If you are looking for environmentally friendly wood flooring, floating engineered bamboo flooring might fit the bill. Bamboo which is biologically a grass, grows at astronomical rates compared to hardwood yielding trees. It is therefore easily replenished. Another advantage is that bamboo plants can be irrigated with polluted water from which they extract carbon and cleanse it. Bamboo flooring is not a very common flooring choice in United States. Your floating bamboo floor will not only be easy to install, it will also be unique among your peers.

Bamboo Flooring

• Bamboo flooring has a characteristic pattern called the “Knuckle Pattern” running through it. The pattern is a product of the joints called “nodes” in the bamboo stem.
• The choice of patterns in a bamboo floor includes horizontal and vertical grain pattern.
• Color choices range from a light ash color to darker caramel looks.
• Bamboo has a round and hollow structure. It can obviously not be sawn like hardwood. Bamboo stems are steamed to soften them and are then stripped, dried and glued to a base board to make bamboo boards that are used in flooring. The treatment applied to bamboo at this stage also determines its hardness, resistant to scratches and its color.
• Bamboo flooring, like engineered hardwood flooring is available in prefinished or unfinished boards and strips. Finished Bamboo flooring reduces hassles in installation. Unfinished bamboo flooring allows you to get the color and shade of your choice and also enables you to cover any dents, cracks or imperfections in the bamboo floor introduced during installation.
• Engineered Bamboo flooring is not only different from other hardwoods, it is also resistant to moisture. Engineered bamboo floors can therefore be installed in areas like the basement where solid hardwood floors may not be advisable.

Installing Floating Bamboo Flooring

• Bamboo floor needs a solid floor beneath it. If you want to replace an old floor that is fixed firmly to the subfloor, you can install bamboo directly over it.
• If you have a wood floor, you can directly install the engineered bamboo floor over it without installing a vapor barrier. You may however need to nail or screw your old wood floor to eliminate squeaking sounds.
• If you have a concrete floor, installing a vapor barrier is a sound idea. The vapor barrier will reduce the amount of moisture reaching you bamboo floor and increase its life.
• If installing directly over the subfloor, install a vapor barrier over the subfloor.
• Cut the engineered bamboo floor into appropriate pieces and lay it directly over the vapor barrier. With the simple click and lock system, there is no need to glue or nail it in place.
• If you have opted for an unfinished floor, you will need to finish it. A penetrating finish like aluminum oxide or titanium oxide will ensure that you floors last longer and wear well.

While hardwood floors are available in a variety of species and finishes, bamboo scores over them in terms of ease of installation and renewability. A bamboo floor lets you enjoy the beauty of a wood floor but with a much smaller ecological footprint. Installing a bamboo floor is a breeze and even if you avail professional installation services the cost of installation is miniscule compared to a solid hardwood floor. Contempo Floor Coverings has a range of bamboo and other green flooring options that you can choose from.

Visit our Los Angeles Flooring showrooms for more information about Flooring.