Tired of Increasing Utility bills?

It seems as though our monthly expenses keep increasing every month. People are having a hard time even surviving with the increase of monthly bills. Trying to find ways to keep our utility expenses down by making sure there is no heating or cooling loss. CORK! Have you considered the use of cork, as a material, to help save you money? Yes, cork is being recognized as new avenue, in the construction industry. At present we see its uses on flooring, panels, décor and fashion accessories such as, shoes, hand bags, clothing etc. Cork is used as an insulator and can help with lowering your utility cost and save you money, as much as, 18% - 50% on your utility bills.

Cork

In Europe cork is used in the construction industry. It is applied to many surfaces and

looks like stucco. It can be trowel on, or sprayed on, depending on the desired finish. It is thermal, meaning, the rate at which heat passes through a specified material.

These cork products are now coming into Canada and already has the interest of creditable contractors.

The Cork oak tree is a medium-sized, evergreen oak. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa. The harvesting of cork does not harm the tree, not trees are cut down during the harvesting process. Only the bark is extracted and a new layer of cork regrows, making it a renewable resource. Its bark has dead cells that are waterproofed by a wax called Suberin. One cubic cm of cork bark contains 40 mil cells of air. Cork oak wood pastures are rich in biodiversity.

Cork is one of the most renewable products in the world. When cork is harvest, they remove the bark in a cylindrical shape. Each tree is harvested every 9 nine years. Next harvest will be in 2016.

Where it is cultivated

The tree is cultivated in Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Morocco, France, Italy and Tunisia. Portugal accounts for approximately 50% of the world cork harvest. Cork oaks cannot legally be cut down in Portugal, in some cases; farmers need special permission from the Ministry of Agriculture to cut them down. Cork harvesting is done entirely without machinery, being dependent solely on human labour. Usually five people are required to harvest the tree’s bark, using a small axe.

Cork as an insulator

There are several ways to lower utility bills. One important thing is to make sure that your house is properly insulated. Hydro is always increasing price and leaving us to come up with ways of keeping those costs down.

Often we think of insulation as the pink fluffy cotton type of insulation, commonly used today to insulate our homes. New building material are showing up giving us alternatives to better and more efficient way to insulate and upgrade our homes, save energy and money. One of these new materials is Cork.

Cork will be the new stucco and it’s on its way into the Canadian Market. It will be the new insulation and an upgrade to properties. Never have to tear down walls. Why stucco when you can CORKCO!

Cork Spray, New Product to Canada!!

Corkco Cork Spray is the latest development of coloured finish. It is a protective coating that acts like a second skin. It contributes effectively to thermal and acoustic insulation of walls, maintains breathability, protects against water infiltration and it avoids cracks and lesions. It is also durable and long lasting. This will decrease your utility bills by approximately 18% - 50%. Corkco Cork Spray is very flexible. Any shifting of the building will not crack the coating, unlike stucco that will crack and peel causing more money to maintain the building by doing constant repairs or touch-up during the year. With Cork being a natural insulator it benefits property when applied to the exterior of a building. It has a burn rate of T1 and is a natural sound barrier. The water base resin repels water and is mold resistant. Compare to your traditional stucco, Corkco’s Cork Spray decreases in colour averaging 1% per year compare to paint which is approximately 10% per year.