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Feb 6, 2024 · Horizontal bamboo. Horizontal bamboo is made by shredding bamboo stalks and gluing the strips together to create planks. This differs from the stranded bamboo we mentioned above because the horizontal bamboo’s process involves glue rather than heat. Horizontal bamboo floor planks aren’t as durable as stranded bamboo.
- Bamboo Flooring: What to Ask Before Investing
- Bamboo Flooring Pros and Cons
- How Eco-Friendly Is It, Really?
- How Is Bamboo Flooring Made?
- Bamboo Wood Flooring: What to Look For
- Finish Options
- Bamboo Flooring Installation Tips
- Bamboo Flooring Colors: Pick Your Board
- Style Selections
Bamboo flooring cost?
From $2 to $10 per square foot for both solid and engineered boards, depending on type and finish. Expect to pay the same for installation as with a wood floor.
DIY or hire a pro?
Bamboo boards go down like wood—so if you’re comfortable nailing or gluing tongue-and-groove oak or snapping down a floating floor, you can tackle bamboo.
Which rooms to install it in?
Anywhere you’d use wood—including baths, kitchens, basements—but it’s subject to the same risk of damage from excess moisture or dryness as hardwood.
Ease of installation and affordability are pluses with this renewable material, but pay close attention to quality.
Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis ‘Moso’) grows naturally in China, where the vast majority of bamboo flooring is manufactured. If harvested stalk by stalk, without clear-cutting, it regrows in five to six years, making it a rapidly renewable resource. Some, but not all, companies can tell you if they source from a responsibly managed plantation. F...
Horizontal
Stalks are sliced into ¼-by-¾-inch strips, bound with powerful adhesives, then milled into three types of bamboo flooring. HorizontalStrips are adhered edge to edge, skin side up, making maximum use of the stalk. This orientation shows the nodes, or “knuckles,” for a classic bamboo look. Offset layers add strength. Comes natural, stained, and carbonized (heat-treated during manufacturing to give it a caramel-like hue).
Vertical
Strips are arranged and glued with cut edges facing up for a linear look and a floor that’s less likely to show dents than horizontal bamboo. Knuckles are much less noticeable, too. Available natural or carbonized but typically not stained, as a stain isn’t absorbed as readily by the thin strips.
Strand-Woven
Strips are soaked in adhesive, laid out lengthwise in various orientations, then compressed in giant hydraulic presses, creating a solid rectangular mass that’s milled into floorboards. Two to three times denser than other types of bamboo, it lends itself to special finishes and surface treatments.
Thickness
Solid boards come ½ to ⅝ inch thick; engineered planks, ⅜ to ½ inch. Made with a bamboo veneer atop a plywood or bamboo substrate for added stability, engineered planks are good for floating floors in damp or very dry environments. Expect to find unfinished planks at ¾ inch thick, to be sanded on-site.
Width
The standard for solid bamboo is 3¾ inches, but 4- to 6-inch widths are gaining ground. As with prefinished wood floors, micro-beveled edges help hide unevenness between planks. Click-together engineered planks are square-edged, as are some traditional horizontal or vertical bamboo floorboards.
Hardness
Though there is tremendous variation among products, vertical and horizontal bamboo floors typically score around 1,825 on the Janka scale (a universal hardness rating for flooring), harder than hickory. Strand-woven can score nearly double that, around 3,270, comparable to Brazilian redwood. Check company websites to see if third-party testing has been done.
Factory finish
Most durable is a factory-applied, multilayer aluminum oxide coating—manufacturers claim anywhere from 2 to 10 layers—that comes topped with an additional clear coat. Aluminum oxide finishes provide superior wear resistance; the clear coat makes recoating easier and gives a smooth appearance.
Oil finish
A new and growing trend is a wax-based coating, typically made of a combination of linseed oil, carnauba wax, and beeswax, that imitates the vintage look of a hand-applied oil. More matte in appearance, it’s often applied over a distressed texture. Another part of its appeal: Scratches are less noticeable, and if damage occurs, the surface can be sanded and touched up with more oil. This finish requires renewal every few years with a specialty cleaner and a wipe-on oil, such as Rubio Monocoat.
