Welcome to bamboo flooring, the new alternative to hardwoods and laminate. It's true that hardwood floors and cheaper laminates are popular in the home right now, but bamboo flooring is an alternative that is quickly gaining ground.
Why?
Bamboo has many of the same features of hardwoods with a unique "bamboo" look.
It's far more desirable than laminates, both because it feels natural under foot
and home buyers are more likely to be impressed with a natural material. But
what's so special about bamboo as a floors? How are bamboo floors made anyway? And
do they end up looking--and wearing--as well as a hardwood or a laminate floor?
Let's take a look at some of the answers to these questions:
Why Would You Want Bamboo Flooring?
There is a big emphasis on environmentally friendly housing materials right now (and it's about
time). Hardwood flooring obviously comes from trees, and trees take decades to grow to maturity. Bamboo, on the other hand, is
not a tree at all but a grass, and it only takes a few years to grow to maturity.
Because of this, it is considered an easily renewable resource, AKA a "sustainable
product," which naturally makes it more eco-friendly than wood. Many of the people who are choosing bamboo floors
enjoy knowing that they are using a material that won't make a large impact on the environment.
How Is Bamboo Turned into a Floor?
Since bamboo is actually a grass, you might be wondering how it can be made into a flooring
material (maybe you're not, but I'm going to tell you anyway). The first thing to remember is that bamboo grows very
tall and wide. Some species reach more than 100 feet tall with diameters of a foot in thickness. This definitely isn't your typical grass!
As far as the actual flooring creation process goes, boards are created when the hollow,
round shoots of bamboo are sliced into strips. These strips are boiled to remove their starch, then dried and laminated
to form solid boards. The boards are milled to create easy-to-install flooring.
To ensure a long life, the bamboo strips are treated with a preservative, which brings out the rich color of the flooring for installation.
You can buy bamboo in either a light, natural color or a darker, amber hue. (The
amber is achieved when the flooring is pressure steamed; this darkens the surface through the process of carbonization.)
Is Bamboo Flooring as Nice as Hardwood Flooring?
We can talk all day about the environmentally-friendliness of bamboo and how it's created, but in the end, most homeowners want to
know the bottom line: does bamboo flooring look as good as hardwood flooring? They also want to know if it's as durable and easy to maintain.
In short: yes.
Though bamboo doesn't look exactly the same as a wood floor (boards highlight
the thin, long strips of bamboo instead of the swirling grains of wood), many people prefer the
straight lines for their clean, modern look. The color of bamboo (whether you
get natural or pressure treated amber) is as warm and inviting as wood.
Bamboo requires little more than sweeping and an occasional mopping to clean, and if
treated well over the years, bamboo floors can last for decades.
What about the price, you might ask. Is it comparable to hardwoods?
Again, the answer is yes.
Though the cost of bamboo flooring used to be more expensive than domestic hardwoods, today it is very comparable. It's also much easier to find installers for bamboo today, due to its increase in popularity. All the major home improvement
stores can supply the material for you, usually in both the natural color and the rich amber hue.
So the bottom line is that bamboo is a good flooring choice if you want a greener, more environmentally friendly alternative to
standard hardwood floors.