You might have heard a lot about bamboo flooring recently, since this interesting flooring type has been getting more and more attention.
Many of us who haven’t seen bamboo flooring find it hard to envision. We’re pretty sure it’s not made up of round poles, but it can be hard to imagine how those poles are processed into bamboo.
Unlike hardwoods used for flooring like oak and walnut, bamboo is classified as a grass, even though it doesn’t look much like one.
This extremely large grass can often be mistaken for a tree. It grows to be up to a foot across and more than a hundred feet high in some species.
Despite its grassy classification, you’ll find that flooring made from bamboo still has a lot in common with hardwood as a floor material. Maintenance is done in the same way, and this flooring offers a similar look.
Like hardwood flooring and tile, bamboo is a hypo-allergenic material that provides no places for dust, mildew, dander and pollen to accumulate. However, it has its own unique look and provides more warmth than tile and linoleum.
Bamboo’s durability is also something special, since this material is about ten percent harder than floors made from red oak. Installation of bamboo flooring can only increase your home’s value.
This kind of flooring is made from split bamboo stalks flattened by enormous pressure. These flattened stalks are then laminated together, and more pressure applied to create a unit of flooring - plank, tile or strip.
What results from the process looks a bit like a hardwood laminate floor - prefinished, multi-layered and with an easy installation method. Some people can even install these even, regular planks on their own.
Why is everyone so interested in bamboo and the environment? Most of us have probably heard that bamboo makes an extremely environmentally flooring material, but may not know why or whether that’s true.
This is because bamboo grows very quickly, and needs little in the way of fertilizers and pesticides. To create a bamboo floor, plants need to grow for only five or six years, and regenerate quickly after they’ve been harvested.
That’s why bamboo is considered a sustainable, renewable flooring option. However, buyers should take care when choosing their floors.
Since bamboo is so popular, some have decided to use unnecessary fertilizers and pesticides in the growing process, and make flooring using lower quality techniques to get a quick sale. Anyone who’s worried about how long their floor will last or its environmental impact should avoid using these products.
Fortunately, this isn’t difficult. Good distributors and manufacturers of bamboo flooring want you to know all about the benefits of their floors, so avoid extremely cheap flooring and people who don’t want to talk about the source of their bamboo flooring materials.
Bamboo makes a great investment on multiple fronts, both for the value and beauty of your home, and for the world around us. Since most of our yearly waste comes from the housing industry, choosing environmentally friendly flooring options can help cut down on that waste.
Think about bamboo flooring when the time comes to choose the floor covering for your home, whether it’s new construction or a remodel. You’ll love this durable, beautiful natural material, and so will the environment.
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