Bamboo flooring is an engineered material that tends to be more water and termite resistant than hardwood. It’s a grass that behaves like a hardwood floor. But, what are the merits and demerits of installing bamboo flooring?
Bamboo is a naturally attractive, eco-friendly flooring option, with the same benefits as hardwood flooring. It is prone to scratches, dents, cracking, buckling, and warping. Bamboo remains a renewable eco-friendly resource that matures very fast among other benefits.
However, just like the hardwood floor, it has its own benefits and drawbacks discussed below.
Pros and Cons of Bamboo Flooring
It’s good to understand the characteristics that make bamboo efficient flooring material. Whether you have an old floor or planning to install a new bamboo floor, understanding these advantages and disadvantages will help you ward-off bamboo floating floor problems.
Advantages of Bamboo Flooring
Below are pros or merits of bamboo floors.
Easy Maintenance and Repairs Bamboo Floors
It’s easy to maintain and repair damages on bamboo flooring even for DIYs. Regular vacuum cleaning with dust mop cleaners or sweepers removes small dust, dirt, and other small particles debris, that otherwise could hade left scratches and stains.
Occasional damp mopping with bamboo-hardwood floor cleaners will leave your floor with natural wood luster and shine. Bamboo flooring is more water-resistant and slightly harder than a hardwood floor. The manufacturing process makes the bamboo floor is even more resistant to dents and scratches.
Bamboo Flooring is Eco-friendly
Bamboo is a renewable resource, grows so fast, and leaves little or no environmental effect after harvesting. The cut stalks continue to grow and replenish even after harvesting.
Bamboo planks are made by slicing or shredding stalks and compressing the pulp using heat, pressure, and resin adhesives. This produces durable water and insect or termite resistants flooring boards.
Bamboo floors are Durable
Strand woven bamboo is the most durable bamboo flooring type. It also happens to be the most expensive among vertical and horizontal bamboo that is least expensive.
In addition, top-quality bamboo flooring is durable as traditional hardwood flooring. However, not all bamboo flooring is manufactured the same, to get value for money and investment go for the higher flooring brands.
Tip: Look for flooring with a substantial warranty.
Bamboo floor can be Refinished
The flooring may be refinished, depending on the thickness of your flooring planks. Bamboo can be refinished by sanding it down and then re-applying your desires sealing top coat. In many cases, the top brands may not require refinishing at all during their life span.
Stylish and Contemporary
Bamboo flooring lacks Knots and grains like those found in solid hardwood flooring. In some homeowners, this may look stylish, contemporary, and trendy than rustic and other bamboo traditional styles and designs.
Affordable
Bamboo flooring is more affordable than hardwood floors costs with a cost of $3-$5 per square foot. The additional cost for installation tends to remain the same as for hardwood floors of about 4$.
You can install a good-quality bamboo with less than $10 per square foot that has the green certification. this remains fairly low compared to an average of about 16-22$ per square foot for top brands of hardwood floors.
Bamboo flooring is Termite Resistant
The chemical composition used to manufacture bamboo make it insect and termite resistant. This can save you the cost of repairs, or even installation of new flooring. In other cases, you can install radiant heating systems under your floor and it would work well with your bamboo flooring. This also may deter some termites and other insects infestation on your flooring.
Tip: Consult your supplier or check with the manufacturer for guidelines. Not all bamboo flooring is compatible with in-floor heating.
Allergen Resistant
The bamboo floor tends to be great for allergy sufferers with simple cleaning and maintenance. When you adopt a daily routine of cleaning and sweeping away dust and dirt, it will leave nowhere for pet hair or other allergens to hide. In the top brands, they tend to be no-VOC and formaldehyde or toxic-free.
Disadvantages of Bamboo Flooring
Here are some demerits or cons of bamboo floors that you might experience in your home.
Bamboo Floor is Prone to Scratch
The bamboo floor tends to be somehow scratch-resistance, but still prone to scratches. You have to take precautions to prevent and protect your floor from dents and scratches.
Water and Humidity Damage your Bamboo Floors
Chronic dampness and flooding may totally damage your flooring. Warping, buckling, and white and black water stains is still a Problem with bamboo floors. Bamboo grass floor readily absorbs water and excess water and humidity will definitely damage your floor. Water and humidity can leave a cloudy haze on the floor, black-water stains or even white water stains on your floor surface
Tip: Install underlayment with a vapor barrier under your floating floor system to helps ward off moisture, mildew, and mold problems in your house basement.
Bamboo Floor May off-gas Toxins
Most bamboo floorings are manufactured overseas where oversight of the manufacturing process standards might be sketchy. This means some bamboo flooring brands may contain adhesives and formaldehyde that emit toxic VOCs.
In the manufacturing of bamboo planks, there is no independent system for rating the quality of bamboo materials just like hardwood is graded. However, retailers end up sorting into grade A and grade B materials. This arbitrary system can mean different things to different retailers, raising a lot of standardization problems.
Contemporary vs Traditional look
The bamboo floor lacks grains and knots- it’s engineering. In some hardwood floor enthusiasts, it may feel devoid of character and charm. This is especially due to lack of rustic or traditional styles and designs found in hardwood floors.
Bamboo Contains Formaldehyde Adhesive
Depending on the type of bamboo you get, it may off-gas. The level of adhesive used directly varies with the level of toxins emitted. This highly depends on how the planks are manufactured. Cheaper bamboo flooring brands contain more formaldehyde than costlier options.
The formaldehyde off-gassing can be a problem for allergy sufferers or sensitive individuals. To overcome this, look for formaldehyde-free labeled bamboo flooring. However, many manufactures adhere to the levels of 0.1mm standard.
Here is avideo on benefits, pros and cons of bamboo flooring.
