Strandwoven Colors is a new line of Strandwoven Bamboo that is designed to imitate more exotic woods and looks than regular bamboo alone. It is dye-infused prior to compression allowing for unique and varying grain patterns that are not stained on, but consistent throughout the board. This allows for the color and grain pattern to remain intact through as many sanding and refinishing cycles as desired. The material is still our classic Strandwoven Bamboo (two and a half times as hard as oak and exponentially more stable) as well as our Aluminum Oxide-free finish, but it is a unique and quite striking way to get exotic wood looks without sacrificing those exotic trees, many of which are fairly rare. Ebony Sandalwood, Thai Teak, and Wenge are the three we have out so far and a new one, Sapele, has just recently emerged from our research and development process. An engineered format is in the testing stages and we look forward to nearly endless possibilities for styles and designs in the years to come. Come check in out in the Bamboo-Flooring section of our website!
On a consistent basis we get calls of people who are interested in using cork for their flooring project, but are not sure what is really available and what would be the best choice for their specific application. Cork is a softer yet resilient product that can excel in most applications. Prized for its natural properties, cork is 100% impermeable, anti-microbial, acoustically insulative, thermally insulative, re-forms to 99.9% of its original volume when compressed, and is easy on joints. Within the category of cork flooring, there are two main types: Cork Planks and Cork Tiles.
Cork Planks are a floating application that needs no glues or nails for installation. They are generally 1’ x 3’ and have a tongue and groove click lock system that makes for a fast and easy installation. The cork planks have a High Density Fiberboard (HDF) that is sandwiched between two layers of cork (for more information on HDF, see previous posts on cork and formaldehyde). The HDF provides stability and strength within the plank that allows it to be more tolerant when installing over less than perfectly smooth subfloors. Cork planks tend to cost more for the materials, but your savings come with the ease (time) of installation because smoothing out a subfloor with the intention of using cork tiles usually costs more than switching to the more expensive material. Cork planks are a great residential “do it yourself” type project, yet some of the newer, more durable finishes (like ceramic infused finish) on the planks make it appropriate for commercial installations.
Cork tiles are a glue-down installation that requires a more perfect subfloor. They are generally 4mm thick and will “telescope” any imperfections in the subfloor, meaning they will appear on the surface of the tiles. Cork tiles are great for new construction and commercial installations, as the smooth laid concrete makes for a desirable subfloor. Cork tiles tend to be less expensive for the tile, but have a more involved installation that is commonly directed to a professional installer.
Cork flooring is a unique, yet resilient product that has been around for many years. The more we work with it, the more we like it. So whether you are remodeling your house or building a commercial retail space, there is a cork floor for you.
Wood nerds like us always ask our customers if they would prefer a prefinished floor or an unfinished floor. Some have an opinion one way or another but many are unsure of the differences and may feel strongly about one or the other after learning a little bit about both. The terms have to do with when a finish is applied to a flooring material, almost never if a finish is applied because almost all materials need a finish to perform correctly. Prefinished means that a finish of some sort is applied prior to the floor’s installation process. There are many types of finishes that may be pre-applied in this manner but probably the most popular is what is called a water-based polyurethane. It is a clear and fairly glossy protective seal and more than one coat may be applied. Water-based polyurethanes can go on many materials and surfaces and can come with or without Aluminum Oxide (see a previous blog post for an explanation of this chemical compound). Prefinished floors are usually an easier installation procedure which will get the job done faster and have fewer steps to undertake so it will cost less, all things considered. Most prefinished floors have what is called a microbevel of their tongue and groove systems which will result in the classic plank look to a wood floor because there will be slight seam lines between the boards. On solid flooring, prefinishing can be done on all surfaces of the boards, including the tongue and groove, and probably should be. On engineered flooring, where there is an exposed veneer or “wear layer” on top of a platform usually made of plywood or another stable material, sometimes only the wear layer will be prefinished; sometimes the entire board will be prefinished.
