Bamboo panels and flooring

Quality products made from renewable bamboo

ChemAxis Lifestyle offers sustainable bamboo flooring and panels made from rapidly renewable bamboo. Bamboo products are not only environmentally sustainable, they also have the added qualities of increased hardness, strength and durability, and low maintenance costs.

The origin of bamboo wood

Although bamboo culms, leaves and shoots have been used by humans since the beginning of time, the use of bamboo as a raw material for the production of wood-like building and flooring materials is a relatively recent development. Factory production of bamboo timber began about 20 years ago and has developed into a large and growing industry.

The first generation of natural bamboo flooring consisted of bamboo slats glued together to form "bamboo wood". This bamboo wood could be cut into boards and laminates for the production of parquet and panels. This led to the development of horizontal bamboo lumber (wide slat bamboo) and vertical bamboo lumber (upright slat bamboo), which are still used today for bamboo flooring and furniture.

High density woven bamboo flooring is a later development, patented and marketed in China in 2006. It is much harder, reaching 2,900 on the Janka hardness scale, compared to 1,910 for jarrah and 1,180 for hard maple or natural bamboo.

High density strand woven bamboo offers the benefits of affordable flooring combined with extreme hardness and a hardwood appearance.

Today, the use of bamboo flooring and panels has become commonplace. More and more bamboo flooring is being used in all types of buildings, thanks to the extreme hardness and durability of high density strand woven bamboo or the graceful appearance of horizontal or vertical lamella bamboo.

Bamboo is the world's fastest growing plant and so represents a rapidly renewable resource. Accordingly, this giant tropical grass is rapidly establishing itself around the globe as an architectural and building resource. In addition to favourable aesthetic and ecological considerations, there are a number of other factors which speak for bamboo: no other natural material possesses more elasticity, hardness and stability, while being extremely light weight. This provides many design and functional options for bamboo. So selecting a bamboo floor can be considered responsible and acting in the interest of the environment..

Bamboo "wood"

Bamboo wood is produced by glueing together strips of bamboo, either horizontally or vertically, to yield bamboo-wood with a wide strip or alternatively narrow strip appearance. This can be further processed into flooring, panelling and furniture which will have a characteristic bamboo appearance including regular bamboo nodes.

An alternative manufacturing procedure is based on slicing bamboo culms into very thin strips, which are subsequently treated and compressed into extremely solid and dense bamboo-wood beams. This product, known as 'strand woven bamboo', displays qualities of extreme hardness and density and provides hard, resistant and long lasting flooring, panelling and decking. This type of bamboo-wood can be produced in colours ranging from light natural through to dark woody tones and its striations, and patterns are much more wood-like than bamboo-like.

Bamboo flooring nonallergic - ecological - robust!

On a daily basis, we spend much of our time in close contact with the flooring at home and the work place. Here bamboo can offer an attractive and high quality alternative to hardwoods, whose world-wide stocks are limited.

Bamboo flooring is produced from mature four to five year old bamboo culms, which are finely sliced and air and kiln dried. By pressure-steaming and heating, the sliced bamboo strips are cured to the desired colour. The warm colours achieved are appealing and the resulting durable flooring provides a familiar warm and secure ambience.

Why choose bamboo flooring?

• Suitable alternative to endangered tropical woods.
• Strand woven bamboo has a similar appearance and surface feel as hard wood flooring, but with several superior characteristics.
• Environmentally neutral – bamboo is renewable within 5 years compared to hard woods at 60 years.
• Durable, harder and as resistant as tropical hardwoods.
• Suitable for both private and commercial buildings, which are subject to high traffic.
• Higher wear resistance
• Good interior air quality – strand woven bamboo is allergen and CFC-free.
• Significantly better priced than tropical hardwoods.