Strand Woven
As much as 2-3X harder than oak, these tough floors provide a warm wood look and feel.
Bamboo is a relatively recent addition to the flooring market, having first emerged in the mid-90s, and there's a significant amount of misleading information online, some of it due to the fact that the original versions were less robust than the newer style of floors. Way back in 2005, Ambient® became one of the first companies in the world to pioneer the incredible product known as strand woven bamboo flooring. Over the years we've served tens of thousands of homeowners, builders, and architects across the globe, shipping our quality floors to all 50 U.S. states and such far away lands as Europe, Africa and beyond, amassing a wealth of information about this fantastic product.
This guide, along with its associated pages, is a comprehensive informational and educational resource for bamboo flooring. We have compiled all the information you need to confidently research this sustainable product. Our guide covers everything from the types of flooring to the latest manufacturing techniques and environmental benefits. If you have already decided to purchase and want to see prices and cost we recommend you explore our selection of bamboo flooring here.
To make bamboo flooring, we harvest A grade Moso bamboo when it is between five and seven years old (6" to 8" in diameter) to ensure maximum strength, durability, and quality. After stripping off the outer layer of green skin, we slice only the middle of the culm — the most resilient part of the stalk — into long strips. Depending on the type of flooring, the strips are then heated, dried, and fused together under immense pressure to make flooring boards. Want to know more? Check out our in-depth look at how our bamboo floors are made.
Our eucalyptus flooring is made much in the same way, using hand-picked raw materials that regenerate in as little as 3 years.
There are different processes that are used to turn bamboo grass materials into planks ready for installation. Each manufacturing method produces a product with specific characteristics, which may make it more or less desirable in a particular environment. Familiarizing yourself with the different types of bamboo construction ensures that you will choose the right style for your residential or commercial project, and that you won't experience product performance or installation problems.
When it comes to different grain types of bamboo, there are three main choices: horizontal, vertical, and strand-woven. Each one has different characteristics that will help buyers decide which type of bamboo to purchase and install in their home or business. The grain type to purchase depends greatly on the overall look the buyer is trying to achieve.
It is made by drying out large strips of bamboo, cutting and slicing these larger pieces down into smaller, thinner strips, and gluing these thin strips together into planks. In order to ensure that the planks are secure, pressure and heat are applied to the planks. Because bamboo naturally has a lighter color and shade, the strips are sometimes stained, and some go through a process of carbonization. On horizontal bamboo that you will still see the traces of the bamboo nodes - giving it the closest appearance to what bamboo looks like in its natural state.
Before getting into the manufacturing process of vertical bamboo, you may notice that this type of flooring has a lot of similarities to horizontal bamboo. The reason for this is that the initial process of cutting larger stalks of bamboo into thinner strips is essentially the same. The primary difference is that instead of stacking and gluing the strips in a horizontal direction, as the name suggests, this type of flooring is produced by gluing the strips vertically. Because of the vertical orientation, you will find that the nodes common with the horizontal type are nearly non-existent when it comes to vertical bamboo.
This floor is created by interweaving strands of bamboo, then using pressure and heat to compress them into planks. This process results in extremely hard planks that are many times more dense than your average hardwood. Because bamboo naturally has a lighter color and shade, the strips are sometimes stained, and some go through a process of carbonization, which turns the natural blonde color into a toasty warm brown color.
The 6 main types of bamboo floors are: solid strand, solid strand "floating," tongue and groove engineered, SPC rigid core, click-lock engineered, and solid horizontal and vertical. Familiarizing yourself with the different types ensures that you'll choose the right style for every project and that you won't experience problems with your installation. If you're looking for durability, we recommend strand woven bamboo; if you're looking for ease of installation, check out floating floors.
Bottom Line: The perfect combination of toughness, beauty, eco-friendliness and affordability. Can be nailed down or glued down (even on concrete) and there are no run limits. Holds up great against pets and children, can be used in kitchens, and is available in premium wide planks at a fraction of what you'd pay for traditional hardwoods.
*A "run" refers to the consecutive distance the floor extends in any given direction
**Opening the windows in your home for a full day is okay.
Bottom Line: Floating solid (wood all the way through) wood floors generate a lot of complaints about shrinkage, as these floors should only be installed in homes with very stable humidity. If you want a floating floor we strongly recommend using engineered bamboo flooring (not solid) as engineered floors have much higher dimensional stability and aren't nearly as susceptible to humidity variation.
