Bamboo Floors - Quality of Products

[Shaprock]

We have decided to put down bamboo floors. From what I gather, there is potentially a wide variation of qualities from the different products that are out there.

Locally, we have been able to see samples of products from Mohawk, Bambo, and Custom Surface among others. It is difficult to tell on inspection one from another. Maybe it goes without saying, but I do not want a poor quality product on my floors.

Of those three in particular, only Custom Surface has a website with detailed information including test data, and even a detailing of the top coats and binding agents. Mohawk also has a website, but does not provide these types of details; plus the reprenstative will not speak to end customers (only licensed retailers). Bambo has some representative in San Diego. However, upon asking about technical details, I was tranferred to another rep who didn't seem to appreciate the questions and said she had no information.

Does anyone have any information or opinion on any of these three products? Alternatively, can someone recommend another product that has proven quality?

[tbasc]

Can any installer or tech rep show you a floor that has been in place for a couple of years?

I've seen one bamboo floor in place - I wasn't told the manufacturer - and it looked marvelous. The house was a "museum" and the owners complained of "dents in the floor" which I could see if I got down on hands and knees alnd looked carefully.

TB

[Slumlord]

I have used this brand many times without complaint:

Notes on bamboo:

1. You will need a nailer with a special adapter plate, since bamboo is thinner than regular oak flooring. They are (at least were) hard to come by.

1. Bamboo is a grass,not a wood.. it is subject to more thermal expansion/contraction than wood. Make sure you have a good underlayment and you climatize (have it sit for a few days to reach room temp / humidity). If you don't, cracks may open up on the ends.

Shaprock wrote:

[Shaprock]

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like I failed to note that we were planning on doing a glue-down (to the slab). Since we have no subfloor to work with, our only choices are to glue-down or float. The only floating bamboo that I've seen in town had a fiberboard core, which didn't look especially robust. I had concluded that glue-down was really the only option.

[Jennifer]

I would love to hear more peoples' experiences with bamboo flooring, especially with specific products. My husband and I are probably going to redo the entire second floor of our house in bamboo flooring some time in the next six months, and we're still in the research stage.

A few years ago, we saw some model houses with varying shades of bamboo flooring and it was absolutely beautiful.

-- Jennifer

[CAStinneford]

We installed bamboo flooring in an addition over the winter. I bought it online through

and the bamboo was 3"x6'x5/8" and the natural light color. It could be put down with staples, nails or you could glue the boards together and put it down as a floating floor. It's been down about four months now and we love it. We're debating whether to have the oak floors in the rest of the house refinished or replaced with bamboo. Since we installed the bamboo ourselves and we wouldn't refinish the oak ourselves, putting down bamboo would be substantially cheaper than refinished here in NJ.

[miamicuse]

I did a glue down with tongue and groove bamboo planks. Using the correct factory recommended mastic is very important. We had it now for four years and no problem.

Location is Miami, and glued to a concrete slab directly.

MC