Bamboo Flooring Reviews
You can scour the web and find hundreds and thousands of bamboo flooring reviews, articles, blogs, and testimonials on the different types of bamboo flooring. Below is a general overview of the pros and cons of each type of bamboo flooring.
Strand Woven Bamboo Flooring
It is constructed using shredded fibers from the bamboo stalk, woven together and pressed under extreme heat and pressure with adhesives. It can be a great investment for commercial and residential building.
- It is one of the hardest types of wood flooring on the market, period.
- An evident downside to strand woven bamboo flooring is price, with higher quality comes higher prices.
Solid Bamboo Flooring
It is composed entirely of bamboo. The stalk of the plant is divided into even sections and then milled and pressed into flooring planks. Manufacturing techniques used in the Pacific Rim allow for almost 100% of the bamboo plant to be used.
- Has a comparable strength to red oak and is about 20% less expensive.
- Less susceptible to water damage than standard hardwood floors.
- Waste is minimized with scrape being used to make chop sticks and tooth picks.
- Although it is stronger than red oak but it is still much weaker than stranded bamboo.
Engineered Bamboo Flooring
The core of engineered bamboo flooring is compressed layers of other types of wood or fiberboard, usually oak, poplar, or teak. This allows for a more stable floor in areas of fluctuating humidity.
- It is specifically designed for areas of highs and lows, or fluctuating humidity.
- It only has a 1/8 inch (sometimes less) bamboo wear level that can only be refinished once safely.
Distressed Bamboo Flooring
It is also known as hand scraped flooring, is made to look like pieces of hardwood that are more textured and rippled than modern bamboo. It has a ruffled or wavy effect across the planks, giving them a more antique look.
- It is beautiful and unique.
- It is hard as red oak with elegant waves and ridges to distinguish the floor.
- Like most beautiful things, this floor is also delicate. This type of bamboo always gets its color from being stained; which means if it gets gauged, your only option will be to replace the plank.
Bamboo Flooring in general
Some say that bamboo is not as green as locally sourced flooring. However, even with the embodied energy used to ship ocean containers from Asia, bamboo flooring is still a more eco-friendly product than that of other hardwoods, tile, ceramic, and carpet. Many complaints usually deal with cupping and warping in lower quality brands or issues with poor installation. Overall, bamboo flooring is a fantastic green product that looks great, and is easy to install and maintain.