*A "run" refers to the consecutive distance the floor extends in any given direction
**Opening the windows in your home for a full day is okay.
Bottom Line: If you want to float a hardwood floor, engineered click lock bamboo is the way to go — it's tough, beautiful and easy to install. We recommend choosing an engineered floor with a minimum 2mm wear layer (can be refinished twice) and a high-quality 3-in-1 underlayment that has a high STC sound rating — this will result in a final product that looks and feels exactly like solid hardwood when you walk on it.
Bottom Line: Technically this is an engineered floor due to its multi-layered design however it's different enough to warrant its own category! Why? Because it's highly water resistant, and exhibits little to no expansion and contraction. The Ambient® brand version also happens to include a nifty acoustic vapor barrier pad attached underneath which allows it to be installed directly on concrete or any other level surface as long as it's not excessively wet*. With its stone polymer core and thick 40 mm wear layer, it's dimensionally stable, comfortable underfoot, and is built to last for years and years.
* 'Excessively wet' is defined as emitting moisture > 20 lbs per sq ft as determined by a calcium chloride test (usually a very small percentage of sub-floors). In these cases you will first need to lay down a plastic vapor barrier sheet or similar.
*A "run" refers to the consecutive distance the floor extends in any given direction
**Opening the windows in your home for a full day is okay.
Bottom Line: Similar to the click lock engineered floors mentioned above, this tongue and groove version is very stable for floating installations. The downside of a floating floor is that they're a bit harder to install as you have to manually apply the bead of glue along the inside of the grooves of each plank. It can also be nailed or glued down.
Bottom Line: If you like modern looking floors, these are for you. However these floors are not intended for use in high traffic environments. From a hardness perspective they're just mid-range, more similar to Red Oak than to strand woven bamboo, which means these floors are more susceptible to denting and scratches over time.
Different surface styles and variations are used to create a unique and rustic look to bamboo, just as with hardwoods. Here are the primary surface styles you can choose from.
Like traditional hardwood floors, bamboo comes in both engineered and solid versions. The term "engineered" simply means that the top of the plank is composed of a wood wear layer, which is laminated to a substrate — usually made of multi-ply wood or high density fiberboard (HDF). The thicker the wear layer, the better the quality, and quality engineered bamboo with a thick wear layer can be refinished. Multi-ply cores are usually better quality (and more resistant to moisture) than HDF cores.
Solid bamboo can be either nailed down or glued down to just about any sub-floor, including concrete. Engineered flooring is a favorite of DIYers and large building contractors due to its fast and easy "floating" click lock installation method, where the planks are snapped together quickly. Engineered flooring is recommended for basements. Both click-together and tongue and groove engineered floors can be glued down if needed, but solid wood floors should never be floated.
From a durability perspective there is no difference — all strand woven bamboo (both engineered or solid) can be installed throughout all rooms in the home. Solid bamboo and wood floors should not be installed in basements. Strand bamboo (engineered and solid) is water-resistant up to 30 hours and rigid core bamboo (which are considered engineered floors) is 100% waterproof. There is no difference in indoor air quality between engineered and solid but we recommend checking to ensure the brand you choose meets the CARB Phase 2 indoor air standard and is Floorscore certified.
Traditional hardwood floors with planks wider than 4 inches and longer than 4 feet have always been considered "premium" and usually come with a premium price tag too ($8 per sq ft or higher). Conversely, due to its rapid regrowth rate, bamboo is available in wide, long (premium) planks at around half of the cost (usually $4-$8 per square foot delivered).
When choosing the right kind of flooring for your home, there are so many options, and it can be more than a little confusing. To make it easier, we have listed all the most important features you should consider when choosing your floor and assigned an objective score to each of them. For a more detailed side by side floor comparison? Check out our Bamboo Flooring VS Other Flooring comparison guide.
Strand woven bamboo is considerably harder than either of its horizontal or vertical cousins, and all conventional hardwood flooring — by far. Bamboo is a grass, not a wood, even though it's classified as hardwood flooring. This means it's fibrous and flexible in its unprocessed state, and we make the most of the plant's natural properties to produce highly durable flooring.
To do this, manufacturers take long strips of raw bamboo and weave them together to create woven "mats." The strands are woven and thus that's where the name "strand woven" originates from. But that wouldn't be enough to create durable flooring. So then the woven mats are exposed to high heat and fused together to an extreme by compression machines.
The result is flooring planks that rank much, much higher than any other hardwood flooring on the Janka Hardness Scale. So high that strand woven bamboo is way harder than even Brazilian Walnut (sometimes called Ipe), Ebony, and Bolivian Cherry.
Bamboo is considered a rapidly-renewable resource due to its rapid regrowth rate. There are lots of different species of bamboo, and all of them are evergreen and belong to the grass family Poaceae. Like other grasses, bamboo stems are hollow, which helps the bamboo plant grow rapidly and make it one of the fastest-growing plants in the world. Did you know that bamboo is also used for food, paper, and just about a gazillion household products like cutting boards, kitchen cabinets, and many more?!
