Comparing Bamboo and Hardwood for New Floor Installation

Whether you’re upgrading a Bay Area luxury condo to rent out, or you’re remodeling your home to make it more inviting and luxurious, you face a challenging choice: should you choose bamboo flooring or hardwood flooring?

Comparing bamboo and “typical” hardwood floor materials is tough because the comparison is not apples-to-apples. Bamboo, technically, isn’t even wood. It’s actually a kind of fast growing, very hard grass. Bamboo is also incredibly diverse. Some kinds of bamboo are very, very soft (like pine). Other species are incredibly hard – harder even than North American Maple and Red Oak. All told, there are over 1,000 species of bamboo. Each varies in terms of hardness, durability, tone and coloration.

Wood has dominated Western markets for decades (if not centuries). But bamboo has been a very popular choice for a thousand years in East Asia. Today, more and more Western businesses, homeowners and contractors are investing in bamboo for a variety of reasons:

• Depending on how you harvest, bamboo can be much more “environmentally friendly” than traditional hardwood materials;
• It’s easier to re-grow bamboo;
• The material is versatile, beautiful and durable;
• Market changes have driven down the price of bamboo in some areas;
• Many new “cutting edge” designs call for bamboo — the East Asian aesthetic has definitely taken hold here in Northern California.

[See Also: 5 Advantages of Bamboo Flooring]

Choosing the Best Hardwood Flooring Option

Is traditional hardwood or pre-finished bamboo the right solution for you? To make a the best flooring decision possible, turn to the team here at Elegant Floors for a free, thorough consultation about your flooring needs. Give us a call today at 650-961-1339 or fill out our contact form here on our website.