Solid bamboo flooring is available in lengths of three to six feet, though other sizes might be offered. Solid bamboo can be installed by gluing, stapling or nailing. A floating floor would simply contain solid bamboo which is over 4 feet. The longstrip style of bamboo often comes in lengths of seven feet and widths of about eight inches. It is in general used for floating installation and has the traditional tongue and groove method. It can be stapled or glued down. The differences in the style of bamboo depends on the specific slats it contains. Most of the bamboos are called either horizontal or vertical, which is basically the differences in the joining of the bamboo slats to make the flooring. The look of the floor can be altered a great amount depending on the route of the slats, whether or not they are laid horizontally or vertically.
A style that’s reasonably general in the bamboo flooring market is named the strand woven which is basically shredded, then glued together, then cured so that it will stick together again. This produces a very heavy floor which can square up to extremely heavy traffic. The drawback to this type of floor is that it needs a great amount of glue to put the floor together, thus manufacturers may use a cheaper glue that contains high levels of formaldehyde. Therefore , this kind of floor is not strongly recommended. Though, once another type of glue is available, without the somewhat toxic formaldehyde, this type of floor will be endorsed to those who prefer this look.
In order to create a powerful solid bamboo floor, the high narrow stalks of bamboo are cut into strips, then glued all together in layers and shaped into flooring planks utilizing heat and pressure. These solid bamboo floors are usually five / eight in. thick. However, less expensive bamboo is mostly thinner, which makes it better to notice its low quality.
Longstrip bamboo is said to be a structurally engineered floor. It contains bamboo on its surface, plus a wood core board and a balancing wooden back layer. It’s a floating floor that contains fantastic expansion and contraction capabilities that are better than solid bamboo.