Bamboo Flooring

[sbk]

I found an ad in the Thai magazine Ban Lae Suan for a bamboo products company called All Bamboo website allbamboo.co.th.

They have DIY installed bamboo flooring as well as lumber type solid flooring. How does timber bamboo do here? Does it suffer from those nasty bugs that eat the bamboo furniture or is it treated? Does it warp? Anyone have experience with it?

[teacup]

I have bamboo flooring in my house. It's quite popular here in the US in the last 2-3 yrs. Let me tell you it's the worst flooring material to be used for your floor if you wear any high heels and have a cat that loves to scratch. It can be a nice looking but quite soft actually and will dent very easily, so now we are switching back to oak or solid mable here. Well from my experience anyway and of course I'm here in the US...so no bugs problem here.

Edited February 28, 2007 by teacup

[sbk]

I take my shoes off and my cat died last year

Is yours the solid flooring or the veneer kind you can lay yourself, teacup? Just curious if there is a difference in quality or not as well.

Still would like to know about the bug issue too

[backflip]

As Teacup mentioned, bamboo is very soft, and can be dented even without high heels. Too, bamboo yellows quickly. If you want a lumpy, yellow floor, bamboo is the way to go.

[sbk]

As Teacup mentioned, bamboo is very soft, and can be dented even without high heels. Too, bamboo yellows quickly. If you want a lumpy, yellow floor, bamboo is the way to go.

Sounds appealing

So, what about the laminate floorings then? Would they work better in my hot, humid climate (near the sea) or would they have issues too?

[teacup]

I have the "Solid" type (top half of the thickest anyway). What I know is they come in traditional solid throughout, semi solid, and the strand woven bamboo. The sale lady said they are moth-proof and anti insect too, due to the steaming, boiling, degreasing, & other processes.

The "strand woven" bamboo which is made of high density bamboo fiber that is laminated together with low-formaldehyde adhesive and gives greater rigidity, twice harder than any traditional bamboo floor. They said it’s incredible hard, durable, and moisture-resistance

They are very easy to install for the tongue and groove type, the wider boards you have, the harder to install and maintain because they will shrink and expand at the greater rate than the narrow one. And make sure leave about an inch around the room for expansion due to heat.

If possible ask for Aluminum oxide finish- for high traffic area, and with uv protection of at least 7 coats to protect against yellowing. And I think she said the smaller grains is softer than the one that has a bigger grains (further research needed on this)

I'm not an expert on this and those are what I know

[backflip]

Laminated flooring is relatively cheap, wears like iron, and is easy to install. On the other hand, it looks fake and, if kept wet, it will delaminate. The cut edges soak up water like a sponge and, after installation, you need to seal the edges with a high quality silicone rubber. Someone else suggested tile (granite would be my preference).

[chownah]

There is bamboo flooring and then there is bamboo flooring. There is an extremely high variability in the hardness of bamboo floors and it depends on the species of bamboo used and what part of the culm is used. I went on line and looked at two sites which both used the Janka hardness scale for wood as their criteria for evaluating various woods for use as flooring. The larger the number the harder and therefore better the wood for flooring purposes:

Site #1

http://www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/hardns.html

Timbergrass Bamboo-------1642

Hard Maple------1450

White Oak--------1360

Northern Red Oak------1290

Site #2

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodi...er/hardness.htm

North American Maple------1450

Natural Bamboo------1410

White Oak------1360

Red Oak------1260

Site #2 contained a cautionary note for bamboo: "Will vary substantially with different manufacturers."

So it is seen that good quality bamboo flooring is harder than most woods typically used in the west for flooring.

Chownah

[sbk]

This is from the Thai company website I mentioned above;

Product is tested 27% harder than oak and 13% harder than rock maples.

• Dimensional stability, less contract and expand than conventional wood floors.

A sound long-term investment

• Life time warranty against de-lamination.

• Increase the value of your home.

• The best quality / price ratio.

Superior quality milling

• Uniform color grading.

• Uniform thickness and width.

• Uniform Micro-V joint and perfect tongue and groove fit.

6 Coats high-tech UV-cured polyurethane finish with Aluminum Oxide

Advanced finishing system for:

• Long lasting beauty and durability.

• Superior wear resistance.

• Residential Twenty (20) years finish warranty.

Economical and easy to maintain

• Requires less care than conventional hardwood flooring.

• No waxing maintenance required.

And this is a screen shot of their solid floor:

[chownah]

The websites I used for the data above both included carbonized bamboo also and it is much softer....if my memory is correct I think it was about 1100....so carbonized bamboo is probably not as good as the typical hardwood used in floors in the west....but that does not mean it is unacceptable...just won't wear as well. For those worried about the hardness I guess they would want to stay away from the carbonized stuff....but I have no direct experience with bamboo flooring so people should not take my word for anything on this topic.

Chownah

[Nawtilus]

I was at a show last week, their price for solid bamboo flooring was more expensive than teak.

[BAKABAS]

Hi to the original post person,

I have been in the flooring game for 40 years.

I love bamboo T&G. Contary to may posts here, if you buy the right bamboo, it is far stronger that other woods and laminates. Every timber floor will dent with stilettos.

MATE, I m building a house in LOS soon, and wil put it throughout my home.

Go for it, don't let amateur point of views distract you.

Regards,

[flifsh1]

Can anyone recommend a supplier for quality bamboo and other hardwood flooring in LOS.

Also from my research most T & G hardwood flooring is installed in LOS above a concrete subfloor using adhesives - In Canada we use a plywood subfloor and specialized nailer for this. Does anyone have experience with installing T & G flooring in LOS. The guys that buy the old wood houses and plane down the old wood for flooring seem to face screwing it directly to the subfloor as the wood has no T & G.

[chownah]

We installed random length strip flooring (the Thai's call it "parkay") in part of our house on the second floor. It was nailed directly to the wood floor joists with nothing underneath it. I knew that this was not the best way since I've seen lots of strip floors laid back in the US but it was one of those things where at the time the best thing was to just go with the flow and do it their way. So far (five years late) no major problems. A few of the pieces are loose just a bit but not really a problem....there is no squeeking yet......so....ok.

Chownah