2023 Cali Bamboo Flooring Prices, Pros & Cons, Reviews

One of the most popular wood flooring brands is Cali Bamboo. Hardwood flooring is the norm across many households in the United States. As a result, certain brands known for other flooring have started producing hardwood products. Cali Bamboo’s mission is to produce eco-friendly wood flooring for the masses. All their products have excellent features and are sustainably produced. Keep reading to learn more about Cali Bamboo’s mission for a more sustainable future.

How Much Does Cali Bamboo Flooring Cost?

As Cali Bamboo is a premium brand, price tags will be higher than for some budget brands. Most of their products vary between $2.50 and $5 per square foot. With the additional labor costs, the price per foot will increase, probably between $6 to $10. Even though the prices are higher, the company guarantees immaculate results from its products. A 50-year warranty further supports the quality of the products.

Cali Bamboo Flooring in a Nutshell

• Cali Bamboo is a flooring company that uses eco-friendly and highly sustainable products to make its flooring products.
• Bamboo flooring is the company’s main product. The registered Fossilized® manufacturing process makes this bamboo the World’s Hardest Floors™.
• Wood flooring, consisting of oak, hickory, maple, and eucalyptus, is available from Cali Bamboo in solid and engineered plank types.
• Vinyl flooring, with either a composite bamboo core or a composite stone core, contains HiFi imaging. With HiFi imaging, wood grains and patterns resemble bamboo wood.
• Besides bamboo, eucalyptus is eco-friendly and sustainable. The 10-coat durability seal makes it durable and scratch-resistant.
• Cork flooring is another viable flooring option that makes the floor warmer through thermal insulation.
• Engineered flooring is where they use a combination of hardwood and bamboo to make a new flooring. It has the same durability as hardwood and is 30% wider.
• All floors come with a 25 to 50-year warranty.
• Installation can be tricky as incorrect installation can cause the floor to warp and crack.

What is Cali Bamboo?

Cali Bamboo is a flooring company that produces eco-friendly and sustainable wood planks. These wood planks are top-quality with durability, longevity, and a premium appearance. Bamboo flooring is their main product. Two college friends, Jeff Goldberg and Tanner Haigwood, founded the company in 2004.

Types of Cali Bamboo Flooring

Cali Bamboo features a variety of wood types in their line of flooring options:

• Oak
• Cork
• Hickory
• Bamboo
• Eucalyptus

These are available as both solid and engineered hardwoods. Whichever flooring option you opt for, you’ll receive a dependable floor that’s durable, sustainable, and easy to install. Cali Bamboo may be more expensive than some other flooring brands but it offers enough positive factors to justify the high price tag. Below, I’ll discuss the different flooring series that Cali Bamboo offers. Bamboo Flooring The company’s flagship product is its bamboo flooring. Not only is it twice as dense as normal hardwood, but it’s also marketed as the World’s Hardest Floors™. The proprietary Fossilized® manufacturing process makes the bamboo the most durable flooring. Cali Bamboo offers both solid and engineered bamboo planks. Both options are durable, but solid bamboo flooring is harder to install. Engineered bamboo goes through the GeoWood composite manufacturing process. It gives the same appearance as solid bamboo. It makes it water-resistant and easier to clean. It can also handle high foot traffic. The bamboo flooring planks come in various dimensions. They’re available at between 3 and 6 inches in width and 1/4 to 9/16 inches in thickness. Cali’s bamboo comes in over 30 colors and grain patterns. These light and dark shades work well with modern and rustic decor. These products are available on their website. Wood Flooring Besides bamboo, Cali Bamboo offers wood flooring in oak, maple, hickory, and eucalyptus. They use renewable resources in extraction so the carbon footprint for the company remains low. Each of these hardwood floorings comes in different color options and finishes. These wood floors have different shades of brown, grey, and black. Different products are available on their website. Even though the solid and engineered wood flooring looks the same, the engineered wood is easier to install and is less expensive. The plank sizes vary between wide, extra-wide, wide+, and standard. The different sizes and the method of installation determine the finished look of the hardwood flooring. Vinyl Flooring Cali Bamboo vinyl flooring comes in two types; a composite bamboo core and a composite stone core. The vinyl layer is on the top of these cores. Both of these planks come with acoustic insulation and attached underlayment. The vinyl planks have a 0.5 mm wear layer finish. This makes the planks 100% waterproof. The width of these vinyl planks ranges between 7-1/4 – 9 inches. All vinyl planks are produced using HiFi imaging. It’s a technique that produces artificial wood grains on the surface of the vinyl planks. In HiFi imaging, they take molds from bamboo and place them into the planks. This adds the natural wood grain patterns onto the vinyl planks. Cali Bamboo vinyl plank flooring comes in a range of shades, including brown, amber, tan, grey, and red and are available on their website. Eucalyptus Flooring Like bamboo, eucalyptus is renewable and sustainable as it matures every 3 to 5 years. Cali Bamboo offers only two products in their solid eucalyptus series. There is only one plank size available. The standard eucalyptus plank size has a length of 48 inches, a width of 5⅛ inches, and a thickness of 9/16 inches. With a 10 coat durability seal, the eucalyptus flooring has a tough surface. Cali Bamboo uses the same process that they do for their bamboo flooring to produce this product. Appearance-wise, Cali Bamboo’s eucalyptus flooring has wood grains that resemble natural hardwood flooring. Cork Flooring The cork flooring series only has 4 products, all within the engineered cork. Cork is eco-friendly as it comes from a tree bark that regenerates after the cork comes off. This makes cork naturally water-resistant. It provides thermal insulation and makes the floors feel warmer. These planks have a high-resistance coating that makes them scratch less and easier to clean. Only one dimension of cork planks is available. The size is at a length of 35-5/8 inches, a width of 11-5/8 inches, and a thickness of 10.5 mm. Engineered Flooring Cali Bamboo offers engineered hardwoods and another series called GeoWood. GeoWood is a composite engineered flooring type that’s a mixture of woods. The Hybrid™ engineered hardwood flooring uses the Eco-Engineered™ technology to combine Fossilized® bamboo and eucalyptus to make a new flooring. It has the same durability and is 30% wider. This Hybrid™ engineered flooring presents a modern look and makes the installation process easier. The waterproof and eco-friendly flooring comes with many durable finishes on the surface. Engineered products range in shades of brown, black, grey, white, and tan and are available on their website. These engineered planks are available in various sizes, all ranging between 3¾ to 9½ inches in width and ½ to ⁹/₁₆ inches in thickness.

Cali Bamboo’s Green Building Materials

The flooring options show Cali Bamboo’s mission for an eco-friendly and sustainable future. Their main product, bamboo, is an eco-friendly and highly sustainable product as it grows on a “plant” rather than a “tree”. It matures more quickly than other wood types, every four to five years. Hardwood trees take about 60 years to fully mature. The plant keeps on growing and doesn’t worsen after the bamboo’s extraction. Their second primary product is eucalyptus, another eco-friendly alternative. It’s ready for harvest every three to five years. The company’s main reason for existence is to reduce CO₂ emissions, deforestation, and the loss of habitat.  Cali Bamboo uses environmentally-friendly methods to produce its flooring options and takes pride in its sustainable background. As they use eco-friendly and sustainable resources, they’re motivating the public to turn towards viable alternatives to traditional products.

How Durable are Cali Bamboo Products?

Cali Bamboo flooring claims to have a Janka hardness rating of about 5,574 for its bamboo and eucalyptus floors. Their hardest flooring type, strand-woven bamboo, has a score of 4,800. The Fossilized® manufacturing process means the density of the bamboo is twice that of other hardwoods, making it the most durable flooring product on the market. According to the company, other flooring options have scores of over 5,000 on the Janka hardness scale.

Care & Maintenance

Cali Bamboo flooring is easy to clean, like other bamboo floors. This makes it ideal for homes with pets and small kids. To keep your floor in tip-top shape, do the following:

• Clean up liquid spills immediately, as bamboo is sensitive to moisture.
• For cleaning, use a dry mop with a little water (not enough to fully saturate the floor).
• Use a vacuum that doesn’t scratch your floor.
• Avoid dragging heavy furniture, and equip them with furniture leg pads to protect the floor from scratches.
• Use rugs and carpets to protect the floor in high-traffic areas.
• Never use bleach or any other strong cleaning detergents to clean your floors. Use a detergent that’s developed specifically for your flooring.

Is Cali Bamboo Floor Warranty Good?

All Cali Bamboo products come with staggering warranties. All their flooring products have a 50-year residential warranty and a 25-year commercial warranty.

