We have been talking up the benefits of bamboo flooring for a while now. We were so into the fact that the easily grown wood (grass, actually) not only helped in stopping the depletion of forests, et al, it also looked so good.
Now we are finding that the floors are not as desirable as we thought. There are often complaints about how easily it scratches, and now there is even doubt as to whether or not the quick growing grass is in fact as super-eco as everyone once said.
Our pals at Tree Hugger have a great piece on the matter. To read more, click here.
posted originally from: AT:LA
"-almost all bamboos have formaldehyde binders."
I'd like to see more sources for reclaimed wood for floors. That would be really green! Plus it has already proven its durability.
I guess it's a lot easier to buy a factory in Asia, fill containers and ship them to the States where people will gobble up the product because they have been led to believe that they are doing a good thing for the environment.
I wonder how many people recycled their bamboo floors after their dog peed on them or their builder dragged a ladder across them or the cleaning crew spilled a mop bucket on them or their friend dented them up with heels? After recycling did they replace them with more bamboo or with another type of pre-engineered floor that may only last a few years?
I'm not duped. Bamboo is really being pushed for flooring because it's cheap. It is pretty too.
view art's profile
I'd also guess that it's being pushed because the dings will add up within a few years, and they'll be able to successfully pressure people into replacing them that much sooner. Reflooring will become like redoing your kitchen is now, something that Must Be Done every 5-10 years, lest you spontaneously combust due to lack of blowing money on crap.
It'll also be a great way to convince home sellers to replace the floors with every sale -- the slightest dings to the floor will be a "deal breaker" HGTV insists you must fix before you put your house on the market, or It Will Never Sell.
view the opoponax's profile
Super consumption helps to feed the Industrial Complex beast.
view catfish36's profile
related: Clothing labeled Bamboo is rayon derived from bamboo. The process for making rayon (even from bamboo) is so harmful to the environment that it cannot be done in the United States! Bamboo clothing is NOT a better, natural material. Also, Modal is rayon. There isn't much information available about this to the public right now, but I've worked in the textile industry since 2003, which is how I found out about these misleading labeling schemes.
view fibsci's profile