A bit about Bamboo

The the wood floor that we have chosen for the house was not by any means an easy find! We searched for months and months trying to find a floor that did everything we wanted.

Firstly it had to be dark. In the US you can source all manner of beautiful dark, baked oak flooring materials that look spectacular, but for some reason over here nearly everything is based around light oak, and it is very hard to find a proper dark wood floor.

Secondly it had to be refined. We didn't want a rustic, farmhouse finish as it just wouldn't go with the house. We found all manner of oak floors that could be baked or dyed down to the right colour, but none with the finish we wanted.

Thirdly it had to be stable over under-floor heating, which generally means going for what's called "engineered" rather than solid boards. A thin layer (usually around 5-10mm) of the real wood is backed with a ply wood substrate. This is more stable under changes of temperature and won't dry out and "cup" like solid wood can.

Well after much searching I finally stumbled upon a product hidden away in a flooring company's warehouse. Based on strand-woven bamboo of all things, the boards we have not only meet all three of our criteria above but, as bamboo is a fast growing wood, are extremely environmentally friendly to boot as they are made from easily replenishable stocks.



After all the searching to finally see the floor going down is an amazing sight.

All we have to do now is keep people off it with boots and high-heels and pray that we can avoid any surprise panda attacks...