Generally speaking, bamboo flooring is cheaper than wood flooring. You will often find bamboo at a much more cost-effective price than wood and you may be wondering why. A good quality solid bamboo flooring with a strength comparable to Oak flooring can be found under £25 per m², whereas a good quality solid Oak floor is likely to cost over £40 per m². This is a huge difference, especially if you have a large area of floor space. You can of course, find engineered Oak flooring at a more reasonable price and some types of strand woven bamboo, which are extremely durable, can be more expensive. However, when comparing the two floor coverings you will still generally find most types of bamboo cheaper than wood.
There are a few reasons for the price difference between the two types of flooring.
Bamboo cheaper than wood explained
1. Bamboo is a grass and grows extremely fast. It can reach maturity within 5 years, compared to hardwood trees that can take over 30 years to fully mature. This means that bamboo is more abundant and easier to grow than hardwood, making the crop much cheaper.
2. The grass root of bamboo can self re-generate. This means that once the bamboo forest has been harvested, the bamboo will continue to re-grow, eliminating the need for re-planting. Once hardwood trees have been harvested the whole forest would need re-planting which can be time consuming and costly.
3. Bamboo is an extremely sustainable crop, which is self-sufficient and easy to look after and harvest. It grows abundantly and quickly, making it one of the most cost effective natural flooring materials. Some types of hardwood can be more expensive depending on how rare they are. For example, solid Walnut flooring can be as expensive as £70 per m²
Installation costs of bamboo flooring vs wood flooring
Installation costs for both bamboo flooring and hardwood flooring should be around the same price. It will obviously depend on whether you choose tongue and groove or click fitting flooring, and the type of subfloor that you have.
Reasons to choose bamboo flooring
Other than bamboo flooring being more cost effective than hardwood, there are also some great advantages of bamboo:
• Sustainable and environmentally friendly.
• Durable and hardwearing. Strand woven bamboo is over twice as hard as Oak.
• Can be used with underfloor heating.
• Can be installed in various ways – floated or fixed into position.
• Variety of different colour and style options.
• Easy to look after.
• Hygienic and great for allergy sufferers.
