Bamboo Floors

Bamboo: the cheapest natural floors available in the market.

Today bamboo flooring is becoming increasingly popular due to the variety of advantages it provides. A bamboo garden floor will give a stylish look to most any place. Bamboo floors are manufactured from bamboo plants. The majority of bamboo flooring products originate from parts of China and Asia. Bamboo is well known to be an eco- friendly, highly renewable source of material and the time taken for its growth is less as compared to other trees which are used to make wood floors. Moreover bamboo flooring is found resistant to termites and moisture.

There are various controversies related to the deforestation, which is caused due to the cutting of other trees to provide space for growing bamboo. One more controversy is the use of carcinogenic products like formaldehyde, in the glues used for lamination in some products.

Bamboo floors can be of different types. Horizontal and vertical planks are available and so there is a choice of either the classic exposed grain look (horizontal) or uniform linear appearance (vertical). The choice depends upon personal interests. The most common bamboo used is the ‘Moso’ species. Bamboo flooring is basically available in two different colors: the natural color or carbonized color where the color of the bamboo is turned to brownish (darkening) by the process called carbonization in which bio-organisms and sugar breaks down, and the color of the material changes into brown.

Different forms or styles of bamboo flooring are available depending upon the manufacturing process involved, the economic viability and color. The types of flooring used may vary according to the purpose of use i.e. household or commercial and also the region or the area. Few types of bamboo flooring are as mentioned below:

• Thin bamboo stems are generally used in the parts of Southeast Asia. The stems are cut as flat as possible in similar lengths and can be stained, varnished or simply used as it is. They are then nailed down to wooden beams or bigger pieces of bamboo stems. This may result in more spacing between the stems.
• North American markets commonly use the highly processed bamboo flooring. The bamboo is split, flattened and dried and laminated with glue. These may have vertical or horizontal planks.
• Evirochoice flooring is made using the latest manufacturing equipment. These are manufactured using the 3’ and 6’ plank lengths. Both horizontal and vertical planks are available and it also offers a large variety of colors like carbonized black, medium & light, natural medium & light. These types of bamboo floors are well known for their durability and they come pre-finished with not less than six coats of UV cured polyurethane aluminum oxide coating. The companies providing Evirochoice flooring usually give a 10 yrs warranty. Moreover the longevity of these types of bamboo flooring can also be extended by simple process or care such as regular cleaning.

We can thus say that using bamboo flooring in place of traditional hardwood floors is more beneficial in terms of being eco- friendly, aesthetics, color and cost.