If you're seeking
durability strand woven bamboo flooring is the choice! These
floors offer the durability in the way they
are manufactured. Similar in ways when comparing a wooden bar top
finish. For the latter, hardened acrylic is used to protect
the surface while becoming dent resistant and keeping the
underlying material protected.
Not Just One Appearance
With strand
bamboo floors the procedure is somewhat different. Instead
of a heavy top coating the resins are mixed with fibers
shredded from the bamboo tree itself. Shredding can take
place with smaller particles or larger ones making the
outcome different. One can have a
finer appearance or what could be called rustic (shown on
the right).
What Sizes Do They Offer?
In earlier
days when strand came into being the more traditional 3 3/4"
wide bamboo appearance was only offered. Since, other variations have
come into play including wider planks that can be floated,
stapled or nailed to proper sub floor bases. In all cases
wider planks will be offered as an
engineered type floor
and not the solid. One popular manufacturer includes
the Teragren Synergy line that measures almost eight inches
in width, and is installed by the easier self locking
floating floor system. The application is also used widely
by Kahrs, one of the premier floating floor manufacturers of
today.
How Durable?
If you've
ventured into other bamboo pages on our site you'll find
bamboo durability is a tricky one. The overall hardness can
play an important role in how durable it really is.
Considering strand adds another element to the pie in the
type of resin they use in the manufacturing process, hardness
numbers can be trusted more. We've done our own unscientific
testing and rest assured these products are up to snuff in
what they report. The bell weather used in hardness
reporting is a standard solid Red Oak. Most strand woven
products exceed the Red Oak hardness two fold.
I Like The Look But Not The Color. Any Options?
 The
last we noticed Dura-Design had over 20 color options with
their strand bamboo line, including near white floors to
some darker tones in what they call Leather, Arabica, and
Lava. Shown on the left is their Stormy White color. If Dura
Design
cannot satisfy your color desires, any strand product can be
installed unfinished and custom colored on site by
knowledgeable professionals.
While we
realize the options in bamboo flooring today can be
overwhelming. Those lured to the mystique of bamboo floors
that don't live in the most careful household, strand woven
products may be a viable option due to their inherent
construction makeup.
As with all
flooring products, increased durability is not an anticedote
to not maintaining and caring for the floor. All products
will damage and scratch given the right conditions. |
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