Bamboo has recently become one of the newer trends in flooring. The natural beauty and strength of bamboo make it one of the more elegant and versatile flooring choices available. Natural bamboo floors give a light tan softness to any room accentuating open areas and light.Bamboo is an alternative to traditional hardwood flooring that is:
 

• Uniquely attractive
• Strong and resilient
• Dimensionally stable
• Moisture and stain resistant
• Environmentally friendly

Bamboo is actually a grass, making it a more environmentally friendly choice over hardwood floors due to its quick growth cycle. Bamboo Flooring is also very durable and able to compete with oak and other wood species. Because bamboo is a natively tropical plant, it is resistant to moisture and less susceptible to expansion and contraction as compared to hardwood floors.

Bamboo flooring is unique with its natural color variations through a process called carbonization. While laminate flooring is artificially colored, a carbonized bamboo floor gives a honey brown elegant look without the use of dyes or finish.

Bamboo Flooring Features and Benefits
The reasons for its popularity surge can be divided into three basic categories:

• Aesthetics
• Properties
• Environmental benefits. 

The Aesthetics
Because bamboo is a grass rather than a tree, its finished appearance is quite unique. Most distinctive is the eye-catching pattern of slightly darker bands produced by its nodes – a feature that clearly sets it apart from wood. Bamboo’s other aesthetic features include the tightness of its grain and the uniformity of its color.

Generally sold pre-finished, bamboo is available in its light, natural color or in darker shades produced by carbonization. Carbonization is a manufacturing process that subjects the bamboo to steam and pressure. This causes a darkening of the sugar content in its fibers resulting in a honey-brown color. The shade of the color is dependent upon the length of the process.

Appearance of the finished product is further enhanced by the various plank constructions. Choices include vertical or horizontal solid construction, engineered construction, and woven stranded construction.

The Properties
Amazing as it may seem, this hollow, grass-family plant is actually stronger than most hardwoods. Some species of bamboo have obtained Janka hardness ratings higher than maple and nearly double that of red oak – the benchmark of hardwoods. Besides its hardness quality, bamboo is also very resilient and can take a greater impact than most hardwoods without denting. Hardness and resilience: a dynamic duo for durability.

Other outstanding properties of bamboo are its dimensional stability along with moisture resistance. Because bamboo flooring is a laminated product, the likeliness of gapping, cupping, or warping is greatly reduced.

Another factor that makes bamboo less likely to warp is that it grows in tropical regions. Therefore, it is naturally resistive to moisture. This makes it suitable for use in areas like bathrooms and kitchens where hardwood flooring is usually not recommended. Of course, being resistant to moisture means bamboo is also resistant to spills and stains – certainly a desirable feature for any elegant floor.

The Environmental Benefits
In an age of ever-growing concern over depletion of natural resources, especially of hardwood forests, the trend toward bamboo flooring is very timely.

Bamboo is extremely fast-growing. On average, bamboo is capable of reaching maturity, at heights well over 50 feet, and is ready to harvest in five years. Additionally, since it is a grass, it is harvested again and again from the same plant. Compare that to an individual hardwood tree that takes anywhere from three decades to more than a hundred years to mature, depending on the species.