What is Bamboo Flooring?
Bamboo flooring is a popular hardwood flooring used throughout the world. It is made from bamboo grass, which is flattened and covered with a laminate to make a solid surface. Bamboo flooring is considered by many to be an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional hardwood floors. Bamboo is a subfamily of grasses, found natively primarily throughout Asia, with some bamboo also found in southern parts of the Americas and Africa. Although technically a grass, bamboo can become enormous, making it appear to be more of a tree. Some species of bamboo can reach heights in excess of 100 feet (30 m), and it can grow very rapidly – in some cases as much as a foot (30 cm) per day. It is because of its rapid growth that bamboo is viewed as an environmentally-friendly form of flooring. While traditional materials for hardwood floors usually take many decades to mature, the material for bamboo flooring may be cultivated within only a few years. This makes bamboo flooring a much more renew
Bamboo flooring is one of the most environmentally-friendly ‘green’ flooring products on the market today. As one of the fastest growing plants on Earth, the bamboo plant it is known for its durability as well as resistance to insects and moisture. Compared to hardwood, bamboo flooring tends to soften a room’s ambiance due to the product’s finish.
Bamboo itself is a grass which grows to over 80 feet tall in only five to six years. After harvesting, it is split and flattened, before being laminated under high pressure with an environmentally safe adhesive. The bamboo flooring planks are then treated with hydrogen peroxide to eliminate any mildew and kiln-dried to at least 8-10% moisture content.
