Bamboo is actually a type of grass that can mature into a material that can rival many hardwood floors. Bamboo is a fast growing plant unlike most hardwood trees that are used for flooring, bamboo can be harvested for use within just five years of being planted; regular hardwood trees can only be harvested after they are about 40 to 60 years old. Bamboo is also incredibly resilient and once cut down will continue to grow year after year as long as the plant is taken care of. This is what makes bamboo such a renewable source of flooring material, and why it’s often associated with environmentally minded choices for flooring.


Carbonized and Natural Bamboo Flooring

Bamboo flooring is available and produced in two choices of colors – carbonized and natural flooring. The colors of bamboo flooring is determined by their manufacturing processes which involve boiling. Carbonized bamboo flooring has the appearence of a smokey, carmel color in which is the result of longer boiling processes. Natural bamboo appears to have the looks of a creamy blonde color give that look a feel of warmth and brightness to the interior of your home. If I had to choose between the two, I would choose the Natural bamboo. During the boiling process, Natural bamboo remains to be the harder bamboo flooring – 30% stronger over carbonized! Either way, both bamboo flooring styles can be as hard as natural maple or oak flooring.
Strand-Woven Bamboo Flooring

Strand-woven bamboo flooring is a manufacturing process that leaves very little wasted. The excess bamboo material left over from the filleting process which goes into making natural and carbonized bamboo flooring are compressed, intertwined and bound together to make Strand woven flooring. The binding process of strand woven flooring is a safe, UV resistant and scratch-resistant resin which also makes the bamboo even more resistant to moisture. The manufacturing process of compression results in a very hard, very durable type of bamboo flooring that has grain patterns that are more like those of a hardwood floor.

Once again, if your next home improvement involves updating your floors, and you have the environment on your mind – consider bamboo flooring as your way of saving the environment.