Every building needs some flooring installed in it, and during construction, flooring contractors may be hired to help put in the floors and get the building finished. Meanwhile, these flooring contractors may also be called upon to do some renovation work, and many homeowners launch expensive remodeling projects on their home. A lot of the hardware and surfaces in their houses may be renovated, and this certainly includes flooring, may it be hardwood, tiles, linoleum, or something else entirely. In today’s American and Canadian flooring industries, hardwoods native to the continent such as oak and cherry have proven effective for many years, but a new competitor has arrived: bamboo flooring. In fact, installing bamboo flooring can be price friendly and easy, and different types of bamboo flooring or strand woven eucaplytus planks may be put in place as well. Someone remodeling their home may ask for installing bamboo flooring if they are so inclined, and most flooring contractors should be able to work with installing bamboo flooring techniques. What is more, the cost of bamboo flooring often rivals that of hardwood.

Flooring Today

Naturally, the flooring industry is a big one, since it’s a vital part of a construction project or remodeling a home. Construction and home remodeling themselves are robust industries, since everyone needs somewhere to live and work. This, in turn, gives flooring contractors plenty of work to do. And not only is the flooring industry large in North America, but it is in fact growing. A recent survey was conducted with flooring contractors, distributors, sales experts, and related professionals, and most of them predicted a roughly 3% growth in this industry in the coming years. In fact, one in three such professionals expected even more generous growth rates, closer to 8% or so.

How is this flooring work being done? As mentioned above, hardwoods native to North America are common, such as oak and cherry, and these woods have proven effective for construction needs ever since the colonial period. From the 1600s onward, species such as cherry have proven their worth. But today, logging has become more heavy than ever, and some argue that this may lead to unacceptable levels of deforestation. Today’s need for wood is too great to simply halt all logging, however, so instead, substitutes for hardwoods have been developed to take their place in some applications. Logging on hardwood forests may ease somewhat as bamboo and eucalyptus, two fast-growing foreign plant types, enter the market.

Bamboo as Flooring

Someone in the United States or Canada may not think “flooring” when they consider bamboo shoots, but this fast-growing plant can in fact satisfy this need. Bamboo grows slowly at first, but when it reaches maturity, it can regrow any harvested shoots with notorious speed. These woody shoots are a fine choice for making into flooring planks, and what is more, bamboo is thus highly protective of the environment. This can satisfy environmental protection agendas and the flooring industry alike.

Bamboo shoots can be harvested, then sliced and shredded into fibers in factories which are then fused into planks via pressure, glues, and heat. Once finished, these planks may rival hardwood in durability and appearance, and many Asian factories are already exporting great quantities of this material to American and Canadian wholesale customers. With all of this fine bamboo material ready, installing bamboo flooring can be made affordable and convenient.

When bamboo flooring is put in place, the homeowner or public building manager may expect new flooring that rivals hardwood in durability, and such flooring is also easy to maintain day to day. Bamboo usually only needs regular mopping to keep clean, and if it suffers scratches, the owner may sand down the affected area. The refinished wood may soon look like new. What is more, some bamboo is carbonized during production to darken it and offer more colors on the flooring market.

Bamboo has a few minor drawbacks. For one thing, even with carbonizing processes available, it has a narrower range of colors than hardwood, and some buyers might not like that. Also, bamboo is sensitive to humidity. Very dry climates cause it to shrink and crack, and very humid environments cause it to twist and warp. Temperate climates are usually best for bamboo flooring.