Why choose Eco-Logic Bamboo over other Bamboo products?

Why choose Oriental Bamboo over other Bamboo suppliers?

Oriental Bamboo is a South African based company, specialising in wholesaling bamboo flooring, decking and boards to the trade. Our clients include architects, interior designers, interior architects, flooring installers, outdoor decking specialists, joiners, kitchen manufacturers, cabinetmakers, furniture and door manufacturers to the DIY wood enthusiast (via national distributors).

As there is no official grading system for bamboo it’s difficult to know what one is buying. Bamboo products may look the same on the surface, but the companies providing them may not be. Why?

The quality and consistency in raw materials, preparation, processing, milling, manufacturing and business practices vary widely from company to company. In order to ensure that you choose an enduring and quality product, we suggest you consider asking some of the following questions before making a purchasing decision:-

What quality standards are applied?

Locally, Oriental Bamboo is a Corporate member of SAWLFA (South African Wood & Laminate Flooring Association), thus ensuring that you, our customer, are guaranteed that our products are manufactured to the advertised specifications and that you have recourse through a recognised industry body should the need arise.

We’re a member of the Environmental Goods & Services Forum, a Department of Trade & Industry initiative promoting the environmental goods sector in South Africa.

Is the product stabilised?

When any wood is harvested, a period of curing is required. Often, in order to save costs, manufacturers process the bamboo before it has fully cured. This will ultimately lead to an inferior product.

Eco-Logic Bamboo, when harvested, is placed in a continuous trolley drying room, heating all bamboo strips using hot winds until they have reached the required moisture content. This ensures that the strips dry correctly and at the same rate, thus ensuring uniformity. Not all manufacturers are consistent in ensuring the strips are dried to the correct moisture content for further processing. Short cuts in this step will result in poorly bonded boards & planks, that can de-laminate.

After processing, a stabilisation period is required to ensure that the bamboo strips have laminated well and that no de-lamination, bowing, bending or cupping will occur. This part of the process ensures the quality of the product shipped to clients. In order to reduce the manufacturing costs, and thus the price, many manufacturers skip the stabilisation process completely, resulting in an inferior quality product.

Oriental Bamboo boards are placed in a constant 25º C / 55% humidity controlled stabilising rooms, for up to 15 days, after the lamination process is completed. There are two primary purposes for this extra step:– first, to control the moisture in the laminated Bamboo planks, and second, to release the pressure after the 1200 metric ton pressing process (minimal warping or de-lamination should therefore occur).

A moisture testing step is included in the quality control process employed by the manufacturers of Eco-Logic Bamboo. This extra step in the process ensures the adaptability of Eco-Logic Bamboo products in different climates. Consequently, Eco-Logic Bamboo meets the humidity requirements in Asia, North America, Western Europe and Russia.

If the manufacturing time for the Bamboo product is less than 30 days, it is unlikely that this stabilisation step has been employed.

Bamboo is a very structurally stable “wood” when being compared to other hard woods. The following bamboo stability chart shows how bamboo compares to other hard woods.

How hard is it?

Bamboo flooring can be as soft as Pine or harder than Maple. This all depends on when it is harvested and the species used. There are over 1500 species of bamboo.  Younger, less mature bamboo, harvested before four years, is less expensive, softer and less stable. Flooring that is made from these immature poles is softer and may easily warp, cusp, dent or de-laminate.

The bamboo used in Eco-Logic Bamboo products (Mao bamboo), is harvested at maturity to ensure the most stable and hard poles can be obtained.

The hardness of wood is measured using a test called the Janka hardness test. The test involves pressing an iron ball into the bamboo plank and measuring the amount of pressure required to sink the  ball halfway into the plank. Bamboo hardness charts comparing unfinished bamboo, finished bamboo to other hard woods is available for your reference.

What kind of finish is used on the flooring board?

Some companies buy flooring planks from suppliers that outsource various stages of the manufacturing. There is therefore no guarantee that the machining equipment is maintained to specifications. Or that the machining or finishing of the product is within specifications.

For example, the machine tolerances may vary from shipment to shipment, resulting in ill fitting boards or accessories. Also, there may be varying numbers of finishing coats applied (from 3 to 6 depending on the factory) and different or varying glue and finishing products used from factory to factory. A polyurethane-only finish may be used, which will not be as durable as a finish containing aluminum oxide hardener.

Eco-Logic Bamboo factories use the highest quality German (Homag) and Dutch equipment for accurate machining. Eco-Logic Bamboo flooring is subject to the following tolerances:
Width:  ± 0.1 mm
Length:  ± 1 mm
Thickness:  ± 0.1 mm
The gap between the tongue and grooves of Eco-Logic Bamboo flooring is 0.15 – 0.20 mm.

What is the formaldehyde emission (VOC) level of the adhesive used to laminate the bamboo slats together?

High formaldehyde levels would somewhat negate bamboo’s environmental advantages.

Traditional plywood, chipboard, MDF and OSB boards are primarily manufactured using Urea Formaldehyde based binders. The danger in using these products indoors, is that the indoor air quality will be affected by the emission of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen (cancer causing). These emissions are commonly referred to as VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds). Higher emission formaldehyde adhesives are less expensive than those with lower levels, therefore some manufacturers use these cheaper products to save on costs. Ask your supplier to see their product specifications, to ensure that the finishing material is non-toxic and to review the product’s glue emissions. If the glues used are not formaldehyde-free / non-detectable, verify that the emission rate meets or exceeds the strict European E1 requirements of no more than 0.1 ppm.

The glue used in Oriental Bamboo Eco-Logic products is of the highest quality, produced by the Finish company Dynea. Oriental Bamboo Eco-Logic products exceed the European E1 standard for formaldehyde emissions, in that our bamboo flooring planks are SGS certified with a ND (not detectable) formaldehyde emission.

How thick is the flooring board?

Some manufacturers supply a thicker flooring board. This is often due to the fact that the product is less stable at thinner tolerances. This is often caused by either harvesting the wood prematurely, not curing the Bamboo strips sufficiently or not stabilising the product after lamination. Therefore the manufacturer often specifies a thicker plank to compensate.

On the other side, some manufacturers supply a 10-12 mm flooring plank (Strand Woven Bamboo) as less material is required and is therefore cheaper to produce. We believe that the stability of a flooring plank this thin is lower than that of the industry standard 14 mm for Strand Woven bamboo. This means that these planks are more likely to cup or distort and less likely to recover from exposure to excessive moisture.

Oriental Bamboo Eco-Logic solid laminated flooring is 15 mm thick, whilst our Eco-Logic Strand Woven Bamboo flooring is 14 mm thick.

Warranty?

When choosing your flooring, review the manufacturer’s warranties. Quality bamboo manufacturers will likely warranty their flooring for at least 10 years structurally. However, many manufacturers randomly pick a warranty period without performing the appropriate testing to ensure their product actually conforms to their stated warranty.

Our factories perform extensive age and wear testing, and as a result, our Eco-Logic warranty is 25 years for defects in manufacturing, lamination, milling or assembly. The warranty for the finishing in a domestic application is 5 years and 2 years in a commercial application.

Our outdoor decking planks have a 10 year warranty on the construction of the planks.