Home Flooring Guide

When you make that decision to improve your interior decorating plan with wood floors, that is a step toward a more elegant home that invites guests in with warmth and class.  It sets your home apart and it tells your guests about your taste and sense of style when you make the effort to beatify your home with wood floors.  But you can greatly enhance how unique your home will look at feel when you go with bamboo flooring to add that relaxed atmosphere of the Caribbean to your remodeled rooms.

If you have ever been in a home, restaurant or club where bamboo was part of the décor, you know how effective that decorating scheme creates an atmosphere of conversation and creativity.  Contrary to popular opinion, the variety of types and styles of bamboo flooring are impressive.  So its worthwhile to include bamboo flooring in your list of ways to make your interior design unique.  

How is bamboo different from other hardwood floors?

For starters, bamboo isn't a wood at all.  It is a type of grass although the tough exterior would never let on that family connection.  While it might seem that using a grass product would result in a softer and less durable flooring, the opposite is the truth.  Studies have shown that when bamboo is processed into a flooring material, it is actually as strong or stronger than red oak or any of the roughest hardwoods that are most commonly used in flooring.

Bamboo is abundant around the world and it grows in almost every imaginable climate.  That means that the raw materials for bamboo flooring are easily to get and inexpensive.  As a result, bamboo flooring is one of the most economical approaches to laying down a beautiful wood floor and it can offer that value without compromising your standards for beauty and long life that you want from such a big investment.

You are also not compromising your desire for a beautiful and elegant wood floor when you select bamboo flooring.  Witness how often you see bamboo used in sophisticated nightspots, restaurants and clubs as a testimony to the warm and relaxed atmosphere bamboo provides for your family and guests.  Bamboo has an exotic personality which is relaxing and fun for those who spend time in the room.  And bamboo fits well with your decorating plans adding a new twist of uniqueness to what you are trying to achieve in your newly remodeled room.

Isn't Bamboo a soft wood that will not hold up well as a flooring?

One of the biggest problems with hardwood floors comes from the fact that real wood expands and contracts with temperature or humidity changes.  This can often cause an installed wood floor to shift and move causing damage to the installation and causing expensive repairs.  Because bamboo is such a resilient material, it expands and contracts far less than other woods.  The outcome is a beautiful wood floor that resists environmental problems far better than most "real woods" and that looks great year after year.

Doesn't all bamboo look the same?

There are differences in shading between types of bamboo that are significant enough that you can find a bamboo flooring style that will fit your color themes.  The natural color of bamboo is a light blond that is perfect for a room that you want a light and active feel to prevail.  But bamboo is frequently treated using a smoking methodology that allows carbonization to bring out a deeper amber color that is perfect for a more reflective mood to your room.

What are the facts about bamboo as an environmentally friendly flooring choice?

When you buy genuine wood flooring, the environmental impact on limited trees in our environment is a concern.  So in this era of "going green", we often seek ways to not use wood products because of the negative impact on living trees.  In addition to the forests themselves, the more we deplete the world tree supply, the less vegetation we have to produce life giving oxygen.

Bamboo is a grass so you are in no danger of damaging forests by encouraging the bamboo industry through your patronage.  Bamboo grows quickly and is in abundant supply so using bamboo does not put the plant in danger of extinction.  Bamboo grows in areas that other plants cannot and the harvesting of bamboo does not kill the plant.  When bamboo is cut, it is good for the host plant in the same way that mowing your lawn is good for the grass.  

This means you can enjoy the natural beauty of nature by installing real bamboo flooring and you can feel at peace with your environmental commitments.  And because the abundance of bamboo means it is one of the most economical wood flooring alternatives, you are doing your bank account a favor as well as the environment.  These reasons make bamboo an outstanding flooring alternative for your next room remodeling project.