Bamboo Flooring – A Home Remodeling Flooring Alternative
Bamboo flooring is becoming an increasingly popular choice with homeowners. Flooring upgrades are one of the most popular home remodeling improvements, and hardwood floors have been a first choice for many.
Hardwood floors provide a luxurious and beautiful improvement for your home. They can also be expensive, and with the growing interest and concern about sustainable and renewable building materials, many have turned to the fake laminate flooring products.
But there may be another choice to consider …
Bamboo flooring may be an ideal alternative hardwood flooring solution for you. Bamboo is an eco-friendly, totally renewable material. A member of the grass family, bamboos are the fastest growing woody plants in the world. While it may take over 100 years to replace a hardwood tree such as a Brazilian teak, bamboo reaches full maturity suitable for hardwood applications in about 4 years, and can actually regenerate without replacing or replanting (remember, bamboo is a grass).
Typically, bamboo flooring products have had durability issues. Generally softer than the hardwood flooring materials, bamboo floors have a reputation of being prone to dents, nicks and scratches. But this “softness” legacy may be more an issue in the past. New manufacturing techniques have improved and some of the better bamboo flooring products available today are actually quite durable and sturdy.
Consumer reports has tested bamboo flooring products in the past and found the same typical issues with durability. However, for the first time in a recent test, consumer reports has found the best bamboo flooring products actually out-performed the top selling oak. See the following video.
Different Types of Bamboo Flooring
Bamboo flooring is typically made by slicing bamboo poles into strips, destarched through a boiling process, glued into boards, and milled. There are basically four different bamboo flooring types:
- Horizontal Grain: bamboo strips glued on top of one another to form a surface.
- Vertical Grain: bamboo strips glued side-by-side in longer, narrow bands
- Grainless or Stranded: shredded bamboo is pressed together with a binding agent. This method generally produces the most dense and hardest flooring product.
- Engineered: bamboo veneer is applied over a substrate.
With the various bamboo flooring types, some of the binding and gluing processes often use formaldehyde agents. These resins and binding agents are responsible for releasing certain levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
By comparison, bamboo products use far less of these volatile compounds than other materials such as particle board (which is far more prevalent throughout many homes). Today, you’ll find many more manufacturers sensitive to modern environmental concerns have come up with a greater range of environmentally friendly bamboo products.
EcoTimber Bamboo Flooring, courtesy of hardwoodinstaller.com
You may be surprised by the range of bamboo flooring choices you have.
At the lower range, the prices can be more attractive than the hardwood floor counterparts, but durability and quality may be an issue.
With the higher end bamboo floor products, the pricing is comparable to hardwood floor materials, and the durability has improved considerably. As suggested by recent Consumer Reports testing, bamboo flooring durability can actually surpass some of the hardwood products including oak.
For the most part, bamboo flooring installation is similar to installing hardwood floors. But it’s best to find a flooring installer with bamboo floor experience.
And Remember, try to have your your hardwood floors installed toward the end of a remodeling project to avoid your new floors becoming damaged while other work is completed.
Tags: bamboo flooring, green home improvement, Green Remodeling, hardwood floors
July 6th, 2009 at 4:40 am
[...] Bamboo Flooring – A Home Remodeling Flooring Alternative | Z.Z. … [...]
July 6th, 2009 at 7:58 am
[...] If you’re thinking about a hardwood floor home remodeling upgrade, bamboo flooring may be just what you’re looking for. Hardwood Flooring [...]
July 8th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
[...] Bamboo flooring is becoming an increasingly popular choice with homeowners. Flooring upgrades are one of the most popular home remodeling improvements, and hardwood floors have been a first choice for many.Hardwood floors provide a luxurious and beautiful improvement for your home. They can also be expensive, and with the growing interest and concern about sustainable and renewable building materials, many have turned to the fake laminate flooring products.But there may be another choice to cons Hardwood Flooring [...]
July 10th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
[...] wood flooring products are manufactured in a similar manner to bamboo flooring. Coconut wood is naturally a light tan color, and the darker honey-brown colors are achieved [...]
August 27th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
[...] Bamboo Flooring – A Home Remodeling Flooring Alternative [...]
November 12th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Your post was interesting and common sense.
November 25th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
You really can save a ton of money buy installing your wood floors yourself. Most installers in my area charge at least $2 a square foot for installs. It is not that hard and the nail gun can be rented for like $40 per day.
November 30th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I think cork flooring is one of the most beautiful flooring surfaces. It would be my first choice even above hardwood floors.
Michelle Black´s last blog ..My Contractor Says A Cork Floor Would Show Wear Patterns Easily. Is It True?
December 8th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
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March 10th, 2010 at 4:52 am
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April 27th, 2010 at 12:20 am
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May 13th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
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June 2nd, 2010 at 8:17 pm
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June 22nd, 2010 at 8:02 pm
My wife and I took the plunge last summer. After years of talking about remodeling the kitchen, we decided to do it. It’s quite an experience — the dust, the noise, and all the strangers coming into the house. And of course, we had to live without a kitchen for a few months. But it was worth it. We love the results! We spend most of our time in the kitchen and adjoining family room, so we get to enjoy the new space every day.