Table of Contents
- Bamboo flooring can be as durable as traditional hardwood flooring. In addition, your bamboo floor will give your place a clean, contemporary decor. Get to know the pros and cons of bamboo floors to learn if it suits your needs.
- Another essential aspect, just as important as the material’s basic features, is maintenance methods. What’s the best way to clean bamboo floors?
- Keep reading to discover how to clean bamboo floors without streaks.
Pros and cons of bamboo floor
Bamboo floors add real estate value to the apartment or house—confirms The Spruce.
This kind of flooring is made of grass, making it more water-resistant and resilient than hardwood. However, it’s still not immune to water damage.
Bamboo floors are as hard as most hardwoods. Yet, unfortunately, just like other wood floors, they can be scratched and can crack, especially in spaces with swinging humidity levels.
So, although durable, don’t be surprised when, over time, dragging furniture across the floor, pet nails, or unpadded high heels leave their marks on your pavement.
Bamboo floors will particularly appeal to you if you’re eco-friendly and all about sustainable choices and using natural, renewable resources.
While regular trees need at least 20 years to mature and be cut, we can repeatedly harvest a bamboo stalk every five or six years.
Another bright side is that bamboo floors are characterized by easy maintenance and can be refinished.
Among drawbacks: they can be easily scratched, humidity swings can cause cracks, and there may be toxins in adhesives.
Bamboo flooring in manufacturing process goes through slicing or shredding the stalks of bamboo grass plants and then compressing the pulp back together using heat, pressure, and a resin-based adhesive. This adhesive is known to contain urea-formaldehyde that can out gas into the air.
Various types of bamboo flooring have their manufacturing processes:
- stranded bamboo is a premium type, available both as tongue-and-groove nailed down planks and as floating over the underlayment planks. It comes in many colors. These bamboo floors are made by shredding the bamboo stalks into small strands, which are compressed into sheets using heat and resin binders, and finally cut into planks,
- horizontal bamboo flooring is produced by cutting the strands into thin strips glued together to form planks. This bamboo floor variety has a “grain”—its long stalk fibers are visible in the flooring. It may not be as durable or hard as stranded bamboo, but its appearance can be striking,
- engineered bamboo flooring results from bonding a thin layer of bamboo onto a plywood or MDF core. It’s installed with click-lock planks that float over a foam underlayment. It is the least expensive and least durable bamboo flooring. It can’t be refinished.
Maintaining bamboo floors
Bamboo floors perform similarly to hardwood, hence, it may be challenging to choose between bamboo floors and wood floors.
One reason to pick bamboo over other options is because it’s comparably easy to maintain.
All you need to do is sweep or vacuum it regularly to remove debris. You can also occasionally damp mop bamboo floors or clean it with bamboo floor cleaner.
Tip: Make sure the bamboo floor cleaner of your choice is non-wax and non-alkaline.
Let’s tackle all the basic rules on how to clean bamboo floors.
Cleaning bamboo floors
According to Bamboo Flooring Company, you should follow these steps for regular maintenance:
Remove dust and dirt daily
No one likes the dull bamboo floor. It can happen when dirt and grit on the floor take away the shine.
The problem is, most of us prefer when bamboo floors shine!
Don’t let the build-up of loose dirt or dust cause damage, scuff marks, and scratches to your bamboo floor when walked on.
Remove grit particles regularly by simply sweeping your floor with
- a soft bristle broom,
- dust mop, or
- vacuum cleaner;
Take care of your wood floor daily to minimize the impact of wear and tear.
Clean regularly
Get used to regular home cleaning at least once a week with a PH neutral wood floor spray bottle cleaner and microfiber mop if you wish to maintain the all-year-long freshness of your bamboo floor. Avoid harsh chemicals.
The bamboo floor is vinegar safe. You can mix 1/4 cup of white vinegar into a quart of water to create a solution for bamboo floor cleaning.
Tip: Apply this homemade bamboo floor cleaner in the same way as you do with a commercial hardwood cleaner—use a slightly damp sponge or rag wrung dry before application.
Clean spills immediately
We mentioned that bamboo flooring can be damaged by water rather easily.
Be sure to wipe away spills and any wet spots promptly with a soft cloth. It should be absorbent enough not to let the liquid soak into and penetrate the flooring.
Watch out not to scratch your bamboo floor
Being durable is one thing, but your bamboo floor surface can become severaly messed up with scratched coming from heavy furniture and objects during your natural daily movements around the house.
Get equipped with anti-scratch felt protector pads and apply them to the bottom of furniture and other heavy objects—it will reduce unwanted damage to your beautiful bamboo floor surface.
Tip: Always lift furniture and heavy and/or sharp objects when moving them instead of dragging or sliding them across your bamboo floor if you don’t want scratches and scuffs to appear.
Protect your bamboo floor from the outdoors
For starters, remember to use doormats at all exterior entrances to ensure that no moisture, water, dirt, and grit from the outside scratches your bamboo floor.
The same with footwear. When you come from the outdoors, all that is brought on the bottom of your shoes can scratch and damage your floor.
Remove and leave your outdoor footwear on a porch, in a garage, shoe rack, or cupboard to protect your floor’s surface.
Never use a steam mop
While steam mops may sound like a great idea, steam generated from a steam mop can damage your floor, so it’s not a recommended method to clean bamboo flooring.
A steam mop can penetrate the bamboo and cause it to absorb the moisture. As a result, planks of flooring will warp and distort.
Tip: Use a damp mop to clean your bamboo floor instead. Remember that there must be no excess water not to cause severe damage.
Avoid abrasive cleaning products
Use cleaning products designed to clean bamboo or other hardwood flooring.
Important: Acidic, abrasive, and other cleaning products that contain ammonia will cause irreparable damage to your bamboo floor.
How to clean bamboo floors without streaks?
Never use wax or furniture polish
This one may be tempting, but keep in mind that using furniture polish, oils, and waxes that leave a slippery residue on your bamboo floor, should be avoided.
Ideal to clean bamboo is a PH-neutral wood floor cleaning spray. It won’t leave any residue or streaks on the floor surface.
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