Reasons to Buy Strand Woven Bamboo Flooring

One of Asia’s greatest assets is bamboo. Until recently people in the West were unaware of the massive environmental benefits to be had from replacing products made traditionally from hardwood with products made from bamboo. It is a sad fact that at the current rate of logging the world’s great forests will be entirely cut down in 40 years. One of the major reasons for the high demand for hardwood is that it is allergen free and looks great when used to make such things as furniture and flooring. Bamboo is also allergen free. And when it is made into strand woven bamboo it is harder and more durable than most hardwoods.

The great thing about bamboo is its phenomenal rate of growth. It is the fastest growing plant on the planet. Bamboo reaches maturity between 5 and 7 years. Compare this with a hardwood tree that takes between 50 and 130 years to reach maturity. For this reason bamboo can be considered a renewable resource whereas hardwood trees cannot be considered in the same category. Furthermore, bamboo is good for the soil. After the nuclear holocaust in Japan bamboo was heavily planted to clean the soil of radioactivity. Still today in Japan bamboo is extensively planted to prevent landslides during the rainy season. Another environmental benefit of bamboo is that it can be grown organically without the use of pesticides because bamboo contains a ‘kun’ substance that naturally fights pathogens and pests.

Strand woven bamboo is made by cutting bamboo into strips and boiling the strips to remove sugars that attract termites. The strips are then subjected to high pressure and heat with a low VOC adhesive. The result is a hard and dense plank of bamboo that resembles lumber yard timber. This plank of strand woven bamboo is then milled into flooring planks.

The resulting strand woven bamboo flooring has a golden color (natural) or a rich brown color (carbonized) or a striped pattern (mixture of natural and carbonized bamboo) that has a beautiful close grain like hardwood oak flooring. Strand woven bamboo flooring with an aluminum oxide finish is very hard. Finished strand woven bamboo flooring has a Janka Hardness Rating of about 2,500 pounds force making it harder than oak, ash, maple, walnut, mesquite and many other traditional hardwood flooring materials. With proper maintenance strand woven bamboo can be expected to last a life time even in heavy traffic situations.

For all these reasons strand woven bamboo flooring is the environmentally friendly alternative to hardwood flooring. It has all the benefits of hardwood flooring in terms of being allergen free, long lasting, hard and natural; yet, it is made from a renewable resource and in many cases costs less than hardwood flooring.

Strand woven bamboo flooring is one of the key reasons why bamboo is such a great and versatile material. Bamboo is a key player in the on-going struggle to find environmentally friendly solutions to the pressing consumer demands of the world.

15.06.2010. 08:46