To be sustainable, a product must:
Small varieties can grow to a height of 3 feet in 24 hours, but that's not the kind used in flooring. Moso bamboo is considered a "giant" bamboo and is the best for flooring products. This amazing plant uses the energy it absorbs from the sun and soil to build a massive system of roots called rhizomes.
For the first 4 years of growth, there will be no evidence of the massive growth happening below ground. In the spring of year 5, however, a few new plants will break through the ground and grow at an explosive rate for about 6 weeks, which is when they typically run out of energy.
Native to China, Moso bamboo commonly grows to heights of 40-80 feet. Yet, not every Moso plant will grow that tall because bamboo grows in clusters (groves) with taller plants emerging each "generation".
That first generation of new Moso bamboo plants will grow to about 10 feet tall. As this happens, the bamboo grove has more leaves pulling in energy from the sun, and the root system grows stronger. As a result, the batch of plants that push up the next spring can grow taller!
Now the grove has even more leaves and the root system gains more strength and grows wider. The pattern of higher plants each spring continues for 8-10 years, at which point the grove reaches its maximum height.
In nature, each bamboo plant can live about 10-15 years, depending on the variety. Whenever a plant dies or is cut down, the grove doesn't die. Instead, it uses its energy to replace the plant.
As you do your research, you may come across poor reviews from homeowners or installers that have had bad experiences with low quality brands. Here's where we set the record straight on the most common myths and misconceptions.
When bamboo flooring first came about in the mid-1990s, it had a bad reputation for being soft and vulnerable to scratches and dents. However, advances in manufacturing have brought forth certain types of bamboo that are more durable than the hardest traditional hardwoods. On the Janka hardness scale, strand bamboo has a rating of more than 4,000—harder than the strongest teak, cherry, rosewood, or walnut.
This usually happens when using poor-quality brands or when rooms have wildly varying humidity. In both cases, you'd have the same problem with hardwood floors. As with all floors common installation errors are easily avoided by taking 20 minutes to read the installation instructions.
It’s true that pandas do eat bamboo, but not the bamboo used to make our flooring. In fact, pandas don't even live in the areas where we harvest our Moso bamboo.
While it’s true that some products made in China are low-quality, there are also very high-quality products made in China, like iPhones, Mercedes, and all Ambient® products! Reputable suppliers carefully control the manufacturing process and supply chain, and enact strict quality control processes to ensure the products are superbly crafted and hyper durable.
Strand woven bamboo is virtually pet-claw proof from a "permanent denting" standpoint, as even the largest dogs can't apply enough force to leave permanent marks. This is precisely one of the main reasons why homeowners choose strand bamboo.
As for micro-scratches on the surface, there is no surface on earth (diamond floors, anyone?) that won't scratch when hit with something sharp enough, so no floor is scratch-proof. To minimize scratches from furniture and everyday activity, and keep your floors in tip-top shape, try these tips:
Bamboo can indeed be refinished, we even have a guide on how to do it: How to Refinish Bamboo Flooring. What you can't do to bamboo is stain it on site — but you can certainly sand it down and then add several clear coats of polyurethane. Also, if you take proper care of your floor it will last you decades, and if you purchase a high quality bamboo product, it's highly unlikely you will ever need to refinish it (under residential foot traffic) due to its insanely dense composition and resistance to moisture and high traffic.
Many hardwoods harvested in the Americas, Europe and even Asia are first shipped to China for milling and finishing, and then shipped back to retail locations around the world. That's two shipments compared to one (bamboo grown in China and shipped out from there). Also, due to its incredibly fast regrowth rate, bamboo forests generate orders of magnitude more biomass than their hardwood counterparts and take about 1/10 of the time on average to regrow for harvest. Additionally, when bamboo is harvested, the plant isn't killed, unlike trees used for wood. New growth emerges every spring. So continually harvesting bamboo is much better for the environment than waiting decades for hardwoods to grow and damaging the soil when cutting them down. For an in-depth read on how bamboo is eco-friendly, check out our article Examining the Effects of Hardwood, Cork and Bamboo Flooring on the Environment.
Bamboo can be installed just like traditional hardwood flooring: via the nail down, glue down, or floating methods. Want to read Ambient's official installation guide? We have both an English Version and a Spanish Version available for you!
