Most people aren’t aware of strand woven bamboo let alone strand woven poplar, however, award‐winning independent news source Sustainable Industries announced EcoTimber Woven Recycled Poplar as one of its 2010 Top 10 Green Building Products award winners. Sustainable Industries’ Top 10 Green Building Products guide is an annual publication profiling industry‐leading green building products selected by a panel of expert judges and Sustainable Industries’ editorial team.
So what is this floor made of..Woven poplar is comprised of 100% post industrial scraps of FSC certified poplar from the furniture industry that is combined with a proprietary process of resin infusion and high compression. This makes it not only the most environmentally friendly floor on the market but also extremely durable and extraordinarily beautiful.
It’s woven construction makes is “engineered yet solid”. It is “engineered” and “solid” – wood veneers are compressed using a heat reactive glue, so it acts “engineered” in the sense that it is made from individual wood fibers (as opposed to a big chunk of wood; this is beneficial from a “stability” standpoint since bigger pieces of wood move more than smaller pieces), but acts as though it is “solid” in the sense that there is no concern of wearing through the “wear layer” to expose a different core material below (which is the case with other “engineered” woods that consist of a “wear layer” on either a plywood and HDF/High Density Fiberboard core).
The adhesives are E0 and low‐VOC adhesives [Formaldehyde emission: 0.4mg/L ‐‐ anything below 0.5mg/L is considered E0]. Adhesive is Phenol‐based (ie: “No Added Urea formaldehyde” [NAUF]), and therefore suitable for LEED inclusion.
Woven poplar can be installed at or above grade, nailed or glued and can even be installed over hydronic (water) based radiant heat systems. As far as maintenance the floor is 3000 on the Janka hardness scale (white oak is 1360) and while it can be sanded and refinished it is thought that it will need less refinishing over it’s life cycle.