Home Flooring Ideas

Flooring Buyer's Guide

Given the wide array of flooring options available, you're bound to find one that fits your lifestyle and budget. Learn about 10 popular flooring types to find your match.

By John Riha
Filed under: Flooring

Bamboo Flooring. Photo courtesy of US Floors

Bamboo
This increasingly popular flooring material is often thought of as wood, although it isn’t a hardwood but a grass. Bamboo strands are glued together to form solid strips or engineered planks, just like hardwood. Cost to purchase and install are comparable to wood products.

Grain patterns include flat, vertical and woven. Flat grains display the intermittent growth nodes characteristic of the grass; vertical grains pack the strands closely together to produce a fine-grained appearance. Woven types have sinewy patterns.

Bamboo is tough and durable. Because it comes from plants that are easy to grow and regenerate quickly, bamboo is considered a sustainable material and an environmentally friendly flooring choice. Nevertheless, most bamboo is imported from Asia, and environmentalists point to the energy required to transport bamboo to the U.S. as a factor to consider when selecting green flooring.

Expect to pay $3 to $8 per square foot for bamboo flooring, and $7 to $12 per square foot installed.

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