I don't have it but bamboo is verry pretty. But also rather gimicky (for lack of a better word) in our country right now. I't fast growing but not here so it has to be imported, And being able to trust what ever country may be growing it that they are not cutting it to early is another thing. Bamboo is common in some third world countries. And honestly they need the $ so I could see where they would sell it off early as a quality good when it would take a while for the customer to realize they got a bad product.
Bamboo can be verry strong, I have seen houses made of it in Jamaica... but I'm sure they know more about the growing and harvesting of bamboo than we do.
----------------------------- "Children are the message we send to a time we will not see."
Yahoo messanger= Rachel_G001113 *feel free to add me to your buddy list.
Posts: 1320 | Location: West Michigan | Registered: Jun 08, 2007
I don't have it but bamboo is verry pretty. But also rather gimicky (for lack of a better word) in our country right now. I't fast growing but not here so it has to be imported, And being able to trust what ever country may be growing it that they are not cutting it to early is another thing.
If I may add to RachelG's response. Bamboo flooring is a laminate. I've seen it in new & refurbished homes - I didn't like the "feel" of it under foot when I walked across a large expanse. Harvesting it too early?? bamboo is an incredibly invasive plant - not a tree. IMHO, all the hype about bamboo flooring is a marketing ploy = abundance of raw material in other countries where labor is cheap, human rights laws & eco processing can be ignored
This message has been edited. Last edited by: tessa89,
Posts: 2063 | Location: NNE of S.F. | Registered: Apr 13, 2006
My dh just cut some bamboo which grows very slowly in our area but much faster and larger in China etc. I like to fish in the lake with a bamboo pole versus the complicated rods.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lights Out,
Do you find the bamboo swells or shrinks? I've been thinking about bamboo but one floor salesman told me that it really swells and shrinks depending upon moisture and dryness in the air. We have a woodstove in the room it would be laid and I don't want to have big spaces between the pieces.
I was just reading this weekend on the DIY Blog Cabin blogsite long discussions regarding bamboo flooring. It is one of the choices for the flooring, and is NOT in the lead at this point.
China is clearcutting forests to plant the bamboo to make the flooring. It is processed with many toxic chemicals to create the flooring. China has NO restrictions on pollution, and is indeed SO polluted that citizens of China wear dust masks when walking outside their homes. China is a long way away from the US requiring many gallons of fuel to ship it here. The wood is soft and dents easily. A flooring company placed an ad in a local weekly circular discussing the pros and cons of different types of flooring. They recommended making a habit of removing your shoes and walking in your stocking or bare feet on bamboo flooring so you don't damage your floors.
One of the posters referenced an article and stated that, depending on the climate at your location, bamboo flooring requires regular re-sealing and may shrink or swell as much as 7 percent.
It is something to think about when we are looking for products that are GREEN. I am neither recommending nor criticizing bamboo flooring, but it would not be a good choice for my home in my present town.
I used to manage hard and resilient flooring projects, and was involved in some of the first bamboo flooring jobs in Chicago.
Shortly after the shipments started arriving, we had a new invasive pest in the Chicago area, the asian longhorn beetle.
The disheartening part of this story is, New York had experienced this two years prior, and when the problem showed up in Chicago, the United States EPA told the Illinois EPA exactly how the beetles showed up, and from where.
Apparently, politics had stepped in to keep things hush as long as possible, because of business connections. No meaningful effort was made to prevent further invasions until after the Asian Longhorn beetle infestations had spread across the U.S.
In addition, yes, bamboo is very hard when mature, and it hits full size before it's anywhere near mature.
We've put a lot of trust in third world countries in our trade arrangements. Unfortunately, we see how this honor system works out.
I am mostly encouraged that there ARE more options popping up from so many sources that by the time I am ready to make a decision there will be more to draw from...its been a few decades and GreenAlice needs some updating in a big way. Sure I want lasting enduring products, but experience has taught me every thing has its life span and can't fret over wear and tear tooo much....the former own left me with ceramic tile throughout kitchen and dining and it has cracked and well...after 20 years its time has too come...I will end up paying as much to have it ripped out than what to put in....but still like trying to figure out what to put in....someday!
