A Comparison between Coconut Flooring and Cork Flooring

Both coconut flooring and cork flooring are two excellent types of sustainable flooring. In other words, they are both environmentally friendly. They are both healthy types of flooring, but the two materials – cork and coconut – are quite different. This blog post will examine the similarities and differences between these two types of flooring.

Coconut palms reach maturity in just 5 to 6 years – they grow incredibly quickly. Strictly speaking coconut is not a tree but a woody palm. In contrast, cork comes from a tree: the cork oak. The similarity is that both cork and coconut timber can be grown in a sustainable fashion and thus can be considered renewable resources. In the case of coconut palms, the senile palms that are 50 to 70 years that are cut down for their timber can quickly be replaced by new coconut palms. And in the case of cork, the bark from the cork oak grows back in 9 years, at which time the cork oak can be re-harvested for its valuable cork bark from which cork flooring is made.

The process of making cork flooring and coconut flooring differs considerably. Whereas, coconut palms just need to be cut down, milled into flooring planks and then kiln dried, the process of making cork flooring is more complex. The cork is peeled from the cork oak. Then it is allowed to dry. After that the cork is ground down and then compressed with an adhesive into thin pieces of cork flooring.

Both resources are geographically confined. Coconut palms cannot withstand frost and only thrive in hot, humid conditions. Thus, coconut timber production is limited to Asian equatorial countries such as Indonesia and to Polynesia. Similarly, nearly all the world’s cork oak trees grow in the Mediterranean area in countries such as Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Morocco. Half the world’s cork comes from Portugal. In terms of carbon throughput, the carbon cost of transporting coconut flooring and cork flooring to the main markets in North America is not low and thus somewhat mitigates the sustainable credentials of both types of flooring.

In terms of appearance and physical nature, the two types of flooring are very different. Cork is soft and springy. Coconut is hard. Cork is a light mottled color and coconut produces a dark striped timber. Although nowadays cork flooring and coconut flooring comes in a variety of colors and patterns making these flooring types adaptable to various décor themes.

Finally, coconut flooring is anti-allergenic because it stops dust mites breeding. The same is true of cork flooring. But cork flooring also contains suberin that is naturally antimicrobial (like bamboo flooring) and fire retardant.

In conclusion, both cork flooring and coconut flooring are excellent types of flooring that can withstand high traffic, are easy to clean, are anti-allergenic and that last a long time. They differ, however, in many other aspects.

Tags: coconut flooring, cork flooring, comparison, sustainable flooring