Whether you're installing yourself or having a professional do it, here are a few general tips:
You’re probably wondering about how exactly you can maintain bamboo to continuously enjoy their numerous benefits. Cleaning your flooring is relatively easy. However, you should know that there’s more to it than sweeping and mopping, especially if you want to keep the bamboo looking its best. Check our Cleaning & Care Guide for Bamboo Flooring to learn everything you need to know about proper flooring maintenance.
As a newer flooring product, bamboo is not currently rated in any official way to guarantee the quality, source, or consistency of the product. Therefore, you never quite know what you are getting when you purchase bamboo products. It is also harder to ensure that bamboo was sourced in a socially and environmentally responsible way. The best approach is to work with a reputable dealer or manufacturer with a proven track record of sustainable practices or sources, and one known for selling high-quality products.
Small levels of phenol-formaldehyde resin and urea formaldehyde are used in the production of strand woven and engineered bamboo floors, but the amount is so minute that it is non-toxic. Cheaper or unconcerned flooring suppliers can have formaldehyde emissions between .2 ppm and .3 ppm (parts per million).
In general, strand bamboo is perfectly safe if test results show less than .05 ppm and they probably off-gas even less than your wood dining room table or wood office desk.
Most of the higher quality flooring brands meet the very tough CARB Phase II, OSHA (Occupational Safety And Health Administration), NAUF standards (No Added Urea Formaldehyde). European and American Indoor Air Quality recommendations allow for .1 ppm and below. For more information about formaldehyde, please visit our Bamboo Flooring and Formaldehyde information page.
Many factors impact the bamboo flooring cost. Prices can differ from the national average due to the area needing to be covered, bamboo type, quality, brand, and labor costs. Hardwood flooring costs roughly $4 to $8 per square foot for standard materials, such as hard maple or red oak, while more unusual hardwoods can cost upwards of $10 per square foot. Bamboo has an average price of about $3.80 per square foot, within a range of $2 to $6 per square foot. Use our handy Square Footage Calculator to calculate the square footage of your room.
When budgeting for flooring, it’s helpful to know any additional price factors and considerations that can increase the price of the installation project. These can include supplier cost differences; additional costs for subfloor installation, preparation, or floor removal; molding and baseboard repair or replacement; and staining and finish.
No. It's not darker not because it’s been stained, but because it’s been put through a special process of kiln-heating the raw bamboo. This carbonization process darkens the natural sugars found in the plant, giving the finished planks a darker color. This color goes all the way through the plank, just like natural bamboo. A common misconception that has been copied around the internet is that the carbonization process makes carbonized bamboo softer, but this is not true because it only applies to old "classic" bamboo (horizontal and vertical grains), not strand woven bamboo. Classic bamboo is only about 1/3rd the hardness of strand woven bamboo.
Yes, but we highly recommend using only engineered bamboo flooring for floating installations, because floating solid wood or bamboo products can result in problematic expansion and contraction. For ease of installation, seek out click-lock planks that fit together and “snap” into place. This is an incredibly easy installation as no glue or nails are required, and usually can be done even by the most inexperienced installers.
Actually, bamboo holds up incredibly well to moist conditions (within reason, don’t dump buckets of water on your floor and let it sit there). In fact, our floors have been installed in humid climates all over the world in such places as Guam, Kenya, Hawaii and all across the Southern US — even the Dry Tortugas National Park off the coast of Miami. Since bamboo is actually grass and not hardwood, it tolerates moisture and well.
That being said, you must follow NWFA guidelines regarding humidity levels inside the home. Mainly, as with any wood floor, you want to avoid swings of more than 20% in humidity throughout the year. Also, be sure to allow your flooring to acclimate for at least 72 hours, laid flat on the floor in the room where it will be installed, with the boxes and interior plastic cut open.
Absolutely! In fact, due to its hardness and moisture-resistance, strand bamboo is great for kitchens as well as laundry rooms, and basements. Our floors have been installed in kitchens around the world, and also in restaurants, spas, yoga studios, university dorms & lecture halls, and many other high traffic locations. Additionally, with Ambient®'s floors you get our super-tough Accuseal Ultra® finish with aluminum oxide, which provides top-notch spill protection from puddles and stains.
Bamboo flooring can be installed over concrete in two ways: via the floating method or the glue-down method. If you choose to glue down to concrete, just make sure you use an all-in-one/vapor barrier adhesive, it's a compatible trowel, and adhesive remover wipes for cleanup. If you choose to float this flooring over concrete use a 3-in-1 vapor barrier underlayment. For more details check out our bamboo flooring installation page.
We recommend that you add 10% for cutting and waste, but this can vary slightly depending on your skill level and the layout of your room. If you're installing the flooring in a diagonal pattern, you'll need to add 15%.
