How Cork Flooring Is Made: From Bark to Your Floor

Every piece of cork flooring sold at Cancork starts as bark on a cork oak tree. Understanding how the material goes from forest to finished plank helps explain why cork floors perform the way they do and why some designs cost more than others.

Harvesting: No Trees Are Cut Down

Cork bark is peeled from the cork oak tree every 9 to 10 years in European cork forests (primarily Portugal and Spain). Asian cork oak is harvested every 12 to 15 years. This harvesting does not harm the tree. In fact, it prolongs the tree’s life, allowing individual trees to live 200 to 250 years. Cork harvesting is skilled work, often passed down through families, and harvesters are well compensated for their expertise.

After harvesting, the bark is left to dry for up to 18 months before processing begins.

From Wine Corks to Flooring

The wine industry uses approximately 95% of the world’s cork production for bottle stoppers. After the wine corks are cut from the bark, the remaining husks are sold to manufacturers like those who produce our Forna line. The flooring industry purchases cork in granulated form. These tiny grains, called agglomerated cork, are mixed with resin binders and pressed into sheets of varying quality and density.

• Lower density – used for cork underlayment and the base layers of floating floors
• Higher density – used for the finished surface of cork flooring products

Three Types of Cork Floor Surfaces

Traditional Cork Veneer

The classic cork look comes from larger pieces of cork bark that are thinly sliced and applied over the agglomerated cork base. Different slicing techniques create different patterns. The block pattern and ribbon pattern (seen in Forna’s “Leather” and “Birch” designs) use solid strips of bark that cannot be replicated with granulated cork. These patterns carry a premium price because the raw material itself costs more.

Stained Cork

Natural cork granules are pressed and then stained to achieve specific colours. Products like our Woodflow and Amber Streak designs use this technique to expand the colour palette beyond natural cork tones while maintaining the organic texture of real cork.

Printed Cork (Design Cork)

The newest technology in cork flooring borrows from the laminate industry. A high-resolution image is printed either onto specialty foil paper (mid-range) or directly onto the cork surface (premium “direct print” method). Our Design Cork collection includes wood-look, stone-look, and abstract patterns. Direct printing eliminates concerns about bond failure between the image layer and the cork.

Assembling a Cork Floating Plank

A finished Forna 12mm cork floating plank consists of:

1. Bottom layer: 3mm cork underlay (sound absorption and moisture barrier)
2. Core: 6mm E1 Class high-density fiberboard (structural stability and click-lock profile)
3. Top layer: 3mm cork wear surface (the design you see and walk on)
4. Finish: Natural Shield water-based polyurethane (scratch and stain protection)

The click-lock profile (Uniclic) is machined into the HDF core, allowing planks to snap together without adhesive.

Quality Control

Our Forna products are manufactured in Portugal and carry durability ratings for both residential (Domestic Class 23) and light commercial (Class 41) use. Each product comes with a 10-year residential wear warranty, a joint integrity warranty, and a lifetime structural warranty.

Want to see and feel the difference between traditional, stained, and printed cork? Order free samples to compare them side by side in your home.