Bamboo Flooring

[Superman]

I don't know how I'm going to connect this topic with Dubya and WMD, but I have curiosity about flooring. I am needing to put a floor in my basement. It is below grade, but dry as a bone. Sealed, I think. At any rate, the builder of this house made all the right decisions and this basement is DRY, so I think I can get away with a wood-type floor.

Technically, bamboo is a grass but it behaves in ways similar to a wood floor, and it installs the same. I know I will need to make sure the floor is sufficiently level. For the most part, I think it is.

Conventional wisdom is that you either nail or glue the boards down, depending on the subsurface. Here, concrete. So.....glue. But I don't want to do it that way. I would prefer to place an insulating mat down, and connect the boards with each other but not glue them to the floor. This would be a free-floating floor where the boards either snap together or they are glued, tongue-and-groove.

Nobody here seems to know as much as I do about politics or religion, but it's just feasible that somebody may have some information about flooring that I don't already know. Bring it on!

[dhoward]

Bush hates grass.

[M.D. Holloway]

got with deep shag. Bush loves shag

[deanp]

There are a fair amout of laminate style floors that interlock and float on the floor. I've done a couple in my sister's house. The floors have come out well and she is thrilled as they stand up to the abuse my niece and nephew and all their animals dish out. Some need a foam underlayment put down separately, on some it is attached to the laminate flooring. I know some don't like the sound / finish of laminate floors, but for your basement, it may do the trick.

[dhoward]

You're missin' the point, dude. It's all about the grass....

[masraum]

I want Bamboo too, and yes, I'm pretty sure that exactly what you are talking about is fine, but I'm far from expert.

[Superman]

I really don't care for the plastic laminate crap. And it sounds like bamboo has good moisture/humidity resistance compared to hardwoods.

But I like the idea of a pad underneath to quiet the floor, to help smooth the imperfections in the concrete and to keep the bamboo away from touching the actual concrete, where there COULD be moisture at some point.

Here is a specific question: If I choose a product that does not snap together, can I glue it? I have doubts because of the need for the glue to cure. I mean, what would stop the boards from separating because the glue is not dry....while I'm preparing the next course? And what presses the boards together to get a tight fit while the glue dries?

[JavaBrewer]

I never float wood floors so YMMV. The golden rule is to always follow the manufacturer's install guidelines else risk no love from them later if the product fails. Look for a bamboo manufacturer that's ok with their product being tongue/grove glued.

I prefer wood glued to floor - especially with concrete slab. I hate the hollow sound of a floating floor and even with a "superior" underlayment they still feel cheap. I'm close to pulling the trigger on Bamboo for the kids bedrooms. The stuff I've been looking at is very thick, 5/8", the kids bedrooms are upstairs and thus I could nail down but I'm more comfortable with glue.

[deanp]

Okay - got it, you don't like laminate.

I googled 'prefinished floating bamboo floor" and came up with some hits. One link is below - Premium Green, glueless click lock installation, can be floated, glued or nailed down. So yes, you can do a floating bamboo floor that is a press fit joint with no glue required.

The first few on the page are glue or nail down, the floatng options are further down the page.

http://www.simplefloors.com/products/Bamboo-Flooring/category2.aspx

[carnutzzz]

Well, you gotta remember that any leak in the house above will find its way down there, so even if the foundation is dry, you're one plumbing crisis away from pulling up the bamboo.

Not what you asked for, but I'm going to have my concrete stained, polished, and cut to look like large stone tiles. It's a great look that is at the same time classy and durable. If you have imperfections, you can either use them as "patina" or have the pros throw a thin layer of concrete over them.

Not soft under foot by any means, but thought I'd throw that out there.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by Superman

Here is a specific question: I mean, what would stop the boards from separating because the glue is not dry....while I'm preparing the next course? And what presses the boards together to get a tight fit while the glue dries?

There are straps you can rent for holding the boards together. In my past installs, again glue down directly onto slab, I used simple blue painters tape to hold the individual boards together - usually a couple strips covering 3 or 4 joints at a time. Pull the tape the next morning while having your coffee.

'Bostic's Best' is the best floor glue bar none. Not sure if they sell joint glue. It's very pricy - $200/5 gal but the stuff is tough as nails and also acts as a built in moisture barrier.

[Spud]

Hey Sup, I'm in the middle of this issue right now myself. You need to specifically find a bamboo floor that says it can be "floated" over concrete. Most likey you will be looking at an "engineered" wood floor, not solid bamboo. The reasoning is the solid woods shrink/grow too much when moisture levels change, the "engineered" floors (i.e. several plys of wood with a wear layer on top) do not move as much. Even so you will find some engineered floors that can be floated and some that can't.

