Warning...rant follows re: price gouging

[treehugger]

I'm remodeling my house. I need pretty much all new flooring.

Okay. So. I want to have a hard floor...carpeting traps so much allergens and junk....

I wanted to get bamboo flooring. Bamboo is basically a weed...it makes a very durable flooring material comparable in hardness to some of the harder hardwoods. It grows very fast, is sustainable. You can even get "panda friendly" bamboo that's a variety that pandas don't like so you aren't even taking their food.

Compare that to an oak tree, for example...

So why the HELL is bamboo flooring the same DAMN price as oak???? You'd think it should be cheaper because it grows so fast... :mad:

It just burns me. It certainly doesn't encourage consumers to try a new (relatively speaking), environmentally flooring material. People who don't care, are going to stick with the oak because it's more tried and true.

And, yet, this wonderful flooring material is laying stagnant because the manufacturers insist on gouging people....


I found this information:

Environmentally Friendly

Unlike hardwood trees requiring years to grow to maturity, bamboo is a grass that grows to maturity in 3-5 years and is renewably harvested over and over from the same plants. Bamboo helps mitigate water pollution due to it's high nitrogen consumption and also helps to reduce the carbon dioxide gases blamed for global warming. The bamboo we use is 'panda friendly': it is a species of bamboo that pandas do not feed on so we are not depleting their food supply.

What is Bamboo?

Bamboo is an extremely fast growing plant on Earth, in fact, bamboo grows one third faster than the fastest growing tree. Some species (there are over 1000 in the world) can grow up to 3.3 feet a day and up to 60ft.in height within 90 days. Bamboo grows so fast that you can almost "see it grow". Bamboo is truly nature's renewable resource. Bamboo when harvested does not require replanting, mature bamboo has an extensive root system that continues to send up new shoot for decades, so harvesting does not harm the plant, which will produce more timbers. The bamboo we use, primarily the Moso species, grow in Zhejiang province (southeast of China), which harvested for 4 to 6 years, at that time the plant reaches 90' in height and 8" to 12" in diameter, this bamboo is the hardest of all the bamboo species and used for our flooring make up to 6 feet long as well as 100% bamboo paneling and plywood up to 8' long and 4' wide.


It SO burns me that they are not giving a better price on this....it should be one third cheaper than hardwood, IMNSHO.

[peach_blossom]

i have seen attractive houses with bamboo floors older than my mother (a beautiful 52). I think they're expensive because the people who sell them know that it's very durable...and looks good too. i have heard my relatives talk about a treatment that makes bamboo much stronger, i regret to say i wasn't listening all too well, but maybe you should ask if the bamboo you're buying has had some treatment done.

[toman]

I seriously doubt people in the bamboo flooring business make any more, if even as much, as those in the hardwood business. The demand for bamboo floors is comparatively very small, the operations producing the appropriate bamboo are even smaller. All that bamboo has to be shipped from overseas and processed using special methods that differ from those used on wood, plus the people who work with the product need to be specially trained. Add to that the cost of marketing a reasonably unpopular product, and I would imagine it's not easy to make money in that business. I wouldn't be surprised if the prices the consumer compares to wood flooring aren't accurate in overall value. I could be wrong, but that's my initial impression...

[treehugger]

Yeah...I guess I can see some of those points. BUT....I can't imagine bamboo can't be grown here. Why isn't there more of a push to develop sustainable construction materials? That's what really burns me.

I just...well acid boils up in my stomach when I think I'm paying the same $$ for a plant that can grow two feet in a day as I am paying for oak. Ugh.

It's not going to stop me from putting bamboo floors in, mind you. It's a flooring I can live with myself if I install. I'm just going to get a lot of flack for it, LOL.

My conscience is the most important, though.

[PEACE FROG]

Toman's on it... but you know what? I went to a green festival in San Francisco in Nov., there were all these green products,recycled products, fair trade products.... man I'd thought I died and went to heaven. I'm a General Contractor and would very much like to convert to a green buisiness. I took brochures, listened to sales pitches, really did my home work. But found that to build green my customers would have to be Go-zillionairs... look at Tile made from recycled material (broken Glass) 10 times what a medium grade porcelin costs. And I loved the bamboo too! :) Green puts ya in the Red!!! :eek:

[treehugger]

Yeah, it's just frustrating. I SO want to renovate my house as "green" as I can but I wonder if I can afford it! (walletbookwise)...

Oh...the price of being environmentally conscious...LOL

[redthewitch75]

It sucks that you have to be well off to live green. But, when I am making more money, I am definitely doing all that I can to be living green. Well, I don't know about giving up the Blazer.

