Toxic Bamboo Flooring
Bamboo requires resin or adhesives to hold the strands together most have a substrate and then a finish.
Toxic bamboo flooring. Bamboo primarily comes from china. We specialize in products that are safe. Formaldehyde is an ever present colorless gas that can give off a pickle like smell. Some replacement glues can also contain isocyanates which can cause respiratory irritation and sensitization that can result in severe asthma.
People think that by choosing a bamboo floor they are doing an act of green. This wood is known to be problematic in that it can shrink expand and do poorly with water moisture spills. Many bamboo flooring products are made with adhesive or binders containing urea formaldehyde which can emit a toxic gas through a process called off gassing after the flooring is installed. Engineered bamboo flooring is made by bonding a thin layer of bamboo onto a plywood or mdf core.
Also because most bamboo flooring comes from overseas the cost of shipping contributes to the material s carbon footprint and it s price. At ambient bamboo flooring our solid strand woven bamboo floors use only phenol formaldehyde resins which typically do not result in emissions considered hazardous. Bamboo can be manufactured without added formaldehyde and can test for very low levels of formaldehyde overall. Solid bamboo flooring come in glue less click mechanism for quick floating installation or traditional tongue and groove profiles to be nailed or glued down.
This flooring is comparable to engineered hardwood and is installed in the same way usually with click lock planks that float over a foam underlayment. Additionally bamboo flooring is composed of glued strips and until recently all bamboo floors contained formaldehyde based glues. Better manufacturers publish their test results for formaldehyde levels. Solid engineered strand woven hand scraped dyed nail glue or float.
Besides brands like envirochoice bamboo flooring and ecotimber flooring make bamboo flooring sound like a terrific environmentally friendly option to the average homeowner looking to do their floors. Engineered bamboo floors like all engineered hardwoods do use trace amounts of urea formaldehyde during manufacturing but it is generally in very low safe quantities. Award winning bamboo flooring completely non toxic formaldehyde free zero voc and third party certified to be safe durable and eco friendly. It has been commonly used in home products for decades in everything from certain types of wood flooring to.
It is the least expensive and least durable form of bamboo flooring and it cannot be refinished. Green building supply founded in 1991 continues to be the nation s trusted source for the best non toxic and eco friendly building materials. That means some brands may contain adhesives and formaldehyde that emit toxic vocs.