bamboo flooring
 

I hate to ask this question here. I know we are here for tile but it actually relates.
I've never done tongue and groove wood floor before.
My wife and I are set on having 3/4" pre-finished bamboo floor in our new house. I am going to do it in the living room (14 x 20' rectangle).
Here's my dilemma. All I can find via internet says you need to have 1/2" to 3/4" expansion perimeter on all sides. I want to but this stuff to the L-metal with no joint. I've seen other wood floors done this way and I like it. Don't like the T-mold. My tile's finished height is 3/4". So can I but the full piece of wood to the L-metal and leave expansions everywhere else? And if I can do I face nail the groove side of the the plank? Then what putty it?...it's pre-finished???
Can you also tell me how to install wood floors? 15 or 30lb felt over 3/4" subfloor? I've got use of the nailer, own table saw and chop saw.
Seriously :)

photo

with cabinets and grout

Go here, very nice fella and helpfull too.:)

http://woodfloorist.com/index.html

Dan shoot me a private message. I have done thousands of square foot of bamboo and other wood. i have been trained in bambo flooring. there is aolt you need to know before you get started. Some of theese are very very very important with bamboo. The biggest thing is the wood has to sit for at least 72 hours to aclimate. Bamboo is a natural wood stronger than any other. It still breathes on the floor after installed. I put a hwole house in Bamboo took about 3 weeks to install. by the time we were done we watched the floor move 1/8". The size trowel is very important as well. The way you lay this floor is very important too. this is floor is to be installed as wet lay. my email is opiethetileman@aol.com. Or send me a private message. Ill give you my number for you to call or I will call you. Bamboo if not done rite will buckle.

...and that, my friends, is why the floor mat is open to this website...

Bamboo Flooring
 

The first thing you need to know is anyone who calls bamboo flooring ... wood flooring is someone I would be a little wary of. Bamboo is a Grass. It is not wood.

As far as expansion goes any flooring will move in the direction of least resistance. Most tongue and groove flooring is nailed or stapled at an angle thru the tongue. -\==== In this little diagram the flooring will not move toward the groove or to the right. To do so would simply drive the flooring into the subfloor. The movement of least resistance would be towards the tongue or to the left in the diagram. The movement will drive the flooring away from the subfloor by following the staple or cleat.

With that said if you start your bamboo flooring tight up against the tile and work away from it you should be fine. :yipee:

This is my first time here. My stats for my website at http://woodfloorist.com told me someone had visited my website from this forum. I'm gonna add this to my webpage at http://woodfloorist.com/1/forums.html

Franklyn

But mr floorman. Most of the floors here in Floria are glued down to concrete due to height problems. Bostiks best is the only glue I use for Bamboo floors. Yes bamboo is grass. But they also can harvest a fiedl for up to ten years not like wood wood you cut thtree its gone. Bamboo comes back and back.I have put in about 6 thousand sq feet of Bamboo so far. I only do staright lays or 45 lays. If the want inlays and other things thats not my bag of trick and let them know up front. I dont have the proper tools todo inlays and tricked out wood floors. Bamboo is also stronger than most wood.

:topicoff: Hey Franklyn! Long time no see!! Hope your Christmas was a good one!!

Nice site Franklyn.

Fastener placement is critical with bamboo as the tongue likes to split if using a nail or staple. Make sure your floor is flat before youi start. I like to use a double layer of 15 pound felt overlapping the layers.

Hi Franklyn, welcome to the site. You could add a signature that will show up in all your posts. If you want, put your name and web page in there. If you want it to be a link, put a little code around it like this: {url}http://woodfloorist.com{/url}
but change the curly brackets { } to square brackets [ ]. You also need to click on "Show your signature" in the miscellaneous options.

Small request, add the "www" to our link at your site? I don't know if it helps with the search engines or not, but we're trying to standardize on this: http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/index.php

Now if I could get John to change all the links on his site. ;)

Dave-- does it screw anything up that on my links page I've just got http://www.johnbridge.com ?

Let me try this again
 

I never said bamboo was inferior to wood . I just was saying it isn't wood. As a rule I have found that people that talk about bamboo Wood Floors often don't know what they are talking about. Evidently Opie you are an exception to the rule. I have only done one bamboo floor and it was staple down. Carbonized, vertical grain laid at 70 degrees to the walls. I'm glad I took geometry in school.

Bill if you are gonna use www on the links page you need to use a vapor barrier Just kidding

Thanks Dave for the ideas. I think my www's are in my van someplace. Lord knows if I will be able to find them. I have seen some search engines where I have two consecutive listings for my index page. One with the www's and one without. Google treats them as two different urls.

