Bamboo Flooring: A Look at the Pros and Cons of this Floor Option

The increasing number of homeowners moving into sustainability has resulted into the evolution of bamboo as one of the most viable flooring options. In a short span of time, the green trend has catapulted the eco-friendly material to take up a significant part of the wood flooring industry.

Similar to the traditional materials used in the home – granite, marble and hardwood – bamboo is a natural product sourced from the earth. Although it shares many similarities with hardwood, it is actually a type of grass that offers a lot of benefits many homeowners are now profiting from.

The more you understand the many properties of bamboo, the more informed you will be when deciding whether a bamboo flooring will work with your lifestyle. So, to get you started, this infographic from House of Bamboo will enumerate all the pros and cons of bamboo flooring option.

How Bamboo Flooring is Made

Every bamboo flooring is engineered. After harvesting, bamboos are cut, sliced and shredded into long thin strips before they are pressed back together using adhesives and pressure. The end result is a long-lasting wood flooring that is visually similar to hardwood.

There are three common types of bamboo flooring:

Vertical bamboo is distinguished by its uniform and textured look, with more seams and edges visible. Horizontal bamboo , on the other hand, resembles a typical hardwood only it has distinct knuckles that will tell it is bamboo. Strand woven meanwhile are fibres that are compressed through the compression process and bound with a resin.

5 Factors that Affect the Quality of Bamboo Flooring

Although bamboo floors may appear to be identical, there are actually several differences that set each other apart – and as a provider of sustainable bamboo materials since 1975, we believe that the overall quality of bamboo start with the harvesting, followed by other important factors.

Harvesting: While bamboo reaches full height in as little as 3 to 4 months, it still takes at least 5 years to achieve its peak density and hardness. Thus, when harvested prematurely, the result is a weaker bamboo flooring.

Drying: Since bamboo largely thrive in sub-tropical environments, it needs to be artificially dried to help it achieve the appropriate moisture content. This process aids in preventing shrinkage of the finished product.

Adhesive: The glue used in high-quality bamboo flooring is a phenolic resin which has low toxicity and meets world health requirements. In cheaper bamboo flooring, a phenol or urea-based adhesive is used as it is lower in cost and contains some amount of formaldehyde.

FSC-Certification: An FSC-certification indicates the bamboo flooring manufacturer values sustainability. It gives you the assurance that you are purchasing FSC-certified material that used bamboo harvested from well-monitored forests.

Possible Green-Washing: Sadly, greenwashing is widely prevalent even in the bamboo flooring industry due to bamboo’s emerging market potential. Aside from the potentially misleading information, this increase in popularity also brings about a market competition that provides varying floor prices.

Advantages of Bamboo Flooring

Eco-Friendly

Bamboo is a highly renewable resource that can reach full maturity in as little as five to seven years. It means that bamboo can be harvested more often than any hardwood tree that can take up to 20 years before it matures – and since bamboo is a grass, it continues to grow without the need for replanting.

Natural Material

As homeowners become more eco-conscious, the demand for construction products that reflect their values have reached an all-time high – and bamboo consistently proves to be a better and natural flooring alternative that offers distinct results unfitting for the cookie cutter world.

Easy to Maintain

Bamboo flooring is relatively low maintenance – with regular sweeping and mopping, you can keep it clean and looking great for years. All you need is a mild soap or a vinegar-water solution to mop the floor with or if you want to level things up, you can also use a specific bamboo floor cleanser.

Durable

Some certain types of bamboo can be remarkably strong and durable. In particular, when properly harvested and processed, natural and un-carbonized bamboo can last as long as hardwood floors, while strand-woven bamboo can be far harder than that.

Stylish

Although similar to hardwood in appearance and feel, bamboo flooring still has an exceptional flair – not to mention, a sleek finish – that fits well to a clean and modern aesthetic. Its contemporary appeal has the ability to elevate any space almost instantly.

Variety

Another benefit of bamboo flooring is that it comes in a wide range of styles and colours. A natural bamboo is light yellow in colour, but when carbonized, it lends a darker colour to the floor. Stained bamboo, on the other hand, can be made to create abstract streaks in different shades.