Installing Cali Bamboo Floors

Cali Bamboo flooring is easy to install. There are four methods to install these floors:

• The nail-down method
• The glue-down method
• The click-and-lock method
• The floating tongue and groove method

You can use the floating method to install all of Cali Bamboo’s products. Other methods work as well, but this method is the easiest. As the flooring is expensive, professional installation is ideal. This will maintain the company’s warranty and the contractor may give a labor warranty as well. The company’s instructions about installation are available on their website.

Cali Bamboo Flooring Reviews

Cali Bamboo reviews online mainly compliment its durable and eco-friendly approach for a more sustainable future. Fossilized bamboo flooring reviews reveal many good aspects of the floors. According to user reviews, the floors are easy to clean and durable for pets. The top positive review on Amazon sums up the positive side of the company: “This company and its products are remarkable! Durable, stylish, and good for the planet. The decision to buy was easy. Cali Bamboo’s customer support is the best I’ve ever seen. I wish I had more floors to cover. Maybe I will buy their outdoor decking next.” While there are plenty of positive reviews, receiving some negative reviews is par for the course. Online Cali Bamboo fossilized reviews have stated that the floor shrinks, creating gaps within the planks. Many claim that, even though the installation happened according to the company’s instructions, these problems still occur. Others state that the floors scratch easily, negating the durability and toughness of the floorings. These reviews further state that the wood planks suffer from even slight contact with hard objects. One of the top critical reviews on Amazon sums up the negative side of the company: “We bought this product in the distressed bamboo product 4 years ago and installed it in the dining room and living room of my house. The product was very difficult to install without damage to the product and according to their instructions. The first two years the product held up quite well with only minor scratching. The next two winters, even with a humidifier running in the house, the flooring shrunk in some joints as much as 1/2 inch leaving extreme gapping on the ends and sides. The manufacturer wouldn’t do anything to correct the situation after phone calls and pictures of the problem. This product is very expensive and not that good.” While both the positive and negative reviews can color your perception of the product, it’s important to know that reviews aren’t foolproof. I urge you to read reviews on the specific product you want to purchase, and see whether there are more positive or negative reviews, before buying.

Pros & Cons of Cali Bamboo Flooring

Even though Cali Bamboo floors consist of green building materials, there are certain advantages and disadvantages to the company’s products.

Pros

• Eco-friendly and sustainable flooring options like bamboo and eucalyptus
• Waterproof coating on many flooring options
• 25 to 50-year warranties on all flooring options
• Made from renewable and non-toxic materials

Cons

• Few colors or finishes to choose from
• More expensive than some other flooring options
• Not for places with high moisture and humidity levels
• Incorrect installation can cause the floor to warp and crack under pressure

Where is Cali Bamboo Made?

Situated in San Diego, California, Cali Bamboo sources all of its bamboo from the Moso organic farms in southeast China. The manufacturing and construction take place in the United States.

Is Cali Bamboo Flooring Waterproof?

Cali Bamboo floors are not waterproof but water-resistant. As bamboo is initially a plant, it absorbs some water. So, if some liquid falls on your floors, you should clean it up immediately. The spill may not destroy the floor, but long-term exposure to water will have adverse effects. As bamboo is sensitive to moisture and humid environments, it’s best to avoid installing bamboo floors in these conditions (i.e. kitchens and bathrooms). Constant exposure to moisture and high humidity levels can cause the bamboo floor to crack, wobble, and warp. Many Cali Bamboo products have a durable, waterproof coating, but liquid damage can happen with extended water contact.

Is Cali Bamboo Flooring Toxic?

Along with green building materials, Cali Bamboo’s mission is to use safe and non-toxic materials for manufacturing its products. All Cali Bamboo products go through state-of-the-art emission detectors for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including formaldehyde. This ensures that the flooring is safe, won’t emit harmful compounds, and has no long-term side effects.

Can You Refinish Cali Bamboo Floors?

Yes, you can refinish Cali Bamboo Floors. If the existing floors have scratches and dents, refinishing them will make them last longer and renew their beauty. The process is the same as for other hardwood floorings. First, you sand the floor and then apply the finish. A new finish every few years protects the floor from further damage. If you have used Cali Bamboo flooring before, leave a comment below and share your experience. If you want to learn more about bamboo flooring, check out my full guide to bamboo flooring.