I just got back from a 3 week vacation. I drove from Centralia, WA to Cape Canveral and back. Over 7,000 miles of driving , 26 different states and over 700 pictures. My son heads back to Iraq tommorrow morning so we wanted to get my immediate family all back together before he leaves.

It's been hard getting back into work mode again.

One of the reasons I don't live in Florida is I hate glueing wood floors down. I usually end up wearing more glue than I get on the floor. Most housing in Florida is on concrete slabs. There's enough work between Seattle and Portland, OR to keep me busy.

Franklyn If I came off rude Im sorry. One thing for sure in tile and wood I am NOT THE BIG DOG by far. And yes you get wood glue more on your clothes than the floor. lol. I love to learn more and more about everything I put my hands on. I hope I didnt come by as being cocky about wood. I just have done alot of Bamboo and have done my book research on alot of wood floors and alot of Bambo. seeing how florida has a high market for them. Wood it up and have fun. What the hell were you putting a floor in at a 70 degree angle for. I thought most floors get 90 or a 45. Yes i saw ur site some real nice stuff to read and learn from.

Normally it is 90 degrees or 45 degrees. When the father in law is the architect and he is designing a house to fit the property lines things get away from normal. The focal point of the kitchen was the bamboo cabinets. The island was installed 70 degrees to the walls by design and the floor was installed to conform to it.

I seem to learn something on every job. Don't worry about about being rude. I'm used to it. I have worked with General Contractors before. :yipee:

Hey,

What are you guys normally charging to install wood floors? Here in Arkansas it seems to be about $2.00 ft for the glue down.

Paul

Thanks Franklyn, Opie, Stullis.....

I appreciate it.

Now some more questions.

Looked at an A grade and B grade. Liked the B grade better due to the knots and color variations. Horizontal -natural. The stuff is 2.50/sq ft. Made by Morningstar. Available at Lumber liqidators.

I've learned with tile (and many other things) that you get what you pay for. That being said this seems pretty cheap for grass (wood) floor.

The shop that I sub much work from is willing to give me pretty much dealer cost on bamboo from Mannninton and that was about $6.70 sf. How can the price differ that much. Is Morningstar junk? The sample was nice.

This is my first house I've ever owned and I will spend innumerable hours looking at my grout joints, tiles, and bamboo floors. It has to be right.

Can any one help me on this issue?

#2

a. Do I use 15 or 30lb felt? Stullis I just saw you suggest 2 layers of 15lb. why not 1 - 30lb because you can stagger the joints? Do you just lay the but the bottom rows of paper against each other or do over lap those also?

b. For my first row, I'll place the groove against the tile/L metal (as per Franklyn's OK). I've decided that it would be better to glue it to the sub floor than to face nail it and putty it. How do you glue when its over paper?

c. What kind of hand drives are needed (for face nailing against the ending wall)

d. What kind of nails for the pneumatic?

Again sorry to bring grass/wood floors to the tile forum but I know I can trust my fellow tile people.

grass flooring sounds pretty wierd too :)

a roofer could say the same about grass roofs! Thatch and sod have both been around since uhhh.... well at least since John was born :)

wood flooring
 

first off dont buy anything from lumber liquidators.gluing down the wood is an option ,it is very messy- bostiks best is the best but sticks to everything.if you glue it down you dont use the paper under it.if you plan on nailing it you have a choice between serrated nails or staples , if the wood will be 3/4 thick use 2" nails or staples- the nails are less prone to break the tongue pressure around 80 lbs(compressor).i am assuming your on plywood subfloor-it should be 3/4 thick by the way.if you would like more help go to floormasters.com go into the shop talk area-these guys are the best in the world-just like johns site here. justin

Justin
Why would you not buy from Lumber Liquidators?

For as hard as Bamboo is don't you notice that it scratches real easy?
Everyone I ever installed did and homes that we go into that have Bamboo it is all scratched up and real quick.

When I have someone who is trying to decide Bamboo vs tile (expecially in the kitchen) I drop the handle end of a butter knife on it and the big dent usually seals the deal on which way they want to go.

bamboo
 

i have seen and installed a few products from L.L. was not impressed.post a message on floormasters.com that your looking for bamboo those guys will tell you whats a good product to use. justin

Something good about Lumberliquidators
 

Lumberliquidators.com has a lot of traffic to their website due to the name is well known for CHEAP and people search for it.

See Lumber Liquidators traffic stats

There is a link to it on my website for that reason only.

