Strand Woven Bamboo Flooring

Strand Woven Bamboo Flooring Technical Specification

The specification of the top quality strand woven bamboo supplied by The Solid Wood Flooring Company is set out below. Whilst Bamboo is technically a variety of grass there are also many varieties of Bamboo. We use only Mao Bamboo which is a variety that is the best for flooring due to its structure and size when mature. It is large in diameter than most other bamboos and is superior in strength due to its structure and density.

Do not buy cheap Bamboo where they have made it from different species and harvested it too early. You will find that it is not as durable or as hard as the Bamboo Flooring we produce.

Please do not let anyone tell you there is no formaldehyde in their adhesives it is impossible to produce a high quality adhesive that will lasts a lifetime without it. The emission of our adhesives is less than most and is not a factor for concerning as the emissions are virtually zero. Most other Bamboo floors will have emission twice as high as our as we have developed a special formulae for our strand woven Bamboo

Species: 100% Moso Mao Bamboo (hairy bamboo)

Formaldehyde emission: 0.1 – 0.2 mg/Litre

Density: 1.15 – 1.30 g/cm3

Hardness: Janka ball test 2820 psi (more than twice the hardness of oak)

Anti-bending intensity: 114.7 kg/cm3

Flammability: maximum 270 in flaming mode ; 330 in non-flaming mode

Smoke Density: Maximum 2780 in flaming mode; 330 in non-flaming mode

Compressive strength: Minimum 15,300 psi parallel to grain 2,624 psi perpendicular to grain

Tensile Strength: Minimum 15,300 psi parell to grain

Slip resistance: CS-17 Taber abrasive Wheels

Moisture content: 8% to 10%

Mao Bamboo can grow at a rate of about two to three feet per day when it first sprouts. We harvest our Bamboo when it is 6 years old making sure the area is replanted for future generations. Bamboo plants have a broad root structure and grow in mountain areas thereby stabilising the topsoil and preventing erosion.

Environmentally friendly the only green option for your flooring needs

Bamboo is our answer to conserving the world’s forests. It is also hypoallergenic and non-polluting, tough, durable and extremely stable with a minimum near zero formaldehyde emission. 

Mature Bamboo takes on properties that are superior to hardwoods that can take more than a hundred years to mature. As a result of continually using hardwoods our forest recourses are getting scarcer and with rainforest being destroyed it is important that we look for ecological friendly alternatives for our building needs. If we use more Bamboo flooring then our hardwoods forest can regenerate naturally and that will benefit the planet.

 Think of this: if we all used bamboo instead of oak and other hardwoods that take 100 years to mature we would be able to produce 18 times more flooring and young bamboo plants take a lot more carbon out of the air than mature hardwood trees.

We use 100% of the Bamboo we harvest what is not made into flooring is used to fuel the heating and processing plants for the factory and Bamboo is just not limited to flooring but can be used as food (bamboo shoots need thinning out and are delicious to eat) as well as bamboo resins (there is a lot of sugar in bamboo) charcoal, air cleaners, textiles and a wide range of art and craft items.

How Strand Woven Bamboo is made

We have a plant located right on the bamboo plantations as it is important to process the bamboo as soon as it is harvested. Bamboo contains a lot of sugar and other ingredients so if left for more than a day or two will start to go mouldy. This is why cheap bamboo products are softer than ours and will not look the same.

 Once harvested the bamboo is selected out so that only the best is used for our bamboo flooring, any rejects are used for recycling in the factory such as boiler fuel. Once selected the bamboo stems are then split and cut to size and the outer and inner surface layers are removed.

The filaments of bamboo that are left are then shredded to make a strong fibrous material. This is then boiled to remove all the sugars which are used in other processes. Once the bamboo is ready it is dried in a large oven with the carbonised bamboo being heated under extreme pressure to further harden it.

 The bamboo filaments are then soaked in our specially formulated adhesive to ensure than each strand is soaked and then it is left to allow the excess adhesive to drain back into the tank in which the strands have been dipped.

The bamboo is them carefully dried again in strips ready for the next process. The filaments of dried bamboo are then placed in steel trays up to the top of  the marker and then located in the hot press ready for being compressed into large planks more than 35mm thick. The hot press operates at more than 150 degrees centigrade which melts the adhesive that is in the filaments (strands) of bamboo with a pressure exceeding 2,500 tons per square inch. Once the adhesive has melted and dried the bamboo planks are removed for conditioning and tempering to increase the hardness and are then ready to be processed into the bamboo flooring boards you see today.