apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

funny..

I sent in a question that hasnt been posted yet about using bamboo flooring planks to mask a hot water pipe.

You should check out this company.

www.fairpacific.com They are supposed to have the most durable and best made bamboo flooring, etc.

We like bamboo, but we always remind customers that the regular pattern makes any scratches, dirt, or damage stand out much more than it would with wood. Also, bamboo is almost always finished with a plastic finish (like polyurethane or acrylic.) It's like having a thin layer of plastic over the wood. It's resistant to scratches, but when it does get scratched, you don't see the scratch as much as you do the light bouncing off the edges of the scratch.

Locally or sustainably harvested wood is generally a longer-wearing choice than bamboo.

One other thought: you might want to check out this link, also: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5584492 apparently bamboo's popularity as a flooring material has priced its traditional uses out of the market!

Jonathan

I have bamboo floors in my entire apartment. They look beautiful but I do have to say that any kind of "ding" is much more noticeable than when I had wood floors. If you catch the floor in certain light you can see slight indents from the normal wear and tear. That being said..they are so georgous I would use them again.

Hey, shout out to the EHC in Seattle. I sent an email off to your sister store in Portland ages ago about Durat countertops.

Any chance you'll be stocking this material?

sorry to hijack the bamboo thread.

regards,
trillium

Trillium,

I'm actually in Portland at the sister store (Environmental Building Supplies.) We just introduced a new countertop material called Squak Mountain Stone -- it's a non plastic composite with the look of limestone.

We tend to avoid plastics, so it's not likely we'll be stocking the Durat -- but please send me an email if you'd like to talk about it or any other products you'd like to see us carry.

Jonathan

email: my name plus the letter "b" at ecohaus dot com

Randi wrote:
> I have bamboo floors in my entire apartment.
> They look beautiful but I do have to say that
> any kind of "ding" is much more noticeable
> than when I had wood floors. If you catch the
> floor in certain light you can see slight indents
> from the normal wear and tear. That being said..
> they are so georgous I would use them again.

Yes, we have bamboo floors, and they are beautiful, but fragile.

Bamboo is a great, renewable resource but in my experience...the bamboo turns out too delicate for my applications at home.

Agree with Randi, chris(nyc) and Arthur. If I had a chance for a do-over, I would not have chosen bamboo for my floors--or any surface that needs to withstand regular usage.

Jonathan, you say

"Locally or sustainably harvested wood is generally a longer-wearing choice than bamboo."

how does that make sense?

the hardest wood species are also the least sustainable (brazillian cherry, venge, etc), so how does something being harvested locally or sustainably affect its durability?

I think you're confusing your issues.

Steve,

I should have said that with regards to durability, wood in general is a better choice than bamboo.

Except with the softest woods, like pine and fir, the finish you put on the wood and the appearance of the wood itself (i.e. how much wear it can camouflage) has a lot more to do with durability than the hardness of the wood itself.

Another point: sustainability means many things when it comes to wood. For example, you can get locally produced wood such as maple, on the east coast, or madrone, in the Northwest. You can also get FSC certified tropical hardwoods like Brazillian Cherry. The choice depends on what sustainability means to you.

Jonathan

For those with bamboo floors and those thinking of getting them, I don't think this will repair dings and dents, but it sounds like it will restore that something special that's gone missing.

http://www.productdose.com/article.php?article_id=4083

Thanks, Treehugger! =)

I’m the president of Henrybuilt. Here is some information related to the above postings, based on a long period of research and use of bamboo by our company. Wish this could be covered in a couple of sentences, but…

Denting
Floor applications are much different than vertical applications. It’s true that although bamboo tests very hard, it does compress more than most hardwoods. Dents in floors usually come from hard heels and things being dropped. Bamboo is more prone to denting than solid hardwoods like maple – despite it’s higher hardness rating. In a non-floor application, though, this is less of a concern.

How obvious are scratches/surface defects in different materials?
In our tests, and in tracking how our products wear over years of use, bamboo is tougher, and scratches (whether in the finish or the bamboo) are less obvious than with most woods – precisely because of the visual activity in the material. Surface scratches in bamboo tend to be less obvious than in all but the most active woods. I have both bamboo and hardwood tables in my home with 3 devil-may-care kids and this is definitely the case in that situation.

We have never had any product returned due to surface scratching or denting, including bamboo. The only returns we’ve ever had were early in the process of working with bamboo when we were doing more experimental things with the material and they were not due to surface damage. Warpage and delaminating are the most common problems with bamboo and they dramatically vary according to the quality of the engineering and manufacturing of the panel.

Not all bamboo is the same
Not all bamboo is the same hardness. Most residential buyers end up with lower grades of bamboo, because that is what is generally available on the market and it’s also generally less expensive and softer.

Many false claims exist in the world of bamboo. Every new company seems to believe they are the ‘premier provider’. We have thoroughly evaluated the products available on the market and continue to do so. I can recommend Teragren Bamboo with more confidence than any other bamboo provider. That’s why we use their bamboo in our product. If and when there is a better product, we will switch to that product. Teragren, like any good company, knows this of course. Their website is a good source of technical information about bamboo.

http://www.teragren.com/

Finish hardness:
Related to the original question, almost any material that is run through the ‘purse-test’ for two days is going to scratch - stainless steel, glass, any wood, etc - particularly if that purse has keys inside. That’s a tough environment. But the scratches in Claudia’s sample are, as another contributor points out, most likely in the finish, not the bamboo.

The finish we use is as hard as it gets without going to a polyurethane or polyester finish, both of which are brittle and unnatural looking. Our finish is a custom recipe form of conversion lacquer. If you’re really into this subject, for a comparative table of finishes see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_finishing

For a comparison of finish hardnesses plus some additional information, see:

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Testing_Your_Coatings_Hardness.html

Hello,

We need to redo our floors. We have three dogs and would prefer hardwood. We are trying to choose something environmentally responsible. We love Cherry hardwood but it seems it is hard to be sure it is being produced responsibly. How can we be sure we are making a good choice for the environment. It seems FSC certified is not a guarantee and it is hard to find on our budget.


Thanks in advance,
Sarah

I have WFI bamboo floors in my condo. It's pretty but after a few days of moving in the edges of some planks started to chip and peel. Dents and surface scratches are noticible. I vacuum everyday. Blot whenever a drop of water hits the floor and mop with a high quality hardwood floor cleaner. Still, the floors show visible wear and tear. I would not choose bamboo as a flooring choice again. After two months of living (and conscientious maintenance) the floor looks like it's a few years old. It's still pretty but very, very disappointing. I would not recommend bamboo for flooring.