I'm looking at them too.

When Consumer Reports rated hardwood flooring, EcoTimber's woven bamboo flooring came out on top (of course they don't test every flooring available). I've attached a link that explains how they make the woven flooring. Teragren's Synergy Strand with Xcor did very well, too. The EcoTimber had better dent resistance and the Teragren was better in the UV tests. Other bamboo products didn't do as well. CR didn't test for water resistance.

I'm curious to hear what others say!

Here is a link that might be useful: EcoTimber bamboo flooring

Here is a link to a thread started 6 years ago in the Bamboo Forum which you may want to read through...

Here is a link that might be useful: Bamboo flooring

Yes! I do like our bamboo floor. We've used a product by Ambient. It feels no harder to me than any other wood floor. I think psychologically I'd be a little more comfortable with something more linoleum-y as I feel very free to get it dirty and wet in a way that I worry about with the bamboo floors. But I don't think that worry is anything more than custom - I've always had plastic-y floors before.

Do you have a specific concern? I put a rug beneath the dishwasher and in front of the cleanup sink just to slurp up spills from there -- oh, and in front of the fridge with an outside water tap that *always* flings ice and water hither and yon. Otherwise, it's just a pretty floor....

A whole bamboo forum?! Clearly I have some more GardenWeb exploring to do! Thanks for the links and the consumer reports results.

I figured out a way to post the CR testing results here. You can see they vary greatly. By the way, the EcoTimber woven was the only flooring in the solid wood floor and engineered wood floor categories that did well in the dent test. All the others were rated fair or poor.

{{!gwi}}

thank you, mpagmom. I will look into the EcoTimber woven. I like that they all have excellent ratings for stains. Does anyone know anything about water damage?

Ours was much cheaper from these guys: Ambient Bamboo. I haven't and can't test the way CR does. DH did the research on this but I have no problems with it after a year+. It's harder than the stuff we put in 10 years ago but lost with this renovation. The flooring guys I hired to lay it said it was better than theirs (!). We've got pre-finished stuff -- that's not the right term I'm sure. But it doesn't need finishing at the end the way a wood floor does, sanding and refinishing I mean. It comes in pre-finished long boards with grooves in them that get fitted together. But there are right and wrong way to do so ... as we've learned! ;) That's another story though.

I don't remember exactly what ours was per foot; about $4 I think. They sell direct but you pay shipping. We have no dogs, so that sort of punishment I can't speak to, but there is zero dinging anywhere, including on stairs with a kid who seems to be practicing for her dottage using a cane 24/7. What's up with that? If that didn't ding the wood, well, I'm not worried for the future.

I wanted bamboo floor for my kitchen and we did look at several types of it. I read the review in CR and intended to go with the bamboo that was top-rated in the article, but when we actually saw it, DH did not like the fake grain look that it had. I know the weaving is what makes it less prone to dents, etc., but it does change the look as well.

We ended up going with red oak to match the rest of the floors in our house and they were finished on-site to match the old floors as well as possible. So far I am very happy with them, and it does give a more cohesive look then the bamboo would have.

Glad to see a second happy Ambient customer. The carbonized strand woven looks great to me. It isn't a stain so the color goes through the whole thing. And the price is very reasonable!

We put strand woven bamboo in a walnut stain throughout our whole house, except for the bathrooms. We even put our kitchen cabinets on top of the floors, which I know some people say to definitely not do. AND we're in north central Florida, in the middle of a swamp. Humidity is on average 75%. So far--knock on bamboo--we haven't had any problems with the wood itself. It's only been about a year.

Now, I will recommend against purchasing HomeLegend bamboo floors from the big orange box. We bought their patented click-lock system because we thought we'd be installing it ourselves and that seemed to be the easy way to go about it. And maybe what I'm really recommending against is any click-lock system, but essentially it "feels" like a floating floor. Some of the planks have a creak and a little give underfoot.

A friend who installed tongue-and-groove (not bamboo) has a much, much more solid feeling floor. He used a bead of glue on each groove, but it's not a glue-down. It's still considered floating. The planks are attached to each other, but not to the slab. His floor feels much, much more solid.

I'm also considering bamboo flooring for our kitchen and bathroom. Would love to hear input from anybody out there who actually has Consumer Reports top rated Eco Timber woven bamboo flooring in their home.

We went today to look at the EcoTimber strand woven, and I really like it. We saw a larger sample of it on display on the floor of the showroom to get a sense of the grain and color. I also got some samples from Ambient delivered this week, and Ambient's strand woven is stronger than EcoTimber--3544 Janka hardness (Ambient carbonized) compared to 2800. The Ambient strand woven natural is 3944.

