Is Bamboo Flooring Difficult to Do Oneself? Any Suggestions?

We recently bought a home with horrible berber (I hate berber!) and I'm very interested in replacing the floors with bamboo. How difficult is it to install myself. I'm handy with tools, but I'm not sure if it's a project I'll get started and never finish if it gets too hard. :-) What tools are necessary for the project and how can I guess how long it will take?





I would also like to get my stairs covered with bamboo, but I heard that stairs are very difficult to do. Thoughts?

Is Bamboo Flooring Difficult to Do Oneself? Any Suggestions?
Solid bamboo installs the same as hardwood, except you can actually glue solid bamboo down directly over concrete, above grade, on grade, or below grade. As bamboo is grass and not hardwood, it is more "flexible"and adjusts easily to high levels of moisture or the lack of it.





The glue used is usually urethane-based and contains moisture-resistant properties. Prior to installing, you must of course, prep your subfloor. This entails checking the moisture level of the concrete sub, making sure it is flat and even, sanding down high parts and filling in low parts.





There is also the engineered bamboo type which can be floated if you are a bit hesitant to glue solid directly onto concrete.





For your foyer and den, it would be your option to run the planks just one way for both areas for a look of continuity, or you can split the areas and place the appropriate trim/molding in between for a nice, smooth transition.





Installation kits are usually offered as well for the brand of bamboo you're buying. Installation on stairs requires a bit more patience as it is best installed by gluing down (which is messy but provides the most stability) and measurements have to be just right to make sure it looks good when you're done.
Reply:like they said, bamboo flooring is not that dificult to install.





but there are a couple of things to keep in mind.





around here, if we install over concrete, we usally use an engineer/laminate flooring, with a sound barrier in between the flooring and subfloor. they either interlock with each other, or we glue the tongue/grove. this is called a floating floor, and the price might be comparable to a bamboo product.





speaking of bamboo. in my experience, it is not the best product out there. the finish is not as good as other prefinished products, and it mught get scratched easily, and the board themselves are a bit fragile, so you have to be carefull when you tap them in place not to damage the tongue


or the edge of the board itself.





that said. if you have plywood subfloor, and you decided to do it your self you will need a flooring stapler, the bostitch MIIIFS is the most common, you can rent it at the depot for around $30 day. I dont recall. it will come with a rubber face mallet, which will come handy when tapping the boards into place. you might also want to glue the boards. to prevent them from ever squeaking. a case of subfloor glue is only $40. and you can glue every other row. on top of that you will need a mitter saw, a table saw, a compressor and maybe a jigsaw.





the way we install is the following:





we install the flooring running parallel with the lenght of the room.





if you want your starting and finishing row to be about the same width, which is the norm. because you dont want to start with a 4 inch wide board and finish with a 1 inch one. so the best way I can explain this is, you measure the width of the room, lets say is 12'2", and your boards are 4 inch wide. that means 3 boards per foot, so you are left with 2 inches at the end. so what you do is you rip the starting row down to 3 inches, that will give an extra inch of play so your final row will also be 3 inches. was that clear enough?





also, bamboo flooring comes in just one lenght, so if you dont pay attention, you might end with what we call staggered/staircase joints. where the joint in the boards in one row line up with another row next to it and so on. the easiest way to prevent that is to always keep the lenght of your starter boards (the pieces of board you use to start each row) random.





if you are doing flooring through out the house, you are better off installing thresholds at every door to every room, that way you can do each room indepently from each other.





Installing stairs is trickier, beacuse the edges need to be tight against the drywall/skirt board. you'll need bullnose pieces for the treads. and maybe a stair jig or template. but if you dont really care about how tight you edges.
Reply:Bamboo floors are beautiful. They are not that difficult to install,where you buy the bamboo they have some sets in a plastic bag with everything youll need. Dont install it to tight or else will have bables after cleaning with water and vinegar. venegar is good because the acrilic coat will be bright. and no bacteria.
Reply:hi ...Bamboo flooring is not hard to install at all...it's no different than installing a 3/4" hardwood...you can go to your local Lowe's and speak to a flooring specialist and actually see the bamboo and what your getting into...my first question to you would be are you going over wood subfloor or concrete? If concrete you need to glue the wood flooring..very simple you just go by rows from one side of the room to the other but you must first find the center of the room and start your first row there so that your room does not possibly end up at an angle...(there is no wall that is perfectly straight)...glue, tapping block and...knee pads(your knees are going to kill you at the end... :-) OK if it is a wood subfloor you use the nail down technique...you simply go rent a nailer for the day, find your center in the room and run your first row....the nailer shoots the nail at an angle into the wood flooring on the tongue side, your next row tap the pieces together and then nail (this process is done standing up, a little easier on the knees) :-) sssooooo easy you'll be great!!! any questions feel free to e mail me...fastjeepchick@yahoo.com