There are 10 main bamboo moldings that you may need to use depending on your particular installation. Below is a general synopsis:
Bamboo holds up well to moisture and can be installed in bathrooms, as long as care is taken to protect it from moisture. As long as you're careful with your water use and you have protective mats at bathtub and shower entrances, bamboo will perform just fine in a bathroom.
You can install hardwood (and bamboo) flooring any time of the year but the best time of year is in the cooler and less humid months during the spring and fall. During the summer months, the air is filled with moisture and during the acclimation process hardwood flooring can absorb too much moisture. This excess moisture causes wood to swell, and later in the year during the dry months it may then shrink and gap. In most parts of the United States, winter is the driest season of the year. In winter, all of the dry air sucks moisture from the wood and causes the boards to contract; when these boards expand later, it can cause buckling issues if proper expansion gaps weren't put into place.
Absolutely! In fact, due to its hardness, it’s much more suitable than traditional hardwoods to handle light commercial foot traffic. Bamboo can be used in restaurants, offices, yoga studios, gyms, and institutional/educational facilities. You can find Ambient® bamboo in Elevation Burger locations worldwide and even in university student unions and restaurants.
The carbonization process only softens "classic" bamboo (vertical or horizontal) — not strand woven bamboo. With strand woven bamboo, the carbonized color is the same hardness as the natural color because the raw materials are compressed to the same density, so there is no real difference between carbonized and natural strand when it comes to hardness.
Regular cleaning can be done so with a Swiffer or any type of lightly damp mop. You’ll want to treat your floors similarly to hardwoods and avoid leaving excessive moisture on the floor while cleaning. You can also use our handy cleaning guide. Here are general tips on how to clean your floors:
When you think of the bamboo plant, you probably think of bamboo forests in Southeast Asia, and wild pandas may also come to mind. Most of the world's rapidly-regenerating bamboo grows in China where the soil conditions and climate are ideal for the plant. Moso bamboo, which is the species of bamboo that is used to manufacture flooring, is not (despite popular belief) a species of bamboo that pandas enjoy, nor do they rely on this bamboo to feed themselves. Moso is primarily used for flooring and is typically harvested, milled, and manufactured close by to the forest where it actually grows!
Yes, however we recommend installing engineered bamboo via this method, check out our floating bamboo flooring products here.
Yes! In fact it qualifies for LEED credits under multiple categories. Check out our guide to Bamboo Flooring and LEED Credits
Although "better" is often subjective, bamboo does have some advantages over traditional hardwood. Here's a quick look at what the two popular types of flooring have in common and how they differ.
The Similarities:For a full write-up, check out our Bamboo vs Hardwood Floors Side-by-side Comparison.
Both are made from a hygroscopic material which means it tends to absorb moisture from the air in its environment. This diagram clears up the confusion about how and why expansion and contraction occurs (hint: it's all about humidity!):
Due to expansion and contraction, it's important to take care before, during, and after your flooring installation. Be sure to acclimate your floors properly, install with expansion gaps as needed, and keep the humidity levels in your home stable. Opt for floors with higher dimensional stability (like engineered versions) if you live in a geographical area that experiences drastic changes in humidity throughout the year.
Aside from diamonds, there's practically not a single material in existence that is 100% scratch-proof. All floors are susceptible to light scratches when heavy furniture is dragged across the surface or when sharp objects come in contact with the floor. These scratches aren't as visible on white bamboo hardwood flooring as they are on darker woods. Micro-surface scratches can be fixed easily, either naturally by friction via continued foot traffic or with a flooring product like the Tibet Almond Stick.
When it comes to denting, however, strand woven bamboo really shines. Due to its hardness and density excessive force is required to permanently dent or damage it. Don't believe us? Grab a free flooring sample and go at it with a hammer. Testing the strength and durability of a floor in this way makes it easy to see why so many pet owners choose stranded bamboo — it stands up to it all!
When this type of flooring is installed in an enclosed space like a sunroom, patio or atrium, the humidity levels must be kept between 40%-60%, or problems can arise. If humidity levels are consistently too low, shrinkage or cracks may occur, whereas high humidity levels may cause expansion of bamboo, leading to a buckling effect.
Bamboo is usually finished with several layers of UV protection. Although any material will fade over time due to routine exposure to sunlight, interior flooring can be further protected by the use of window coverings such as drapes, blinds, and UV films. However, in rooms like sunrooms and atriums, it may not be possible to provide effective UV protection for flooring without adding UV films to your windows.
Despite its health benefits, sunlight can also cause damage to both skins and building materials. Constant and direct sunlight (especially on southerly facing windows in the U.S.) is an undeniable force. It can fade almost any product in your home, including furniture, carpets, paint, electronics, plastics, and more.
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