Many people hear the name cork floor and think it is a floor with soft feet, but it is not.
The cork of red wine is made of cork. Think about its texture.
The floor is a decoration material that many people like. When it comes to flooring, most people think of solid wood flooring, solid wood composite flooring and laminate flooring. What I want to introduce to you this time is a upstart in the wood flooring industry-cork flooring.
What is "cork"
Cork, as its name implies, must be "soft". Cork is the outer bark of Quercus variabilis The bark of Quercus variabilis will grow from young trees for 20-25 years before it can be peeled off for the first time. The cork cells of Quercus variabilis are particularly developed, and the cork layer can be quickly separated after peeling to ensure the transport of nutrients and water in the tree. Then peel it every 9- 10 years, and a tree can be peeled about 10- 15 times. This greatly limits the output and price of cork flooring, and it also becomes the reason why consumers know less. Cork is composed of cork parenchyma cells. Every cubic centimeter of cork contains 40 million inflatable cells, and plasmodesmata passes through the cell wall. After the cell loses its activity, the plasmodesmata is blocked by the resin, and the air in the cell is sealed inside, forming a closed balloon. It acts as a "spring" under pressure, which is also the principle of cork "softness".
The application history of cork flooring in China can be traced back to 19 1 1 year. At the beginning of the establishment of Tsinghua University +09 1 year, Tsinghua University Library used cork flooring. After experiencing the consumption at the top of the pyramid, with the general improvement of the consumption level of Chinese people, the cork floor has gradually unveiled its mystery, and now it has gradually stepped down from the altar and been known by more people.
Cork floor is a kind of all-round floor, which has the characteristics of environmental protection, silence, moisture resistance, wear resistance, heat resistance, non-slip, warmth retention, compression resistance, safety, simplicity and no moth. So the cork floor is truly omnipotent.
environmental protection
First of all, cork flooring is environmentally friendly in a broad sense, without cutting down trees and recycling natural resources. Then there is the environmental protection of our family.
When talking about environmental protection, we must let the data speak. Based on the testing reports of various cork floors at home and abroad by China's national testing institutions, the free formaldehyde content of such floors has been between the lowest 0. 1mg/L and the highest 0.3mg/L for many years. At present, the requirement of EI standard in China for free formaldehyde content of wood floor is1.5 mg/L; The standard of European standard E0 level is 0.5; Japan's JAS standard, that is, the standard of F4 star, is 0.3.
Formaldehyde in laminate flooring, multi-layer solid wood flooring and three-layer solid wood flooring comes from urea-formaldehyde resin glue used in synthesis. Synthetic cork floor glue is polyurethane glue, which belongs to water-based glue. The national standard limit value of free formaldehyde in polyurethane adhesive is-,which is not allowed. Then why can trace formaldehyde be detected? This is because formaldehyde exists freely and everywhere in nature, and it is unrealistic to detect formaldehyde with 100%.
Two concepts need to be clarified here: First, cork is not equal to cork floor. Cork is the bark of Quercus variabilis and the raw material of cork flooring. After being crushed into cork particles, after a series of processing, this floor material can be called cork floor. Second, cork flooring refers to glued cork flooring, and cork composite flooring is not a concept product. The requirements of national environmental protection standards are also different.
Quiet and warm
The sound produced by people walking on the indoor cork floor is about 18 decibels. It is easy to understand that you can't hear your footsteps when you get up late at night to go to the toilet. Therefore, cork flooring is also the first choice for people who like and need quiet and places that need quiet environment.
The reason why cork floor is quiet lies in its material and installation method. Soft materials lead to silence, so I don't need to go into details. Installation method is the key link of cork floor mute. Cork floor adopts the installation method of self-leveling cement slurry, and cork floor and self-leveling cement floor are closely stuck together to form a whole. In addition, there is no empty drum effect, and the mute effect is naturally excellent.
If you are interested, you can also lay a cork floor on the cabinet countertop, and the sink countertop can no longer hear the sound of pots and pans and mouthwash cups knocking on stones. Don't worry about splashing water, cork floors are not afraid of water. Cork floor can quickly adapt to human body temperature, as long as it comes into contact with cork floor, it will be warm. This means that cork flooring has good thermal insulation performance. In the season when the heating is not turned on, walking barefoot on the cork floor feels much warmer than other wooden floors.
Real "three defenses"
Non-slip cork floor
General wooden floors, including tiles, have limited anti-slip grade in national standards, and the lowest is Grade 4. The anti-skid grade coefficient of cork floor is grade six (the highest is grade seven).
Anti-skid is safety, and the anti-skid performance of cork floor can be seen intuitively. Pour water on the cork floor and rub it with your shoes. You will find that the cork floor at this time is more astringent than in the dry state. This feature has a certain effect on the safety of family members, especially for the elderly and children.
