Bamboo floors

[Altaf]

So what's the deal with bamboo floors? Any reason not to go with bamboo? I was looking at hardwood floors but bamboo seems to be a viable option from the little I know . Anyone using them or has experience in flooring?

Background:
I need to replace carpeting on two levels with floors, including high traffic areas (stairs, foyer, family room, kitchen). I live near DC, in case weather is a factor for these floors.

 

[ballardcruiser]

I self-installed bamboo flooring in a refinished room in my basement. Being a basement, I was worried about potential moisture with a standard wood floor. And cork looks great but is a heck of a lot pricier.

I did the vapor barrier, ordered the stuff, it showed up, and then I did "floating" installation method. It was a sloppy install job (my first) but it did the job just fine. Bamboo is a durable, sustainable wood that I found pretty easy to use.

Like any flooring, aesthetics are probably important to most folks. If you don't like the look of bamboo, that's one reason not to use it. It's also a bit colder to the touch than wood, I think... wasn't a big deal to me but may be to some folks. And you gotta be careful to get a high quality flooring, because the cheaply built stuff can wear out or warp easily.

 

[Red Herring]

I self-installed bamboo flooring in a refinished room in my basement. Being a basement, I was worried about potential moisture with a standard wood floor. And cork looks great but is a heck of a lot pricier.

I did the vapor barrier, ordered the stuff, it showed up, and then I did "floating" installation method. It was a sloppy install job (my first) but it did the job just fine. Bamboo is a durable, sustainable wood that I found pretty easy to use.

Like any flooring, aesthetics are probably important to most folks. If you don't like the look of bamboo, that's one reason not to use it. It's also a bit colder to the touch than wood, I think... wasn't a big deal to me but may be to some folks. And you gotta be careful to get a high quality flooring, because the cheaply built stuff can wear out or warp easily.

X2 on that. Generally, the thicker the laminate the easier the install, and the better the product... although, not always. I also like the look of Bamboo.

Also, spend on the underlay. A nice felt underlay with adhered vapor barier will help warm and soften any laminate floor. Well worth the extra $$.

ie.

 

[NorCalDoug]

costco sells bamboo flooring planks. they also have it on their website. I looked at it the last time I was there and the boards looked very nice.

bamboo is supposed to be something like 25 percent stronger than oak and around 10 to 15 percent stronger than maple.

if was laying floor, I'd go with it.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

I've got a stack 5 feet behind me right now.... Haven't put any down yet, but it looks cool.

 

[ain't your mamas cruizer]

Just put down solid planks of the natural bamboo throughout my house. Had it professionally installed, and love every inch of it. It is stronger than oak and maple. I think it is softer to the touch, very pretty, and warm. With any hardwood, it will ding, scratch etc... I have found with the natural bamboo, it is much less noticeable. Also, the grain tends to camo the dirt, dust etc.

btw, I'm in the NOVA area, I can give you the company that did mine if you want.

 

[Altaf]

Thanks for the responses thus far, good to hear the positives. Now I was Googling "bamboo dents" last night and found a few negatives about the floor, the biggest being that it scratches and dents very easily. You can supposedly scratch it with your finger nail . It seemed like there were a lot more complaints than praises, but again, this is what I came up with by Googling. I trust 'Mud reviews a lot more, especially because of the excessive compulsive mindset around here.

So what's the real deal guys? A few of you have it, is it less durable than solid hardwoods? Does the color of the bamboo affect its durability, meaning 'natural' would be more durable than 'dark'? Any brand that stands out from the rest?

I was thinking about doing the install myself, but the more I've read, I'm now leaning towards letting an experienced installer handle it (ain't your mamas cruizer, I'll PM you for the contact).

 

[Landpimp]

the best hardwood floor guy in town did bamboo is his house........good nuff for me

 

[speyrod]

Any of the engineered floors seam to dent easier than traditional hardwoods. We have oak engineered in our home we are selling now and like it and will do some type of engineered floors again. We had a roll on vapor barrier installed then an under layment. I think it ended up around $12sqft installed but they are wide plank oak with no grooves etc.

 

[Urrrk]

I put down bamboo planks in my living/dining room (It's all one big space) about 2-3 years ago. While harder than oak or male it does dent and when it does, I think it dents deeper because it's not as dense as wood. I put down maple and refinished a fir floor before, and pretty much everything shows wear sooner than you'd like, so it's really six of one and half a dozen of the other as far as the dentability goes.

I think the laminate products are better for wear, but then again, they're laminate and not real wood. (Some are photo transferred images of wood printed on the substrate)

I have the clear vertical grained stuff and I like the look and color of it. Install wasn't particularly difficult, apparently you can glue down the planks as opposed to nailing them, and in retrospect I might have done that instead. Floor installation is always a pain, so I guess it depends on what you feel you're up for.

 

[VTFJ40]

A friend installed the Costco bamboo laminate and it showed quite a few scratches and dents in a very short time. He's thinkin of returning it after only a few months.

Not sure if it's indicative of all bamboo or it's just that particular brand that sucked.

 

[MDarius]

We putit in our kitchen this spring. I pulled up the old floor and underlayment. PITA. I installed it myself having had no experience. It wasn't bad. I got mine from Home Depot. It may be 'Solid Bamboo'', but the aesthetic layer is just over 1/8'' thick. We noticed scratches right away caused by the kitchen chairs being pushed around, but we got some felt pads and it stopped scratching. Also, the scratches seemed to disappear after a while and the dents from moving the fridge around aren't noticeable at all. I like it. I think it looks great. We did not use any underlayment, just put it directly on the subfloor. Maybe we'll pay for this 5 years from now, but for now it seems fine.

