The modern flooring industry is a big one, since any building ranging from suburban homes to office buildings need floors where people can stand and walk. This means that the modern flooring industry supports many jobs and makes a lot of revenue per year, and traditionally, installation instructions for flooring involved hardwood planks. But these installation instructions are getting an update, since bamboo flooring and eucalyptus flooring models have emerged as strong competitors. Bamboo installation is simple enough, and is roughly similar to that of hardwood. Flooring experts may easily study installation instructions for bamboo or eucalyptus floors, and different types of bamboo flooring may all work within these installation instructions. What is more, these woods are more environmentally friendly and sustainable than hardwoods are.
Flooring Today
When a building is being constructed, or when a homeowner hires professionals for floor remodeling, then floor contractors will be on the job. This makes for a robust industry that may even see some growth in the coming years. A recent survey was done among flooring experts, contractors, retailers, and distributors, and most of them agreed that the industry may see at least 3% growth in the coming years. One in three surveyed professionals was even more generous, and they expected 8% growth within the next few years. If flooring experts aren’t working with concrete or tiles, then they are working wood wooden planks. Most often, this wood is hardwood that comes from North American hardwood forests, but this may soon change. A hardwood tree takes 20 years to reach full maturity, and is lost when logged. The North American continent’s hardwood forests are being heavily logged, and many argue that this needs to change. But flooring contractors can’t afford to simply cut off their supply of materials, so they need replacements for that hardwood material. Bamboo and eucalyptus both offer to be that alternative.
Using Sustainable Wood
The “go green” initiative has called for many changes in industry to help protect the natural environment. This ranges from increasing plastic and paper recycling all the way to trading cars for bicycle rides or carpooling to lowering electricity needs and installing solar panels. Meanwhile, natural ecosystems are protected when more sustainable materials such as bamboo and eucalyptus tress are used for flooring and similar projects. A hardwood tree is not so easily replaced, but bamboo is known for growing back fast. A bamboo plant needs around three to five years to reach maturity, and once harvested for the first time, it grows back with notorious speed. The same bamboo plant can be harvested repeatedly without killing the plant, and something similar can be done with eucalyptus wood as well. If enough bamboo and eucalyptus plants are used to create planks for flooring, then this eases a lot of strain on hardwood forests.
Eucalyptus trees are harvested for wood, and then factories will compress this wood into very hard planks that can be used for flooring. Not only are such planks easy to install like regular hardwood flooring, but they are even tougher. Such planks can be used in high-traffic areas in the house such as the living room or kitchen when even hardwood planks might suffer from heavy use. Eucalyptus flooring may be as much as three times tougher than hardwoods, and it also looks attractive when installed. It can also easily compete with hardwood for price of installation, making it an even more appealing option for many.
Something similar is true of bamboo. It doesn’t match eucalyptus hardness, but such planks are at least as tough as hardwood and can be installed for a similar price. Bamboo stalks are harvested, then sliced and shredded into fibers which are then fused into planks using heat, pressure, and glues. This is typically done in Chinese factories, and the finished product may be shipped to North American flooring suppliers. Bamboo floors have a more limited range of colors than hardwood and suffer from extremes of humidity or dryness, but otherwise, such flooring is a strong alternative to hardwood. It can be installed for a similar price, and is easy to mop and refinish if scratched or dirty. Such flooring also gives a room a clean and modern look that many customers may like.