Strand Woven Bamboo Decking VS Ipe Decking
There are many hardwood species in the world. So there are many different options for hardwood when installing a quality deck. A superior hardwood deck needs to be able to maintain high environmental standards and have natural characteristics that will be far ahead of other hardwoods.
Ipe wood is the finest quality of hardwood available. Ipe is world-renowned for its superior characteristics and properties. It is one of the hardest woods in the world. Its natural properties make it the toughest and longest lasting decking material. It is an exotic hardwood that is extremely dense and tight. It is naturally resistant to insects attack, rot and decay, like mold and fungus. Ipe features a class A fire rating, which is the same rating as concrete and steel. It has a natural rich color of brown with some pieces displaying red and amber hues. Ipe deck easily stands up to harsh climates, and it will also need to do some neccessary maintenance. Due to these factors, Ipe is used frequently in many decking projects.
An alternate choice for decking is Bamboo. Bamboo is a fast-growing grass with a tree-like form and woody stems. It is quicly mature after 5 or 6 years, and it can be regenerated itself when it is harvested, which makes it a sustainable and endless material. It is very friendly to the environmental. Nowadays, with the awareness of environmental protection, more and more people in the world use bamboo as the material for building and construction.
Strand woven bamboo decking, also named reorganised bamboo or heavy bamboo is made of bamboo strips through carbonization and hot pressing technology. Bamboo is cut and splitted into strips, and the outside and inside skin of the strips is removed. High heat temperature and carbonization will effiently remove sugars as well as insects. Then there is a process of gluing the strips and assembling them under high hot pressure. It is then put in a mold and baked to make it a solid big board. The big board is then cut into pieces, sanded, milled, oiled to the products needed. Strand woven bamboo is hard, strong and durable, its brinell hardness is even higher than Ipe decking.
Bamboo decking also uses formaldehyde glue to bond the strands and is processed in China. It is stable, not easy to deform, also it easily stands up to different climates. There are two colors available through carbonization: mecdium carbonization and deep carbonization. The color of medium carbonized is similar as wood, while the color of deep carbonization is dark, for it is got through higher temperture and more carbonized time, which makes it not easy to mold under moiture atmosphere.
There are many different factors to consider when choosing the right decking material. As is known to us, massively cutting the wood is forbidden by many countries, for wood has a long long growing period, massively cutting will cause many climate problems, nature disasters etc. Bamboo, instead, has a very short growing period and the stem will not be destroyed after harvesting. So that is why strand woven bamboo decking is becoming more and more popular in the world nowadays.
