Just thought I’d share my first experience in laying a bamboo floor after hearing so much about it lately.
The stuff is certainly attractive and it’s nice to know that it’s very renewable, but it’s not really as hard as I expected and dents pretty easily if you drop something on it. It’s probably about as hard as today’s oak, but the oak is my 50 yr old house seems harder.
As for installation, I would much rather snap together a floating floor than deal with glue. one type under the bamboo and another on the tongue. And then clamping and weighting the whole thing while the glue dries.
But none of that is probably new information to most here, what we did (and it’s not my job, so not my decision) was to lay it in a herringbone pattern. I hadn’t seen this done before with glue-down planks and it looked really good when we dry-fitted it. However, once we had glue to deal with, it was really difficult to keep it square. The pieces don’t always snug together perfectly enough and now instead of clamping in one direction, we have to clamp the ends of each piece as well as 2 directions along the length of the plank. It can be done, but it’s a challenge for sure.
Next time (if it’s my decision), glued-down planks will be installed in the the conventional strip pattern.
-Don
Replies
Good info. Got any pics?
At the trade shows they sure brag about how tough it is. I didn't see anyone taking a hammer to it though.
Is it more scratch resistant than the floating floors? Some of them scratch if you look at it sideways.
My experience with it would favor its toughness. I've found it to have great dent- and abrasion-resistance. Gluing & herring-bone? Wow! Lotsa work. I glued it regular, and THAT was a lot of work.
For scratch resistance, I think is comparable to floating floors (Pergo, etc). It will stand up to a dog's nails which I think would be a reasonable criterion.
But for dent resistance, and part of me hates to admit this, the manufactured laminates are superior.
Thanks for the interest, I'll post pics soon.
-Don
There are over 800 species of bamboo... so I have heard it has everything to do with the supplier. One flooring friend said they laid 1/4 a floor and the flooring was scratched when they got it, the owner said rip it up. They ordered another company and got great results.
I think the bigger question is if you like the look of it. There are tons of people with white pine floors, but I dont understand it.
Don't know what thickness and brand you used but I laid about 2500 sq.ft. of both regular and carmalized 3/4' pre-finished last year.
This stuff was the absolute best flooring I have ever laid!
Milled perfectly straight and flat, every piece, every time. Consistency was unbelievable.
Easy to crosscut, even easier to rip, it's almost fiberous lengthwise.
No need to glue, just install like a prefinished wood floor.
Did notice the denting problem when moving kitchen aplliances, smaller dents came out with a wet rag and iron mostly. Definately not as hard as oak, though that's what they advertise.
All in all I'd recommend it to anyone, just don't get the kind you have to glue apparently.
My experience with bamboo matches yours. I found it just a bit brittle on delicate notches, but brittle usually means hard so that was ok.
I got the feeling that the tendency to dent had more to do with the finish than with the bamboo itself.
>I got the feeling that the tendency to dent had more to do with the finish than with the bamboo itself.Interesting. Mine was unfinished...still is a year later, darn it...and with a year of dropping stuff, and rolling chairs and such, you can't see any dents...just dirt that'll sand away one of these months.
I'll echo prior request: PICS please.
Interesting comments, but they're kind of like saying that wood floors dent easily, without mentioning if the wood is oak or pine.
With the exception of the herringbone pattern...that's definitely interesting, and like the others, I'm looking forward to pics.
Different bamboo manufacturers use different methods to make their flooring. Some use solid bamboo, others make laminated (ply-structure) bamboo flooring, others make a laminated product with the show layer being bamboo and the other layers being softwood.
Flooring made from 100% bamboo is, to me, pretty darn hard. Near bulletproof. Within that group, different species of bamboo have different hardnesses. And different manufacturing methods can contribute or take away from the hardness of the final product.
I have probably 18 or 19 different samples of bamboo flooring, and the quality of the finished product is all over the spectrum when comparing one to another.
The better factory applied modern finishes are quite scratch-resistant. Nothing like Pergo.
Who made your product? Natural or carbonized? The carbonized is less hard.
Edited 1/5/2005 2:15 am ET by Mongo
Mongo,You said, "The carbonized is less hard." This is fascinating. How did you learn this, the easy or the hard way? Do you know how the process is done? It looks like they run it through a tunnel kiln set on "top broil." TIA for any enlightenment you can offer me. I got the natural for my guest house because I prefer the look, and wanted the same color all the way through, for the sake of future maintenance.Bill
I believe that is pretty close to how they do it, and if I remember correctly it is about 25% less hard.
I've been told by people that I understood that it's a heating process, similar to a kiln or hot oven. I was told by someone with limited english skills that they "boil the bamboo". Tried to ask if he meant "boil" as in water or "broil" as in under a flame, but got nowhere.
That was seven or eight years ago.
The softness came from asking what effect the carbonizing had on the flooring, and I was told it made the wood 20-30% less hard. I've used both and I've found the carbonized to be less hard.
They now hace a super hard bamboo flooring, it's made from bamboo fibers bound together with resin. I imagine it looks something like a timberstrand beam. I presume it is the abundance of resin that gives it the "super hardness". I haven't used or seen that product yet.
Thanks Mongo,It has to be dry heat, cause boiling wouldn't darken it. It is like toasting bread. The pyrolysis happens well above 300 degrees F.Bill