Why Choose a Bamboo Floor?

The growing number of manufacturers confirms their own certainty about the future of bamboo floors. It is that it has one; and a bright one at that. More and more people are choosing this eco-friendly alternative to the more traditional hardwood flooring.

A bamboo floor will give you the natural beauty of hardwood flooring in your home without having you feel that your decision to go with hardwood flooring is having a detrimental effect on our environment. A Bamboo floor is one of the hardest, natural materials available for hardwood flooring and is an excellent alternative to tree wood because bamboo is able to grow wood faster than any tree. Because bamboo is actually a rapid growing grass and can be harvested every 5-7 years, unlike 15-100 years for many tree wood. This makes bamboo a very environmentally friendly product for flooring.

Benefits of a Bamboo Floor

The bamboo plant is much like a straw as it is hollow in the center. Mature plants have a wall thickness of up to one inch and the stalks taper as they get taller. The stalks are milled and flat strips are cut from the thick plant walls. These strips are boiled in a solution of lime and boric acid which drives out the starch in the plant that attracts wood-destroying insects. Once dry, these non-toxic chemicals are fantastic termite repellents and they also are toxic to a wide variety of wood fungi that cause wood rot.

A bamboo floor compares favorably to traditional solid select timber floors. Often it will be less in cost and installation is easier when compared with traditional hardwood flooring. Floating Bamboo Flooring Picture

Alternatively the budget minded renovator who is prepared to follow the installation recommendations can self install at far lesser cost. Bamboo floor installation is rapid, with no toxic fumes given the fact that it does not require sanding and multiple coats to actually finish, and is immediately ready to use. A Bamboo floor is a product derived from forests of fully sustainable, environmentally friendly and rapidly growing renewable resource. Six year old poles are harvested annually, a far cry from the 40 - 60 years required for hardwood trees. The flooring is manufactured from these aged poles that are split then machined into rectangular billets, cured, laminated and machined into hardwood boards of unmatched durability.