Dan is there a Floor Club near you go in there and get your discount. They give installers 1/2 off the sticker its free to sign up. Nwow about LL I have installed ALOT of floors from there so far so good. the only crapy wood is the bella wood. It sucks. I usually get 3.00 a foot to install glue down. No prep No 25 round install. T caps and door issues are extra. Dan I wish I closer id come up and give ya a hand and bang that room out with ya.

Why is bella not a good wood? I was planning to buy Aust. Cypress for my entire downstairs. It is a bella wood. Please give me some good advice.
Thanks, Karen

I honestly don't know how you guys can do those glue down floors. I have a friend that is set on the glue down bamboo and is begging me to do the install. I've done 2 glue down floors ( 1 in my own house) and that will be the last two I do. The glue will get you high as a kite, and it gets everywhere.

What are the tricks ? Do you really start in the middle and work outward?

Jason

Bella wood has alot of bad wood in it. The name bella wood is not the wood its the stain on that wood that LL uses only. Its not my favorite to install from there the 3 floors I did in bella wood was just a PIA. Because of the grove and tongue.

Jason.
Yes you hould start in the middle of the focus room and work from there. I take a 2x6 cedar baord and nail it to the floor and work off of it like a wall. Cedar is about the best wod for being true and straight. I have installed alot of glue down and alot of Lam and nail in.The trick with glue is to workon floor and keep cleaning the few planks as you go. And to have a spare pair of shoes when you have to walk acroos the wood. When I do wood I keep new socks in the truck when I have to walk acorss the wood i wear socks. It took me alot of hours of cleaning up a mess to figure some of the glue tricks out.The only prob with glue down Bambbo is the floor has to be FLAT or you will hear alot fo holow spots. Also glue down Bam uses a 1/4 x 1/4 square notch tile trowel and dude you use some glue. I did a whole house last year I think they used 10 buckets of 5 gal glue at 115 bucks a bucket. wow.Have fun we can help you do wood as well. oh yeah if you are installing over concrete check with a moisture meter on the slab.

I haven't heard anything good about Morningstar Bamboo and would avoid it from reports I have heard.

As far as the rest of the LL products, most do not get good remarks from the pros who work with wood alot. Usually alot of milling issues, banana boards, short lengths, etc. that make the installation a nightmare. To the less trained eye I suppose you might be getting a "deal".

The last one I did we installed this product on a 45. Very satisfied with the quality both the product and from an installation standpoint.

http://www.ifloor.com/productdisplay...N=8+4294967234

tomorrow
 

Cancelled order from Lumber liqiuidators. Picked up almost 600 sf from the ifloor warehouse in Delaware. Westhollow brand. Thanks

Now Its been acclimating since Sun. Tomorrow is the day. Just a few questions.

1. Can I face nail the first and last row with a finish trim gun?

2. 5/8" thick bamboo requires what size nails.

3. What do you think about puttying the the nail holes in the first row?

4. Suggested nail pattern (every 6-8")?

Hi Franklyn, Hi Karen. Glad to have you aboard. :)

Who'd I miss?

;)

got it down beautifully :yipee:

now. will it stay?

Bamboo Obedience School
 

Did you take your Bamboo Flooring to Bamboo Obedience School. If you did it will "stay". Just don't say "heel", "roll over" or "fetch"

Oh Lord, I wonder how long it will take before this post ranks on Google.com for "Bamboo Obedience School" :yipee:

dumb question
 

i have a dumb question...my fiance had bamboo flooring laid in her condo and hates the light color. Can we (I) paint it or stain it a darker color, to match the cherry wood cabinets and dark tile? Thanks.

NO you CANT Bamboo comes in 2 colors natural or carbonized. And vertical or horizontal is the other choice. If she didnt like the light floor then why did she have it put down. Bamboo is one of the hardest woods out there it will not hold paint or stain like wood trust me. have fun live with it is what i would do. get some rugs.

Actually, bamboo flooring is softer than oak flooring. My client in Galveston wanted wood. We said no because of all the beach sand. He then came up with bamboo. When we checked into it, it turned out to be a worse choice than oak for that area. Talked him into tile, so he chose a tile that resembles wood. ;)

Yeah, bamboo is more of a grass, than a wood,and i believe the sugars in it will darken with age.I had a lady that got real mad cause i wouldn't make stair tread bullnoses out of it. :shrug:

Yes it can be stained. Maybe go to floormasters.com and ask what method.
I doesn't stain up like wood though as Opie said.
Also bamboo is not one of the harder woods, that is mostly marketing hype. There are many variables to the actual hardness. Where it is grown and when it is harvested as well as harvest technique and processing technique all play a role in the hardness.

Here's one company that handles a wide variety of stained bamboo and cork flooring.

www.duro-design.com/english/bamboo/

I'd let the professionals handle this if I were you... :)