Idea 1: Why not go for bamboo floors?
Bamboo has become a very popular choice in flooring, for a variety of environmental and aesthetic reasons. Here, you will learn about the properties of bamboo flooring and find out why it is such a good idea for your home.
Bamboo isn't a tree, it's a grass- and its appearance is very distinctive. It has a very eye-catching appearance, with dark bands and nodes. The other unique features of bamboo are its uniformity of color and the tightness of its grain. Bamboo flooring is generally sold unfinished, and it can be found in either a natural light color or a carbonized, darker shade. Carbonized bamboo flooring has been subjected to pressure and steam, which darkens the sugary fibers and results in a golden brown color. The appearance of the finished flooring can be accented by the construction of the individual planks; these can be built vertically or horizontally, woven, or engineered.
As fragile as it may look, bamboo is really stronger than almost every type of hardwood. Some bamboo species have been rated harder than even maple, and twice as hard as red oak. Besides its extraordinary hardness, bamboo is resilient, being able to take more of an impact than the average hardwood floor. Bamboo flooring is very dimensionally stable and resistant to moisture; because it is grown in tropical regions, it is very unlikely to cup, gap, warp, or stain.
Concerns about the depletion of resources is at an all-time high, and bamboo has become a popular flooring choice because it grows much faster than hardwood trees. Bamboo can reach maturity in less than five years, and since it is a grass and not a tree, the same plant can be harvested more than one time. By comparison, the average hardwood tree can take thirty to one hundred-plus years to mature.
Bamboo flooring is also a good choice because of its versatility and its cost. The flooring can be bought for floating, glued, stapled or nailed installations, and bamboo floors are typically far less expensive than comparable hardwood floors. With all its positive aspects, it is easy to see why bamboo flooring is such a great choice for your home.