Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

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vluo
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Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by vluo »

I ready an article from http://bambooconnection.com.au/bamboo-f ... imber.html about bamboo vs timber and how they claim bamboo flooringcan be harder than timber. do u know if it is true and can u recomend it for flooring? Sorry for going off topic but it looks like guys on this threat seem to know what you talking about and thought you would help
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by queenie »

Bamboo flooring advantages far outweigh those of many other materials such as the more traditional hardwoods. You will be using the most environmentally friendly natural construction material available. This is due to the eco-friendly plant being an extremely fast growing grass which means harvesting can take place every 3-5 years, unlike the growing period of more than 25 years for most wood. The exceptional high durability of bamboo flooring is due to its higher fiber rating than any hardwood floor. One of the best bamboo flooring advantages is that it is one of the hardest natural floor materials available on the market and is noticeably harder than other types of hardwood such as oak and maple. Due to its ability to withstand moisture and changes in temperature, it is naturally tolerant of a variety of conditions such as humidity. As with other hardwood floors, bamboo flooring is more hygienic when compared to floor coverings such as carpets. When considering all the costs involved in purchasing and installing a finished floor, bamboo is competitive with any of the hardwood varieties that are available on the current market.
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by moriphen »

This was posted before and it manly deals with textiles (clothing, sheets, etc) but it is a valuable lesson in not beleving the hype surrounding any product. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/bamboo/index.shtm

When considering flooring for any location, you need to consider the traffic you expect it to endue and then your budget. Only after that would I look at the available products, bamboo being one of them. Trouble with bamboo flooring starts with it being a relatively recent (under 10 years) US product. Industry standards or lack thereof result in a lot of different product form several middle men and even the manufactures themselves. When considering bamboo as a flooring material there are 3 things to look out for. Bamboo floor pieces that are cut into strips, steamed and then finally glued, tend to be soft and easily scratched or damaged. Bamboo flooring that does not use a aluminum oxide has a protective coating (this one is in flux, but last I checked aluminum oxide was the go to coating). Short or no material warranties are the last dead giveaway for issues with some bamboo flooring products.

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needmore
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by needmore »

I think it comes down to brand among the bamboo flooring products and grain type to a lessor extent - the cheap ones are poorly made and have sub-quality finishes. After reading multiple unhappy bamboo floor posts I went with a decent quality hickory in a high traffic area. Later in an adjacent high traffic area I went with vertical grain, natural bamboo which at that time was the purported toughest bamboo type. The dog scratched the hickory pretty good but the bamboo was unscathed. Went ahead and put carmelized vertical grain in two bathrooms, the carmelizing supposedly a bit less tough than the natural but the natural really shows dirt and we are dirty people with a big dirty dog. No issues at all with scratching, denting or water in the bathrooms, the product I used ran around $4 p sqft. There are showers in both bathrooms and neither has a curtain nor door on the shower so water gets on the flooring everyday and not a problem as we wipe up any mess with a towel.

Now I am about 2 weeks away from putting bamboo in the 2 remaining rooms without hardwood, both bedrooms and low traffic so I may go ahead and try the $2.39 p sqft big box lumber store brand horizontal grain which is prettier but somewhat less stable. Now there is the strand form of bamboo flooring which looks interesting.
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by foxd »

From what I've read the stranded bamboo flooring is the toughest.
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by boonut »

Needmore... where did you buy the best one... and what was the brand name and specifics? I want to try that also.
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by needmore »

Alan, I could not find my invoice from the source so I'm not sure of the name - it was a company in NY that had an African name as I recall, I think they did African imports mainly, not sure how the flooring came to pass?

This is a high quality brand but is $$$$$...http://www.teragren.com/
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by jackj »

I am looking for this DVD from last 2 year and just find it over here.
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by redrover »

First off thanks for the info on bamboo flooring. I knew that bamboo was in my opinion the best stuff to use for a hardwood floor. I just wanted to add that I recently put in a bamboo floor and the stuff is great and easy to clean. Big fan of the stuff. I used to work with some Dallas remodeling companies, and bamboo was becoming quite big. Helps with resale immensely.
Last edited by redrover on Mon Aug 08, 2011 3:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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boonut
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by boonut »

I have been reading quite a bit about bamboo flooring. I am thinking about CaliBamboo's Cognac Wide Plank Bamboo. You can read and see more at: http://www.calibamboo.com/bamboo-floori ... ognac.html

It is more expensive at $4.99/sqft I just don't want to have to redo the flooring any time soon. I read about the aluminum oxide/Treffert Acrylic finish.

I am a little worried about humidity for our area. There is a lot of warnings about where it can be installed and horror stories about humidity and improper installation. The really bad stories came from other bamboo flooring companies. Bad customer support was the number one reason to stay away from some of the higher end companies.
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by boonut »

The Janka hardness rating for the Fossilized Wide Plank Cognac is 5027 lbs. Anyone know about Cali Bamboo?
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by needmore »

Allen, I'm not familiar with that brand but I've done 2 more rooms now with 3 different brands and 4 styles of bamboo flooring in 5 rooms and I even used a cheaper brand on the last install - $1.95 psqft off the shelf brand at the super hardware store, it seemed to me to have a very good finish so I went with it in a low-traffic guest bedroom. They are all nail down 3.75 inch boards I believe, so I've never used the wider boards nor any floating style. The Teragren was just too $$ for me at $5.79 but I did use one in our bedroom that ran $3.99 I can check the brand if I remember. You are familiar with the humidity here I suspect and I have had no issues at all with that. Proper installation is key in that regard, my neighbor has an oak floor that I tripped on the other day the boards are making little mountain ranges due to poor installation and humidity.

Make sure that your brother keeps those bamboo well watered in this weather!!!
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by cashmart35 »

Bamboo flooring compares favorably to, and even exceeds, the most popular, stable and durable of the hardwood flooring brands, and at comparable prices.

Installing bamboo floors is similar to installing hardwood floors, and maintaining the luscious sheen of bamboo requires even less work than hardwood, with waxing and re-finishing a thing of the past.
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by alanclark200 »

When it comes to performance, bamboo is often compared to some of the hardest hardwoods, but it depends on the type of flooring, species, and quality of the manufacturing. Bamboo comes in two types: strand and vertical. Most people in the industry say the strand stuff is much stronger than traditional bamboo flooring. On hardness scale a good quality bamboo in either the horizontal or vertical.
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Re: Bamboo vs hardwood flooring

Post by bigone5500 »

So is the bamboo flooring that Lowe's (Home Depot possibly) sells very good? I had looked to purchase some a while back and still want to. It will be going in my office which is about 11' x 10'. I have a couple filing cabinets which will be the heaviest items on it. My heaviest cabinet weighs about 300 lbs.
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