Bamboo Flooring

Natural bamboo is different from trees - it's hollow and thin, so to create bamboo flooring they use strips of bamboo and bond them together. This is where the distinction between horizontal and vertical bamboo is found. When making horizontal flooring, the strips are laid flat so you can see the natural graining of the bamboo. This gives the horizontal flooring a beautiful, natural look that shows you the growth rings and graining. Vertical flooring gives you a cleaner more modern look with less variation. The two types of flooring are vastly different from one another.   

Carbonized is a process where they steam the bamboo to caramelize the sugars in the bamboo. During this process, the bamboo changes color naturally without having to use a stain. There is a downside to this, as the bamboo loses some of its hardness level by up to 30%.

Strand woven is when the bamboo is made into strands of bamboo and literally woven together and bonded together with resins and extreme pressure using heat. The result is flooring that is 4x harder than solid red oak hardwood! Because of this, strand woven bamboo can be used anywhere, including commercial use as well.

Absolutely - just like traditional hardwood flooring, it can be in the kitchen. Growing in popularity as well for its durability, a pan falls to the grounds usually creating a dent in traditional wood flooring - NOT with bamboo. Having a higher Janka rating gives you the extra hardness that comes in handy a lot giving your floors that added protection.