Bamboo Flooring Durability?

Floordude

If they bought it is is of no concern what you think of the durability. Just install it to specs and standards, so they cannot blame you for a single thing, and let them deal with the expectations, later. You may get the job and profit to replace it if it does not meet their expectations.

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ALCbuilding

That's the plan. But I want to know for future jobs too whether it is something decent to suggest or or if it should be reccomended against.

Floorwizard

Hard to tell because we do not know quality of the harvesting or manufacturing.
Unfortunately Bamboo quality will be determined by when it was harvested, what part of the chute was used, and overall manufacturing of the product and it's locking system.
It's in a box...that's about all we know about that Bamboo.

It's like asking if a car is a good quality.

Well, I would like to know the details of manufacturing before giving a solid answer.
If those details are not available then you will have to go off of peoples opinions. And because people have different opinions, then I guess you will have to go with the majority decision.
Heck of a way to purchase a product if you ask me.

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

softtop95ta

Ahh the wondrous green box.For a start some pieces are 1/16+ wider than others, some thicker, not really straight ,the poly or whatever they use comes off between pieces edge . I love the green box

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ALCbuilding

well that's comforting
I checked it out a little closer yesterday ans found it to be soft as well, fingernail left quite a scratch in it.

Floorwizard

and if your nail causes a scratch then imagine what living on it will do.

Heck, I know all woods and grasses will scratch but this stuff is really soft.

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

ALCbuilding

Another note on the scrathing, it stratches easy along the grain, but across the grain seems to not really scratch anything more than whatever they coated it with on top. Thinkin maybe it's not quite as bad as I thought at first, but I have noticed a slight width difference between a couple boxes.

Floorwizard

Buy lots of area rugs to help protect it and you may be pleased with the results.

Depends on how it installs I guess.

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

ALCbuilding

install seems to be going quite well with it actually.

PS sorry to hijack, didn't mean to.

tommymcollins

it was big , for awhile , but it sucks , you are better with the cork,

Floorwizard

Looks like the material is already purchased and going down.
Are you suggesting a total tearout and re-purchase of Cork?

Not sure of the intention of the post.

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"in 20 years you will regret more what you did not do than what you did"

ALCbuilding

don't think it was directed at my install, I think he was saying "in general"

Floordude

Sounds like he was bitten by the bad bamboo install bug and it has left a sour taste in his mouth in the aftermath.

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ALCbuilding

:agreed

OrientalBamboo

Unfortunately some solid bamboo flooring is of poor quality (like the cheap laminates that flooded the market). There are lower quality solid bamboo flooring that is easy to scratch & dent. The suggested tests are a good indication of the quality. Some extra things to look out for to filter the bad from the good:

• Look at the milling, cheap planks normally have bad milling/finishing.
• Check the thickness, 15mm is fine, 18mm is generally made from lower quality material.
• Scratch a sample with a sharp object, if you scratch through to the wood easily, then the coating may be inferior. Higher quality planks generally use Aluminum Oxide hardener in the finish.
• Wider planks are harder to manufacture, and tend to only be manufactured by the higher quality factories. Consider cross laminated 154mm wide planks.

As mentioned on the comments, one can get good quality solid bamboo flooring from reputable suppliers. But something not mentioned in these posts is Strand Woven Bamboo flooring.

The manufacturing technique is different, with a few patents on various manufacturing techniques. The bottom line is that this type of bamboo flooring is very hard & durable.

Here are some things to look out for when selecting a strand woven bamboo flooring plank:

• Look at a cut edge - if there are a number of gaps (the odd one is ok) between the bamboo fibers, the plank has not been pressed with sufficient pressure, not a good thing.
• Look at the thickness of the plank - less than 14mm and you open yourself up to cupping of the planks in environments that have humidity extremes.
• This plank is not suited to nail down installations as it is very hard. Suggest you use a floated floor installation.

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PrestigeR&D

just thought you might want to look at the date 10/17/08 - don't feel bad.. been there ..done that... and somtimes.
Brian

OrientalBamboo

Oh well, hope it helps somebody at some point!

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Square pusher

From the sounds of it. If you do scratch this stuff. the only real option is to tear out and replace it.

Is there any other options for dealing with scratches?

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opiethetileman

nope square................I have had some tinted stain done just to get the scratches out of a house up fpr sale...that way it wasnt a huge EYE sore. But ya know how us flooring guys are we always look down never up

Macroman

Just a question what are you talking about slow growth bamboo? There are different types of bamboo with different sized fiber grains, but all grow very fast compared to trees. A lumber species that was planted near my house, Vivax grows to 60 ft and about 10" in diameter. In the spring a new shoot will be full diameter and grow at 5' a day.
When you cut the green bamboo there is a lot of water in the stalk. I would compare it to bass wood. Drying it takes a lot of time or energy. Like bass wood the cellulose does not firm up until it is dry. In my opinion some of the variability with the bamboo is related to the drying techniques.