Anyone need bamboo?

[Stan Mulder]

I have access to bamboo and was wondering if anybody needed some.

[Mike Rinken]

Where ya at? I got a buddy who has a beautiful bamboo floor in his house and I've been considering it.

[Stan Mulder]

St. Augustine, Florida

[Stan Mulder]

This would be green fresh cut bamboo about 1" diameter at the base. I'm still working out the details...

[Edwin Pawlowski]

In alt.home.repair there is a thread about bamboo floors. Looks good but dents easily. You may want to do some extra checking before you go ahead. Ed

[Mark Jerde]

Ditto. I just got done trimming back the bamboo in our backyard in Bowie, MD.

-- Mark

[Mike Patterson]

Throw some of the roots in a baggie and mail 'em to me?

I've been planning to plant some bamboo in the back yard but haven't found any nearby...

I'll pay ya the postage.

Mike Patterson Please remove the spamtrap to email me. "I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific..."

[Len]

SWMBO got what she wanted: bamboo salad bowl. Don't know how they glued the strips together, but 2 billion folks can't be all wrong.

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I am an EXTREME Middle of the Roader, so stay out of my way.

[Charlie Self]

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy." Ernest Benn

[Stan Mulder]

Roots? I don't see any of them.

[Hitch]

Mike Patterson wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Careful about planting bamboo. Some varieties are EXTREMELY invasive. I would like to plant some, but SWMBO says we already have ivy and blackberries, and we don't need something else that we need to cut back every week.

[Mike Patterson]

Yah, I've been researching it for a while. I have a big plastic tub to plant it in, and they'll be separated from other plants by a few feet so I'll see if it escapes the tub.

But thanks for the warning! :-)

Mike Patterson Please remove the spamtrap to email me. "I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific..."

[MG]

What type is it? How big is it? Diameter?

[VZNG1]

I've always understood Bamboo was harder, stronger, less hydroscopic and more stable then most wood flooring. I like the standard red oak myself.

[Mark Jerde]

Be careful! The variety in our backyard sends out roots 1/2" in diameter more than 20'. I know because I dug out that much of one earlier this summer.

-- Mark

[Stan Mulder]

I honestly don't know the type. It's 1" diameter and about 25' tall. Green.

[Dan Cullimore]

I installed a bamboo floor for a client about a year ago. They love it. It's beautiful, a golden yellow that glows in the sun. I also glued up a 103" counter top for them with the remainders.

I really liked working with it, but it tends to dull saw blades relatively fast, and the dust can be noxious (watch for the splinters, too).

The nice thing about bamboo is that it is VERY a renewable resource--they harvest a crop for making flooring every five years (this is in China, BTW). Red oak, while also renewable, takes several decades, and won't grow back from the roots like bamboo. Bamboo is harder than r. oak because of the silica content, which is why it's hard on blades.

A web search for bamboo flooring should reveal several manufacturers and dealers in the U.S. After looking at samples and comparing prices from several dealers, I bought mine in Cincinnati and had it shipped to Missouri. It came in strips like hardwood flooring; nailed and stapled to install. Installed cost was comparable to oak. I'd love to do another one.

Dan