Cork Flooring- Good for People, Good for the Earth

Have you thought about cork flooring as an alternative to wood, vinyl, or carpet? If not, you may be missing out on one of the most underrated, yet best, floor coverings around. Read on to find out more about this beautiful, interesting, and environmentally friendly option to covering your floors.

Cork trees used for cork flooring grow prolifically in the warm climates of Mediterranean countries. Harvesters strip the bark from these trees, which does not harm them, every nine or 10 years. With life spans ranging upward of 150 years, the amount of cork stripped from just one tree can easily supply a great deal of material for cork flooring.

Cork flooring can range in color all the way from white to dark browns with all shades of that color family in between. One of the most popular hues is the honey-colored cork flooring that lends a warm, comfortable feeling to any room of the home where it is installed.

Naturally sound-muffling due to the configuration of cork cell structure, cork flooring makes an excellent material for helping to make a room quiet. This same closed-cell structure also helps flooring made from cork repel moisture, which adds significantly to the life of a floor covered with cork flooring.

A number of online flooring retailers offer cork flooring under a variety of brand names. A visit to iFLOOR.com features brands such as APC, BHK (a glueless cork flooring), Eurocork, Novacork, and Westhollow. The Jelinek brand is featured at www.CorkandFloor.com, along with an informative article about this particular brand and on cork flooring in general. Another Web site to find this type of floor covering is www.FloorShop.com where you can find the same brands as at iFloor with the addition of Preswick cork flooring.

So keep cork flooring in mind when considering what type of material to use as your next floor-covering material. For something that is not only good for people, but also good for the Earth, use cork flooring.