Green Building Topics

Green Building Materials Guide

CORK FLOORING

Considerations:

Cork is literally the bark of a variety of Mediterranean oak tree. The unique properties of the cork oak and its bark make it an excellent flooring option, both environmentally and aesthetically.

Advantages and Challenges of Cork Flooring:

Comes from a renewable resource: Cork bark can be harvested from a tree once per decade without harm
Contributes to indoor air quality - Naturally hypoallergenic and mold-resistant
Excellent thermal and acoustic insulation
Resilient: resists the dents and groove marks common to wood flooring
Durable, lightweight, and practical: can be installed on almost any subfloor
Provides a high friction surface (e.g. not slippery) - the hollow cork cells form microscopic ‘cups,’ when the material is cut in manufacturing
Resistant to water and oils in use, while biodegradeable at the end of its useful life
Highly attractive surface, available in a wide range grain patterns and shades running from rich, deep brown to natural tan tones
Relatively expensive per square foot
Though resilient, cork can be gouged
Unsealed cork can be stained

Summary: Cork Flooring

Cork, the bark of a variety of Mediterranean oak tree, has been used as flooring for a century. Though not the least-cost flooring option, its popularity is growing due to its unique combination of beauty, durability, insulation, and renewability. Modern cork floors are typically covered with acrylic finish, and can also be covered with polyurethane for bathroom or kitchen applications. Cork floors can last for decades and the material is biodegradable at the end of its useful life.

By contrast, hardwood flooring requires logging slow-maturing trees such as oak or maple. The extraction, manufacture and transport, and disposal of synthetic flooring materials pollutes air and water, depletes resources, damages natural habitats, and can have negative health impacts. Hardwood flooring requires logging slow-maturing trees such as oak or maple that require decades to centuries to mature. The majority of carpet is made from petroleum, may off-gas after installation, develops static charges that attract dust and pollen, and is neither recyclable nor biodegradable. Vinyl flooring is made from petroleum, produces toxic waste during manufacture, has a short useful life, is not biodegradable or recyclable and has been linked to negative health effects.

While cork may most commonly be considered as a resilient flooring option, cork is also a natural alternative to carpet. While carpet can attract and hold indoor pollutants in its fibers, cork is easier to thoroughly clean, inherently resistant to mold and mildew, sheds no dust or fibers, and is naturally antistatic. These hypoallergenic properties, combined with thermal and acoustic insulation, allow cork floors to provide the majority of the benefits of carpet, without its liabilities.

The benefits of cork extend beyond human health; they include reduced landfill waste, low embodied energy, local availability for many products, excellent aesthetics, reduced impacts from the harvest or mining of virgin materials (such as logging of trees and petroleum use). The bark of a cork oak can be harvested once per decade without harm to the tree, helping to encourage long-term management of this renewable resource.

For More Information:

iFloor.com
iFloor offers an excellent primer on cork and its application.

GreenSpec
Though GreenSpec content is not usually free, they offer an excellent primer on cork and its environmental implications.

Oikos
Oikos contains references to many cork flooring manufacturers and distributors

Ask the Builder
Though not free, ATB offers a detailed guide for working with cork.

Demesne
Demesne is also a good resource for cork basics.

Program Contact

Ecology Action

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Fax: 831.425.1404
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