For years the two most common bamboo flooring colors were natural and a dark brown color that was created through carbonizing the bamboo. Today bamboo flooring colors are practically unlimited from off white to gold, tan, ash, oak, orange, amaretto, pecan, wenge, chestnut, black, blue or just about any other color you might imagine.
How Bamboo Flooring Colors are Created
Natural bamboo is a light color. All bamboo flooring colors begin with the natural color bamboo. During manufacturing, all bamboo strips are subjected to a bleaching process where strong oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide are used. These bleaching agents suppress color differences and oxidize troublesome organic matter. If care is not exercised bamboo flooring problems are created as the bamboo can be left too soft or the process can leave residual oxidizing agents that can react with finishes and cause them to peel at a later date.
Commonly darker bamboo flooring colors are created through the use of carmelization. When bamboo flooring is caramelized it is usually seen as a brownish or coffee color. The carbonizing process creates this dark color by a steaming or heating process. This steaming process darkens the sugar content of the bamboo.
To create many of the other bamboo flooring colors seen in bamboo, stains and finishes are used. There are a number of different finishes used on both site finished and factory finished bamboo floors. These finishes include penetrating sealers, polyurethane, Swedish finish (acid cure), moisture cure urethane, water-based urethane, oil modified urethane, water base urethane acrylic and others. Finishes have additives such as ceramic or aluminum oxide to make the floor more durable. Today bamboo flooring colors continue to become expanded to where you can select just about any colors of the rainbow to fulfill your decorating needs.