Bamboo flooring - the new hardwood option
Wednesday, 16 March 2011 7:23 PM
Ask somebody to think of a hardwood floor and the likely answer may be oak or ash. Some may mention beech, cherry, walnut or pine. A few may even be familiar with unusual woods such as merbau or wenge.
They may also suggest bamboo as a possible wooden flooring option. Except that, in one sense, it isn't. Bamboo is not, strictly speaking, a wood at all, in the sense that the other products come from felled trees, whereas bamboo is in fact a grass. This means that bamboo flooring has a number of qualities that may be noted as being rather different straight away.
In the first instance, the fact that it is a grass means bamboo is sustainable, since the material is simply trimmed from the plant and then re-grows every few years the same way the grass on a lawn will after being mown, enabling it to be harvested again. This, of course, is in contrast with wood from trees, where felling kills the organism.
Bamboo is also structurally different to wood and this comes in the form of its fibrous structure, which is strong to start with and can be made even stronger by having the material broken down into its constituent strands and then boiled to remove the sugar before it is strand-woven together. The fibrous structure and the adaptation of the material to a tropical climate also means that, while bamboo will still expand and contrast, it will do so less than real wood because it is equipped to deal with moisture better.
The sort of bamboo flooring products you may enjoy include traditional blonde-coloured flooring, or carbonised bamboo flooring. This latter product is the result of a process that sees heat applied to the bamboo, carbonising the sugar and producing a darker colour as a result.
Among the producers of bamboo flooring products, Westhollow bamboo floors offers substantial choice for consumers. This product includes flooring made from both vertical and horizontal slats, arrangements that dictate the sort of patterns that are present in the wood. The markings peculiar to bamboo are brought to the fore by such products.
So with toughness, moisture resistance, sustainability and a variety of styles that no other wood can quite match, bamboo flooring offers a new choice for those seeking a hardwood floor that may be attractive for just one or all of these reasons.
