Bamboo Flooring Hardness Rating

The hardness of traditional bamboo flooring ranges from 1180 carbonized horizontal to around 1380 natural while newer manufacturing techniques including strand woven bamboo flooring range from 3000 to over 5000 using the janka hardness test.

Bamboo flooring hardness rating.

However some bamboo flooring products are carbonized to darken it. Carbonized bamboo carries a janka hardness rating of around 1 000 to 1 100 which is still considerably harder than some hardwoods. Statistics below compare the janka hardness ratings for hardwood and bamboo flooring products. Depending on the quality of manufacturing the best bamboo flooring products can range from 3 800 5 000.

Strand woven bamboo and eucalyptus flooring on average have janka ratings upwards of 3 800 which is much higher than traditional wood flooring. The janka hardness test is often applied to bamboo and eucalyptus flooring products after manufacturing a process that artificially hardens the material by the addition of resins. For years bamboo was not mentioned in janka reports and list. This process involves placing the bamboo under extreme heat and pressure which causes the color to change but also somewhat weakens the material.

With the rising popularity of bamboo as flooring the janka test has been forced to include the diverse ratings for different bamboo floors. Cali bamboo s fossilized bamboo flooring is the hardest flooring in the world scoring an unprecedented 5 547 pounds on the janka test. Hardness resistance to denting bamboo flooring. Every flooring product cali bamboo offers undergoes janka testing to ensure it will not just hold up but continue looking newly installed for years to come.

Although some tests have shown bamboo and eucalyptus to be over 5 000 on the janka scale the truth is that janka hardness ratings can vary from lot to lot even when produced by the same factory. It s measured on something called the janka scale and should be a specification that s to locate in listings or on the box itself. It measures the force required to embed an 11 28 millimetres 0 444 in diameter steel ball halfway into a sample of wood. Still the very impressive janka ratings accurately depict the excellent durability of these non wood flooring products.

The janka hardness test from the austrian born emigrant gabriel janka 1864 1932 measures the resistance of a sample of wood to denting and wear. A common use of janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring. Bamboo especially the strand woven variety is extremely hard in fact it s one of the hardest floors available in the market hands down.