Cork underlay for various parquets and floor coverings:
Good heat transfer i.e., low thermal resistance: The thermal resistance of a 2mm compressed cork parquet underlay is 0.04 m²K/W, which ensures good heat transfer for floors with underfloor heating. This value helps save energy used for heating, mainly due to the quick transfer of heat. It eliminates situations where, when adding or reducing heat, the heat transfer lag becomes too long due to the high thermal resistance of the underlay. This means that one wouldn't have to wait long for additional heat to reach the heated room. When there's excessive heat, lowering the room's temperature won't require a long wait for the excess heat to dissipate, which often ends with opening the windows. If the underlay has too high a thermal resistance, the heat from the underfloor heating tends to gradually move into the walls over time. Most floor covering and base material manufacturers specify thermal resistance in their technical data. The rule for this is: the smaller the number, the lower the material's thermal resistance, meaning the better the product's heat transfer. Moreover, a law of physics applies here: the denser or heavier the parquet underlay material, the lower its actual thermal resistance, and the faster the heat transfer.
Impact and footstep noise reduction: Cork parquet underlay effectively reduces impact noise, room-reflecting footstep noise, and noise transmitted between floors. The impact sound reduction value for cork is 20 dB.
High compressive strength: Cork underlay can withstand pressure up to 200 kPA due to weight, ensuring sufficient durability for thin floating floor coverings. Heavy furniture, chair wheels, or different heavy items that exert significant pressure on a small area do not cause excessive sagging or the disconnection or breakage of click connections. For floating installations of thin floor coverings or herringbone parquets, it is essential that the base material has high compressive strength. For example, regular white parquet foam has only 8kPa compressive strength, the fairly common Provent underlay value is 9kPa, and the Tuplex underlay value is 16kPA. These solutions are not suitable for SPC/LVT coverings, 6-7mm thick laminate flooring, or herringbone-pattern floating parquets.
Natural elasticity: Cork retains its elasticity and regains its dimensions after pressure, offering consistent softness, compressive strength, and noise reduction.
Cork's resistance to pressure and natural dimension recovery: After pressure, cork is a material that regains its dimensions, ensuring a long useful life with positive properties for the cork base material.
Moisture resistance: Cork is inherently moisture-resistant.
Significantly enhances the durability of floor coverings: Cork provides a reliable foundation for various floating floor coverings. There are also special adhesive cork underlays for floor coverings that are glued to the subfloor. When using this underlay, one should consult a specialist beforehand.
Cork as a material and floor covering: Cork offers numerous advantages. Its natural properties, combined with the benefits cork offers as a base material, make it an excellent choice for many floor coverings.