Looking for eco-friendly flooring options for your home?  We’ve talked carpet, Marmoleum, bamboo, concrete and more here on GetWithGreen.com.  The team at Designing Spaces produced this nice nine minute video on options that you can consider for your remodel.  Watch and learn about lifespan, recycling, and installation.

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How much wood are we using?   Where does it come from?  Where do we send it?  When we ship it out, does it come back to the US?  Building Product Digest shares some aggregated factoids/statistics…  

By David Koenig (Editorial & Production – Cutler Publishing, Inc.)
BPD-Building Products Digest
 
Use of American hardwoods has remained stable over the past five years, according to the Hardwood Manufacturers Association.

Total hardwood usage in 2006 was 10.7 billion bd. ft., the same as in 2002. Although usage in furniture has declined over the past decade, other uses have increased: kitchen and bath cabinets have grown 61%; flooring grew 56%, and mouldings, dimension, and millwork increased 38%.

Usage in furniture has declined because 53% of all wood furniture sold in the U.S. is produced overseas. However, American hardwoods are increasingly exported to countries such as China, Vietnam and Malaysia, and then returned to the U.S. as imported furniture. The trend is one reason for the 3.4% increase in exports in 2006.

Despite a 6.4% decline in shipments of strip flooring over the last decade, flooring will remain important as remodeling keeps the market strong.

Use of American hardwoods for moulding and millwork is 38% higher over the same period, even though significant amounts are imported from Canada, China and Brazil.

According to HMA’s new report, domestic hardwoods are a natural choice for green building projects. They are abundant, remove carbon from the air as they grow, and can be locally sourced to eliminate overseas shipping costs. 

via Building Product Digest

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Bamboo Flooring

Research will quickly tell you that bamboo is actually not a wood, but a grass.  Bamboo is a grass that regenerates itself within 4-6 years, thus making it an excellent renewable resource. Ultimately to make it a green product, we all need to make sure that forest lands are not cut down in order to plant this renewable plant that offers a green flooring product.  Below is a list of providers of manufacturers of bamboo flooring products – virtually all are from China. 

We have noted several bamboo flooring suppliers that in our research stand out.  We don’t have experience working with bamboo flooring suppliers, but we wanted to call out those that were the most informative to us – so look for our notes below.  Here is the list of bamboo flooring manufacturers:

123 Bamboo  – Chinese bamboo flooring company selling direct and through distribution

Central Bamboo Flooring, Inc. – offering solid and engineered bamboo flooring from China out of San Jose, CA

Bamboo Hardwoods, Inc.  – One to check out!  Informative site from this Seattle company, offering various types of bamboo flooring (engineered, solid, woven, AND other FSC Hardwoods).   Bamboo harvested thoughtfully in Vietnam.

Bamboo Mountain, Inc.   – One to check out! Excellent website with informative information and a clear focus on providing the consumer with reassurance that they are a green organization

CFS Corporation  – bamboo flooring from China that is stocked in Georgia and California

EcoTimber – Various bamboo flooring products.  Press us as consumers to really look for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) labels on the flooring (and door) products we purchase.

GreenFloors Bamboo Flooring  - Offer various bamboo floors, unclear if actually the manufacturer

GreenWood Products Company  - Offer solid, stained, engineered, and handscraped bamboo.

Hawa Bamboo  - Chinese supplier, distributed out of NJ.  Offering Solid, Engineered, Distressed and Stained bamboo.

iFLOOR - Online retailer of bamboo flooring from several suppliers.  It was not possible for GetWithGreen.com to easily find information on their suppliers (Bamboo Garden, EnviroChoice, Lotus Land, Ming Dynasty Bamboo, Panda, Springwood, Westhollow Bamboo, Woodstock Bamboo)

JMX International Corporation - Other sites on the web direct you to JMX and claim the provide bamboo flooring products, but we couldn’t find them on their site!  Can you?  Where’s Waldo?     

MOSO International NA, Ltd.  very little information about how the bamboo products and how to purchase them on this site…but a supplier non-the-less.

Shanghai C&E Floor Material Co. - offering all types of bamboo products from China.  Primitive website at the time of writing this article.

Sekulic International Trading, Co.  - manufacturer of bamboo flooring from China.  Good luck, site doesn’t offer much help in the way of product information.  Site boasts a photo of Victoria Principal who appears to be a customer!

Smith & Fong Plyboo - One to check out! Suppliers of laminated bamboo flooring branded Plyboo and Durapalm.  Offer an extensive website that showcases the organizations they belong too, as well as media attention.

Sundy Trading - Offering various bamboo wood flooring products.  Website is limited.

K&M Bamboo Products, Inc. – bamboo flooring from China offering multiple types of bamboo flooring.

TC Bamboo - Tian Cheng flooring offers solid, engineered and strand bamboo

Teragren - One to check out.  Offering various styles of bamboo, and a quick zip code search shows their products are well distributed.

Wellmade  -  Distributed out of Oregon.  Provide test data on their bamboo.

Wood Flooring International  - hardwood flooring under the Bamtex brand.  Offering solid, engineered and strand bamboo.

If you hear or have positive or negative stories on any of the above suppliers, please let GetWithGreen readers know by adding a Comment below! 

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Shaw’s Epic Hardwood Flooring is composed of wood fiber that is a bi-product of saw-mills.   Shaw’s claim that their flooring uses approximately 50% less newly forested wood in production for their 3/8″ product, and 67% less newley forested wood for their 3/4″ products.  See the Shaw product at: Epic Hardwood – Initiative 009

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