I’m hoping to eliminate all carpeting in my house. I’ve got hot water radiators and no forced air, so getting an low allergen home can be a reality if I eliminate the carpet.
Cork does not appeal to me whatsoever and decent engineered hardwood floors appears to be nearly the cost of real pre-finished hardwood. Laminate hardwood sounds awful underfoot and doesn’t wear well either. Vinyl is stinky and also feels bad underfoot.
My limited experience with bamboo flooring wasn’t positive. It appears to scratch easily and wear quickly. Right now I have no pets or kids but I’ll probably have a dog within the next 5 years. I do not expect to stay in the home more than 5 years but I do wish to sell it with an “updated”, turn key look. The kitchen and baths are new and easy to keep looking great, sans kids.
So called “Strand Bamboo” appears to be almost the cost of decent hardwood.
How have your bamboo floors held up; what to look for and ask when shopping for them? What finishes work best? What do you wish you’d known sooner? Did your hardwood installer also install your bamboo floors? What is your care regimen – I use a well rated Eureka steam cleaner on my hardwood after dry swiffering every week.
Yep, it’s a hard wood. Strand woven even more so. BUT … the varnish/finish they use to shine it up is the same varnish that goes on other flooring. And that’s what falling things contact first.
We’ve had strand woven bamboo floors in our kitchen for 3 years. I like them, but I do have some regrets, things I wish I’d known before we bought. The salesman kept repeating, “It’s the hardest wood out there”. So when we dropped something on the first day, we were disappointed that the thing we dropped put a dent all the way through the varnish to the wood. I will admit that nothing we’ve dropped has even come close to denting the wood - so yes, the wood is hard!
I wasn’t especially thrilled with the installation, but I think that’s more to do with a) a long span of floor that has dips/rises, and b) poor installers (who normally work with hardwood).
I was also surprised at how much gap they put between the boards - so many crumbs end up down there. Yes, the vacuum cleans them up, but it just looks bad the rest of the time.
I’m not sure on long-term wear since we’ve only had them 3 years, and I was surprised at the comment that they can’t be refinished, as mentioned in the links astro provided.
Would I do it again? Not sure. For all the drama, I might as well have gone with hardwood. Bamboo didn’t get rid of any of the issues I would have had with hardwood.
this is interesting. I thought bamboo was the perfect renewable floor covering. I’m wondering if it should receive extra coatings of finish to compensate for the denting you describe. If nothing else, extra finish at the start should avoid refinishing down the road which probably doesn’t work well with bamboo. I have oak floors and they certainly dent if you drop something on them but I have no way of comparing the two.
Most, if not all, of the Bamboo comes in from Asia. I wanted to buy some Bamboo plywood for a project. I found exactly one sheet in Albuquerque, just by chance, on craigs list.
The point being that the cost and availability will vary a lot by location. If you are on the west coast it is probably common. If you live somewhere where Saltillo tile is the preferred high end flooring, you may have to special order and pay high shipping charges…so make sure you have a firm delivered price for comparison, not just some typical number from a HGTV web site.
Other than their source (more renewable) and their look (stripey instead of grainy) bamboo is functionally the same as engineered hardwood. The same benefits and drawbacks would apply to both and the same truth applies to both - you absolutely get what you pay for. There is a huge range in quality in both bamboo and engineered hardwood and unless you’re a professional or find one you trust it’s almost impossible to tell what’s a good deal and what’s just a normal price for a crappy product.
I’ve been researching flooring for a while and I think the key is going to be finding someone I can trust to deal with. Fortunately I’m looking at a large enough order to hopefully give us some negotiating room and incent someone to want to deal with us.
Strand isn’t cheaper than what I can get for select grade solid prefinished brazilian redwood, so strand is out of the question.
How did everyone find their bamboo installers?
If the bedrooms all have decent pads on all the furniture, I can’t see big things dropping on them like in a kitchen with glasses, bowls, various cooking items or pots.
I’m hoping someone out there can help me. I put down 50 square feet of Featherlodge prefinished solid bamboo horizontal butterscotch #2 and ran short. I can not find anymore of this product anywhere including the MFG and his distributors. I need about 12 more pieces, less than one box. Does anyone know where I can find this product?