Archive for November 28th, 2009
Growing flooring trend – Strand Bamboo Flooring
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
Bamboo flooring is another fast growing category in the flooring industry. Today, due to environmental issues and the “Green Movement”, people think more about what kind of floor they are buying. Bamboo flooring is surprisingly made from grass and not from wood. And as is well known, there are more than 1,000 species of grass worldwide. Bamboo flooring is a relatively new alternative to standard hardwood floors. It offers similar and perhaps superior qualities of strength, hardness, and appearance.
Bamboo flooring is a wonderful choice in floors, whether you are building a new home or remodeling. When many people think of bamboo, they picture the grassy stalks that are often used as visual barriers in gardens. Bamboo Flooring is certainly one of the upcoming materials in today’s floor market. With many advantages over traditional hardwood flooring it has certainly been a kind of shooting star amongst the different new floor types used. Bamboo flooring is a dense and durable material, so it will wear well and perform like oak or maple hardwood. Because it’s so dense, it usually doesn’t require refinishing quite as often as hardwood.
Bamboo Flooring is one of the hardest, natural materials available for hardwood flooring and is an excellent alternative to tree wood because bamboo can grow wood faster than any tree. Because bamboo is a rapid growing grass and not wood, it can be harvested every 5-7 years, unlike 15-100 years for most tree wood. Bamboo flooring is a cost-effective and environmentally sensitive choice among traditional hardwood flooring options. An appealing building material, it is very durable, strong and long-lasting. Bamboo flooring is available in either vertical or flat grain. In vertical grain boards, the strips are oriented with the narrow wall thickness facing up, resulting in a more even grain.
Bamboo flooring is an eco-friendly option for homeowners to decorate their home with. The flooring is very versatile and can be installed in a number of different ways. Bamboo flooring is a very hard wood, especially when seasoned, and it is light and extraordinarily sturdy. Bamboo has been cultivated for more than 4,000 years and is useful as a building material for houses, fences, bridges, pallets, shipping crates, furniture, and even construction scaffolding. Bamboo flooring is more durable to resisting wear through due to its higher density as compared with most hardwood. This woven strand bamboo flooring is elegant and beautiful with its unique and exotic design.
Engineered-bamboo flooring has a veneer of bamboo over layers of plywood. There are also “click-together” varieties that are assembled simply by snapping flooring pieces together, but be forewarned that these often do not bear as professional a look once they are installed. Engineered floors are ideal for any application including over concrete, radiant heat, condominiums, plywood, and more. The top wear-layer is made of bamboo thick enough to be re-finished at least 2 to 3 times. Engineered bamboo flooring is commonly used for floating applications, glue downs and over radiant floor heat.
