[Greenbuilding] Bamboo flooring -- no magic bullet

[William Updike]

As an FYI, EcoTimber sells bamboo flooring with no
added urea formaldehyde.  It's one of the few if not
the only one (though Teragren is moving in that
direction I'm told).

One caveat to the concern about shipping bamboo from
China is that much of the hardwood flooring sold in
the U.S. comes from wood that was logged here or
elsewhere and then shipped to China and returned here
(and some is from exotic species from endangered
forests that are labeled "maple," but are really
species from southeast Asia with cleverly placed
quotation marks).  In that case you have more ocean
trips.

Still though, I'd agree that bamboo flooring is
problematic from a green building perspective.  Though
it has incredible tensile strength (greater than most
hardwoods), most of the problem with bamboo flooring
comes with scratching or denting.  But still, some
people like the look of it.

An alternative is to buy locally produced and Forest
Stewardship Council certified hardwoods.  They're not
available everywhere, but the company that I work for
(Nature Neutral, Green Building Supply,
www.NatureNeutral.com) can provide them at least in
the mid-Atlantic U.S.

Cheers,
Bill Updike

--- Keith Winston <keith at earthsunenergy.com> wrote:

> Well, these questions have finally been raised in
> the last couple years. 
> I'm not sure what you mean by "since the beginning."
> And still, today, 
> in most circumstances when bamboo is raised, it's
> all hype and no 
> substance. It's still "the worlds fastest growing
> plant" or some such. I 
> just heard it from a world-class green building
> expert a week ago.
> 
> Where have you seen satisfying answers to the
> questions you mention re: 
> bamboo? I think one of the early reports, by
> Dovetail Partners, was 
> linked here when it came out a few years ago (I
> might have been the 
> person who brought it up...). There's an interesting
> article here:
> 
>
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/09/bamboo_flooring.php#ch01
> 
> that points out, amongst other things:
> 
> -almost all bamboos have formaldehyde binders.
> 
> I hadn't really realized it's not any harder than
> maple, at best. Of 
> course, maple's pretty hard. You're right though, no
> free lunch.
> 
> Keith
> 
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:03:41 -0500
> > From: "Steve T" <progressivepenguin at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Bamboo flooring -- no
> magic bullet
> > To: greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
> > Message-ID:
> > 
>
<7156d5f20706140803v6e57d2d2k9d5542e83bff5fe2 at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1;
> format=flowed
> >
> > I agree that bamboo is no magic bullet, but from
> what I've been reading
> > since I first heard about bamboo as a flooring
> material is that people have
> > definitely been asking the hard questions. "What
> about the fuel used to ship
> > it from China?" "What kind of oversight is there
> in China to ensure that
> > bamboo harvesting is sustainable?" "What about the
> working conditions in the
> > bamboo processing plants?"  "What chemicals are
> used in the processing of
> > bamboo floors?"  These questions have been out
> there from the beginning and
> > for the most part the questions have been
> answered, and bamboo is not the
> > perfect Green and Sustainable product.
> >
> > Personally, I gave up looking for that "truly
> Green and Sustainable" product
> > almost as soon as I began looking.  I use bamboo
> for our flooring because I
> > really like the way it looks and the way it wears.
>  The fact that it is
> > "greener" than other exotic and some domestic
> woods is an added bonus.
> >
> >
> > On 6/14/07, Keith Winston
> <keith at earthsunenergy.com> wrote:
> >   
> >> There's been a lot of discussion on Bamboo on
> this list, I believe. As
> >> to how green it is,
> >>     
> >
> >
> >
> >   
> 
> -- 
> Keith Winston
> Earth Sun Energy Systems
> Hyattsville, MD 20781
> 301-980-6325
> send me mail at 
> keith at the company below
> www.EarthSunEnergy.com
> 
> 
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