The problem is finding trim to match. You got your standard oak, maple, pine...ever try to find a natural wood that matches bamboo?? The grain is very unique. So, we got an oak heat vent cover that blends alright, we have natural pine wainscotting, and painted trim and cupboards. I think it looks good. I would actually consider doing my entire upstairs in the stuff if I had the $$ for it.

 

[NorCalDoug]

A friend installed the Costco bamboo laminate and it showed quite a few scratches and dents in a very short time. He's thinkin of returning it after only a few months.

Not sure if it's indicative of all bamboo or it's just that particular brand that sucked.

I'm not sure if he got the same stuff that I saw there, but...fwiw...the boards I saw were not laminate -- it was solid bamboo.

 

[MDarius]

Oh yeah, my install wasn't perfect. Some of the gaps between the boards were inconsistent. In one spot the gap was downright obscene. at just about 1/16th inch. But at the end of the project I took all the sawdust and swept it carefully over every inch of the floor. It filled in the gaps so that you can't see them at all. I figured it was better to have the gaps filled with sawdust than with cheerios. Whitetrash solution? Maybe. But, it still gets compliments.

 

[ain't your mamas cruizer]

A friend installed the Costco bamboo laminate and it showed quite a few scratches and dents in a very short time. He's thinkin of returning it after only a few months.
.

Goes to show ya, you get what you pay for....I would never buy flooring from a discount warehouse. I have solid (5/8 inch all wood, no composite) bamboo throughout the main living areas of my house. There are some minor dings and divets, but nothing more than normal for hardwood. The brand I used is called Taragren and they also have the shoemolding to match. I only paid $7 per sq. ft and think I got a pretty damn good deal. Shop around and make sure it's real and not the cheap composite or laminate crap.

 

[Urrrk]

The problem is finding trim to match. You got your standard oak, maple, pine...ever try to find a natural wood that matches bamboo?? The grain is very unique. So, we got an oak heat vent cover that blends alright, we have natural pine wainscotting, and painted trim and cupboards. I think it looks good. I would actually consider doing my entire upstairs in the stuff if I had the $$ for it.

I have the solid bamboo stuff, (3/16 in wide bamboo chunks laminated vertically to make a 5/8x3 1/2 section) but I was able to find stair bullnose sections, ramps, etc. to transition to whatever other flooring I had.

Maple is an okay matchup tone wise for clear (non carborized) bamboo. We also have CVG fir baseboards, etc. and the contrast looks nice. Opted for black metal heat vent covers. Again, a contrast as opposed to a match, but not unattractive.

 

[ballardcruiser]

Oh yeah, my install wasn't perfect. Some of the gaps between the boards were inconsistent. In one spot the gap was downright obscene. at just about 1/16th inch. But at the end of the project I took all the sawdust and swept it carefully over every inch of the floor. It filled in the gaps so that you can't see them at all. I figured it was better to have the gaps filled with sawdust than with cheerios. Whitetrash solution? Maybe. But, it still gets compliments.

I did the same thing! But I'm so whitetrash I never even got around to filling in the gaps. Somewhere in this house is a ziploc bag with bamboo sawdust in it. I should try to find it...

Jason

 

[Altaf]

Since I'm considering doing about 2000 sq. ft. of flooring, cost is a factor, and that's what really drew me to bamboo. Now if the cost is comparable to hardwood, I would most likely go with hardwood because I don't think bamboo has really been tested long enough. I know hardwood can be revitalized after 12 years of abuse, bamboo...?

 

[45Kevin]

Bamboo is not wood, it is grass.

That being said I still think that bamboo is a good choice for flooring. Engineered flooring is as good or better than solid in that it is only the top 1/4" that makes the floor. As long as you have a 1/4" of solid wood on the top you will have the same durability and be able to refinish it at least once.

The factory finish is a far superior finish to site finished floors. The significant difference between oak, maple and bamboo is way it looks.

 

[MDarius]

For what it's worth, when we were deciding on what kind of flooring to use I took samples and did some testing. 3 different samples of cork flooring, 1 of bamboo, 2 of different quality 'pergo' type floors, and a lower cost oak. I used my Buck 7.5'' blade hunting knife and dropped it point down on each sample from about 6'. Then I dropped it handle first, then I dropped a can of beans on to it so the rim would hit first. Then I placed a chair on each sample and sat down with my wife on my lap (no lude comments please) to simulate an overweight guest at dinner, or a heavy appliance. Kind of silly, but we have some very overweight friends. NOT THAT THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT!!! Last was a little light sanding. All the results pointed me to the bamboo.

-The point drop test resulted in the cork floor tearing up chunks, the laminate chipping, and the bamboo and oak simply getting stuck with the smallest noticeable mark. The Bamboo I could futz with and reduce the size while the oak was what it was.
-For the blunt point drop, the cork dented but rebounded after an hour or two, the cork showed a small dent, the Oak about the same. The pergo dented and chipped.
-The can drop was similar to the blunt point, but the oak showed no damage and the bamboo had a marred finish. The cork didn't rebound as fast. The pergo had no damage.
-The chair test showed no damage to oak and bamboo or pergo, but the cork had a good sized dent that was still slightly dimpled after a couple hours.
-I don't remember the sanding results. Sorry.

I decided I didn't want the dents and dimples of the cork and I didn't like the fact that you could pull up chunks...not with my kids terrorizing it!
The laminate chipped too frequently and I don't like the look and feel as much.


We went with bamboo because we liked the look and $$ better than oak.

As always, if you want a thourough analysis, go to MUD.

I believe we got our samples from ifloor.com for a couple bucks each. They have a good price for larger volumes, like 2000 sq feet, but we were just doing the kitchen. Pretty good selection. I personally would put cork in the living area and something harder in the kitchen. I liked the look and feel of cork, just not for the kitchen.