Unfinished
As with wood, most types of solid-bamboo flooring that are not stained or textured can be special-ordered without any finish. Sanding the boards after installation gives you the flattest surface, with no eased edges on the boards, and the opportunity for the custom stain of your choosing. It’s much easier to refinish this type of floor if any damage occurs; however, finishing on-site won’t provide nearly the longevity of factory-applied aluminum oxide.
As with wood, nailing yields the tightest results underfoot, but there are glue-down, floating, and click-together bamboo boards to suit whatever your site calls for. Just keep these considerations in mind.
Hand-Scraped Honey
Price:about $3.79 per sq. ft. Maker: Morning Star; Lumber Liquidators Highlights:Stained and distressed strand-woven evokes aged hardwood.
Toast
Price:about $1.99 per sq. ft. Maker: Home Decorators Collection; The Home Depot Highlights:Classic natural horizontal bamboo with “knuckles.”
Stormy Night
Price:about $6.99 per sq. ft. Maker: EcoFusion; Granite Bay Flooring Design Highlights:Engineered planks of strand-woven bamboo gain rich color variation with plant dyes.
Sleek Traditional
The blond vertical bamboo in this formal entry creates a serene backdrop for pale-blue walls, crisp white trim, and dark stair parts. Plus, it will hold up well to traffic, including high heels. Shown: Carbonized Vertical Prefinished Bamboo Flooring, about $3.41 per sq. ft.; Lumber Liquidators
Refined Rustic
The carbonized horizontal bamboo underfoot has a warm caramel color and a subtly knotty look from the plant’s characteristic “knuckles,” echoing the room’s exposed structural elements. Shown: Signature Naturals Prefinished in Caramelized, about $5.52 per sq. ft.; Teragren.comfor stores.
Mid-Century Modern
This natural-bamboo floor, with its simple vertical-edge-grain planks, complements the clean lines and broad, flat surfaces of this modern cook station. The floor’s pale neutral hue helps unify the bold palette of black, white, and steel, with occasional hits of brilliant orange. Shown: Edge Grain Prefinished Flooring in Natural, about $4.50 per sq. ft.; plyboo.comfor stores.
People also ask
What is bamboo flooring?
How do I choose the best type of bamboo flooring?
What are the different types of bamboo flooring?
How is bamboo flooring made?
Apr 12, 2024 · Best for: Modern homes with colorful and loud interiors that need a neutral floor for contrast. 3. Strand-Woven Grain. Strand-woven bamboo flooring is the toughest and most versatile grain option. Strand-woven planks are created by shredding bamboo into tiny strands that are nearly the same thickness as human hair.
- Rachel Presser
May 26, 2023 · Yes, bamboo flooring is durable and can last for many years with proper care. The durability of bamboo flooring depends on its hardness and the thickness of the wear layer. Strand-woven bamboo flooring is the most durable type of bamboo flooring, with a Janka hardness rating of over 3,000, which is higher than many types of hardwood flooring.
Tip # 2 - Engineered Bamboo is Easier to Float. Both DIYers and contractors like engineered flooring because of how fast and easy it is to install. Its "floating" click lock planks also work well in basements. Moreover, both click-together and tongue and groove engineered floors can be glued down.
Aug 30, 2018 · Bamboo flooring elevates a sleek contemporary design. 3 Types of Bamboo Flooring 1. Horizontal bamboo is the most common type of bamboo flooring and is pieced together so that it shows a prominent grain pattern with knuckles, which look somewhat like knots, where the bamboo stalks come together. This style is most similar to bamboo’s natural ...
Dec 19, 2022 · Essence planks are nearly 7-1/2 inches wide. Xcora Synera Collection series of narrow plank solid strand bamboo flooring. Teragren's Synera planks are a conventional 3-3/4-inch width. Xcora Neotera Collection series of wide plank engineered strand bamboo flooring. Neotera planks fall between Essence and Synera in terms of width, at between 5 ...
