Bamboo Hardwood Flooring

Bamboo hardwood flooring is typically made by slicing bamboo poles into strips. These are de-starched by boiling, glued into boards, and milled.

Preservative treatment—often boric acid, is applied during this process. Most bamboo flooring uses a urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesive in the lamination process.

Though the use of UF resins, which emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), is harmful to indoor air quality, bamboo flooring uses a relatively small amount compared with other materials, such as particle board. Bamboo flooring products that avoid formaldehyde use are available.

Technically, bamboo is a grass, but it is considered a wood due to its hardness. Bamboo has become popular with "green" building proponents due to its rapid regrowth, which makes it highly sustainable.

You can cut it and have a fully mature tree in four years. It comes in manila/yellow tones as well as dark shades. It can also be stained to achieve any shade you wish. The grain pattern shows nodes from the bamboo stalks.

Colors

Bamboo hardwood flooring may come in several colors:

• A light, “natural” color.

• A darker, amber color achieved by carbonizing the bamboo in a pressure-steaming process. The carbonizing process can reduce the floor’s final hardness by 10% or more, though it will still be harder than most hardwoods.

• Dyed colors (some atrocious) are also available, which may use heavy metals and other toxic substances.

The hardness of bamboo hardwood flooring depends in large measure on the species of bamboo and its age when harvested. Three years is generally considered to be the best minimum; some companies claim to use only five or six year old sprouts.

Flooring made from inferior species or younger bamboo will dent and wear more easily. Good bamboo flooring products range from standard density, to significantly harder than other common types of hardwood flooring.

Most bamboo flooring available in the North American market is made in Hunan Province in southern China with bamboo harvested from natural and plantation groves there. (Pandas, which live in much higher elevations, don’t eat this kind of bamboo.)

Bamboo certified to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) meets criteria for environmental sustainability and social responsibility, and several flooring products are available with this option.

The Bamboo Floor Guide - Helping you choose the perfect bamboo flooring for your home.

How "Green" Is Bamboo

Although American importers often tout the environmental responsibility of their bamboo products, they generally have little information about, let alone control over, bamboo manufacturers, which are mostly Chinese-owned. Carbon emissions and pollution from transportation involved in importing bamboo products is an environmental downside.

However, the ocean freighters used for importing from China are relatively efficient at transporting goods compared with the trucks typically used for transporting domestic goods. The transportation energy of a Chinese bamboo flooring product may be comparable to a domestic hardwood flooring product.

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