From your description, it seems that bamboo is less forgiving of swells, dips, or uneven subfloors than other woods. Is that true, and why? What wood is most forgiving?

My subfloor has some small to moderate waviness in it that I will have to try to correct with asphalt shingles as you describe. But, my whole floor has a slope to it of around one inch over 20 feet. That is more than 3/16 over ten foot radius that you indicate. Should I avoid using bamboo?

If it is important, the cause of the uneven floors, some excessive, unsupported weight, has been removed.

Andy,
I can't see your floor from my house........ Bamboo is fine, but select red oak is my personal favorite.

You said in the article that the bamboo can be nailed in place. Can you use a standard flooring face nailer? If so, what size nails should be used for 5/8 bamboo?

Ed,
What nails are mentioned in the written instructions that came with the flooring?

We leave on the water and are having problems with our current wood floors buckling and cracking (likely from expansion/contraction due to humidity). I am not sure what kind of wood the floors are, but they are a soft wood.

Is solid bamboo a good option for us? Would it make more sense to nail these floors or glue them down in our case?

Thanks!

Lynn,
If you are a water person, then stay away from all wood products. Think slate or tile.

I just recently had bamboo flooring installed (by a master carpenter) and it makes a cracking sound in various places when we walk on it. Is it too late to do something about that? The floor does look great, but we're concerned. Thanks for any information that can be provided.

Joe,
It sounds like the master did not make sure the existing floor was all in the same plane...... Meaning there are small hollow spots under the bamboo and it is flexing. That is bad jujumagumbo.

From my reading, there should be a 1/2" to 3/4" space between bamboo flooring, and walls and other vertical fixed objects.

Does this same expansion space need to be used between floor tile and bamboo flooring? The bamboo flooring that I will be installing will butt up against tile in two bathrooms. In one bathroom, the bamboo will butt up against the tile at the plank ends; in the other, the bamboo will butt up against the tile along its side. I was planning to install an aluminum finish piece rather than a bamboo or wood "T" joint. The tile and bamboo flooring will be the same height. Will this work without the expansion space?

Also, I will be butting the bamboo flooring up against bamboo stair nosing in the same two orientations as with the tile. Again, do I need to include an expansion space here?

I am in the preparation phase of installing stranded bamboo. I am trying to flatten the floor and I am using .030(#30) felt paper. Also the people that sold us the wood recommend "Dream home quietwalk underlayment" which is normally uses for floating floors. It is almost like a carpet padding but thinner. My question is if I use multiple layers of the .030 asphalt paper to bring up low spots plus this underlayment and then nail down the bamboo with cleats.... I wonder if I will have squeaking issue having compressible layers under the bamboo (5/8in)? I know you recommend roofing shingles, but I just don't understand how to use them as they are fairly thick and would create an uneven edges where the shingle ends. Thanks for your help.
Steve

The comment on April 10th from "Steve" is not from the same "Steve" on the April 8th.

Steve,
These are questions you must have answered by the manufacturer. There are many variables such as grain orientation, ply direction and amount of flooring installed.

Steve,
I think you could have squeaking if the flooring can move. How about a self-leveling pourable compound?

I am currently looking to lay an outdoor deck. The deck has no cover. I have seen Bamboo decking but I do not know anything about bamboo on an outdoor deck.

Please could you let me know if bamboo is a good outdoor decking material as the normal material seems to be Merbau, and does the bamboo come in different grades/qualities.

Thank you

Hello,
We have installed bamboo in our office and we love it. One of our partner needs to install a machine in one of the rooms and we are concern about the floor because he will have to cross through the entire office with this machine that weights 800 pounds.
What we can do to protect the floor?

Thank you,
K

I like bamboo flooring.

Hi,

I am installing a pre-finished white stained bamboo floor in my business. I want to paint some big flowers on the floor before it is being used. Can I prime, paint, and coat with polyutherane (since this is a brand new floor), or do I have to sand down first?
If I have to sand it down - can I get away with just sanding where the flowers go or do I have to sand the whole floor?

Anniken

Hi there,

I want to install bamboo flooring on top of a thirty-year-old concrete slab. The house is above-grade and is located in Sacramento, CA. I want to do this myself, using the glue down method. You mention using a vapor barrier (as do many other sites), but, how do you use the glue down method with a vapor barrier? Wouldn't you be gluing the floor to the plastic in that case?

Thanks,
Brandon

We are in the process ofdoing new floors in our kitchen,dinning,living room and hallways. My choice would be bamboo as I like the look and itis a renewable source but as we were checking into this we were told that bamboo would crack as it is to dry in our Edmonton,alberta Canada area.
Have you heard of anybody who would have had this problem?

Floor contractor missed filling low spots when installing engineered bamboo "Morning Star" over Bostic vapor barrier coated concrete slab. Bostik Best used as mastic - 1/4" trowel used. Have about 10 approx. 12" x 12" spots on a 3000 sq. ft. floor. Know I shouldn't use a water based filler because of the engineered flooring - 3 layers of laminated bamboo. Guessing hollow space gaps to be approx. 1/8" - 1/4.
Looking for something that would have the consistency similar to maple syrup, or thinner, that when injected would have enough time to travel over and thru the trowel notched mastic beneath the flooring to fill up the entire air space before setting up. Have used a Mastic epoxy injection - sets up toooo fast - need something to reallly flow thru those notches and up to the bottom of the wood floor. Afraid to try Gorilla Glue - it might expand too much and push up the flooring. I don't have the squeaks but do have a hollow sound when walking over these spots - they're also small enough not to perceptibly flex. I just want to get rid of that hollow sound. Thanks you for advice,
Robert C.

Contractor came back to repair a floating board - chipped out old board and squeeaed mastic beneath replacement and one of the adjoining boards - weighted down the repair but did a bad job. I now have a very slightly raised board edge ahout 6 feet long alongside another that is fine/flat, material is morning star bamboo, thought possibly easier to plane and sand? Worth the effort? Problems with matching the urethane coating? I have some replacement board if necessary. Any advice appreciated.

since it costs alot to put bamboo on stairs is there any wood that would compliment bamboo that can be put on the stairs without the high price