BAMTEX BAMBOO FLOORING

Bamtex® continues to innovate the utilization of bamboo with its new decorative bamboo veneer, paneling and increasingly popular flooring products..

Our products offer a unique opportunity to provide a new design concept for the cabinet, countertop, furniture, fixture and display industries. Alternatives to timber as a construction material are being promoted to reduce dependence on hardwoods. With its physical characteristics and ability to regenerate rapidly, bamboo is one of the best means to replace hardwoods while providing similar properties and attractiveness.

Why Bamboo?

Bamboo has been cultivated for more than 4,000 years in China. It has been used in everyday life in Asia for centuries. Bamboo is a food, a “paper like” medium for messaging, for art works, utensils, furniture, vessels, decoration and more recently as building materials including, flooring, veneer and paneling, decoration as in moldings and wall coverings and pallets and shipping crates.
a ccording to David Farrelly in his book, “The Book of Bamboo”:

• A typical bamboo has a tensile strength of 28,000 per square inch compared to 23,000 for steel.
• In late 19th Century Europe, bicycle frames typically were made of bamboo.
• Bamboo survived the Hiroshima atomic blast closer to ground zero than any other life form.
• In 1882, Thomas Edison used bamboo filaments in the world’s first light bulb manufacturing.
• The needle in Alexander Graham Bell’s first phonograph was made of bamboo.

Bamboo is:

…the fastest growing wood type plant on this planet. It grows one third faster than the fastest growing tree. Some species can grow up to 1 meter per day. One can almost "watch it grow". This growth pattern makes it easily accessible in a minimal amount of time. Size ranges from miniatures to towering culms of 60 meters.

…a critical element in the balance of oxygen/carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Bamboo is the fastest growing canopy for the re-greening of degraded areas and generates more oxygen than equivalent stand of trees. It lowers light intensity and protects against ultraviolet rays and is an atmospheric and soil purifier.

…a viable replacement for wood. Bamboo is one of the strongest building materials. In the tropics is it possible to plant and grow your own bamboo home. In a plot 20m x 20m2, in the course of 5 years, two 8m x 8m homes can be constructed from the harvest. Every year after that the yield is one additional house per plot.

…versatile with a short growth cycle. There are over 1000 species of bamboo on the earth. The diversity makes bamboo adaptable to many environments. It can be harvested in 3-5 years versus 10-20 years for most softwoods. Bamboo tolerates extremes of precipitation, from 30-250 inches of annual rainfall.

…a critical element of the economy. Bamboo and its related industries already provide income, food and housing to over 2.2 billion people worldwide. There is a 3-5 year return on investment for a new bamboo plantation versus 8-10 years for rattan. Governments such as India, China and Burma with 19,800,000 hectares of bamboo reserves collectively, have begun to focus attention on the economic factors of bamboo production.

…an essential structural material in earthquake architecture. In Limon, Costa Rica, only the bamboo houses from the National Bamboo Project stood after their violent earthquake in 1992.

…a renewable resource for agroforestry products. Bamboo is a high-yield renewable natural resource: ply bamboo is now being used for wall paneling, floor tiles; bamboo pulp, for paper making, briquettes for fuel, raw material for housing construction, and rebar for reinforced concrete beams.

…a soil conservation tool. Bamboo is exquisite component of landscape design. It's anti-erosion properties create an effective watershed, stitching the soil together along fragile river banks, deforested areas, and in places prone to earthquakes and mud slides. The sum of stem flow rate and canopy intercept of bamboo is 25% which means that bamboo greatly reduces rain run-off, preventing massive soil erosion.

…an ancient medicine. Bamboo has for centuries been used in Ayurveda and Chinese acupuncture. The powdered hardened secretion from bamboo is used internally to treat asthma, coughs and can be used as an aphrodisiac. In China, ingredients from the root of the black bamboo help treat kidney disease. Roots and leaves have also been used to treat venereal disease and cancer. Sap is said to reduce fever and ash will cure prickly heat. Current research point to bamboo's potential in a number of medicinal uses.

…integrally involved in culture and the arts. Bamboo is a mystical plant as a symbol of strength, flexibility, tenacity, endurance and compromise. Throughout Asia, bamboo has for centuries been integral to religions ceremonies, art, music and daily life. It is the paper, the brush and the inspiration of poems and paintings. Among the earliest historical records, 2nd century B.C. were written on green bamboo strips strung together in a bundle with silk thread. Instruments made of bamboo create unique resonance.

…a food source: Bamboo shoots provide nutrition for million of people worldwide. In Japan, the antioxidant properties of pulverized bamboo bark prevents bacterial growth and its used a natural food preservative. Taiwan alone consumes 80,000 tons of bamboo shoots annually constituting at $50 million industry.

…a landscape design element. Bamboo is an exquisite component of landscape design. For the human environment, bamboo provides shade, wind break, acoustical barriers and aesthetic beauty.

Key Characteristics of Bamtex® Bamboo
Used for Veneer, Paneling, and Flooring.

