Bamboo flooring is a natural, and very renewable flooring resource. Bamboo used for flooring can be replenished every 5 years or so, when natural hardwood can often take much longer to replenish even when responsibly sourced.
There are three types of bamboo flooring:
Vertical, this means that the pieces of bamboo are stacked on edge, laminated together with glue and then milled into flooring.
Horizontal, this is when the pieces of bamboo are laid flat and laminated together in and edge to edge pattern.
Strand Woven, this is more like an OSB procedure. The pieces are all glued together in a more randomly pressed manner and can often give the floor more of a real wood look.
When choosing a bamboo floor, you will want to make sure that it is not only responsibly sourced, but you will also want to make sure that this flooring will not contain harmful chemicals. Unlike traditional hardwood, bamboo requires glue to maintain its dimensional stability. This glue can often times contain toxic materials like formaldehyde, which can continue to off gas long after it has been installed in your home. Unfortunately, most bamboo flooring is manufactured using a glue that contains formaldehyde.
In addition, as bamboo is indigenous to China, bamboo flooring is predominantly manufactured there as well. Lamentably, China has been known to maintain very loose manufacturing standards. These same practices contaminate their people and cities with noxious and toxic chemicals.
This is not to say that all bamboo flooring is so haphazardly produced. There are companies in Europe, and even a couple in the USA in the fledgling state, that maintain very stringent protocols to eliminate the toxic products that otherwise are used to manufacture bamboo flooring. These are the companies that we deal with when procuring a product to put in your home.
If ever you have a question regarding the manufacturing processes of any of the products that we sale, please call or email us. We pride ourselves in not only providing you with a long-lasting hardwood flooring product, but also something you can feel safe having underfoot for generations.
