Bamboo for Interior Design

Thinking about renewing the flooring in your small flat or your spacious house? Ever considered bamboo? 

It looks great inside and the material (although not new) is one of the new entries in the commonly used materials for constructions and renovating.

We found a great article on ThisOldHouse.com about how to use bamboo for usual flooring for interior designing. There are, as for any other material, pros & cons.

Pros:
• A fast-renewing resource, bamboo is ready to harvest in 5 to 6 years, about one-tenth the time it takes red oak to mature. New stalks regrow from the same plant.
• Generally less expensive than a common hardwood by about $1 per square foot, and even cheaper in comparison with an exotic species.
• Extremely durable, a quality bamboo floor can last decades with care and minimal exposure to grit, high heels, and pets’ nails.

Cons:
• It can scratch, even with a factory finish, just as wood does; use doormats inside and protective pads with furniture.
• All bamboo is not the same, and it can be hard to sort through the quality claims. Plus, the different types (see below) make apples-to-apples comparisons a challenge.
• Off-gassing can occur with lesser-quality flooring made with adhesives containing urea-formaldehyde.

Read the full article for a clear image and all the implications.

All About Bamboo Flooring

More on how magical bamboo can be in Elora Hardy’s inspiring talk on TED.com.