[nappydread]

hey...
i agree with everyone here, esp. tomans remark:
... The demand for bamboo floors is comparatively very small, the operations producing the appropriate bamboo are even smaller...

i think the demand for making other bamboo products is a lot higher esp. in Asia/India where its used to construct buildings and other things (chopsticks, cups, chairs) for the local communities. Bamboo is so prevalent in China now, b/c the governments there needed something to combat deforestation. Its all economics too! I'm sure its expensive to import bamboo to america or the government makes it expensive to protect domestic lumber industries.
Here is an informative site for bamboo enthusiast:)
http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/good_wood/bamboo.htm


peace

[PEACE FROG]

Great link Nap Thanks!!! :D I dont know why we (America) over-look the better, renewable,sustainable options. :( Bamboo, Hemp, ect. We seem hell bent on destruction!!! :mad: I feel a rant coming on...... ;)

[nappydread]

... dont know why we (America) over-look the better, renewable,sustainable options... Bamboo, Hemp, ect. We seem hell bent on destruction!!! :mad: I feel a rant coming on...

...hehehe...ya its all run by wealth - its a lot easier/cheaper to buy resources from less wealthy nations and sell them as "value-added" products in north america...than it is to persuade north american industries to change their ways for this magic plant:)
Unfortunately most of the global wealth right now is invested in non-renewable resources:(
rant....yes...rant!

peace

[PEACE FROG]

Well it seems to me that we have all this farm land in America not being used. And american farmers are getting shafted by "less than forth-comming" trade policies. Why not bamboo? BTW Nap, you know all that open-flat farm land in middle America not being farmed? It could be used to create electricity to process Hydrogen by installing windmill generators. Thousands of sq miles of them! Put people to work, create environmentally safe fuel, give the Earth a much needed siesta from harmful pesticides and fertilizers. C'MON LETS" HAVE A GROUP RANT!! :D

[treehugger]

Now you got the spirit! :D

[Sunnydaydreams]

what's up with organic food costing so much? I'm poor and can't afford expensive food! I'll just have to grow my own fruits & veggies.

Peace & Love

[nappydread]

....C'MON LETS" HAVE A GROUP RANT!! :D...

...sure thing peace_frog:)

GET UP......STAND UP PEOPLE !!!!!
The ***BAMBOO REVOLUTION *** is upon us !!!!Everyone just has to plant one rootball this spring!
If it grows as fast as "they say" ...then before the next election, the revolution will rise up....and then fall down as the governments start to outlaw bamboo. :p
Then it will be hightime to start ranting all over again!!!!
RANT....RANT!!!


peace

[Pedata]

...

...sure thing peace_frog:)

GET UP......STAND UP PEOPLE !!!!!
The ***BAMBOO REVOLUTION *** is upon us !!!!Everyone just has to plant one rootball this spring!
If it grows as fast as "they say" ...then before the next election, the revolution will rise up....and then fall down as the governments start to outlaw bamboo. :p
Then it will be hightime to start ranting all over again!!!!
RANT....RANT!!!


peace

Yeah!!! And let the government just try to find us bamboo growers. We'll be hiding in thousands of acres of it. It will take over, it will engulf the white house and cause mass confusion of all politicians!! (or more confusion than they already have). They won't have enough agent orange to make a dent in it. Foundations and roads will crumble. Conservative women in spike heels will be mired in the ground. Only us barefoot bamboo-growing hippies will know where the tunnels go :D We will make bamboo spears for protection and bamboo pipes for smoking. We will wear bamboo leaves for clothes, live in bamboo shelters and....and....and....

Gotta go get a rootball..

Peace,
Cassandra

It's a grass, you know. It grows like crazy.

[nappydread]

yay...RANT RANT!!!

... We will wear bamboo leaves for clothes...
....whoa...what do you mean will....hehehe....i guess i'm ahead of the revolution already:p

peace

[Pedata]

yay...RANT RANT!!!


....whoa...what do you mean will....hehehe....i guess i'm ahead of the revolution already:p

peace

Ummm........got a picture? :D

Curious...
Cassandra

[nappydread]

Ummm........got a picture?...
...hehehehe....na :p
im through with posting or commenting on pics round here. Such a sensitive issue. I really wanna make a bamboo bike though:D....any ideas for me?
I think the wheels will be the hard part :)

peace

[Pedata]

Hmmm......I hope I wasn't misconstrued about the bamboo leaf clothing. I had a picture in mind of something like the guy in that old movie South Pacific. A long grass skirt...maybe some coconuts....

Yeah, you might have trouble with bamboo wheels. Only sleds come to mind.

Peace,
Cassandra

[peach_blossom]

Hmmm......I hope I wasn't misconstrued about the bamboo leaf clothing. I had a picture in mind of something like the guy in that old movie South Pacific. A long grass skirt...maybe some coconuts....

I had a picture in mind of someone in the image of a guy wearing bamboo leaves whose only purpose was to cover up his...my mind works differently. :p