Replies

1. 
   ChiefWiggum | Jan 13, 2009 08:01am | #1

   Try Smith and Fong - Plyboo. http://www.plyboo.com  They've been in the business for a long time.  The stranded flooring is the most durable sh*t  I've every seen.  My dog runs and slides all over my floor without a scratch. 

    IF you use the stranded, its a solid product, make sure you let it aclimatize a good long time.  It shrinks alot.  I would recomend installing it in the summer months.     Otherwise there is also CaliBamboo and many others online.  Lots o' stores carry various qualities of flooring.  Like any product you often get what you pay for.

1. 
   KFC | Jan 13, 2009 08:13am | #2

   I've seen plyboo cabinets, they were nice stuff.

   Is their flooring click in type?

   And did you say it's solid bamboo all the way through?

   thanks for the info.

   k

1. 
   ChiefWiggum | Jan 13, 2009 08:20pm | #3

   Their click flooring is not solid.  Their stranded is.  The stranded flooring is the one that's wicked tough, super dense  The click is a laminated and will not have the same density.  

1. 
   KFC | Jan 13, 2009 08:23pm | #4

   Is the stranded pre-finished?  carbonized?

   how's it sold?  random lengths or what?  how did you put it down- is it t&g or face nailed??

   thanks again for the info!

   k

1. 
   MadisonRenovations | Jan 13, 2009 10:11pm | #6

   btw, teragren now makes a stranded floating floor in addition to the solid stranded.they also have four colors. I installed a combination of Chestnut and Java, since I got a deal on Chestnut leftovers at a local dealer. I like the Chestnut a lot better, finer strands - more wood like. The Java had some wider leafy looking strands that I arranged to be on the waste side of my cuts.---mike...

   Edited 1/13/2009 2:14 pm ET by MadisonRenovations

2. 
   ChiefWiggum | Jan 14, 2009 04:16am | #8

   Stranded is pre- finished  it has three colors, carbonized natural or a combo.  Its t&g.  It is normally glued down with Bostiks best.  It is really, really dense nailing would be next to imposible.  It comes in 6' lengths

   Edited 1/13/2009 8:17 pm ET by ChiefWiggum

3. 
   KFC | Jan 14, 2009 05:26am | #10

   Again thanks for all the info.  I did a quick google search, but oy vey, it's a lot easier asking you.

   keep it coming.

   k

2. 
   MadisonRenovations | Jan 13, 2009 10:09pm | #5

   I agree with stranded bamboo. Looks more like wood, too. The other stuff looks so perfectly sterile. I used Synergy from Teragren, ( http://www.teragren.com/products_flooring_synergy.html ) which is a commercial product with a durable finish, 25 year warranty on structure and finish for residential use.Some of the cheaper bamboo products are prone to delamination. Stranded is pretty much interwoven so there's no line along which the glue can break. The resin pretty much saturates all the fibers so there is no glue line; it's all glue.---mike...
   Madison Renovations
   Cambridge, Mass.

1. 
   ChiefWiggum | Jan 14, 2009 04:13am | #7

   I  don't remember the specifics but I found teragren significantly more expensive than the plyboo brand.

3. 
   shtrum | Jan 14, 2009 05:09am | #9

   Had dinner at a colleague's house over the weekend.  They installed a floating bamboo floor, with the same recommendation.  In the winter it shrinks.  In the summer it swells. 

   Better to have slight gaps in winter, than buckling and telegraphing in summer.

    

    

1. 
   ChiefWiggum | Jan 14, 2009 05:55am | #11

   WIth proper  expansion space at the walls you shouldn't  get any buckling  with the expansion.

1. 
   KFC | Jan 14, 2009 06:27am | #12

   Right, that's what baseboard is for, regardless of flooring type.

   k

   I think some of the plyboo is glued cross grain?  probably less of an issue there..

2. 
   SteveInCleveland | Jan 14, 2009 02:16pm | #13

   Friends installed a bamboo floating floor from Lumber Liquidators about a year ago.  It looks very nice.  Their large dog has not caused any noticeable scratches.  I'm sure the price was good, too.

    

    

    

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