BR-111 & Bamboo

BR-111 has announced the launch of its very first Bamboo Collection, BR-111 Bamboo.

In an interview with Ricardo Moraes, president of BR-111, Floor Covering Weekly highlighted the changes coming to the fall catalog.

“We are committed to developing the most unique and beautiful flooring products available anywhere in the world,” said Ricardo Moraes, president. “The focus of our new product offering is uniqueness, quality and value.”

In addition to BR-111’s African species Wenge, Iroko, Afzelia and Sapele — which will be available in several different width, thickness and construction options — the company will introduce a comprehensive collection of bamboo.

“We are very excited to introduce our new superior quality bamboo line,” said Moraes. “We have always been interested in offering bamboo products. We just wanted to take our time to develop the absolute best bamboo flooring available today. We are very happy with the results and we know our dealers will be too.”

Moraes said the bamboo collection includes, “jaw dropping colors, board widths and lengths, and unparalleled durability.”

BR-111 will also introduce a new 3/4” solid line of exotic products that has, “the same warranty and wear layer as our 3/4” solid line and many of our most popular species including Brazilian Cherry, Tigerwood, Amendoim and Machiato Pecan but with amazing low pricing, installation flexibility, and extensive environmental consideration,” said Moraes.

The company will also add to its recently developed high end line of 5-inch engineered locking products an array of handscraped and brushed looks in species like Classic Walnut, Angico, and Antique Amendoim. “We are so excited about our new product offerings and increased margins to our dealers that we have decided to fully re-merchandise our patented BR-111 FUF display, with an eye catching new header, footer, info panels, product flip cards and sample boards for all of our product lines,” said Moraes. “These new product lines will be available in the coming weeks and we will be contacting each of our BR-111 exclusive dealers to schedule delivery of the new BR-111 FUF re-merchandising kit, including new sample boards. Our new re-merchandising program will be followed by very aggressive and wide spread marketing campaigns.”


Ask us about these great new products!

Bamboo Used in Sports Flooring

As a follow up to the last post about bamboo flooring, we received an email from Smith & Fong Plyboo, announcing their increasing success with bamboo sports flooring. Here's what they said:

Bamboo emerges as a solid contender in the sports flooring segment.

Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School
Atlanta, Georgia

PlybooSport® – North America’s first bamboo sports flooring – faced a uphill battle in the marketplace when it was introduced five years ago. But as more and more corporate and institutional building projects have adopted sustainable products into their plans, PlybooSport has experienced dramatic growth.

The company sold its first PlybooSport floor to the City of Dallas, Texas, in 2005. Since then PlybooSport has enjoyed a robust annual growth rate in sales. Floors have been installed in 16 states as well as Mexico and the UK, and the company has a backlog of orders for projects as far and wide as the UAE, Pakistan and China.

Smith & Fong attributes PlybooSport’s increasing popularity to a growing awareness of sustainability and environmental health among commercial and institutional architects. PlybooSport is PlybooPure formaldehyde-free, California Section 01350-compliant, FloorScore®-certified and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified, offering numerous green attributes attractive for school gyms, recreational centers and corporate fitness centers.

“We identified PlybooSport flooring as a product that would make a highly visible statement about the importance of sustainable and rapidly renewable materials,” said architect Clayton Daspit, of Atlanta-based Collins Cooper Carusi Architects. His firm specified PlybooSport for a gymnasium project in Atlanta’s Mt. Vernon Presbyterian School, which ultimately achieved the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification, in part due to its use of PlybooSport flooring.

And some more recent installations:



NetApp Corporate Headquarters
Sunnyvale, California
PlybooSport


Hillside High School
Marlborough, Massachusetts
PlybooSport


Singing Hills Recreation Center
Dallas, Texas
PlybooSport

If you are researching sports flooring, bamboo may be right for you. Contact us to find out more!

A Review of Bamboo

Some interesting facts about bamboo in a review posted by Fast Floors:

Bamboo is not just for pandas anymore. Its fibers are used to make clothing. The shoots of young bamboo trees are nutritious and to some quite tasty. But it can also be used for new home construction, and it makes for some spectacularly beautiful flooring.

To a lot of people, the use of hardwood trees for flooring is a poor use of a precious resource. An oak tree takes 60 to 120 years to grow. While on a larger scale, all wood could be called a renewable resource, the 'guilt tax' for a hardwood floor is a price more and more people are unwilling to pay.

That's where bamboo comes in. Bamboo goes from seedling to mature plant in just five years, growing several inches per day. It grows in a variety of climates, both in its native Asia and even here in the USA.

Bamboo provides a habitat for small animals where it's grown. Because it's basically 'mowed' and not cut down like a tree, the habitat isn't destroyed by the harvest. Pesticides are unnecessary, as the plant has natural chemical defenses against insects and disease.

All of that is wonderful, but the fact is that unless it's a good product, it won't succeed on the merits of its environmental resume alone. So here are the selling points of bamboo flooring.

