Bamboo Flooring
Bamboo flooring can be used for both household and commercial flooring. This sustainable plant with style and durability has come to rival traditional hardwood as a quality flooring material.
It is odd to think that Bamboo, a type of grass, would serve as a durable flooring surface. Bamboo flooring is becoming known as an attractive, long lasting and environmentally friendly alternative to the more conventional choice hardwood flooring. Bamboo is a very fast growing type of grass, one of the fastest growing in the world, and the vitality of Bamboo plants is not harmed by harvesting. The shoots of the harvested Bamboo plant remain alive and quickly re-grow new stalks, making Bamboo a highly renewable resource.
Bamboo has become a popular choice of flooring by ecologically minded consumers. Bamboo flooring is perhaps the “greenest” flooring of flooring materials as well as on of the most aesthetically pleasing.
The Bamboo flooring making process
Once the Bamboo is harvested, the green outer skin is removed and the stalk is cut lengthwise into strips or “fillets.” The filleted strips of Bamboo –still curved because they are a section of a round stalk– are milled along their outer edges to make a flat strip. The excess trim is turned into “Strand Woven” Bamboo. The flat strips are kiln dried to remove the Bamboo’s natural moisture, and then boiled to eliminate natural starches and sugars. By removing starch and sugar, the Bamboo flooring is rendered unattractive to termites and other pests that can infest many wood products. This termite resistance makes Bamboo an especially suitable material for certain geographical areas. Bamboo flooring is less prone to expand and contract due to climate changes, specifically temperature and humidity, than many traditional hardwoods. The reason for boiling the Bamboo is for its aesthetic purpose.
The two distinct colors of Bamboo flooring
Boiling for long periods, the material turns a darker color than its natural blonde appearance. The darker “brownish” color, known as “carbonized Bamboo”, along with the light-blonde color of the earlier stages in the process, provide a choice of natural Bamboo flooring colors that work with any decorating scheme.
Different surface patterns in Bamboo flooring are created in the manufacturing process.
After the Bamboo strips are boiled, they are again kiln dried, and glued together into one of two styles. By gluing a number of strips together with their narrow edges facing up, the flooring pattern is an attractive Bamboo edge grain with thin lines between the laminated strips. This type of Bamboo flooring is called “Vertical style”. The Bamboo strips can also be glued together along their narrow edges so their wider surfaces face up. The strips would also be laminated in three layers so the thickness of the floor is the same as the vertical style. The three-layered style, with the wider flat surface of the Bamboo strip showing on top, is called “Horizontal style.”
The unique aesthetic feature of Horizontal style Bamboo flooring is that the natural growth rings of the stalk, the “knuckles” as they’re also known, are visible in a randomly scattered appearance on the floor’s surface. Both of these styles receive a final pressing after lamination to ensure their structural integrity before proceeding to the final steps of milling and finishing.
Both of these styles are available in blonde or carbonized coloring, and both are enjoyed for their particular, naturally attractive features.
Strand Woven style Bamboo Flooring
The other style of Bamboo flooring also manufactured is known Strand Woven, and it’s produced from the excess strands trimmed as the stage of milling the curved Bamboo fillets.
Nothing is wasted in the making of this durable line of flooring. The excess strands of Bamboo create a beautiful pattern when intertwined and manufactured into another Bamboo flooring product. Thus was born Strand Woven Bamboo in a process that compresses the strands with an environmentally safe resin into a new piece of “timber” which is: Scratch resistant, UV resistant and moisture resistant.
Strand Woven Bamboo with its own uniquely attractive pattern is a strong and durable material that is then sawn into attractive planks, and turned into its own unique style. It is already compressed at extremely high pressure at the timber-making stage; it does not receive the final pressing applied to horizontal and vertical style Bamboo.
Final stages in the Bamboo flooring making process
All three types of Bamboo flooring boards are milled and finished to complete the process of producing refined flooring products. The tongue and groove connection on each Bamboo flooring board ensures the snug fit and smooth surface that you expect from a quality product. Clear coating that finishes the Bamboo flooring will also enhance its natural beauty and provide an extra-level of protection for years to come. With as many as six coats of aluminum oxide will provide more protection against surface wear or damage.
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