Bamboo flooring offers benefits that are hard to pass up. It's durable, visually appealing and green to boot. If you never considered bamboo before, you should at least give it its day in court. And here are the top 4 reasons why you should.
* It's Hard and Durable, Like Wood
Bamboo flooring is as hard as wood and harder than some well-known species of wood like maple and oak. But it's not actually wood. Rather, bamboo is a form of grass. Despite its misleading name however, it feels and cuts just like wood. It even looks like wood, albeit with a slightly different grain pattern.
* It's Attractive, Visually Interesting and Exotic
Bamboo offers just as much if not more visual interest in a floor as does wood. Bamboo flooring comes in a couple of natural shades depending on how it's processed but it can also be stained like wood. When it's manufactured in a horizontal grain pattern, it presents a unique, almost exotic grain orientation, thanks to the "knuckles" that are naturally present on bamboo stalks.
* It's Eco-Friendly and Sustainable
Bamboo is a green material because it's renewable and sustainable. Bamboo reaches maturity in 3 to 7 years, dependent on its intended use. This quick growth means it produces material that can be harvested in a fraction of the time it takes some hardwood trees to mature. Another plus is that the bamboo plant itself isn't consumed in the harvesting process. Only the culms or "stalks" of the plant are cut with no detriment to the plant itself. Once cut, the plant regenerates new culms to be grown and harvested again. So not only is it a renewable resource, it's highly sustainable given its fast regeneration.
* It's Readily Available in Various Forms
Despite its exotic nature and far-off origins bamboo flooring is easily obtainable. There are a plenty of resources available and you can buy it in several forms with options on how it's installed. For example, you can buy bamboo flooring in solid planks, similar to conventional hardwood flooring or as an engineered product to be installed as a floating floor.
Is bamboo perfect? No. But no flooring material is. However it's durability, aesthetics and 'green-ness' certainly make it a top contender in any flooring decision.
Robert Levesque is the founder of Home Style Choices LLC and is passionate about helping homeowners make choices on the products available to fashion their new or remodeled home.
To find out more about bamboo flooring as well as considerations and resources, visit http://www.home-style-choices.com/bamboo-flooring.html
Bamboo Flooring - 4 Top Reasons Why You Should Consider It For Your Next Floor