Moisture-proof and waterproof cork floor
As we all know, the wooden floor is not resistant to blisters, and it is often heard that the wooden floor is damaged by water leakage for various reasons every year. However, cork flooring is an option. Because of its unique structure, cork flooring has excellent anti-seepage characteristics. The single cork floor itself is not afraid of blisters, and it can even be made into a fish tank to raise fish after certain construction treatment. The cork floor laid in a large area can easily meet the requirements of moisture-proof and waterproof in ordinary places after standardized construction technology. The cork floor built by standard technology still plays this role in the shower area. Combined with the anti-skid function mentioned above, standing barefoot on the cork floor in the shower area will give you a different feeling of warm feet and stagnant feet.
Wear resistance and compression resistance
Although the permeability of cork floor is not high, its wear resistance is still in doubt, and it is natural that such a thin floor is not wear-resistant. But the wear resistance of cork floor is two to three times higher than that of ordinary floor. The wear-resistant way of cork floor is different from other floors, which can be called soft-hard combination. Cork flooring has a honeycomb structure. When the foot presses the floor, the floor will still have a slight depression, which will slightly absorb the footsteps on the ground and reduce the relative displacement between the footsteps and the floor. Without displacement, there would be no friction. Although it is relative, it is enough to exert the wear resistance of cork floor. Walking on the cork floor, there will be a slight sense of stagnation, unlike the wet feeling on other wooden floors.
Compressed cork floor
Compression refers to the heavy weight of heavy furniture on cork floor. The softness of the cork floor is also relative, and its own density is 450-500kg/m3, bearing 450-500 kg per cubic centimeter. It's not that kind of feeling that it collapses at the touch of a button. Large furniture with legs at home, usually with a piece of cork floor scraps under the legs, can solve this problem. Ordinary dining tables, dining chairs and sofas do not need special protection. A chair with wheels can sit on it or slide on it at will. Because of its softness, the problem that the cork floor is not resistant to the oppression of sharp instruments is inevitable, but that's all. The cork floor is damaged by sharp instruments, which can be divided into two situations: one is slight indentation that does not damage the paint surface, which can generally be recovered by its own elasticity or easily repaired by technology.
Another situation is that the paint surface is damaged, which affects the appearance. Just cut a hole according to the size of the damaged point and put a floor of the same color in it to repair it, so it can be solved without replacing the whole floor. If you don't mark it in advance, even the traces of repair can't be seen. Other wood floors can't avoid the problems encountered by cork floors. The difference is that the cork floor can be repaired by itself, and it can be repaired as before without tearing down the floor of the whole house.
Cork flooring can be divided into two types: pasting type and locking type.
Glued cork flooring is very thin, only about 3~4 layers thick. This kind of floor is a common self-leveling cement pasting system in Europe and America, that is, the self-leveling cement surface is coated with glue, and the cork floor is directly glued to it. This process is more stable and silent.
Locking cork board refers to adding a layer of density board between two layers of cork, and adopting suspension paving technology like integrated wood floor and solid wood composite floor (the ground is paved with a floor mat, and the floor mat is paved with a floor).
Selection of cork floor
1, feel: see whether the ground surface of the floor is smooth, whether there are bulging particles and whether the cork particles are pure. Usually, good cork gives people the feeling of being warm, thick and bright. This is because of cork airbags. If the hand feels cold, it means the quality is poor.
2. See if the edge of the floor is straight. The method is: take four identical floors, spread them on glass or flat ground, and assemble them to see if they are closed;
3. Check the bending strength of the board, close the two diagonal lines of the floor to see if there are cracks on the curved surface. If there are no cracks, it is a high-quality product;
4. Check the adhesive strength, put the cork sample into boiling water, and observe whether the polished surface becomes uneven. If yes, it is unqualified, and if there is no obvious change, it is a high-quality product.
Maintenance of cork floor
1. Furniture can only be placed after the floor is installed for 24 hours, and people should be minimized to walk on it within 24 hours.
2. During use, avoid bringing sand indoors, otherwise it will cause flowing wear. It is suggested to lay a mat at the door to reduce the wear and tear of sand on the floor.
3. After three to five years of use, if there is wear in some places, it can be partially repainted;
4. The maintenance of painted cork floor is the same as that of solid wood floor. Waxing the floor once every six months is enough. Usually just use a wringing mop or rag to mop it. Use a special cleaner to remove difficult places to clean.
5, to avoid a strong impact on the floor, moving furniture is beneficial, not dragging, furniture legs are padded.
6. When maintaining the floor, do not wash, polish or clean it with detergent.
7. Avoid hitting the floor strongly. Conducive to carrying furniture, not dragging. The legs of furniture are padded.
8. When you go out from home, please close the doors and windows, especially the faucet, to prevent rain and dripping water from soaking the floor.
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