenance: Durability is a strong trait of cork and cork floors have been used in public buildings such as churches and libraries since 1898, long before residential applications.
Cork Underlayment: This is flexible low-density cork material used to provide acoustic insulation. It may be applied separately but is usually mad an integral part of a floating floor panel.
Stabilizing Core: This is the structure of the floor panel and is made from either HDF (High Density Fiberboard) or MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). The edges of the core will be milled in such a way as to allow the interlocking of the panel to adjoining pieces.
Cork Core: The inclusion of this component varies by manufacturer but its intent is to provide additional insulation and impact absorption comfort for walking and standing.
Cork Bark Veneer or Top Layer: This layer is what you see. It can be the veneer from the cork tree bark some processed cork to get a particular pattern or texture.
Wear Surface: This can either be factory applied or field applied and will usually be a UV hardened varnish, oil or other sealer.
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