Yes, it is very comfortable to stand on cork flooring and is easy to maintain. Place area rugs or mats in front of the kitchen appliances and sink to protect your cork floor from a lot of traffic, water spillages, dropping food, grease, and everything else that can cause premature wear of your kitchen floor. Do not drag furniture across the floor. Use felt pads on chair and furniture legs. Avoid moisture on the floor.
For maintenance, we recommend regular sweeping and damp moping as dirt and grit can act as sandpaper and damage your finish.
Once a year or more frequently if there is a lot of traffic and the floor starts to show some signs of wear, you will want to refurbish you cork floor according to the maintenance guidelines supplied. This will reinforce the protective layer and will restore the original appearance.
Warm and soft, cork floors make a very comfortable flooring surface for a bathroom. However, we recommend you take certain precautions because of the high risk of spillage. Floating floor is not recommended for bathrooms, only tiles should be used. After installation, it is important to caulk the perimeter of the room, prior to installing molding or baseboard. This will prevent spills from damaging the sub-floor or walls. An additional protection layer should be applied to completely seal the joints, please use only our recommended products for Care and Maintenance.
In basements there is a high probability of occasional moisture migration from the slab. Moisture can cause glue-down tile to delaminate and cup. Therefore, tile is not recommended for this type of application. For basements, we recommend installing our Floating Floor over a moisture barrier 6 mil film of polyethylene to be used as. A floating floor is not attached to the sub-floor and will rest on top of the moisture barrier.
Just like other wood products, cork is subject to the phenomenon of expansion and shrinking in response to climactic changes. Extreme environmental conditions, meaning exposure to extreme heat, moisture or dryness (more than 65%, less than 35% R.H) can cause cork to shrink and make joints more visible. When humidity levels are higher, cork flooring can expand. As a general rule, cork flooring is more stable than wood flooring. When wood expands, it does so only across the grain, so the expansion is concentrated in one dimension. However with cork, any expansion or shrinkage is dispersed in all directions. With proper acclimation, installation, and maintenance, expansion and shrinkage of your cork floor will be less noticeable.
The shape of the subfloor is usually the deciding factor. If the subfloor is in poor condition with many cracks, old vinyl tiles or sheet vinyl, grimy or dirty the use of floating floors would be recommended.
The use of a floating floor over poor subfloors avoids the need to prepare costly subfloors as long as the floor is reasonably level. Also, if there is any risk of moisture migration from a concrete slab than a floating floor properly installed with a moisture barrier is also recommended.
The glue down cork floors can be used over any subfloors (wood or concrete) which are dry, clean and free of dirt, grease, wax or anything that would hinder a good bond and where cracks have been filled.
A floating floor is one that is not attached to the substrate. Each plank is secured to those adjoining so that the floor system functions as a single unit instead of as a series of individual pieces. This means that visible signs of expansion and shrinking, normal to any wood product, are severely reduced. Installation of a floating floor is easier, faster and cheaper.
Cork floors have been used since early in the last century. Europeans are particularly familiar with cork flooring. More recently cork floors have become very popular in North America and Australia and are now sold virtually around the world. Amorim Revestimentos is recognized as leader in quality, innovation and unique solutions for interior design. Superior quality products that provide innovative solutions for decoration and unparalleled performance compose our offer. By combining know-how, traditional production methods and the latest technology, Amorim Revestimentos produces solutions of different decor, stylish, durable and comfortable using a material with characteristics that science can not overcome: the cork.
Cork floors are as durable as most other floors. In addition, they are a natural product, environmentally friendly, and produced from a renewable resource (bark of cork oak tree when peeled does not damage the tree). In addition cork flooring is antistatic, sound absorbing, insulating (both heat and cold), and a relief for those with allergies. No other flooring material combines these benefits. When maintained properly, cork flooring can last for generations.
Cork flooring is produced in a density high enough to withstand heavy traffic and weight. One of the characteristics of cork is that it has a "memory" and therefore recovers well from compression, very much like a wine cork stopper being pulled out of a bottle expands. A durable surface finish further protects the cork and allows for easy maintenance. Nevertheless, just like other flooring materials, we recommend the use of protective pads under furniture legs.
Cork floorings are high quality, natural materials and should be recognized as such. Some shade variation due to raw material nature is an inherent and attractive characteristic of all natural products, whether cork, wood, or bamboo. Exposure to sunlight can also result in shade change.
Yes, cork floors can be stained any color. Our offer covers a wide range of colors and in special situations other can be available.
Yes, exposure to UV light as well as sunlight will cause color variations to cork; typically a yellowing. This is normal and not a manufacturing defect. Area rugs and large furniture will block light exposure and cause uneven coloration. To minimize, furnishings and floor coverings should be moved periodically. Covering large exposed windows will help as well.
You are the best judge of your pet’s behavior. You know what the habits, activities, and potentially destructive actions of your pet better than anyone else. Cork floors are coated with a finish that could be scratched by the claws of cats and dogs running on the floor. However, because cork is resilient and will move away from pressure the surface will be less subject to abrasion than a similarly treated hardwood floor. Keeping your pet’s nails trimmed will help keep your floors looking beautiful.
