My husband and I are looking into installing a bamboo floor in our new home, which is in the design stage now. We live in NW Colorado and have been told by a manufacturer that we need to have 40-60% humidity to maintain the floor (which means having humidifiers running in each room). We’d love to hear from anyone who lives in a similar dry climate who has bamboo flooring and your opinions. Thanks.
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That sounds wrong. Never heard of that kind of range being necessary. Now, I'm a big fan of maintaining a tight range on the humidity, be/c it's good for all things living and not, and I keep it 35-45% here year round, but that's not be/c it's part of the product spec.
btw, there's a wide range of pricing. I just (literally 5 min ago) ordered the last few boxes needed to finish off my 4500 sf plus chunk of flooring. Came up about 150 sf short with my first order some years ago. WFI Bamboo priced natural, horizontal at 3.19/sf. Checked with Lowes for giggles, and they're at 4.09. Shipping ate up much of the diff, but avoided taxes and am getting it faster, so...
Another bit of info, disconcerting to me, is that the sizes have changed. Ack! I used to get 91.5 x 8.9 x 1.5 mm, but now it's 37 7/8 x 3 3/4 x 5/8, so I'm gonna have fun matching it up.
I hope you mean cm not mm. Any idea why they changed?
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
No, they were reallllllllly tiny boards. <G> Yeah, cm of course.I gather the change was that as it became more popular in the US, someone demanded imperial instead of metric. My opinion only. It'll be a pain to plane each board, but if I plan right, the length or width shouldn't bite me..
Thanks for your info. Are you in Colorado? Low humidity is the norm where we live, but not this week...lots of rain <G>.
The 40-60% humidity figure was given to me by a customer service person at Teragren in Washington. We'd love to do bamboo but would like to know that it will hold up here in Steamboat Springs without running humidifiers throughout the house. Thanks.
North Carolina.The range given seems, after research, to be a standard sort of disclaimer. Some say 30-50, some say 40-60. You'll find recommendations for hardwood, too. When you dig into it, most of the sites say that excess humidity will cause the boards to expand and low humidity will cause them to contract, and that can cause cracking and gaps over the expansion/contraction cycles. What I draw from it is that the key is avoiding big fluctuations. Once you acclimate the flooring, then maintain a smallish range on the humidity, whether a bit higher or a bit lower. Don't allow yearly fluctuations from 20 to 80 and back, or you'll experience expansion/contraction in almost any flooring, and almost every component of your house. The tighter the range, the better for your building components.
Terragren is my favorite bamboo, the 6' sticks go down fast and make it easy to stagger butt joints and minimize waste.
I've had Terragren put dwn in 2 houses in CO. One in C-Springs, the other in Eagle. Zero problems, zero concerns
That's what I'd been waiting to hear. If you don't mind my asking, which distributor did you use to purchase the Teragren? Were you pleased? Also, doyou do anything specific to maintain the floor?
Thanks a lot.
C-Springs was done two years ago. Maybe 1200' total. Haven't been back since the install, but the owners have nothing but raves.
The Eagle house was three years ago. The Eagle house had the game room done, about 1780 sqft, as well as an exercise room, just under 600 sqft.
The Eagle game room gets abused big time. Personally I only visit there during ski season, but the flooring still looks great.
The flooring has held up remarkably well.
As for durability, I've also installed it in two exercise studios that get jumped up and down on for hours a day. I know that they get a daily "Steam mopping" with one of those steam cleaning broom-type things. The floors still look as good as day one. I've checked the end-grain butt joints for any signs of damage from the steam process, there is no damage at all.
Realize that not all bamboos are constructed the same. Some are all bamboo, some have a bamboo show ply with the bottom plies being rubberwood, pine, or some other softwood.
One thing I like about Terragren is that it's all bamboo...or should I write "it's all bamboo and resin", and there's so much resin in the product that I really don't see moisture swings having a significant affect on it.
Both time I needed 6' lengths and I needed them pronto, so I ordered from the home office and they shipped directly from Seattle.
First time I ever used Terragren was in my own house, about 850 sqft in my attic. Part game room, part TV room. Put that down back in...can't recall. Maybe '98? That still looks great. One small dimple, about 3/8" in diameter and 1/16" deep, when a 16 lb bowling ball was dropped on it...but that's it. I also had that shipped direct from Seattle. I'm in CT.
(which means having humidifiers running in each room).
No EXPERT here but seems if IT WOULD be Good for YOU also!
Sort of funnin; ya but We are 90% water as is wood!
Edited 6/3/2005 8:30 pm ET by Will George
Yup, that's certainly true and we do dry out here in the wintertime, but we can take baths...would that mean that perhaps giving the flooring an occasional damp wash might help, but with the sealant on the flooring, it might do nothing. Since we are just beginning this project, we are looking for something that is good for the earth as well as for us...and not too high in maintenance. Thanks.
I will say that the ONE great advantage of now having forced air for heat is that I put on powered humidifiers. Made me much more comfortable, reduced problems from static (I can pet my cats in the winter) and cut down on nose bleeds. I set mine for about 45%, but I also have sensors that increase the humidity as temperature drops.
When I layed my first bamboo floor about 3 years ago, we threw some scraps in a bucket of water. The HO maintained the water level. The expansion/swelling as of 6 months ago was negligible.
I've mostly used EcoWood (IIRC). Check with http://www.fastfloors.com
They've been very reliable and shipping is usually free, or very minimal.
Bamboo as a material is very stable. You may recall (if you're old enough) that bamboo was, for many years, the core material for higher quality slide rules and Architect scales.
I'm wondering if you also live in a "dry" climate. BTW, I am sure I am old enough, but I hadn't remember about the slide rules, etc.
Anyway, thanks for your input. Very much appreciated. We do really like the look of the material.
and fly rods!