Bamboo Contractor Flooring

Bamboo contractor flooring is one of the woods used in shaped, sanded, stained and prefinished flooring. Contractors save time and money by purchasing the flooring product ready to install before it comes to the job site. This enables the flooring to be simply cut to length and snapped into place. Depending on the type of flooring product, the product could also be nailed, glued or stapled in place.

Selecting the proper type of bamboo contractor flooring for the site and type of subfloor ensures that the contractor will not be required to repair or replace a poorly installed product. When a contractor must return to a jobsite to correct errors, it reduces customer trust in the contractor’s abilities, and may even result in refusal to pay for an unacceptable product. The attractive choices of bamboo flooring as offered by FloorChamp.com are engineered products. This indicates that individual layers of the wood are laid crossways. Then a thin finishing layer of the veneer is placed as the top layer. The edges are finished in tongue and groove style. When installation is being done, the boards may be nailed, or glued into place. If the floor is a floating floor application, it relies on a smooth fit and glue to lock the boards in place.

The bamboo contractor flooring is a relatively recent entry into the flooring market. The light, intricately marked wood makes a beautiful product which is becoming more popular. Technically speaking, bamboo is not a wood at all, but a grass. The flooring product is manufactured by taking thin strips of the bamboo, boiling to remove the starch, laminating them together and milling into boards. The boards are then finished and treated the same as any prefinished flooring product. The finished product is hard, lightweight, stable dimensionally and best of all, consists of a product that renews itself in three years and doesn’t require fertilizers or pesticides.

Bamboo contractor flooring usually comes in a light natural shade or in somewhat darker amber color, created by pressure steaming the bamboo which in essence carbonizes the bamboo. Only a few companies import bamboo flooring into the U.S. but there is growing demand for the product. Some engineered flooring is made with the core of recycled rubber tires or residue from rubber trees that are no longer productive, with a bamboo veneer layer. Most bamboo flooring is produced in China or Vietnam.

The popularity of this type of flooring is certain to grow, especially among ecologically sensitive customers. Not only is the flooring created by this method environmentally correct, but the finished flooring is beautiful. The strips of bamboo separated with the darker ridges and markings of the joints create a unique, ever changing pattern of light and dark.

The one disadvantage to the bamboo contractor flooring seems to be in the formaldehyde odor used in the glue. It tends to linger in the house for an inordinately long period of time. Experiments with using other types of laminating bond have resulted in products which are too expensive.

For more details contact us at:

FloorChamp, Inc
944-D Rochelle Ave
Charleston, SC 29407