Can Bamboo Flooring Really Help Save
The Worlds’ Environment? By S.A. Smith
Probably not on its own, but its an excellent example of how consumers
can vote with their buying dollars to sway market demand to bring more
environmentally friendly products into the marketplace.
Bamboo flooring is a rising trend in home flooring and a great alternative
to traditional hardwood floors. It is the most environmentally friendly
natural hardwood flooring alternative you can select for your home,
it is a renewable resource, is stronger than steel, and has a greater
resistance to expansion and contraction problems associated with temperature
and humidity changes.
The bamboo grass is one of the fasted growing plants on the planet,
only takes 5 years to grow to maturity, and can provide 25 times the
bio mass of a comparable stand of trees. Bamboo is harvested every
5 years, and starts to re-grow immediately with new shoots when harvested.
Bamboo is also strong and has a tensile strength exceeding mild steel.
It can withstand up to 50,000 pounds of pressure per square inch versus
some steels 50,000 psi ratings.
Bamboo flooring is also become a very trendy interior design statement
with its rich and beautiful golden earth tones. It is important to
shop around for a quality bamboo flooring product that contains no
formaldehydes in its binding compounds. Many offshore brands use cheaper
binding agents that may contain formaldehydes, and this can cause indoor
air pollution problems down the road as all chemical compounds will
slowly release their toxins into the air.
So why look to bamboo to save the environment? Bamboo is an excellent
replacement product for much of the hardwood species that are being
harvested in our global equatorial rainforests. Once harvested, these
hardwood species often never grow back due to the thin layers of soil
and lack of sunlight under the jungle canopies, and if they do grow
back it can take up to 200 years! Our global rainforests are the lungs
of our planet and provide a significant contribution to our global
oxygen production, second only to the ocean.
By selecting bamboo flooring you reduce the consumption demand for
rainforest hardwood materials, and in the process help save to the
environment for our future generations. For more information and tips
on bamboo flooring visit: http://www.laminateflooringzone.com/bamboo-flooring.htm
About The Author
S.A. Smith is a freelance writer, contributor, and editor of the Laminate
Flooring Zone and can be reached at http://www.laminateflooringzone.com. |