When you think of bamboo, it is possible that you think of many things before you think of bamboo flooring. For many, the idea of bamboo is one that takes them back to the shoots they might see in the wild, or to sticks kids use to play with. Bamboo wood flooring might not be something you have considered as a possibility for you home, but maybe you should take a closer look.
Bamboo is a natural surface covering material. It has many properties of hardwood flooring, and it is actually produced from a type of grass. Like your lawn, the root system of a Moso Bamboo plant produces new shoots every year. These shoots will develop into culms in about five to six years and after that, they are commercially useful because of their color, consistency, strength, and density.
Every year, only up to about 20% of the crop is harvested, leaving 80% of the bamboo forest untouched and unharmed. This makes bamboo a very sustainable resource for the hardwood flooring industry. With only five to six years until maturity for a bamboo plant, natural bamboo flooring is a very ecologically friendly form of hardwood flooring.
Aside from the ecologically friendly attribute of bamboo flooring, there are the elements of durability and style that are often appealing to many. When it comes to durability, there are types of bamboo that can be as durable as red oak. Natural, uncarbonized bamboo, if it is properly harvested, can be extremely strong, hard, and durable. If you opt for strand woven bamboo, it can be manufactured to be even harder than that.
Regarding style, bamboo flooring can elevate the elegance of any home almost instantly upon installation. The appearance and feel are very similar to hardwood, yet bamboo is, in fact, distinctly different. Many people will walk through your rooms with bamboo flooring and recognize that they are seeing and feeling something unusual and yet elegant.
Many of the hardwoods used in hardwood flooring have a hardness level of roughly 1450 on what is known as the Janka scale. If you opt for one of the tropical hardwoods like Brazilian Cherry, for example, you are looking at a hardness level of 2,800. The harder woods will typically be less susceptible to dents and dings.
Bamboo flooring like natural solid strand bamboo averages a Janka rating of 3,780 while carbonized solid strand bamboo rates at 3,646. This makes bamboo flooring, with an average Janka level of over 3,500 across the board, much more appealing to many people who are looking for a hardwood floor that will last.
