Cork flooring is a type of sustainable flooring with several benefits to offer both the environment and the home owner.
These benefits make cork an attractive alternative to hardwood.
Cork comes from the cork oak tree that grows extensively in the Mediterranean area in ancient forests.
After 20 years the cork oak is ready to harvest for its bark.
The bark is removed by hand without damaging the tree.
After nine years the tree grows another layer of bark that can again be harvested.
And so on every nine years for up to 250 years.
Thus one cork oak can provide many harvests of cork without being cut down.
And during that time it can continue to absorb carbon and provide habitat for wild animals.
Not only that, the harvesting of cork has provided livelihoods for many rural communities for centuries.
It is a tree that benefits both people and nature at the same time.
This is different to other renewable resources such as bamboo, jute, water hyacinth, rattan and hemp which have to be killed to be harvested.
And obviously very different to hardwood trees that take between 50 and 120 years to reach maturity.
It is because the tree can be harvested and continue to contribute to the well being of the environment that it is unique among renewable resources.
And it is for this reason that we should consider cork as more than a useful material form which to make wine bottle stoppers.
Once the cork is harvested it is dried and then boiled to remove the outer bark.
Afterwards, the cork is ground up and mixed with low VOC adhesive and compressed into cork blocks which are then cut into cork flooring tiles.
Cork flooring looks like hardwood flooring in that it has a natural tan color and a grain.
Yet it is very different to hardwood flooring in its properties.
Firstly, cork is made of a honeycomb structure that is made up of 85% air.
This makes it light and buoyant.
This structure also gives cork flooring its strength and elasticity.
Namely, after weight is applied to the cork and then removed the cork 'springs back' to its former shape.
The flooring can also stand up to high traffic situations.
The oldest cork flooring is in a church near Chicago, USA and dates back to 1898.
The internal structure of cork also makes it an excellent acoustic and thermal insulator.
This is why cork flooring feels soft underfoot and also muffles the sound of footsteps.
Cork also contains a substance called suberin.
This substance makes cork flooring water resistant and fire retardant.
Furthermore, suberin makes cork flooring mold and fungus resistant and anti-microbial.
Hardwood flooring prevents dust mites breeding but cannot claim to be mold and fungus resistant.
Only bamboo flooring is as safe for allergy and asthma sufferers.
When you combine the facts that cork is from a renewable resource, that it is light; that it is strong and a good insulator; and that it is healthy flooring you realize why it is a popular alternative to hardwood flooring.