Bamboo as a floor is harder than maple and up to two times harder than red oak. Furthermore, bamboo flooring is more resilient than most hardwoods, so it can absorb a greater impact without denting.

Bamboo floors start off as long tubes of bamboo stalks. These stalks are split into "fillets" which have the rounded inner and outer faces of the stalks. Fillets are milled flat on all sides, producing as a by-product long, thin strands of bamboo. These strands are used to make woven-strand bamboo flooring, discussed below.

The trimmed strips of bamboo are cold-glued together in one of two ways. Each method has its aesthetic and structural advantages.

Horizontal bamboo flooring lays the strips side by side with their narrow dimensions glued together. This puts the broadest face of the bamboo strip facing up, and gives the greatest exposure to the face grain and the "knuckles" or growth knobs on the bamboo. Horizontal bamboo flooring is glued in three cross-grained layers for thickness and strength. This makes the strongest bamboo floor.

Vertical bamboo flooring lays the strips on their narrow sides, gluing them together along the broader faces. This exposes the edge grain of the bamboo ad provides a one-layer flooring of adequate thickness.

The long, thin strands trimmed from the bamboo stalks form a unique flooring called “woven-strand” bamboo. The strands are literally woven together, impregnated with resin, and compressed under thousands of tons of pressure. The result is a flooring with a beautiful pattern that is strong in all directions. Flooring is made from waste bamboo that would otherwise be burned.

Is woven-strand bamboo harder than the other two varieties? They're all made from the same material, so the answer would seem to be no. But the amount and quality of the resin used to bind the strands of bamboo together makes a big difference. An inferior resin may crack under high heels and dropped bowling balls. Historically, horizontal cut bamboo floors have been considered the hardest of the bamboo floors.

The durability of bamboo flooring is different from its hardness. Durability has much to do with the anti-scratch finish put on flooring. Here again, lowest price often means lowest quality. Generally, a high-gloss finish will show scratches more, while a satin finish will help hide scratches.

Bamboo flooring comes in natural, partially carbonized, and carbonized (or caramelized) colors. The bamboo is carbonized by boiling after it is split, trimmed, and dried. Natural is the lightest color while carbonized is the darkest. The more carbonized the bamboo is, the more its natural grain patterns show up. However, carbonized bamboo is not as hard as the natural bamboo.

Bamboo floor planks come in various widths. Note: it is important to buy three-layered bamboo flooring if the board width is eight inches or more. One-layer bamboo might tend to cup or warp. This is true for vertical as well as horizontal bamboo flooring boards. Bamboo floors are considered an engineered flooring.

Bamboo floors are made from a very tough, beautiful flooring material that comes from a rapidly renewable resource. It is certainly proving popular among residential and commercial customers.