Featured Material #48: Cork!
You’re barking up the right tree.
Did you know that cork trees can live to be 300 years old? Once mature, its bark can be harvested every ten years to make cork products. This makes cork one of the few (relatively) rapid renewable natural materials. Cork has some great properties. It’s naturally fire retardant, impermeable, non-allergenic, anti-microbial, and petro-chemical free. It’s safe to handle and easy to install and maintain (although deep scratches and divots can be a challenge to repair). Acoustic absorption and thermal insulation properties make cork a good choice for flooring underlayment or as a finish surface.
Consider saving some or all of these to your Firm Library or a project you’re working on. Adding a “Renewable” firm tag to them can help others find sustainable products like these more easily today and help you find them again on future projects without having to dig through old finish schedules or PDFs on your file server.
Residential and commercial high-rise complexes such as condominiums, hotels and motels throughout the United States, Canada and Europe have used Acoustic Cork Underlayments to reduce unwanted noise. Acoustic Cork Products are designed to meet building codes and condominium association requirements for floor/ceiling assemblies using ceramic tile, marble, stone or hardwood floors.
Light and velvety to the touch, Morrison’s Vitra Cork Stools (2004) are shaped from a massive yet lightweight piece of pressed agglomerate cork. He designed this family of stools, which also work well as side tables, to be made with unsealed cork so they would develop a beautiful patina over time.
Suitable for many spaces, including continually wet applications, Versacork™ uses post industrial wine corks to create a unique mosaic that can be stained to fit any desired look.
Made from pre-consumer cork waste, Prestige offers an environmentally friendly alternative to hardwood floors. Not only is Prestige attractive, it is also durable, affordable and easy to maintain.
Natural cork top tiles are individually hand produced from the first harvest of (renewable) cork oak trees. This unique covering can be used on walls or ceilings or even furniture pieces to add texture, warmth and character. The cork bark covering is naturally dramatic, rich, warm, and durable as Mother Nature meant bark to be.
Floor, Wall, DESCRIPTION Ceiling Cork Rolls and Cork Sheets are well known for their natural ability to be acoustically absorbent which is why they work well under hardwood floors or ceramic tiles. The natural shock absorbency and hypo allergenic properties make it a great alternative to carpet pads. Its inherent thermal characteristic is appealing for flooring, walls, and ceiling applications.
AmCork cork wall tiles are perfect for making a decorative cork bulletin board, a colorful cork pin board, or a cork wall of designer cork board sheets. No matter what you call it, American Cork Products cork board is the right material for your push pin project, your cork wall covering, and many other applications.
The Mediterra Collection is comprised of a variety of innovative patterns and colors in both homogenous DESCRIPTION veneer constructions. Available in both gluedown tiles and planks, Mediterra Cork offers many size options DESCRIPTION patterns for installation on both floors and walls.
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