Bamboo is a flooring choice that must be evaluated on an individual basis. In the area where I live, I am thinking that it may not a good choice for me, mostly because of the 7% expansion factor. We have a lot of humidity, and I do not have or use A/C to control the humidity in the summer. In the dry southwest, with a much more stable humidity situation, it may be a better choice.
I don't like the environmental consequences in China from my use of this product. Moreover, I don't like to use products that support a political situation that I don't approve of.
Since we are in the early stages of planning our first and only new home, I am looking at this issue with a very personal eye. At this point, I am leaning toward hydronic radiant floor heat, and poured, stamped & sealed gyp-crete floors. Except for either the entry or great room, where I want to install hardwood from a cherry tree that has fallen and needs removed. There are 2 more that are dead standing there and need to felled as well. Now, all I need is a local mill to cut it into 1x4 for me to install.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: NewYearDreams,
Originally posted by NewYearDreams: Since we are in the early stages of planning our first and only new home, I am looking at this issue with a very personal eye. At this point, I am leaning toward hydronic radiant floor heat, and poured, stamped & sealed gyp-crete floors. Except for either the entry or great room, where I want to install hardwood from a cherry tree that has fallen and needs removed. There are 2 more that are dead standing there and need to felled as well. Now, all I need is a local mill to cut it into 1x4 for me to install.
my Aunt's Sister in law built their house completly with the surounding materials from the land they cleared. It is a verry butiful house! They also left he saw marks in the wood rather than finsihing it off smooth. the fire place is built from the surounding stones and boulders.
----------------------------- "Children are the message we send to a time we will not see."
Yahoo messanger= Rachel_G001113 *feel free to add me to your buddy list.
Posts: 1320 | Location: West Michigan | Registered: Jun 08, 2007
I wish I could actually use all material we were removing, but the site is 2 acres off the front of my sister-in-law's property, which was where my husband and his family all grew up. It was cleared about 40 years ago and was a large garden and lawn previously. Most of the material we are removing, except the dead cherry trees is small, scrubby stuff.
There are quite a few square and round 18-24" concrete pavers from the paths in the old garden though, and we are salvaging them as we find them. We were thinking of scrubbing the pavers with bleach to clean them off (they have been buried in the dirt for about 20 years), and staining them with a concrete stain to make them look more consistent with any newer materials we end up using.
What do you think, or do you have any other suggestions?
It's not a suspicion. Pretty much all of China's poplar forests are infested. The beetle larvae came over in the shipping crates and pallets.
The bamboo itself isn't the carrier.
However, the production of the bamboo requires the use of tons of glue - and basically all of it is hazardous to the workers, and the environment.
The fact that bamboo grows so fast means it effectively absorbs lots of carbon. However, if the gluing operation offsets or overcomes that benefit, how green really is bamboo?
I've found one company that claims to be doing the right thing, in sourcing a less volatile glue, and outfitting the plant and workers correctly. However, as in all things Chinese, there's no guarantee these claims will bear out over time, and no way for the end user to effectively check up on this.
We can't trust the Chinese to effectively regulate any part of this.
The maturity/hardness issue can easily be handled by the U.S. distributors, if they chose. It's called quality control, and it's done with the same hardness test protocols used by NOFMA. The fact we have material of substandard hardness for the species, so prevalent here indicates total lack of regard for the U.S. consumer.
Consider this: Trees are highly effective at absorbing carbon while they are young, and faster growing, and not so effective when they are mature. Buying U.S. grown hardwood means more young trees growing in the U.S.
We can also better control the environmental impacts of the industry.
I like the look of bamboo. Now that I know more about the product, I would never use it. I'll put my money to use in our own country, helping our own economy, to get a superior product that actually IS helping the environment.
Interesting Velv and thanks. I have never seen a floor done in bamboo. I bought a bamboo 
