Share this on

Expanko Launches New Web Site

The site provides detailed technical data on the company's products.

Dave Platter -- Interior Design, 2/18/2004 12:00:00 AM

Based in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, Expanko, the third-generation family-owned cork and resilient floor covering company, has launched a new Web site.

"It's totally different," says Margaret M. Buchholz, Expanko's marketing and design director. "We updated the look to give it a more contemporary look than the old site."

The first major change for Expanko's online presence in three years, the new site features updated colors, design, images and navigation. Now designers can download technical information for traditional cork flooring, XCR3 cork-rubber floor covering, Reztec rubber flooring and pavers and Vallares cork floating floors. Sales representatives' contact information also has been added.

The new Web site reflects the growth and diversification of Expanko's business. In the past three decades, the company has expanded from cork flooring into products for uses as varied as granulated cork, virgin cork bark, cork closures and stoppers, wall coverings and molds for car battery coverings. More recently, the company has moved into resilient floor covering partially or entirely composed of rubber.

"We wanted to be able to show all of the products together," Buchholz says of the new site.

For the curious, Expanko has loaded pictures and a detailed description of how cork is harvested from cork-oak trees in Mediterranean countries like Portugal and Algeria. "It is just like an apple tree," says Buchholz. "You need to harvest it."

Cork has been used by humans for at least 5,000 years, for uses as diverse as fishing line floats and bottle stoppers, and harvesters today still use a centuries-old technique. After cutting the cork in large strips at least one foot wide and several feet long, they leave it to dry for up to six months before exporting it for production.

Take a look at www.expanko.com.