Hope this helps..

[TimT]

I did a bamboo floating floor in my vacation home...easy to install, wears very well and looks interesting. The floor was a snap together engineered floor system, whick I layed over a foam underlayment. The floor is really quiet underfoot also.

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/thumbnail.jsp?categoryId=13&sectionId=3&subCategoryId=238&ref=By%20Category;274500014,By%20SubCategory;27460 0085

Currently Im doing some work on my primary home, Ill be installing cork flooring in this case.

http://www.lumberliquidators.com/catalog/thumbnail.jsp?categoryId=11&sectionId=2&subCategoryId=92&ref=By%20Category;274500012,By%20SubCategory;27460 0068

I think I'm going to like the randomness of the cork. suppose to be very quiet, and has insulative properties also.

[rfuerst911sc]

I installed a floating bamboo floor in our bedroom over a concrete slab. The flooring I purchased was from Lowes designed to be installed as a floater. Each piece is made with a locking feature similiar to a laminate floor. It is installed over a mat/roll type pad once again similiar to a laminate floor and it has a vapor barrier in it. The boards are 5/8 inch thick and once installed do NOT sound hollow and look great. Many people have commented on the looks and believe it is glued/nailed down. And in most cases you will load so much crap onto it ( boxes,appliances,beds,furniture etc. ) that it isn't going anywhere. It has a poly finish that easily stands up to my two doxies and normal foot traffic. A good test to see if the floor is as dry as you think is to take a pice of plastic aprox. 12x12 and tape it to the floor for a 24 hour period. You need to tape it so it is sealed on all edges. After 24 hours pull up the plastic, if you see moisture or a moisture outline you do not have dry conditions. Hope this helped.

[JeremyD]

We have bamboo in the master and both girls rooms. Glued on a concrete slab.

Look at cork too - we have that in the office and the spare room. Very easy install, quieter than the bamboo. More stable and hides scratches better. The bamboo tends to show scratches as "whiter color" across the grain. I wouldn't recommend for a really high traffic area.

[Tobra]

I guess Superman can't make a post that is not in some way condescending, even when he is asking about something he admittedly has limited knowledge regarding.

[Laneco]

We have bamboo flooring in the entry, kitchen, office and hallway. I wanted to use Bamboo and talked Steve into it.

The material is fantastically stable and easy to install. Looks beautiful. But it suffers greatly with little "dents" from dog claws. We had a really spooky dog and when she would bolt across the floor then skitter to a stop, she left gouges all over the floor.

The gouges are the same color, they are more like a dent than gouge. But they are everywhere. I would never use bamboo in a house that has doggy guests.

Sorry to be a dissenting opinion, but I REALLY wish someone had mentioned this before I talked my husband into covering more than 1/3 of our house with it...

By the way - I would never do laminate. Really despise the "contact paper" look.

angela

[74-911]

Originally Posted by dmoolenaar

'Bostic's Best' is the best floor glue bar none. Not sure if they sell joint glue. It's very pricy - $200/5 gal but the stuff is tough as nails and also acts as a built in moisture barrier.

+1 on the Bostics Best, pricey but worth every penny.

My .02 worth: I personally would not do a glue down floor in any area that has any chance of getting wet (as in rising damp or flooded). Bostics is a urethane and I seriously doubt you could ever get the damaged floor up once the glue is cured.

The past several years I've done several glue downs, several floating floors using locking laminates / engineered wood, and several rooms floated with engineered wood with glued tongue and groove. Strictly personal preference but I find the floating glued tongue and groove to be the easiest to install and have had absolutely no problems with it.

[john70t]

The problem with laminates is that they might have a nice, hard, factory-baked surface, but the core is still fiberboard which soaks up water like a sponge.
Still, considering the price differences and appearance, laminate works ok in some areas.

I'm thinking of doing my condo living room in laminate if I cant find any solid products at a decent price.
The subfloor is squeeky, transmits sound easily, and is too thin to hold hardwood nails I believe(5/8in?). I'm going to screw down the subfloor, level it with acrylic, put down a layer of luan board over high density closed foam, and over that apply the floating floor. The extra layer should provide a softer surface with better noise insulation.

[Milu]

We have bamboo in a bedroom. It suffers little dings like there is no tomorrow. There's a trick using a wet towel and an iron to bring dings out of gunstocks. Does anyone know if it would work on bamboo?