For folks in the Philly area, we went to the Environmental Home Store in Doylestown, and I got a major introduction to green building. The EcoTimber bamboo is free of pesticides, fertilizers, and meets CARB standards (whatever that is) for formaldehyde. A quick look at the Ambient website and it looks like their bamboo floors are similar. It's giving me a lot to think about. I'm now going to look into green cabinetry and green countertops (recycled glass, recycled paper!). We may not go that route, but I definitely want to learn more.

We have vertical strand bamboo for most of our main level, including the kitchen, and it's held up really well. Some pictures at the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: House pictures

Halocrime, your floors look fantastic!

Vogt300, please keep us updated on what you find out. BTW, I recently watched a video testing countertops. The recycled paper countertops were prone to staining and scorching. One of the recycled glass countertops (Cosentino Ecoline) cracked when something hot was placed on it. I never place anything hot on my countertops, but I have some kids who don't think as much as I do.

I agree, your floors are wonderful halocrime. Thanks mpagmom for starting me on my research on countertops. At the store we were looking at Icestone and a soapstone-type called Squak Mountain Stone. The store also pulled out Cambria quartz. They don't display it because it is mined, not recycled. But they will sell it because it is radon free (apparently the only quartz brand that is?). The Cambria brochure mentions some other environmental benefits. We want a dark black countertop and it is harder to find in recycled glass, and I didn't really like the look of the paper, so it may not be for us. I'm glad to know there are other options, though, and I will keep looking.

Going off on the countertop tangent, if you're looking for black countertops, check out Hanstone. The Obsidian Black looks like it has recycled glass in it.Genesis also has recycled material in it. Or you might like Hazel Black or Black Coral.

I just googled the Obsidian and found a blog with pictures of kitchen: http://redfile1.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-countertops-we-are-waiting-on.html

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Hanstone Quartz

On your countertop tangent, check out Fuez (if you're on the west coast)

http://www.fuez.com/collection.php

They are out of Portland, OR, Relatively small outfit but with some great looking products that use recycled glass etc. They sent us a couple samples and we found a local fabricator that is a reseller and will be using it in our kitchen. Plus they had a fragment of another material from Fuez that we'll use in the bathroom.

I hadn't heard of Squak Mountain, but it certainly does look cool. Good to know that the Cambria is radon free. I know they have a dark black. Whatever you are seriously considering, get a large sample and abuse it. I ordered a 12x12 sample of Cambria Torquay from their website and couldn't get it to stain but I could get tiny chips from the squared edge. I wouldn't get a squared edge anyway.

How big are the Ambient samples you got? Can you abuse them and report back?

We are almost done with our open kitchen. We decided on tile in kitchen and Teragren bamboo in the sitting area. The website mentions that it holds up well in high traffic areas &
is for commercial use also. It also seemed pretty easy to install.

http://www.teragren.com/p_parisblack.html

I've only been in my house 6 or 7 weeks, but I really like mine so far. From the research I did, the hardness varies quite a bit from manufacturer to manufacturer so be sure to check the Janka rating for the specific product you are looking at.
As far as how it feels to stand on, I'm not sure that is something that we can really perceive within the range of the Janka scale...I doubt I said that well, but I'm trying to say that while I'm sure 3 hours standing would be very different on wood vs tile, I'm not sure that there would be a significant difference on two types of wood (unless of course, you throw cork into the mix).
Two of the features of the bamboo that we really like(d) are the very light color it's available in and the fact that as it ages in the sun, it moves in the neutral brown direction rather than the yellow direction (which I personally despise). However, those are aesthetic characteristics, and thus what I like, you might hate:)

Found a very informative site that explains what to look for in a bamboo floor.

Here is a link that might be useful: bamboohardwoodflooring.net

I will definitely try to destroy the Ambient samples I have (3.75" by 6"). You can get your own for free, with free shipping from Ambient's website, so you can do your own tests too. It's a good warning about the Cambria chipping. I guess any stone would chip, but how much?

Thanks for all the leads and links for recycled countertops and bamboo!

My understanding is that any stone or quartz can chip if it has a squared off edge. An eased edge or bullnose would pretty much eliminate the risk. Not sure how other edges hold up. The chips I was able to produce (with effort) were visible but I can't say they would be noticeable.

we have teregran (iirc--it came from washington and was one of the first dealers in the usa i believe) bamboo in the main rooms of the house. no dents at all in several years with big dogs etc.
but wow does this product scratch easily!
the surface finish is too soft for the abuse we heap on it, and we're going to have to refinish one of these days. i much prefer cork planks for the kitchen and upper bdrms, as it's softer on the feet and quiet overall.er