Strand Woven Bamboo Flooring

Q: I would like to put down a bamboo flooring. I was told that strand woven is the hardest bamboo there is. Is that correct? Can you float a bamboo floor?
Ruth
A: What you were told is correct, Strand Woven Bamboo is the strongest bamboo out there. What makes it so strong? The process used to make strand woven bamboo involves breaking the bamboo down into thinner strands rather than the slats used for normal bamboo flooring. These strands are then arranged and laminated together creating the woven look of the flooring. This process uses more adhesive than normal bamboo flooring and the woven like effect of how the strands are arranged combined with the urethanes in the adhesive cause these types of bamboo floors to be far more durable. The problem with most strand woven bamboo flooring is that there is so much glue used that the emission ratings on these products is terrible and can not meet the E1 standard for emissions of formaldehyde.
The good news about this is that engineered strand woven bamboo floors have recently been brought to the US which combine the appearance and durability of strand woven bamboo with the benefits of a cross-ply engineered product. The other major benefit this flooring has over solid strand woven bamboo is that there is far less glue which allows it to meet the emission standards. iFLOOR.com’s CEO, Steve, mentioned engineered strand woven bamboo in his blog.
As far as floating a bamboo floor is concerned, you can typically float engineered bamboo floors and some of the wider solid floors, but in the end consult your floor’s manufacturer about floating their floors to be sure. Ming Dynasty makes an engineered strand woven bamboo floor which can be installed floating. This will combine the best of both worlds as far as what you are asking about. Other floating bamboo floors to look into would be Springwood and some of the rest of Ming Dynasty’s line of floors.