for your
home
Anatural choice ch Bamboo’s beauty will floor you
Bamboo is not only a sustainable
and Earth-friendly flooring option,
it is also durable and beautiful.
By Will Fifield
IF YOU ARE considering installing new
flooring in your home, bamboo is not only
durable and beautiful, it is possibly the most
Earth-friendly floor-covering material on
the market.
“Bamboo is strong, hard and dimensionally stable, making it a perfect candidate for
flooring,” according to experts at This Old
House (
www.thisoldhouse.com). Botanically,
bamboo is a type of grass, albeit a very wood-like plant. Bamboo reaches maturity in five to
seven years, while other hardwoods require
between 50 and 120 years to mature. Because
it is a grass, bamboo generally does not
require replanting or the use of pesticides to
grow. Its grainy, warm tones have made bamboo a rising star among natural flooring
materials in recent years.
While installing bamboo flooring can
be a do-it-yourself project, there are a few
things you should know.
First, measure your room carefully to
determine how much flooring you’ll need.
“It’s essential that you buy enough bamboo to
cover 105 percent of this square footage,”
explains Costco buyer Amber Dodge. “That
is usually enough to make up for any errors
you run into while installing bamboo. If you
are installing it diagonally, then purchase an
extra 15 percent or more, depending on
room size.” Amber also recommends pur-
chasing all of your flooring at the same time,
as bamboo, like any hardwood, can vary sig-
nificantly in color or shade if purchased at a
later date. It is also helpful to have extra
material that can be used for future repairs.
The Costco Connection
The bamboo flooring available at Costco
features an extremely durable 13-layer finish and a Uniclic® installation system with
eco-friendly cork pad on the underside,
making it a do-it-yourselfer’s dream. Each
box covers 27. 44 square feet. It is available
now at your local warehouse.
Amber Dodge Hardware Buyer Buyer’s pıck
IF YOU WANT to transform
your garage or basement
into an organized shop
area, the industrial rack
we’re carrying from Whalen
this month is ideal. It is
easy to assemble and super
strong. Each of its four
shelves holds 2,000 pounds
of evenly distributed
weight, so it can stand up
to your toughest storage
demands. It’s constructed
with heavy, 12-gauge steel
beams and features welded
and reinforced zinc-coated
wire decks. Some competi-
tors use melamine decks,
which can swell and buckle
in damper conditions.
The units are adjust-
able and expandable.
You can interlock them to
create a configuration that
fits your space and needs,
and they are approved
by NSF, a public health
and safety agency, for dry
storage so they can be
used commer-
cially. The best
part about this
item is that Costco
offers it for 55
percent less than
racks with similar
specifications on
the market.
FRANCE FREEMAN
WHALEN STORAGE
FEBRUARY 2010 ;e Costco Connection 41