EcoTimber introduces Formaldehyde-Free Bamboo Flooring

The striped pattern characteristic of bamboo flooring is a byproduct of the production process. Many strips of bamboo are glued together, and then the strips are heated and compressed to set the glue and harden the bamboo. With that much glue involved, the switch to a formaldehyde-free binder is a significant upgrade for EcoTimber's solid materials.

It seems that only the solid styles of EcoTimber flooring are truly formaldehyde-free, as EcoTimber's website says the adhesive in their Woven Bamboo is "urea-formaldehyde free" and that the binder in their Engineered Bamboo is "virtually formaldehyde free."

Still, making a dependable, long-lasting adhesive without the use of formaldehyde is tricky and expensive, so we'll celebrate this as a big step forward for one of the most readily available brands of bamboo flooring.

Pricing will vary depending on your local green retailer's distance from EcoTimber's distribution center in Northern California.

via Environmental Building News; photo: Ecotimber

Comments (1)

GreenWood can also furnish formaldehyde-free bamboo flooring. Their normal stuff is pretty low anyway (.0127ppm formaldehyde emission) but their web page doesn't say if the low/none emission stuff is just made in the solid or not.

I got some solid off craigslist 6 months ago and so far, so good.

posted by Poster on April 24th 2008 at 8:35pm
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