Flooring Planet

Reasons to choose bamboo flooring for your home:

1. Aesthetic Beauty

Contrary to popular belief, bamboo is actually a grass not a wood product. Because of this difference, bamboo has a different look than your typical hardwood floors. Color can be determined by the manufacturing process (length of time carbonized) and your typical order of bamboo flooring will be rather uniform in color and easy to match when installing. Also, staining is now possible for bamboo floors resulting in over thirty different styles and colors being available. With this many choices, you’re sure to find something to perfectly fit your style.

2. Durability

Bamboo is not only beautiful, it is also quite durable. Bamboo has received hardness (strength) ratings higher than many hardwoods. In addition to its hardness rating, bamboo is also resilient. This means it “bounces back” after most impacts and doesn’t dent. This resiliency is also better for your feet and back since the floor will tend to “give” slightly and not be so hard to walk on everyday.

3. Moisture Resistance

Bamboo is also a naturally water resistant material. In addition to its natural resistance, part of the manufacturing process includes lamination which increases its resistance to warping. Because of this moisture resistance, bamboo flooring can be used in bathrooms, kitchens and laundry rooms where hardwood and laminate floors shouldn’t be used.

4. The Environmental Benefits

Bamboo is a sustainable material. This means it can easily and quickly be re-grown in a reasonably short time. Bamboo is typically harvested every four to five years without actually destroying the plant. Also, because of its resiliency, bamboo doesn’t have to be refinished as often as hardwood. This cuts down on the chemicals necessary to maintain the floor.

5. Easy Cleaning

Bamboo floors, like most hard flooring materials, are easier to clean than carpet. No vacuum required, just a dust mop to keep things nice and clean. And, unlike tile, there is no grout to worry about keeping clean.

Summary

Bamboo is a great addition to any home. It is an eco-friendly, easy to maintain flooring material that can match any style you choose for your home.

Along with choices in style you may wish to consider in bamboo flooring, there is also the question of color. Bamboo flooring is available in two colors - natural and carbonized. The color is determined at the boiling process. Natural bamboo appears in a creamy blonde color that is known to add a touch of brightness to an interior. Carbonized bamboo is characterized by its smoky, caramel hue which is the result of a longer boiling process which causes the remaining starches in the bamboo to caramelize. It should be noted that by the end of the respective boiling processes, the natural remains to be the slightly harder bamboo flooring. The carbonization process which defines carbonized bamboo reduces the bamboo’s hardness by about 30%. It must also be noted that even though this is true, both colors of bamboo flooring can still be classified as being as hard as some hardwood species.

During the gluing process, the bamboo can either be bound with the narrow edges facing up, which results in a thin, channel pattern in the bamboo flooring, or so that the broader surface of the bamboo is bound facing upward, making for a surface that is more akin to traditional hardwood patterns. These styles of bamboo flooring are known as vertical and horizontal bamboo flooring respectively. There are visual benefits for each one, depending on your personal taste, but both remain to be decorative choices. The horizontal style is striking for its "knuckle" or "node" patterns, that is, the pattern naturally occurring in the bamboo that are the equivalent of "growth rings" in many hardwood species. The vertical style is a unique surface that remains unmatched by any other natural flooring material, characterized by decorative, narrow channels caused by the binding of the bamboo strips. Both of these styles are available in natural or carbonized colors.

In the continuing spirit of a "green" flooring option, strand-woven bamboo flooring is the product of a process that leaves very little wasted. The excess material left over from the filleting process which goes into making natural and carbonized bamboo flooring are intertwined, compressed, and bound. The binding agent is a safe, UV resistant and scratch-resistant resin which also makes the bamboo even more resistant to moisture. The process of compression results in a very hard, very durable type of bamboo flooring typified by grain patterns that are more like those of a hardwood floor. The strand-woven bamboo is then cut into planks and is ready to be shipped - no further compression is needed in this case, unlike regularly manufactured bamboo flooring.