Walking on sunshine: bamboo, cork, & mud flooring

When choosing flooring, why not consider an eco-friendly option that will add value and interest to your home. New technology in building supplies gives fresh and interesting options to your design scheme. Bamboo, cork, and mud are the hottest new additions to your home decorating pallet.

Bamboo

Bamboo in its natural state is pretty remarkable. Technically a grass, bamboo can grow to be 130 ft tall and up to a foot in diameter, and it thrives in a variety of climates. It grows easily and quickly, with some species growing as much as 1-3 feet a day. Most varieties grow about 2 inches a day, and will reach their full height within one growing season. Fully matured bamboo used for flooring and furniture is typically cultivated after 3 or 4 years when it becomes sufficiently woody and strong.

Many green organizations are opting for bamboo flooring as its it durable, stylish and environmentally friendly. Bamboo floors are also insect and moisture proof, its gaps in between also allow for efficient air circulation during the summers. The bamboo floor boards are also popular with designers as they are aesthetically pleasing and easily incorporated with many designer styles and trends. Currently, there are many bamboo flooring suppliers in the UK that offer both carbonized and natural varieties.

The fact is, this relatively new type of flooring is as flat as any other hardwood or laminate floor as we know it. With the help of recent technological advances, manufacturers are now turning bamboo stalks into high quality ultra smooth flooring on a grand scale in order to meet the fast growing demand for this exceptionally stylish floor covering.

Just like some other wooden floors, the processed and machined cane comes in short laminated strips, planks or tiles, therefore installation is conducted in much the same way to any other similar type of flooring. It should also be said that, being tough and durable, it will also last many years if both properly installed and cared for.

Cork

Natural cork flooring offers a visually appealing, affordable, and durable flooring option that supports environmentally responsible design. When many people think of cork they think of the taupe colored material that plugs wine bottles, but modern designers have created cork-based flooring in every color of the rainbow. You can use cork to realize almost any motif or design that you can picture in your mind’s eye. So long as a design could be created with ceramic tile, it can now be done with durable, eco-friendly cork.

Cork is an all-natural product, harvested from the bark of the cork oak tree. With all the demand for green construction, a truly sustainable resource such as cork is a perfect fit. When the cork oak reaches maturity, usually around 20-25 years, the bark of the cork oak tree is first harvested. Every 9 years from then on for the life of the tree, which can be anywhere from 100 to 250 years old, the cork is harvested leaving a product of superior quality each time. Aside from cork being an environmentally responsible product, the physical and aesthetic properties make cork an ideal choice for a stunning and durable floor.

Like the production of the raw material, the cork flooring manufacturing methods are also geared towards the protection of our environment. During the manufacturing process of cork floor tiles, all raw materials are consumed, either for the finished cork flooring product or as an energy source. Cork flooring manufacturing wastes are burned in furnaces which supply the heat to process the cork.

Mud

Mud is a very eco-friendly and affordable material even though some might think it is floor finish associated with being primitive or poor. However I think mud is very beautiful flooring material as long as you can compact it properly, keep it from cracking and water proof its surface.

The high density and low thermal conductivity of earthen materials makes them passive solar devices, easily capturing and retaining heat during the day and releasing it at night. But as warm as earthen floors are, there's no denying their cool factor.

The dirt is mixed with lime and sand to harden and after two weeks is sealed with linseed oil and beeswax. These floors can be cleaned with soap and water or shined with another coat of oil. Sounds easy but finding the right folks to help you get the proper mixture and installation right can prove to be difficult.

Dirt floors are at the forefront of the movement towards "natural building" which is defined by using materials that have had the least amount of processing. Similar to the way millions of people live around the world.

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