Bamboo Flooring!!!!

[CHRIS]

I have just been to a new selfbuild house (Very nice for a newbuild) and they had used Bamboo flooring over the entire ground floor and it looked very nice, I know it is a grass and good in bathrooms etc but has anyone used it and what are your thoughts on it? It is supposed to be quick growing but has to be shipped quite a long way (do they grow it in europe at all?)

I know it is not realy a period property thing but just looking for ideas on the stuff.

thanks

 

[Jocelyn]

I took the plunge and used bamboo for my worktops. I saw an article in one of the glossies around May/June 006 and read that it is becoming an increasingly successful type of worktop and floor covering.

A local company supplied me with it after I had asked questions about product sustainability and usage. I was told that the bamboo is from a sustainable source, that it is becoming popular because of our 'warmer' climates and adapts well to temperature changes. Apparently the canes are compressed down tightly. In the case of the worktops they are 3.5 cms thick, The edge looks as though it is just small blocks of wood, but it is not, it is solid. The top shows the grains and knots that you would find if you squash a bamboo cane together. It is very heavy indeed. At first I thought it would be soft, but it has been in use as a worktop in the kitchen for 4 months now and has had 5 coats of danish oil. It is far better than the beech worktops that I had in my previous property and a lovely golden colour. If I was in a position to use it as flooring I would do so, but for the fact that we have dogs whose claws caused a right mess on the pine floors I had before. I should think it would be fine in a bathroom, because it will expand and shrink naturally with humidity and it definitely will cope with water spillage which is evident from the area around my kitchen sink. It would also be lovely in a formal setting with a lovely persian or ethnic rug on it.

My supplier is: http://www.reeveflooring.com suppliers of hardwood flooring 01485 210754 UK wide service

e mail: tom@reeveflooring.com

Happy hunting.

 

[biffvernon]

I think bamboo has a lot going for it. Very sustainable - it grows a zillion feet high while you blink, very hard and remarkably strong and durable.

You can use it for just about anything - even building bicycles:

 

[usuk2004]

That bicycle is brilliant!!!

We have friends who did bamboo flooring throughout their kitchen and sitting room. It was a cheaper option than hardwood flooring, is sustainable and hardwearing. From what I understand it was not difficult for them to order (no long wait for delivery, etc).

Personally (and this is just my opinion) I don't really like the way theirs looks - perhaps it's the type, the color, the grain...not sure. But to me, it looks like any laminate would...again, that's just my opinion and different types may vary.

 

[Penners]

I'm not sure about the "bamboo miles" such a product would have to travel, but you certainly don't have to worry about depleting the world's stocks of bamboo. It's the most prolific grower of any plant in the world - some varieties grow up to 90 feet a year.

 

[Jocelyn]

Hey Penners,
I've just thought-- don't Pandas need t eat copious quantities of bamboo, are we robbing them----?!

 

[Penners]

Considering the dwindling numbers of pandas ( ), and the massive growth rate of bamboo, Joss, I don't think you need to lose too much sleep.