Why Strand Woven Bamboo Flooring Is a Good Choice
80Hardwood floors are gaining in popularity once again due to their ease of keeping clean and free from allergens as well as their simple, natural beauty. There are many different types of bamboo flooring available and its no wonder that you may be easily confused or have difficulty figuring out which is the best option from you. Bamboo itself is really a form of grass, not a tree. It has been used for centuries in home construction throughout Asia and is a vastly renewable source of building materials. Bamboo is a beautiful, ecologically friendly alternative to rain forest hardwood flooring. Not to mention it is very easy to clean bamboo floors. Strand woven bamboo flooring is created in a unique manner, using a totally different process than traditional laminate type flooring. This unique construction process creates several benefits of strand woven bamboo flooring over its traditional laminate counterpart.
Bamboo As a Building Material
While bamboo has been a building material for centuries in Asia, it is only recently that it has been gaining in popularity in the Western world. Once thought of as a decorative landscaping grass, bamboo is quickly becoming a popular alternative to many wood and cloth products. Unlike most hardwoods, bamboo is quick to replenish in nature. So quick in fact that some cities like San Antonio have outlawed the planting of certain kinds of bamboo for fear that it will take over the city's ecology.
Most of the available bamboo flooring is actually harvested from the Guangzhou Zhujiang province out of controlled bamboo forests. Typically bamboo is grown for 4 to 6 years prior to harvesting – as opposed to many decades for rain forest hardwoods. With so many different types of uses, bamboo has truly shown itself to be a versatile, renewable resource with many different potential uses. It is interesting to note that bamboo plants will absorb approximately 5 times the amount of carbon dioxide and produce approximately 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees.
What is Strand Woven Bamboo Flooring?
Stand woven bamboo flooring materials are created by cutting Moso bamboo stalks, boiling the pieces to remove the sugars (a termite attractant), and then drying them for a period of time. The strands are then pressed and flattened under high pressure with a low VOC adhesive. The result is a solid plank that is nearly twice as dense as regular bamboo flooring.
Benefits of Strand Woven Bamboo Flooring
High density makes strand woven bamboo flooring ideal for high traffic and high wear setting, unlike other types of bamboo flooring. It is the most durable form of bamboo flooring available. If you want both durability and natural beauty, strand woven bamboo flooring is the ideal choice.
Many different types of installation options are available including directly gluing to the foundation, floating installation, and nailing or stapling. Having more options available means that no matter the type of foundation your current home has, bamboo flooring is available and easily within reach of the do-it-yourself-er. Whether you are completing your own remodeling or hiring a contractor, there is an appropriate installation type available for your home.
Strand woven bamboo flooring is visually stunning and adds a beautiful, natural touch to any home. It has a highly distinctive grain and resembles the look of other traditional hardwoods like oak without being as costly to the environment. While an oak tree takes approximately 120 years to grow and reach maturity, the bamboo takes 4-6 years. This means not only is bamboo beautiful and renewable, it is also more cost effective that traditional hardwood, saving your pocketbook as well.
Strand woven bamboo flooring does not produce the waste that is left behind in the production of regular bamboo planks – instead all pieces of the bamboo make it into the flooring. Typically when planks are cut, whatever extra pieces remain get thrown out as waste because they aren't large enough to create a plank with. This waste doesn't happen with strand woven bamboo flooring because of the unique manner in which it is manufactured.
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Very eco-friendly. Good hub. I'm trying to educate myself on stuff like this.
<a href="http://www.home-improvement-blog.org/flooring/stra"> strand bamboo flooring </a> enjoys great popularity among many consumers. One of the virtues of bamboo is that it is grass. Preferring grass to wood we make our own contribution to the maintenance of mother nature and don't upsetting the ecological balance of our planet since trees are considered to be the lungs of Earth.
Was searching for "hardwood floor information", saw your hubpage. Great info on floors and floorings!
@hardwood101 I am glad the info was useful for you. I've had a facsination with bamboo flooring since they first came out commercially in the US but was always worried about durability as I have dogs and sometimes they can be hard on hard wood floors, the strand wven bamboo though is a good choice, beautiful, and so much more durable and I'm constanly impressed by it!
@home improvement blog - I totally agree, grass is a much better renewable resource and many types of bamboo can actually convert co2 better to oxygen making it a wonderful ecofriendly flooring.
Look for established brands as this would ensure that the bamboo flooring is genuine, meets the quality standards, and follows all the environmental guidelines specified. Even if you are paying a few extra bucks, you need not worry about the quality of the product as most bamboo floors are produced in countries that probably don’t have many regulations in place. Contractions, expansions, and visual imperfections are some of the issues you would have to contend with, if you buy low standard bamboo flooring.
Here is another link that might be useful: http://www.helpful-kitchen-tips.com/kitchen-blog/2
I'm having difficulty finding what the formaldehyde emmission specs are for the stranded bamboo. Look's good otherwise.
The formaldehyde emissions specs for strand woven bamboo flooring would depend on the individual manufacturer's finished product. For example duro-design lists their product information http://www.duro-design.com/docs/DuroDesignStrandBa here which lists formaldehyde emissions as follows:
Formaldehyde Emmissions: ASTM E 1333: 0.003 ppm average
Very helpful. Thanks!
I was going to write about this but you've covered it well. We installed strand-woven and horizontal bamboo throughout the entire house, ourselves. Strand-woven is definitely the flooring choice to go for if you have pets, as horizontal bamboo does show marks after awhile (we have two dogs, 2 cats and 4 kids). Strand-woven (we have wheat colored Teragren) is absolutely gorgeous, withstands all the abuse we put onto it, handles moisture and generally makes me happy just looking at it. However, the finish does scratch easily if something heavy like furniture is dragged with a tiny dirt-sized pebble under it. Even scratches don't look too bad after some time passes, with the lighter colored bamboo. If I could take this floor with us when we move, I would!
Excellent information and bamboo is an great replacement for hardwoods. Also a lot of companies take their unused pieces and reuse or sell them to other companies or even for their furnaces. All in all nice information
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jazzuboo says:
5 months ago
I love bamboo. I have a couple of plants growing in my backyard. They've taken a while to do anything, but once they're established I'm definitely going to be looking at using it for flooring.