Bamboo Flooring

20th September 2017
Woodpecker Flooring - Solid Wood Design Floors

Bamboo flooring is incredibly beautiful, hardwearing, hygienic and sustainable, in fact it’s the fastest growing plant on our earth and is stronger than steel.

What is bamboo?

bamboo flooring woodpeckerThere is a misconception that bamboo is a wood, but in fact it’s a grass. It’s incredibly strong and very fast growing, reaching its peak height of around 20 metres within just a few months. Bamboo stem is fully matured and ready for harvesting within just 4-5 years, which means it’s one of the most renewable flooring resources available.

Once the plant has matured, it has characteristics and properties that are found in hardwood, and is even more stable than some wood flooring. Because it’s so strong, it can be used to make bridges, furniture, bamboo flooring and even houses.

Bamboo is available in abundance, but there’s only one species is suitable for flooring. This species called Phyllostachys Pubescens mainly grows in and is known as Moso bamboo.

What are the benefits of bamboo flooring?

  • Durable – bamboo floors are incredibly hard and sturdy, it’s actually stronger than steel!
  • Appearance – distinctive, exotic and unique and because it’s available in its natural or carbonised colours as well as with stained shades, there’s a lot of flexibility.
  • Maintenance – naturally hygienic, and easy to clean and maintain just by using a damp mop and vacuum.
  • Healthy – it contains a natural anti-bacterial agent known as Bamboo Kun. This eliminates up to 70% of bacteria.
  • Underfloor heating – all types of bamboo flooring are suitable for laying over underfloor heating systems and have a tog rating well within the recommended limit which allows for excellent heat transfer.
  • Suitable for any room – it can be used in any room including kitchens and hallways. The only room we don’t recommend it’s used is bathrooms because of drastic changes in humidity.

How is bamboo flooring made?

Bamboo flooringBamboo is a hollow plant so the manufacturing bamboo flooring is very different to hardwood. Once the plant has been harvested, the outer green hull is removed from the cane so that only the inner stalk remains. This inner part of the plant is then cut into long strips and milled on their outer sides to remove the natural curved shape. What remains are more versatile flat strips, which are dried and boiled to remove moisture, starch and natural sugar.

Once the bamboo has been prepared into flat strips, they can then be manufactured bamboo flooring and finished. The waste fibres produced from milling the edges doesn’t go to waste as they can be used to create another different type of bamboo flooring.

Finishes

Hardwood species finishes are applied to bamboo flooring for extra protection and durability. A strong Lacquer finish coats the bamboo flooring, which can provide a dull sheen to the surface which doesn’t take away from the floor’s natural look. The Woodpecker Oxwich collection receives 5 coats of the lacquer, making it extremely resilient against spills, scratches and stains.

Bamboo flooring is naturally a golden shade so it can be coloured easily, either by being stained or using a carbonization process. It’s available in very pale tones right through to dark mahogany tones that mimic many hardwood species, which is why it’s often mistaken for a hardwood.

Fitting

Much like hardwood, bamboo flooring can be fitted in a number of ways and the fitting system, will depends on the type of bamboo floor and the brand you choose. For example, Woodpecker laminated and horizontal bamboo floors include a traditional tongue and groove joint – a recognised hardwood flooring system. This enables each bamboo plank to be neatly locked together and glued either between the joints or stuck directly to the subfloor. Another of Woodpecker’s bamboo flooring options, the Oxwich Strand Bamboo, is fitted with a glueless click system that enables the planks to be locked together and floated over an underlay without the need for any adhesive. This is a faster installation process.

At First Floors we stock bamboo flooring from a number of retailers that aren’t listed on our website, as well as leading brands such as Woodpecker so visit the showroom to find out more and to see samples.