• Bamtex® Bamboo is a resource that has been used for centuries
• It is nature’s substitute for the beautiful yet endangered rain forest hardwoods
• Environmentally sound alternative
• Considerable ecological savings
• Hard, Very Stable
• Beautiful and Durable
• Exquisite decorative pattern, new and attractive
• Bamtex®® comes in either natural or carbonized color.
• Bamtex®® can be stained to give a magnificent and innovative look

• Executive Offices
• Hospitality
• Retail
• Health Care
• Upscale Condominium Projects

Specific Locations

The Body Shop, an estimated fifty (50) locations in the U.S.
Chico’s, ninety plus locations in the U.S.
Liz Claiborne, Corporate Showroom and offices
Nat’l Geographic, Executive Office
Saks 5th Avenue, two locations with special painted bamboo.
Earth Pledge Foundation, NY
Sheraton Rittenhouse, Main Lobby and Atrium areas
Boston Consulting, Reception area
Lehman Brothers, Executive Offices
One Bank Note, High-end condominiums
Destinations Today, Retail location in Florida
Adams Morgan, High-end Condominiums, Washington, D.C.
Critical Path, Technology Center, San Francisco
Jefferson Bank, Executive Office, Reception, Philadelphia
Quicksilver, Several locations, California
Naturalizer Shoes, Numerous Locations in the U.S.
Belk Department Stores, SC, NC
Ethiopian Embassy, Washington, D.C.
Hilton Hotel, Elevator lobbies, O’ahu, HI
Wellington Management, PA
Arnold Communications, MA
Le Sport Sac, Retail Locations, NY, Guam, HI
Monsanto, Executive Offices, MD


Manufacturing Process

Converting bamboo stalks into one of its two final styles, vertical or horizontal.

We do not farm bamboo, but harvest it in a controlled manner when it is mature (5 years old) from the forest in Southern China. Our bamboo is never clear cut; therefore our harvesting procedure has a minimal impact on the local ecosystem.

The bamboo is hollow in the center and therefore, it is cut into long strips. The result is strips of about 3 to 4 meters long. The bamboo not used in Bamtex® products is used to make other bamboo products, such as, baskets and chopsticks.

These long strips are then milled into rectangular shapes on all four sides. The waste produced in this milling process is used to make a variety of other products, such as, paper and particleboard.

The next process is a serious pesticide process that will last several hours.

At this stage, these long strips are still in a blond color which is the natural color of bamboo. If we wish to have them colored into a darker color, we put these strips into a steam and pressure chamber to color them “completely through the fibers” into a kind of brown, honey color we call "carbonized". After this stage, we have either "natural" or "carbonized" colors.

We now go to the drying process, and put the products into kilns for several days.

At this stage, we have long strips that are ready to be assembled together. Our strips are sorted according to color to achieve the best match. Since bamboo is a natural product, color variations will occur.

The strips then are covered with glue and assembled together to produce large boards, and the strips can be put together either vertically or horizontally. In either form the bamboo is placed into presses that exert up to 1,000 tons to insure a strong, stable bond is achieved.

We therefore obtain large boards that will be cut into a variety of dimensions from 15.7 wide x 72 long to 4’ x 8’. Also, at this stage we can cut and mill the boards into flooring products.

Except for the Vertical which has only one thickness, these large boards will be put together by layering several of them depending on the thickness we wish to achieve. We can and do obtain up to 6 PLY products.

At this stage, we have products that we can sell. Click here to see close up photos.

Another alternative is to make the boards into a thin veneer or 3 to 4 mm veneer.

1. Once we have a single ply of horizontal or vertical, we can thinly slice these boards to produce a thin veneer of 0.6 mm.
2. Other options are to make thicknesses of 3 to 4 mm at this stage that can be sold as individual pieces of product.
3. These 3 to 4 mm bamboo veneers are now ready to be laid up on different core materials, including plywood or the more popular MDF core.
4. The bamboo veneers can be applied to only one side or to both sides.Environmentally sound, a great new look and a very dependable product.

Performance Standards

Bamtex® has established strategic alliances with manufacturers who meet our high, quality standards. These suppliers have established quality criteria to achieve ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14000 performance standards. Our bamboo flooring has been awarded certificates of compliance for meeting these standards.

ISO9001:2000

This standard establishes the requirements to be met by the factory’s quality system in the design, development, production, and servicing of bamboo flooring products.ISO14001
ISO 14000 is a series of international standards on environmental management. It provides a framework for the development of an environmental management system and the supporting audit program.
ISO 14001 is the corner stone of the ISO 14000 series. It specifies a framework of control for an Environmental Management System against which an organization can be certified by a third party. In plain language, this means what the organization does to minimize the harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities and products.

Finished Flooring Lacquers

Our UV-Coatings comply with international standards (EN 71), with no migration of hazardous elements.
Bamtex®, Inc. UV-Lacquers are certified to be free of:

• Formaldehyde
• Pesticides
• Herbicides
• Heavy Metals
• Insecticides
• Halogenated Hydrocarbons
• Any harmful emission

Adhesives

While most bamboo flooring manufacturers use adhesives with urea formaldehyde, our products fall below the most stringent global standards. These standards are the European E1 requirements of 0.1 ppm (parts per million). Our factories have been certified to meet or exceed this standard.
It is our goal to continue to push for additional reductions or the complete elimination of formaldehyde for our products.

Bamtex®, Inc. utilizes a system free of:
• Components classified as hazardous to the environment
• Components listed on international lists of chemicals with restrictions (Also called observations lists)
• Solvents (VOC), heavy metals, bactericides, halogenated organic compounds

Our flooring consistently tests 0.05 ppm for formaldehyde emissions, which is significantly under the U.S. standard of 0.2 ppm or the E1 standard of 0.1 ppm.

Bamtex®, Inc. will continue to work with its factories to minimize or even eliminate formaldehyde from its adhesives. However, it should be noted formaldehyde occurs naturally in forests and in many of the everyday products used by consumers throughout the world. Our products are well below the most stringent limits established when new, and any outgassing will diminish within the first few months.