Unfinished flooring is the chosen raw material, manufactured and cut into its useful form for flooring, and then sold without any finish or protective seal already applied to it. It usually costs a little bit less for the material itself but will almost always be a more expensive project when installation costs are factored in. Installation techniques are the same as prefinished wood flooring, but after laying it down and fastening it or floating it for an installation technique, the installer must finish the floor on site, including a sanding process to prep the surface for accepting the chosen finish. What are the benefits of going with unfinished material and finishing on site? Some consider it a higher quality installation technique. It has no seams between planks to worry about; the flooring sits underneath while on top is one, solid coat of protective finish, keeping everything on top of the sealed off wood and not allowing dirt or moisture, however unlikely, to slip down between the boards. Also relating to the seam lines, unfinished flooring almost always has a square edge on its tongue and groove instead of the microbevel. This will eliminate seams from appearing in the finish and, depending on the aesthetic of the wood, will sometimes make it appear that your floor is just one solid piece of wood that was cut in the shape of the room(s) it is in. Choosing your preferred finish is another advantage that finishing on site can provide. If a more matte finish is desired instead of a typical water-based polyurethane, an installer can apply that after laying down unfinished material. Along with that, you can change up the tone of unfinished wood with a stain because a finish has yet to be applied; prefinished wood is generally not stained because the prefinishing must be removed. Unfinished boards acclimate faster than prefinished boards, as well. However, either material may be sanded, stained (if desired), and refinished after a period of time.
Which one should you choose? To be honest, we here at SF do not have a preference. Simply weigh the factors listed above according to which ones are most important to you and compare those aspects against the cost differences given by an installer. Either one can give beautiful results!
There are woods out there, both common species and exotic, that do not grow fast enough to be considered a rapidly renewable resource. But they can still be sustainable if the fall into one of two categories. If the woods are “certified,” the harvesting practices that the timber companies and mills use to produce product have been inspected by a third party to find out if the guidelines that party adheres to ensure no forest depletion and minimal disruption are being met. There are several certification organizations but the most respected, and the one endorsed most by environmentalists, is the Forest Stewardship Council or FSC. It is the organization that has the most stringent requirements for what they consider sustainable enough practices to achieve their approval and it is also the organization that is looked upon as most impartial and truly environmentally oriented. FSC or other certified wood products will not look or be any different than the same wood species in their non-sustainable form, so if there is a wood that has a great look or matches a design nicely it will be the same wood in an FSC certified form, only harvested with certain practices.
“Reclaimed” means that the material you are using for flooring was milled and used in some application previous to its use in its current or future flooring project. It is true recycling of the material and usually has loads of character (i.e. big knots or cracks, nail holes, wear and staining, etc.) and a lot of times has a story behind it. Some fairly common sources of reclaimed material include old barns, fences, old city factories that are being torn down, etc. Either one of these two options allows a house or a commercial project lots more choice when it comes to being environmentally friendly with their wood choices, as well as a beautiful floor to add ambiance and maybe even start some conversations.
The Question of Formaldehyde
Sep 11
We get questions a lot about low-VOC vs. no-VOC, formaldehyde, indoor air quality, and other similar human health issues. I can tell you, it is something that we take very seriously here at Sustainable Flooring and anyone who claims that the human health issue is not part and parcel to being an environmentally friendly and sustainable company would be incorrect in our eyes. Formaldehyde is an “organic compound” (the “O” and “C” in VOC; the “V” stands for volatile) and what most people don’t realize is that there are two forms of formaldehyde: phenol formaldehyde and urea formaldehyde. Both their sources can include pressed wood products (plywood paneling, particleboard, fiberboard), furniture made from pressed wood, urea formaldehyde foam insulation, combustion sources and tobacco smoke, some textiles, and glues similar to the ones that hold the aforementioned items together. Formaldehyde gets released from these products through a process called off-gassing.
Now, the two different forms of formaldehyde have very different consequences. Phenol formaldehyde is found almost everywhere around you and it is not considered dangerous in those everyday levels. It is extremely difficult and costly to get rid of completely, and therefore is not of major consequence when talking about indoor air quality. Anyone who claims to have a “formaldehyde free” product probably doesn’t really mean formaldehyde free because it is almost impossible to get a testing chamber completely free of this phenol formaldehyde. Since it is still found in trace amounts everywhere around you and your home, the label of LOW-VOC is used and not NO-VOC for most products. Urea formaldehyde is the other kind and is known to cause eye, nose, and throat irritation, wheezing and coughing, fatigue, skin rash and other severe allergic reactions; and finally, it’s a carcinogen. Sustainable Flooring has taken steps in every product it makes to ensure that there is zero urea formaldehyde contained in every ingredient in the material. It is not just a Sustainable thing to do, but also the right thing.
