Bamboo flooring

[Chris Parks]

Has anyone here had any experience of bamboo flooring and how it has worn and any upkeep involved? I won't be self installing it but it is one of the options we are looking at now the renovations are finished.

[Cgcc]

Dunno but I've been pondering it to replace a French clear wall. Something other than crappy Australian plywood

[riverbuilder]

I’ve laid quite literally acres of it. We had a business 10 years ago during the renovation boom here in Sydney laying floors and it was very popular. Tough as buggery and the ceramic coated pre finished one was maintenance free. I’ve never had a call back on a single job and we probably did 20 floors a week with 3 teams. Just make sure the substrate is nice and flat, and use polyurethane glue and secret nails or staples. It’s very stable so doesn’t expand snd buckle at doorways like traditional timber flooring. I liked it it looks good.

[Chris Parks]

My main concern was if the finish on it would scratch and require maintenance at regular intervals.

[Bushmiller]

Chris

We used it in SWMBO's studio. I will inspect and take pix tomorrow. We recently used it as a spare bedroom so there is a good chance there will be a section of floor that is not already covered with something!

Regards
Paul

[Beardy]

I recently laid some Herfords prefinished blackout flooring. I tried to sand the finish off on an off cut with my Rotex sander and it was like sanding laminex
The finishes they use are extremely durable but would imagine they vary from different suppliers

[rrich]

As far as the ceramic coated stuff, I would say don't. I have oak that is ceramic coated, installed in 2005. If you scrape it or dent it it is not refinish-able. Other than that, the nice smooth surface shows every ding and dent.

A friend, 25 years ago, installed bamboo flooring. He had a large dog, perhaps 25-30 Kg. If the dog ran across the floor, she would leave dings or dents from her claws. Nothing significant but the bamboo was prefinished and when viewed with a high incident lighting the dings were very visible. I do not think that the bamboo was ceramic coated.

There you have my experience and observations that are 25 and 15 years old.

[Chris Parks]

We have just come back from speaking to someone about flooring and Bamboo just got eliminated. She said that in recent years the quality has fallen and she would not install it in her home for a bet due to buckling problems when the house gets hot. Apparently the quality has dropped due to demand in recent years and it is now not worth having. Rich, interesting to read your experience and that is what I was afraid of so you reinforce the decision not to use it. The choice is limited when carpet is not suitable or wanted aand it gets down to vinyl planks or floating floor panels.

[rrich]

Chris,
My son just moved out of a house with a pre-stressed oak floor. It looked nice and it never showed any dings or such. The floor was stained prior to the polyurethane. I would never suggest staining a floor. If you have to re-do a part of the floor, matching the color of the stain could be a real chore. If it were me, I would pick a species that is hard and just polyurethane the floor. If SWMBO objects to the color tell her that she will thank you in a few years. Also go for the prestressed.

[Bushmiller]

OK. I see that bamboo just got the flick, but just for comparison here is the Oak floor (it was in smaller sections than the bamboo) we installed in the house directly on top of the cypress pine boards:

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We could not get the same Oak when we modeled the studio and went with Bamboo instead, which had a much higher gloss and I was fearful that it would be less forgiving than the satin finish of the Oak. Some more shots here

P1060478 (Medium).JPG

A close up showing little in the way of marking.

P1060481 (Medium).JPG

In each case we secret nailed and did not glue. The bamboo, which was laid direct on the ply floor of the shipping container went perfectly, but there is some creaking in the house floor with the Oak boards and when I do the remaining rooms I will glue as well in the hope that will eliminate that issue.

The studio was finished in 2014 so I can't answer for modern quality, but I would suggest it could be more to do with the various suppliers. The satin finish of the Oak seems more forgiving and has worn in high traffic areas, but I assume I can easily refinish it if I had a mind to.

Regards
Paul