Cork can be sold as glue-down tile; as an interlocking, glueless floating floor; or in sheets. It's available prefinished with a polyurethane coating or unfinished, which requires regular waxing. Cork fragments are often incorporated into vinyl and rubber flooring by the manufacturer to add increased slip-resistance. And cork is also available as an underlayment, used particularly in high-rise structures where building codes require strict sound-absorption properties.
Susan Maness, general manager of the cork division for Linoleum City in Los Angeles, says that many of her cork customers can be broken into three groups: those who are "environmentally motivated people;" those who have had cork flooring in the past; and those who first discover it when they walk into the store. Linoleum City has kept cork in its inventory for the past 35 years. Among its stock is Nova Cork flooring, cork underlayment and cork sheets.