bamboo flooring

They don't last as long, reflect sound and bleach more in the sun and generally a softer material. Its not a bad choice, but it's quite different than oak,cherry or mahgony..the latter look better in my opinion.

Beware if you have kids. It is softer. Will not be best choice is Big Wheels and the like are rolled over it everyday.

An ecologically responsible choice as bamboo grows far faster than hardwood, but as Riversider noted, bamboo is a softer material.

So bamboo floors have a tendency to dent. That can range from finding a depression when you move the refrigerator to getting dings from high-heeled shoes, depending on the floor.

Test your target floor before you buy.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

they now came up with a specially treated bamboo floors that are harder then the typical ones. those cost almost the same as oak and are not as hard. the other thing to consider is that you can refinish the other floors, even the engineered. bamboo you cannot.

as for "Green". i read a article a year or so ago that said, the amount of gas spent on bringing the bamboo from Asia "kills" any green, fast growing benefits for earth.

There's a huge question mark on whether bamboo is really a green choice, considering the carbon foot print required to get it from where its grown to your home. It comes from China/Asia. And many forests are being cleared for the sole purpose of growing, so when you look at the fuel involved and the potential for deforestation, its not at all clear that bamboo is a superior ecological choice, but the potential is clearly there.

As someone who bought a new condo with bamboo floors, I will tell you that it is not worth it. we are a family who never wears shoes in the house, however there are so many other things that will scratch and gouge the floor. Our original thoughts were it will hopefully last 10 years then we will rip it out and put in new floors and furniture, now i feel we are lucky if it still is in decent shape after 5 years.

It is just impossible to make sure that nothing will happen.

I noticed during the last several years of the housing boom in Manhattan that every new development seemed to need justify the higher price of just six months ago. So each new development came with more and more exotic materials in the kitchen, bathroom and floor. Often the additional care needed to upkeep wasn't worth it.

Riversider - Most wood floor options travel very far to get your nyc apartment. Bamboo grows back much quicker than harder woods grown in South America.

And yet you have to replace it every 5 years, rather than, say, every 100 years or so with real hardwood.

Some wood flooring is domestically sourced.

Yeah. It's a problem with some of the hard and really hard woods too. Ebony, wenge, padauk, and ipe mostly come from Africa and/or Brazil. Many of the hardwoods that are available from far away and nearby, like cherry, oak, mahogany and walnut are misleading because the domestic species are often much softer. We do have some very hard examples, like Mesquite, that are hard and abundant, but too full of knots to make acceptable flooring. Bamboo hardness varies greatly. Some are actually pretty hard, most are not.

The points made about testing before you buy and how long the floor will last are very good ones.

My floors were laid in 1922 and are still going strong. I have no idea where the wood came from, but the fact that no OTHER trees have been needed to cover the floors of this particular apartment for nearly 90 years tells me that it doesn't really matter where the wood comes from, as this "carbon footprint" faded decades ago.

1992? Sounds like Plank flooring.

That's 1922. but it still sounds like plank

Matt, your 1922 floors were almost certainty covered with wall-to-wall carpeting for much of their afterlife.

Wrong.

Nice try, though.

Yes, you're right: linoleum and asbestos tiles also. Wood floors fell very much out of fashion from the 1930s to the mid 1970s. For aesthetic reasons, but also because hands 'n' knees scrubbing, waxing and buffing didn't appeal to most people who were short on servants ... and 1920s immigration reform made that true for most people.

Many a classic six was protected by those three coverings by the time the 1970s rolled around, and nearly 100% of ghetto apartments. Pulling the coverings up and sanding the floors was almost a symbolic component of gentrification.

rvargas, thanks for mentioning mesquite flooring. I'd never heard of it, but looked it up and it can be quite snazzy ... apparently they sort them out into a) very minor knots and pinholes (which get filled) and b) more "rustic" knot/hole grade (I assume the large holes also get filled in); but the most popular is a randomized mix of the two looks.

I don't usually like dark woods, but I loved the ones I saw on the internets (don't know if they were stained or natural).

Many green products are overly hyped - such as Bamboo - other products are overly farmed such as Brazilian Chery - - really depends on the intended use and the occupants as well as budget. Oak flooring is certainly more local than bamboo and other woods. Oak can also be stained to almost any color with the right flooring contractor and was the floor material of choice for the last century as it does last.

there are many things to look for in a quality floor installation. When I design a space i also write the specifications for the floor material and more importantly the installation which controls the end product and makes sure my client is not getting an inferior end result for top dollar. I can help everyone with this choice as an Archtiect - and a cheap one at that too. :) Zachary@zs-design.com