• Hardness and durability: Bamboo flooring is as hard as oak or maple, yet resilient and flexible. This means it's pleasant to walk on and easy to work.
• Cost: While quality varies, bamboo is generally quite inexpensive, sometimes running half of the price of hardwood.
• Upkeep: Bamboo requires some upkeep, but no more than hardwood floors. The care for bamboo is the same as for wood. Bamboo, a tropical plant, is naturally resistant to moisture. This makes it the perfect choice for kitchens and utility rooms.
• Appearance: Bamboo floors have a unique look, unlike any comparable wood or laminate product. The grass has a system of nodes that creates darkening bands of spectacular color. Bamboo can also be finished into darker colors to match any decor.

Introducing Allwood Floors!

“Have you ever just stopped, closed your eyes and used your feet to feel the world you stand on every day?”

Introducing Allwood Floors, a new line of hardwood flooring products that we have added to our catalog!

Their philosophy: To bring more than just beauty to your eyes – To bring beauty to your feet.

Their devotion: To bring the beauty that nature has given them, combining it with precise engineering to enhance that beauty – providing its customers with a floor so beautiful their eyes and feet will never be the same.



Allwood Floors is based out of Portland, Oregon. Allwood Floors are exotic real wood floors, with wood species from China, Indonesia, South America and Africa. Their manufacturing base in China is equipped with the “most advanced manufacturing facility and management team”. Allwood Floors are gaining popularity for their consistent quality, excellent service and competitive prices.

Allwood Floors initially started with 3-strip engineered maple and oak flooring, offering select, natural and rustic grades to satisfy the varied tastes of their customers. With the increase of demand, they added in single-strip in a variety of species and bamboo flooring in both engineered and solid.

They offer an incredible selection of wood species to choose from: Hickory, Brazilian Cherry, Bamboo, Red Mahogany, Maple, Red Oak, Sapele, White Oak, American Walnut, and Birch. Allwood Floors is bound to have something that fits into your budget and preferences including: three different grades: Natural, Rustic or Select; hand-scraped or not; solid or engineered; prefinished or unfinished.

“So whether you are standing in your black oxfords, or sliding down the hall in your socks, rest assure that Allwood has taken it all into consideration when they engineered the world beneath you.”



Visit GateWood Floors for more information and to see the wide selection of products we now offer by Allwood Floors!

Thanks to Allwood Floors, LLC. Images and information courtesy Allwood Floors, LLC.

Bamboo

As one of nature’s most renewable gifts, bamboo has been used in many ways since the beginning of time. In modern times, it has become the wood of choice for making both decorative and practical items that are aesthetically pleasing as well as environmentally friendly. Bamboo will give you the natural beauty of hardwood flooring in your home without the detrimental effect on the environment. Bamboo is one of the hardest natural materials available for flooring use, and is an excellent alternative to tree wood, because of its extremely fast growth speed. Because bamboo is a rapid growing grass, and not wood, it can be harvested every 3-5 years, unlike 15-25 years for most tree wood, or up to 120 years for oak! Here are couple interesting facts about bamboo:

• Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant on Earth. It can surge skyward as fast as 121 cm (47.6 inches) in 24-hours

• It can also reach maximal growth rate exceeding one meter (40 inches) per hour for short periods of time

• 6 million people in China work in bamboo and 600 million people worldwide rely on income from it

Growth speed makes bamboo a very environmentally friendly product for flooring. When it’s harvested, it grows back – just like your lawn. But unlike your grass, bamboo is hard – 25% harder than red oak, but equally as strong. Bamboo is also blessed with colorful tones and distinctive grains. Such sustainability, strength and beauty are major reasons why bamboo has grown to become one of the most popular flooring choices in America.

Bamboo is found in diverse climates, ranging from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. The majority of today's bamboo flooring products originate in China, and other areas of Asia. There are about 1,000 species of bamboo. The species of bamboo used for flooring is commonly known as "Moso.” The manufactured bamboo flooring commonly found in North America is processed by steaming, splitting and flattening the bamboo and then allowing it to dry. The bamboo is then laminated in layers with glue under high pressure. Manufactured bamboo floors are typically made available in planks with either vertical- or horizontal-grain orientation. The two major colors are natural (similar to beech) and carbonized (similar to oak). The process of steaming bamboo material under a controlled pressure and temperature is called carbonization. During this process bio-organisms and sugars break down allowing it to become brownish in color. The natural and carbonized bamboo floors are typically referred to as solid bamboo, although, in fact, the structures are layered, similar to plywood.

Bamboo flooring is available in countless colors and styles, which will compliment any interior design. From ultra-contemporary chic, to a more traditional, classic style, natural bamboo flooring will give you a truly unique look.

With high sustainability and environmentally sound origins, bamboo flooring has become a great choice for those looking to decorate their homes or workplaces with the beauty of a wood floor while being environmentally conscious. Because of this, consumers are increasingly choosing to install bamboo flooring in place of traditional hardwood.

There is no question that bamboo is a renewable resource and has been recognized as a “green material.” Quoting Environmental Building News, “Environmentally, it’s hard to argue with a wood substitute that matures in three years, regenerates without need for replanting, and requires minimal fertilization or pesticides.”

Visit GateWoodFloors.com and check out our selection of bamboo. It’s one of the biggest selections you’ll find anywhere!