Bamboo Cabinet Info
Sep 2
Cabinets have been, and continue to be, a huge source of poor indoor air quality (IEQ), though this thought is foreign to most. The most common toxin found in standard cabinetry is “Urea Formaldehyde”, which is the most cost-effective additive used to bond wood fibers together, like those in particle-board, mdf, and some other engineered panels. The Urea is a known carcinogen, but due to cost is often used in place of its’ similar but more expensive relative, the non-carcinogenic phenol formaldehyde. By using low-toxic glues, proper bonding equipment, and/or solid “wood” cores, environmental cabinets and millwork components can be made from recycled wood (by-product from other industrial manufacturing operations), bamboo(“traditional”, Strandwoven™ and dye-infused), and other rapidly renewable species. These newer materials not only make spaces feel more environmentally-comfortable, potentially increasing productivity, but they can also tend to foster better indoor air quality, decreasing the toxins present within the space.
Many designers, architects and homeowners are searching for more health and sustainable millwork options. With the ability to create high quality products by using Urea Free glues and compressing raw materials that are either rapidly renewable or are made from post-industrial content, the search should be easier. The cost may be a little more for a less toxic product, mainly due to the fact that the healthier components (glues, finishes, and raw material) cost more to produce), but when “health” is in the equation, you must look beyond just the initial upfront (buy-in) cost. These materials can not only reduce pressures on one’s immune system, but they also have a profound effect on reducing our need to harvest rainforest materials and other woods that require an exceptionally long time between harvesting.
The Truth about Cork
Sep 1
What is cork exactly? Many know that it closes up wine bottles and can have notes tacked to it, but did you know that it is actually the bark from a Cork Oak tree? That is why it is considered sustainable is because it can be stripped off the tree without damaging it and the plant will re-grow the bark every 9 years or so. Now, more than a few have brought up to us in conversations about cork that it they have heard that there is a worldwide shortage of cork, citing the emerging shift of wine bottles with screw tops or plastic stoppers. While they are partly correct, we would like to enumerate clearly what is going on in the cork world. While it is true that wine makers have been shifting to other forms of sealing their bottles in ever greater numbers in the recent years, it has almost nothing to do with a perceived cork shortage. In fact, cork is more widely available now than it ever has been; the shortage is in the A-grade cork and that is the cork that is used mostly for wine bottles. The grades are separated by the amount of air pockets in any given section of cork. A-grade is very solid cork with very few air pockets, while lower grades are more porous. These air pockets are easily visible on a wine cork. This has almost nothing to do with the winemakers’ shift en masse towards other forms of closure. The big reason is because cork, relative to other means available to wine makers, is a more imperfect way to seal the bottle. Among other things, it occasionally spoils entire bottles (by destroying the flavor) or breaks and crumbles into the wine, becoming a nuisance. It has been replaced by screw caps and plastic stoppers, both of which have potential but both are still being research to fully understand their true and long-term effects. The cork stoppers will not go quietly as the tradition of popping the cork from a wine bottle is cherished by many.
As far as Sustainable Flooring is concerned, we can use any grade of cork for any of our materials so the increase in overall production of cork is only a boon for our company and we are able to say with certainty that we do not have one bit of “cork conflict of interest.” As for the wine debate? Well, we have a fondness for both camps given our love for cork and our love for unspoiled wines. At least it makes for some lively conversation!
What is Aluminum Oxide?
Aug 10
Keen observers of our products have noticed over the years that we proclaim our Strandwoven™ products to be free of Aluminum Oxide in the water-based polyurethane finish that we apply to our prefinished product. To some who are already versed in wood and finish, this means something to them but to most it does not. Allow us to take away any remaining mystery by explaining exactly what the substance is and why we would make its presence or absence known to someone.
