Why cork

A natural material that feels different.

Warm, quiet, comfortable underfoot, and grown back after every harvest. Here is what cork brings to a room, how it is made, and the figures behind it.

Request samples Technical details

Warmth

Warm to the touch, even in winter.

Cork is full of tiny pockets of trapped air, so it does not draw heat away from bare skin the way stone, tile or concrete does. It feels warm rather than cold underfoot, and every floor range suits underfloor heating.

Thermal resistance 0.10 m²·K/W, floating floors

Comfort

A little give, with every step.

Those same air-filled cells compress under weight and spring back, which gives cork its gentle cushion. It is kinder to legs and backs for anyone on their feet all day, and to knees and hands in a studio.

Quiet

Footsteps soften, rooms settle.

An integrated cork underlay contributes to the comfort of our floating floors. Their technical data sheets report a 19 dB impact sound reduction in laboratory testing; performance in a finished building depends on its construction.

Impact sound reduced by 19 dB, floating floors

Made to last

Soft, but hard wearing.

Cork returns to shape after pressure, and Granorte seals it with a tough factory finish. It cleans with a vacuum and a damp mop, and every floor range is rated for heavy commercial use.

Class 33 floors; Recolour Fix glue-down Class 34

Grown back

Harvested from trees that keep growing.

Cork is the bark of the cork oak. It is lifted by hand around every nine years and grows back, so the tree is never felled. The floors contain no PVC, and FSC® certified products are available on request.

Granorte floating floors: GREENGUARD Gold for low emissions

How it is made

Cork with a past and a future.

The bark is harvested the way it has been for centuries. What Granorte makes from it is modern: dense, finished floors and wall tiles made for busy rooms.

01
The harvest
Skilled harvesters lift the bark from the cork oak by hand, around every nine years. The tree is never felled and grows a new layer.
02
Granules, pressed
In Portugal, Granorte turns the bark into granules and presses them into dense cork. The Wabi wall tiles are made from recycled cork.
03
Built in layers
Floating planks have a cork surface over a fibreboard core, with an acoustic cork underlay built in. Glue-down tiles are dense cork composite, 4 mm thick.
04
Finished at the factory
Every floor is sealed with Granorte's WEARTOP or WEARPLUS finish before it leaves the factory, so it arrives ready to lay.

Honest advice

Where cork is not the answer.

Cork floors are not covered by the manufacturer's warranty in bathrooms, showers or wet rooms, so we do not suggest them there.

Cork is also a natural material, so the colour and pattern vary a little from plank to plank and batch to batch. Most people see that as part of its character. If you need a perfectly uniform surface, we will say so.

Compare the ranges side by side