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Customer Reviews

First Floors

Customer Reviews

Jim Hillier 1st June 2022

TrustPilot
Absolutely Delighted with the Conduct and Quality of Work. My Wife and I decided to replace our Bedroom Carpet and lay down wooden flooring for our Hall. We noticed that there was a possible supplier for flooring at first floors shop on Fenwick Road. We met up with David and Graham and explained that we were looking for quality products for both Items. We were shown flooring possibilities from their extensive range of designs and thicknesses and soon found a product that we were interested in. We were delighted to find out that they had carpet selections at the back of the shop which surprised us; you could not appreciate the size of the place from the shop front! We chose a carpet that we thought met our specifications and were given a reasonable sized sample to take home to see how it would look in our room taking into account of our particular lighting conditions. First Floors sent out a guy to take measurements for floor, accessory fittings and carpet.
Being very happy with the proposition given to us and estimates of work completion dates and prices we went ahead with the order. Graham kept us updated with the schedule and I am happy to say that the work was carried out on time and was completed to a very high quality with which we were both delighted with.
I would be happy to reference this company for anyone who is interested in upgrading their floors or replacing carpets.

Alastair Barrie 2nd June 2022

TrustPilot
Good selection, service and fitting.We were able to take home some samples to select the carpet that was just right for our room. There was a delay in our furniture arriving and First Floors were very accommodating in putting our fitting date back to suit. The fitting went very well indeed - couldn’t have been easier.

Olive Leitch 1st May 2022

TrustPilot
Excellent service from First Floors. All staff including fitters have been helpful and gave a friendly professional service. My new stair carpet has been fitted very well and already received many complements

Linda McBrearty 27th April 2022

TrustPilot
Excellent service with care. On our first visit to the showroom, David advised and helped us with our choice but never rushed us and gave us lots of confidence in making our final choice of engineered wooden flooring. Our new build home was delayed for a few months and during this time David and his team waited patiently with us until the flooring was able to be fitted! The fitting throughout our new house was more than excellent. The care and attention to detail was everything we could have hoped for, our thanks to the fitting team. We would have no hesitation in recommending First Floors, their professionalism and customer service was 100%.

Anna Smylie April 2021

Google
Fantastic service. David gave me great advice on which flooring would be most suitable for my business premises. Within the week Steven came to fit the flooring and, as promised, was in and out in a day. Can’t recommend this local Company enough. Anna Smylie ZuZu Giffnock.

Dawn Henry November 2021

Google
We recently purchased engineered oak flooring and carpets from First Floors. The customer service from David and team was exceptional. We had just moved home from overseas and bought a house with no floors so we did not have access to allow First Floors to measure. Theye allowed us to use our own measurements as we wanted the floors laid ASAP once we had the keys. The floor is beautiful and laid very professionally (thanks Steven). The carpets are also lovely and exactly what I wanted. The only thing I would change about the experience would be to have First Floors assess the house in advance. We have fire doors which were a problem the day the carpets were laid. This was not the issue of First Floors and it was resolved quickly. Thanks again David, we would highly recommend First Floors to anyone.

Ian and Lesley Proctor January 2022

Google
Another Great Job Done!!
Just had our third floor project in seven years completed by First Floors once again.
Great service from David and his showroom team from assisting in the selection of materials through to arranging the installation. Chris and his team worked tidily and efficiently on the hardwood flooring with great attention to detail. Gordon who fitted the stair carpet was very professional in his work and was able to resolve some problematic details to our entire satisfaction.
Would definitely recommend First Floors.

Gavin Reid 18/08/20

TrustPilot
We recently had First Floors install laminate flooring in our lounge and hallway and are absolutely delighted with the final result! It has been finished to a high standard with great attention to detail.

Having had a rough idea of what we were looking for, David helped find the perfect flooring for both rooms.

We were booked in quickly and kept informed throughout the process.

We would definitely recommend and use again.

Christine Sharp 23/08/20

TrustPilot
Wee have recently had a new laminate floor laid in our upstairs hall. We are very happy with the result and feel the level of workmanship and finishing detail was excellent

Chris Milne 30/08.20

TrustPilot
Excellent service from first point of contact. Staff took time to discuss and review options, then worked to suitable timescale based around my schedule.
Work completed on time and to a very high standard, delighted with results.
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