Base for bamboo flooring

[TallStreak]

We are about to build our new home, pending the finalisation of the demolition of our old one. For the top floor (Living, Family, Kitchen, Dining) we were planning on getting bamboo flooring installed. The builder suggested that we consider getting plywood as the base on the top level, rather than particleboard, as it would provide a better surface for glueing and/or secret nailing the bamboo floorboards.

I am interested on peoples opinions on this one as the ply would be more expensive (approx 100 sqm of floor area), is it worth it??

[bitingmidge]

Bamboo is a very stable floor material, and it's not cheap.

Saving a few dollars in the subfloor could be false economy, and while modern particle boards are very stable as well, I can imagine what your builder would say IF a problem developed with the bamboo, and you decided to install a sub-floor against his recommendation!

Cheap insurance I reckon, although I've never had a problem with a particle board floor WHICH WAS CAREFULLY LAID, and glued.

Cheers,

P

[Gaza]

go the ply, far better off,

[TallStreak]

Thanks for the replies - It seems that it would be a wise choice to go ply... assuming we are not talking thousands of $$$'s extra just for a subfloor - Any ideas on what to expect the price difference to be??