Bamboo stands out as a practical flooring option due to its durability and reliability. Not only that, the beauty of bamboo radiates all throughout the room to give an interior the warmth that consumers want. The colors and styles of bamboo flooring make it an attractive and versatile flooring option for everyone. It is a wonderful alternative to hardwood floors with a similar appearance and durability, but with environmental benefits that put wood floors to shame.
Colors of Bamboo Flooring Bamboo flooring comes in two distinctive colors. There is what’s called the “natural” shade, which is a creamy blonde color. This type of bamboo floor makes rooms seem brighter and larger because of its light color. Natural bamboo flooring also showcases the bamboo’s grain, growth patterns and joints, which serve to give the room that luxurious feel.
The other available shade is called “carbonized” bamboo flooring, which is a dark caramel shade. This carbonized look is achieved by boiling the bamboo, a process which darkens it. Note, however, that carbonized bamboo is about 30 percent softer than natural bamboo although its strength and durability is still equivalent to that of maple hardwood. Colors may vary with each batch of bamboo flooring, so remember to talk with your sales rep about managing these color variances when installing your bamboo floor.
The Styles of Bamboo Flooring: There are three styles of bamboo flooring currently available on the market: Horizontal bamboo flooring, vertical bamboo flooring, and strand-woven bamboo flooring. Horizontal bamboo flooring is a style of bamboo flooring that allows the growth rings to be visible on the floor’s surface. Strips of bamboo are glued together, bound in three separate layers so the thickness is the same as that of the vertical style. With the vertical style bamboo flooring, the strips of bamboo are glued with their narrow edges facing up. The result is an attractive pattern, with edge lines and thin lines between laminated strips, and a very consistent color. Strand-Woven Bamboo Flooring Strand-woven bamboo flooring is made from excess strands of bamboo trimmed from bamboo fillets during milling. These are crushed and pressed together, then glued at extremely high pressure to produce flooring boards that are scratch resistant, UV resistant, and moisture resistant. This process creates a unique, distinctive look that many homeowners readily fall in love with.
The Care of Bamboo Flooring Caring for bamboo flooring is surprisingly simple. It does not require the use of any harsh chemicals, adding to the environmentally friendliness of this green flooring option. A weekly regimen of sweeping and light, damp mopping is really all that you need in order to clean bamboo floors. As far as caring for them, just take care not to expose them to sharp objects or anything that could scratch the surface such as dirt tracked in on shoes.
To combat and minimize the scratch hazards, consider placing bamboo rugs at all of your entryways. They will take the bulk of the dirt coming in and keep it off your floors. A word of caution, however: these rugs will need to be beaten and cleaned periodically as well in order to keep them from building up excess debris and becoming more of a harm than a help. So, now that you know a little bit more about bamboo floors, perhaps you’ll want to consider them for your next flooring project.
