Bamboo floors?

i'm looking for any recommendations or drawbacks on bamboo floors.

Bamboo floors?
Hi,


As we know, bamboo floor now on the market comes from one bamboo species, called "Moso", its scientific name is Phyllostachys pubescens, the density of it is about 0.66, compare with ash (0.67), maple (0.75) or oak (0.59~0.93), "Moso" has simillar property as them when it is used for flooring, therefor it will be dented and scratched (mostly depends on the lacquer, due to most bamboo floor now use UV with additive AL2O3, which is very rigidity but friable compare with others) like those medium wood. Except when "Moso" is used for structure material, it has extremely strength, like steel, due to its specific property.





Like medium hardwood floor, the price of bamboo floor is quite amazing, C$2.98/sqft sold in Rona, it is really not the cheap quality floor! For the installation, it is easy "do it yourself", you can nail down or glue down, indeed you can put glue between tenon %26amp; groove to float the floor.





There are two basic types of bamboo floor, horizontal and vertical, based on "Moso" property, vertical is more stable than horizontal, you will easy find the different by checking the beeline of floor plank, almost all horizontal pieces have a little bit bend, but vertical are all keep straight, moreover vertical has less shrinkage or expansion in width of floor plank than horizontal. So, for the place of moisture change big, it's better to take vertical.





As to the color of bamboo floor, normally there are natural and carbonized (there are some stain colors' bamboo floor also), the mechanical and physical property of natural color is better than carbonized color, because the fibers of carbonized bamboo got certain damaged. For the color uniform, natural one is better than carbonized, because the carbonized bamboo strips get different color change (under the same carbonized condition, i.e. 150 degree, 2 hours) due to bamboo poles come from different places (south or north of mountain, foot or top of mountain... so much as pole itsself from bottom to top), so workers have to select same carbonized color to make light, medium and dark carbonized colors, that's the color uniform good or not by different manufacturers.





For the quality of bamboo floor, first from the structure of horizontal and vertical, horizontal is easier to conceal the defects of bamboo strips, because there are three layers, you will not see the defects between layers. Normally manucaturers use discolor strips in middle and bottom layers, this is acceptable, but if any strip inside is not planed "out", that means some cupped parts remaindered on strips (due to bamboo is a hollow grass), the quality of agglutination will be reduced. Second, moisture content normally should be below 12%, dry area below 10%, thriod, floor planks fitting, the edges should be linear and right-angled, fouth, to test the lacquer as people talked more about the scratch, fifth, the glue used, for sure most bamboo floor on the market now are used Urea-formaldehyde(UF) resins, like plywood, panel..., it should be said UF is a safety glue to be worldwidely used. For common consumers it is hardly to know which floor's volatilization (free formaldehyde) is low than the level (i.e 0.37mg/m3, American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) sets the Value), the possible way by youself is, try to smell something, free formaldehyde is a very stabbed smell, when you open the box you can try this, of course it's not a formal way to test it. It do have a way to use one glue such as PVAc glue which is totally free from harmful volatilization to make bamboo floor, but the cost is very high, does it worth to buy? Like you buy plywood, did you ask for the plywood glued with PVAc or other glues free from formaldehyde instead of UF? Anyway, let your room ventilation after the installation, the free formaldehyde will be less and less,
Reply:I installed a bamboo floor in my condo.. about 500 square feet.. I love it.. although there were some issues..





Bamboo is an engineered wood.. actually three layers of bamboo glued together so it is extremely stable.. However is is not a hard wood and it will scratch and dent fairly easily. Although.. mine still looks great after 3 years and I still get compliments about it..





I used a border around the entire wall with three strips of natural, then "carbonized", and then natural again. I then filled in the center with natural.. it looks like a custom floor without too much trouble.





Originally the natural areas looked yellow but the yellow quickly faded.





I bought the bamboo from a discount flooring store for relatively cheap..($2-3 per sq foot) with a 30 year finish.. It came in 3 foot by 3 and 1/2 inch boards. It was tongue and groove so it goes together easily. Stagger the ends so the joints are staggered. My bamboo floor was designed to be nailed down .. although now I know you can get some engineered floorings that have snap together and float.. so they do not need to be nailed down. I nailed it down with an air powered 18 guage brad nailer although a floor nailer would work better.





If you install it yourself GET THE BEST BLADE YOU CAN FOR CUTTING IT. Bamboo is actually a grass and without a very sharp fine cutting blade it will shred/rip along the cut edges which looks bad. I used a cheap powered miter saw for cutting it..with a blade that cost almost as much as the saw! The blade had very good carbide tips.





Good luck
Reply:Bamboo is a great product, it is one of my favorites to sell since it looks so nice installed. Bamboo is a very resilient floor that is very resistant to denting. A stand of bamboo only takes around 5-7 years to grow to a size where it can be harvested where as oak takes over 50 years. According to Mannington(one of my suppliers of bamboo) it can be glued in or nailed down.
Reply:i've seen several of these bamboo floors, the owners love them. they don't mention any drawbacks.
Reply:Bamboo is a great floor product, however it is very expensive compared to other flooring products. It will be more available in a prefinished product and will last for a long time before needing refinished. An unfinished product will cost alot and alot to finish. Your best bet, get prefinished. www.ecotekinc.com
Reply:You can't get better quality than Bamboo. As they say you get what you pay for. If you are gonna go all out remember to have a well known professional install them with a warranty. Bamboo is the strongest wood you can get for flooring. It is also easy to upkeep and beautiful. Good luck and enjoy!!
Reply:Bamboo floors are great. They are kinda expensive. They are also great for the environment. Bamboo floors are becoming very popular, that can be a draw back or a plus depending on how you are.





Environmental Friendly: Bamboo wood flooring is a natural, ideal wood substitute because bamboo is fast-growing, renewable, and sustainable. We harvest bamboo with minimum impact on the local environment in the province of Fujian, one of the top three bamboo producing areas in China.


Hard and Durable: Bamboo wood is harder than red oak, and as hard as hard maple. Bamboo wood contracts and expands 50% less than hardwoods. All our products are made only from 6 years old bamboo strips, which mean they have reached their hardest level. Bamboo has been a building material for thousands of years in China because it is very hard, strong, and dimensional stable.


Best Quality: We developed our innovative 6-step manufacturing processes to retain bamboo’s nature beauty, to maximize the hardness, durability and stability, to insure pest free, to provide virtually care-free finishes, and to assure the best quality. All our bamboo wood flooring meet and exceed rigorous international standards.


Elegant: We not only keep bamboo’s smooth, clear-grain appearance, but refine to astonishingly beautiful bamboo floors ever crafted.


Extremely Safe: Our products are 100% pest free, and have very low level of formaldehyde emissions less or equal than 1.3mg/L.


Affordable: We offer discount bamboo flooring.


Easy to install: Bamboo flooring installation is just like any other hardwood flooring.
Reply:My friend put them in her house about a year ago and they look beautiful. I guess the only drawback is that they are expensive.
Reply:Bamboo flooring is extremely good flooring, it's more decorative than anything...it's not a very hard wood but it is not a soft wood either so it will wear well. One advantage is in the installation..you can either "float it" or glue it down...never nail !!! it can go over wood sub-floor or concrete.


It is also a solid wood so when scratched it will be the same through and through. Bamboo is also very environmental which we all know no trees were killed to provide you a great floor. It is aslo a low maintenance floor due to the fact that it does not have a high shine that needs constant maintenance. Stay Green.....good luck