Aluminum Oxide is a hardening agent that is put in finishes to add strength. Since softer woods may dent or gouge, it can be beneficial to put on a little bit harder finish in order to protect them a little better. However, Aluminum Oxide is not wholly advantageous, which is why we only use it in a few products. Some of its negative qualities are that it scratches white and powdery if it does get scratched, then it is usually a more noticeable blemish than a scratch without Aluminum Oxide might be. Also, when it comes to refinishing a floor to remove any scratches that may have happened over the years, a finish with Aluminum Oxide must be completely sanded down over the whole floor and another coat of finish put on, while finish that doesn’t contain the compound can possibly be “spot refinished” and could just be refinished where the most wear or one large scratch might be. We would also like to make clear that Aluminum Oxide is not dangerous to human health at all and has nothing to do with low emitting materials or VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
Sustainable Flooring puts Aluminum Oxide in the finish of our traditional solid strip bamboo because it is a soft enough wood to benefit from the hardening, but we leave it out of the finish when it comes to our Strandwoven™ line of products. The reasoning behind this is simple; the Strandwoven™ products are already hard enough because of their manufacturing process (up to 2.5 times as hard as traditional oak). The hardness of Aluminum Oxide is not necessary and the products avoid some of the disadvantages listed above. Hopefully we have helped pierce the veil of Aluminum Oxide and have effectively demonstrated why we feel the need to mention it at all.
There is a significant amount of misinformation in the market relating to the use of “bamboo” in dry climates. Or, more specifically, the reason some people have been “burned” (with massive shrinking and delamination) in dry climates has nothing to do with bamboo as a raw material, and everything to do with the actual source for the material.
There are a number of reasons for this: climate conditions where production occurs; relatively low-cost industry sector and associated market competition with respect to price, and the general fact that not all bamboo flooring products are made the same way.
Firstly, bamboo flooring is produced in the sub-tropical regions of China and Vietnam, where the factories are located in close proximity to both the raw material and ports for international shipping. This is the first strike with most bamboo producers – the ambient conditions around the factories can reach 70-100% relative humidity, and make it nearly impossible to lower the product’s moisture content to a suitable level through the standard “air drying” method. In order to effectively dry the fiber and boards, kiln assemblies must be used. Dovetailing into point #2 (market price, competition) is the fact that kilns cost more money (to buy and to run), and most “buyers” (importers, flooring brands, etc.) are not willing to pay more for their material than their competition, especially when the industry and public has grown to adopt the thought that when they buy bamboo, they are buying “bamboo” as opposed to “Sustainable Flooring” brand bamboo, for example. Since the standard quality “guidelines” associated with most domestic woods have not transferred over to the bamboo industry overseas, it becomes a difficult call for bamboo importers who rely solely on price for their sales to pay more for bamboo than they may normally be selling their material for. It basically becomes a vicious cycle – buyers demand lower prices, importers need to pay less, factories need to keep their prices as low as possible, and the added expenses to make higher quality products are avoided.
In dry climates it is important that the bamboo flooring being installed is acclimated to the actual site and regional conditions, which either involves a tremendously long “acclimation” period (potentially many months on site, stacked, and stickered), or sufficient kiln-drying prior to packaging. Construction schedules generally do not allow for 3 months of acclimating time (in the right environment – where there are no big influxes of moisture, like those typical in a construction project – drywall, paint, laying subfloor, etc.). Being that we are based in the heart of a dry climate (Colorado), we really understand how moisture affects the product (both in the product and being associated to the site), and since we have partnered with a factory that understands our requirements for quality (on all levels – moisture just being one component), we lower the moisture content of the bamboo material we bring in to our Rocky Mountain distribution center. We use a series of efficient boilers coupled with an automatic conveyor drying assembly to bring the material to a suitable level for a relatively quick installation. Our product has addressed the common misconception that uninformed sales people regularly relay to consumers about using bamboo in dry climates: that they are destined for problems. It is true that most bamboo products installed in the same fashion most “traditional” woods are installed (limited acclimation) will have issues in dry climates, but not if the product coming out of the box was designed to overcome that problem. If bamboo is at equilibrium with site conditions, it excels in its stability.
What is Strandwoven?
Jul 26
We get asked a fair amount of questions here at Sustainable Flooring but one of the most common, and one that pertains specifically to us, is what does the term Strandwoven™ mean? Strandwoven™ is the term for our unique compression and densification process. It can be applied to a number of different raw materials but all these raw materials are taken in their fibrous forms and put under intense heat and pressure with a little bit of low-VOC resin (about 3% by weight) to form a solid beam of material. Planks are then milled off of these compressed beams and the grain pattern ends up depending on the specific recipe of how one lays the fibers into the mold before compression. The Strandwoven™ process dramatically increases the raw material’s hardness and stability (the amount of expansion or contraction one can expect relative to changes in humidity) and allows for exotic looks that can be found nowhere else. Overall quality and durability are the major benefits of the Strandwoven™ process and we are proud to offer it in our flagship product line, our Strandwoven™ Woods and Bamboo.