Hot & Cold Pressed Strand Woven Bamboo

All the Strand Woven supplied by the Solid Wood Flooring Company is made using the hot press method as described below.

Moisture content:
The cold press method is not as easy to control, usually the best moisture content is 10-12% which results warping in dry places and where underfloor heating is used.

The Hot press method controls the moisture content at 8%-10%.

Our Strand Woven Bamboo flooring is customized for the UK market and underfloor heating to keep the boards more stable.

Structural Integrity:
Two edges of cold pressed strand woven bamboo flooring tend to collapse because of the cold press moulding shape. The pressure exerted when it is manufactured (2000 tons without heating) means the two sides are lighter and do not have the same hardness as the middle.

Our hot press method which uses (4000 tons pressure of pressure whilst imparting 140 degrees centigrade temperatures) makes the pressure spread more evenly on the big board. We cut all the four sides of the board for other uses uses like small cutting boards etc. (not flooring where we need integral and structural stability. This means we only use the centre part of the Strand Woven Bamboo for our flooring.

Below is the technical specification of our Strand Woven Bamboo compared to the majority of our competitors. The Formaldehyde and structural integrity is the most concerning when buying cheaper versions of Strand Woven Bamboo Flooring.

Density:

• Cold press:0.97-1.07g/cm3 ,
• Hot press 1.2g/cm3

Hardness:

• Cold press:2500psi,
• Hot press 2700psi.

Size of Flooring:
Cold press strand woven bamboo is normally 96mm wide , any cold pressed strand woven bamboo over this width will have problems over time.

Hot pressed strand woven bamboo can be much wider. The board that is manufactured from the machine is 1860 x1400 x 35mm and can be cut into different sizes for width and thickness for flooring, large planks or panels for different uses in construction e.g. structural beams, butcher counter chopping boards, furniture boards, panels etc.

Colour variation:
Hot pressing bamboo means you get one colour for natural and one colour for carbonised. The colour is controlled by heating like the Anderson’s colour treatment method which is environmental friendly, not like some factories which use stains to make the same colour. Our Bamboo Flooring is done naturally within the manufacturing techniques.

Cold pressing bamboo gives a very large colour variation, at least three different colour shades which will give a lot of variation when the floor is fitted.

Visual Effects:
Cold press strand woven bamboo flooring does not avoid the glue lines when it is pressed and the strands are glued together.

With hot pressed strand woven bamboo these glue lines are never seen as the glues is dry when the strands are pressed together and the heat melts everything into one solid board. This gives a consistent great looking floor with little colour variation.

Green and Environmental Credentials:

• Cold pressed Bamboo: Formaldehyde emission is 0.4mg/l even for the best one.
• Hot pressed Bamboo: Formaldehyde emission is no more than 01-0.2mg/l .

It is because of the glue we apply which is more environmentally friendly than any used in the cold press method which means the formaldehyde in the glue is released very quickly when the boards are made in the hot pressed procedure.

Raw material sourcing and production management:
We have set up a fully environmentally managed bamboo plantation with an efficient production chain. We only manufacture form the best Bamboo which is immediately processed after harvesting which takes place on each plantation every 5 to 6 years and then we replant. Bamboo can grow up to 1 metre a day in its early stages and grows to over 60 feet tall in the space of 5 years. We then use Bona or Natural Oils to finish our flooring to make it the most ecologically friendly in the UK market.