Absolutely, cork is being widely used for sound reduction in buildings. It is a very effective way to meet building codes for sound control.
Wear Resistance Technology – A multilayer UV cured finish that due to its composition of ceramic beads confers to the cork flooring a high resistance to the abrasion, scratches and stains, without changing the natural texture of the flooring.
High Performance Surface – This finish is based on the strength of nano-bead technology. HPS® works by embedding a fine shield of nano-beads atop the surface layer to protect and preserve floors from scratches, scuff marks, dents, abrasions, stains, and UV damage. This fine layer of nano-beads has a lower gloss level for a natural look and provides excellent traction to prevent slipping.
Yes! Bacteria, dust and dirt do not embed themselves in cork flooring as they do in other flooring options. Simple regular maintenance, such as dust mopping, sweeping or vacuuming keeps cork floors sanitary.
Wicanders® has products with different impact resistance, depending of wear layer. The surface damage will depend of the object and height of fall.
The surface of Wicanders® products has good stain resistance. Nevertheless is recommend that you wash off immediately any spillage.
Wicanders has products suitable for commercial areas with heavy traffic like corridor, department stores, lobbies, schools and open plan offices. No Wicanders products are recommend for multi-purpose halls and counter halls.
Wicanders® cork flooring products are recommended only of interior applications.
That means that the product is a floating floor with a glueless system. Wicanders® products have a loc system patented by Välinge.
It is extremely long wearing because its colour and construction go all the way though a thickness of 2mm
DIN 51130 is used for testing shoe-trafficked areas over a surface lubricant, where a person walks back and forth on a platform (in a laboratory) covered with tiles. The angle of inclination if the test area is steadily increased until the person begins to slip. The angle at which the person slips is recorded and averaged out over a number of tests. The higher the rating, the more a tile may be considered anti-slip. DIN 51130 then relates these R ratings to particular fields of use. Generally, R9 is the accepted minimum for use of a tile in public areas.
All Wicanders® range products are tested following EN ISO 9239-1.
The fire resistance is classified (EN 13501-1) based in energy (flame) and smoke contributions. In what concerns energy contribution for floor covering the best classification is A1 (no flammable) and the worst is D.
Smoke contribution is classified in two levels – s1 and s2- being s1 the best.
Wicanders® range has products suitable for domestic application - moderate to heavy, commercial application - moderate to heavy, and moderate industrial application.
Those symbol follow the European standard (EN685) that identify the levels of use:
- House – product suitable only for domestic areas
- Building – product suitable for domestic and commercial area
- Factory – product suitable for domestic, commercial and light industrial
The number of human symbol indicates if the product is recommended for low or heavy use.
Gloss is an optical property, which is based on the interaction of light with physical characteristic of a surface. Lower is the value lower is the gloss.
All Wicanders® floor products are tested in official lab. Impact and step sound are evaluate. Cork floors have good behavior in both characteristics.
WRT finish are recommended for domestic and moderate commercial areas. For areas with medium or heavy traffic HPS finish should be used.
Cork floor is resilient, therefore more comfortable to stand on than harder and unyielding floors.
Yes. Wicanders® products are designed to meet the rigorous criteria required to earn points. Based on the LEED framework, Wicanders® products contribute points towards achieving the following credits:
Materials and Resources- MR Credits:
- MR 4.1 (1 Point): Use materials with recycled content such that the sum of the post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes 10% of the total value of the materials in the project.
- MR 4.2 (1 Point): Use materials with recycled content such that the sum of the post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes an additional 10% (total of 20%) beyond MR credit 4.1 of the total value of the materials in the project.100% of the cork content in all Wicanders® Cork products is recycled from other cork pre-consumer manufacturing processes.
- MR 6 (1 Point): Use rapidly renewable materials and products (made from plants that are typically harvested within a ten year cycle or shorter) for 2.5 % of the total value of all building materials and products used in the project.
Indoor Environmental Quality- EQ
- EQ 4.4 (1 Point): Use Low-Emitting Materials (wood or agrifiber products) that will reduce the amount of indoor air contaminants that may be potentially irritating and/ or harmful to the comfort and well-being of the installer and occupants. Wicanders® Cork products have no added urea-formaldehyde resins as stated under this credit.
Innovation and Design Process- ID (1-4 points)
- The intent of this credit is to provide design teams and projects the chance to earn additional points for exceptional performance above the LEED requirements. Cork’s natural characteristic such as its cellular structure provides sound proofing properties. The transmission of vibrations from mechanical equipment can be reduced using cork flooring and underlayment. All Wicanders® Cork products qualify for one category, or more, under LEED credit program. Can I install a cork floor near a ‘’fireplace’’ Installation of cork floor near fireplaces must be avoided. A safety distance should be guaranty.
Installation of cork floor near fireplaces must be avoided. A safety distance should be guaranty.
Cork and wood are natural product therefore are influenced by UV and IR radiations. It´s expectable that color can change due to natural light incidence. All Wicanders® products classified as usable in commercial areas are suitable for installation on areas of high incidence of natural light.
