Bamboo Flooring install - Expansion Gap & Nailing Qs

[Scott Townsend]

We just bought some prefinished bamboo flooring. It comes in 8"x6' planks.

So What up with the Expansion gap if you are nailing the floor down?? I can kind of under stand it more with the floating floor, but if you are nailing it down every 6" to the subfloor, how much is it really going to expand?

Then on nailing the last two boards closest to the wall, what's the best practice of getting those secured to the floor? The angle nailer that we have for the Floor is too big and wont let us get that close to the wall.

I was thinking of getting out the finish nailer and trying to shoot a few through the tongue on the 2nd to the last and then on the last nailing it down straight under baseboard. Maybe putting some construction adhesive under them too?

Thanks, Scott

[marson]

i have a friend who put down a maple plank floor that expanded to the point that it pushed his wall plates !/2"! so the expansion gap is just good cheap insurance. i doubt you would get that kind of movement with prefinished bamboo, but you never know. i've talked to a professional flooring guy who recommends 1/4"

when you can't use the flooring stapler anymore, you break out the finish nailer. you have to face nail at the end. putty the holes, and you will soon forget they are there. you could use some glue, but you should have an underlayment like felt or rosin paper, so the glue wouldn't stick to that.

[Keith Williams]

Bamboo doesn't expand like wood. It may be a grass, but is far less porous than oak.

Surface nail. Set the nail and get some filler that matches the floor.

The guy that put our bamboo floor down used construction adhesive under the whole floor. The last couple of rows are simply surface nailed (15Ga. finish nailer, I think). There is maybe a 1/4" gap from the last row on one side (the other is flush) to the wall. It's been in about a year and no bucklering at all. It's *very* dry in my house in the winter and rather humid about now (lotsa rain).