I should probably let someone more positive about bamboo have a stand here. I've worked with lots of manufacturer's developing their flooring and panels since they started. I went through all the lamination issues, filling and finshing issues, soft and hard bamboo species issues -- you name it. Maybe I'm just too close!
I guess the thing that bothers me most is people calling bamboo flooring hardwood flooring. It's GRASS flooring. It's going to act like grass not wood in practice as well. So things like acclimation, installation, sanding (or scraping) and finishing are all similar but still quite different with bamboo compared to wood. When my clients ask me about bamboo, I tell them it is extremely popular and makes a beautiful floor. However, I wonder how dated it may make a home (or commercial space) where it is installed in just a few years. It can be a lot softer that you might think. I have had far too many complaints from clients about denting and scratching with bamboo for this to not be a valid concern. Bamboo clarifies the soil as it grows. This is great for the soil. But this also means all the nasty compounds it takes from the soil it will be given off when sanded during the refinishing process somewhere down the road. This happens immediately with site finished bamboo. These are not reasons to not consider bamboo -- just things to think about.
There are loads of other possibilities. I have worked with reclaimed lumber for more than 30 years now. Why not consider salavaged building materials, sunken logs, or old timbers reclaimed for flooring or other finished (or structural) wood items.
Then there's the story on sustained growth flooring. Most hardwood trees are at least 2nd if not 3rd or even 4th or 5th growth. That means that virtually all of the hardwood forests in North America must now be considered crops -- not old growth forests.
Still, there are folks out there that cut hardwood trees when and where they shouldn't -- at least in my opinion. The really good foresters -- and I know them 'cause I insist on working with only such folks -- work with the farmers and other land owners to help them cultivate their crops. They selectively cut and re-plant to get maximum yeild as well as benefit the land owners with how they best see their forest lands from a private and personal standpoint.
There are certification groups probably the best known and respected is the forest products business is the FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council). I like some of the effects of what they're doing but personally feel they can place an extra financial and accounting burden on some folks in the industry that are already not making much money as it is.
All in all, I always try to steer my clients toward the greenest products possible. If they work with me, they're not going to have it any other way. Unfortunately, the greenest products -- the reclaimed or salvaged timbers are some of the most expensive options. People want green, sadly, most still don't want to pay extra for it.
