Is a Cork Floor the Best Option for Your Home?

Bricoflor Eis White Cork Flooring

For any of you who are longtime visitors of my site, you will undoubtedly know about my appreciate affair with cork. It is one particular of my all-time favorite products for so numerous reasons and right after I frequented the cork harvest in Portugal back in 2019, I became an even larger admirer of this pure, sustainable and flexible material.

Over the previous couple many years, we have found architects, designers and decorators rediscovering and embracing cork as they have recognised its remarkable features and the positive aspects that it can present to their initiatives. We’ve significantly found the design field adopt cork as the materials of decision for residential and professional assignments, particularly when it will come to insulation and wall and floor coverings.

And this is what I’d like to converse about nowadays. A cork ground is picked by quite a few house owners today owing to the very clear strengths that it provides in excess of alternatives. And no need to have to get worried about it catapulting you proper again to the 1970s. Thanks to innovations in technologies and a strong concentrate on style and design, nowadays cork is included into subtle flooring coverings in a large vary of textures and colours, best for modern-day-working day tastes.

Supplied the transfer in the direction of pure supplies, organic textures, biophilic structure and sustainability in interiors it’s no surprise that cork is obtaining a little bit of a instant.

Bricoflor Mystic White Cork Ground

So let’s acquire a look at some of the qualities that make cork this sort of a exclusive material.

What are the Benefits of a Cork Flooring?

Many thanks to the innate houses of cork, this interesting pure product provides lots of positive aspects that make it excellent for use in flooring.

Hypoallergenic

Cork is just one of the best remedies for folks who undergo from allergic reactions because it does not acquire static energy and consequently does not attract or take up dust, pollen or tiny fibres. This, along with its resistance to humidity would make it a fantastic decision for all those at risk of allergy symptoms or for asthma victims.

Heat and Seem Insulation

Cork offers crystal clear benefits in phrases of acoustic insulation and can aid to minimize noise because of to the purely natural absorption capacity of cork. It also can help with thermal insulation, regulates home temperature, and prevents decline of warmth into the surroundings. This can in turn cut down electricity consumption and result in fiscal price savings for property owners, which is a significant furthermore presented the existing cost of vitality.

Waterproof

Cork is a obviously water resistant creating materials and owing to its composition, it does not absorb drinking water. So is a cork ground water-proof? Well, this is dependent on the style of ground that you pick. The glue-down cork floor tiles can be mounted in any home, but click cork tiles or floating tiles, simply cannot be put in in wet rooms, as there is an HDF board in the plank composition, which is prone to water destruction.

So if you have been asking yourself ‘is a cork ground fantastic for kitchens?’ or ‘is a cork ground excellent for bathrooms?’ the solution is sure. As prolonged as edges are sealed, a h2o-resistant lacquer is made use of and the cork flooring has a h2o-resistant main, then a cork ground is correctly suited for bathrooms and kitchens.

Bricoflor’s Dash Cork Flooring

Fireplace-retardant

Cork also performs effectively went it will come to fire as it is a pure hearth retardant. It is even made use of by the aerospace industry due to its unique properties. When it undergoes combustion it burns without a flame and does not emit poisonous gasses.

Resistant to Mould, Mildew and Termites

Cork is naturally resistant to mould, mildew and termites due to a substance called suberin. The inner partitions of cork cells are lined with suberin, a fatty material that is very impermeable to gases and water. This is what will make cork inherently antimicrobial.

Tender and Warm Underfoot

Cork is a good flooring product because it is comfy to walk on and stand on for extended periods of time. Cork is normally nice to the contact because of to weak thermal conduction.

Elastic and Compressible

Cork floors are shock absorbent and will retain their authentic form when uncovered to typical compression. This indicates that they carry out effectively beneath large furnishings. Cork can basically be compressed to about 50 % its thickness and will get better its condition and quantity once launched. Its elasticity indicates it is equipped to adapt to versions in temperature and tension without currently being altered.

Eco-friendly

Cork is a genuinely amazing content since it is 100% normal, sustainable, renewable and recyclable. Cork oak trees have the unique capability to soak up C02 from the atmosphere. It is estimated that the cork oak forests can take in up to 14 million tons of CO2 for every yr.

Cork is also categorized as an eco-effective content. This is because any squander established all through the production method can be reused as biomass to develop new products.

It is a truly inexperienced content that does not damage the surroundings.

Bricoflor Castello-Terracotta Cork Ground

So now we know the added benefits of cork, let us consider a search at some other often asked issues when it arrives to choosing whether or not to choose a cork ground.

How is Cork Flooring Built?

Cork is harvested from the cork oak forest in Portgual. The cork oak tree has a life span of 250-350 a long time and the cork can be harvested for the very first time as soon as the tree reaches maturity at 25 many years of age. The harvesting course of action is performed by hand alternatively than with devices so that the trees are not harmed. When the cork has been stripped it will expand back again and can be harvested just about every 9 several years. A cork oak tree can be securely harvested up to 20 moments for the duration of its existence cycle.

After harvested, the cork planks will want to relaxation for up to six months outdoors so that they can stabilize. Then the planks are picked by high-quality and thickness and the ideal types are picked out for flooring.

Is a Cork Ground Challenging Sporting?

Of course, cork flooring is challenging wearing and is very resistant to abrasion. Its honeycomb framework would make it resistant to impression and friction so it is more tricky-donning than quite a few other hard surfaces. Nonetheless, it is nonetheless really a comfortable content does have to have selected steps to assure that it is retained in great affliction. Significantly if you opt for raw cork tiles, you will require to assure that they are varnished the right way in get to shield the grain structure from destruction.

How to Clear a Cork Floor?

A cork flooring is very quick to keep and maintain clear. When hoovering a cork ground you must always use the hardwood flooring placing on the vacuum cleaner, or even use a ground duster. This is since cork flooring are pretty delicate and you might danger scratching the varnish.

Cork floors can be washed just like laminate flooring with diluted cleaning detergent resolution and a moist mop. Make confident you wipe up any massive spills quickly, especial if the cork ground has an HDF board in its composition.

What Seem Can I Attain with a Cork Ground?

For a lot of men and women, a cork floor stirs up lousy reminiscences from the 1970’s, but technological improvements suggest that cork flooring has come a extensive way considering that then and can now be utilized to accomplish quite a few different seems and types with many diverse colors and finishes.

The purely natural colour of cork is a light-weight tan shade which instantly adds warmth to a place. It can arrive in several brown shades relying on the tint and varnished employed. But it is also readily available in black variations as properly as gray and whitewashed shades.

You can also insert various levels of texture to your home relying on the dimension of the granules in the cork floor. Bigger granules include extra texture although smaller granules give a smoother end.

If you prefer a additional textured seem, then you need to go for greater granules. The tiny granule cork provides a sleek texture. Peeled cork is yet another selection and this is made by getting strips of cork and putting them next to each other to build a streamlined appear.

The natural cork patterns are not that functional when in comparison to the versatility out there in LVT or laminate flooring, as they are limited by the cork pattern. But the several positive aspects that a cork ground can present considerably outweigh this minor aesthetic downside.

Where by can I purchase Cork Flooring?

Bricoflor materials two diverse makes of cork flooring and focuses generally on floating cork tiles with manufacturing unit utilized finish, as these are best to install and can be made use of promptly just after set up.

If you have located this write-up handy, do not overlook to help you save it for later by pinning the graphic underneath. And as generally, I would enjoy to go through your reviews about cork flooring. Do you have it installed in your property? If not, would you think about it?