new flooring>Bamboo???

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cudamank

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We need to rip out our 20 year old carpets and are thinking of good with wood flooring. We are on a cement slab so it would have to be glue down or floating. With 4 kids, 2 dogs, (lab and beagle) we need something that will somewhat hold up to a lot of wear and tear. Wife suggested bamboo and was doing some online reading. It looks like the stranded bamboo is the strongest for scratching and denting. We have about 800 sq' across three rooms and a main hallway, or 640 if we do the kitchen in tile or cork flooring. Trying to stay under 3000.00 and do it myself. I have done 2 naildown floors but this would be my first glue or floating floor. Any suggestions, pictures, or what to watch out for?

Thanks, John
 
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I put in brazilian teak in my house, and it has one of the hardest ratings. As great as it looks it still cannot stand up to my 2 year old and beagle. My inlaws redid their flooring awhile back, and they put in some free float laminate that looks like hardwood. Comes in 3 foot strips, and believe they got it at Home Depot. It has a strip that you peel off and stick one edge under the other. It looks pretty realistic with wood grain, is water resistant, scratch resistant, and has held up very well over the past couple years. Don't get me wrong, I love the look of my hardwood floor, but hate worrying about it getting scratched and dinged, like when my son dropped a glass candle holder on the floor just before Christmas. Or worrying about dirt getting under chair feet.

If you do go with wood flooring, pick up some Bona-Kemi cleaner and refresher it does a good job cleaning and putting the shine back to it.
 
Girl friend had bamboo flooring put down in her place. Free floating, I believe.

She used the darker version and looks great. Only there turned out to be a couple of down sides in her case.

One is that it is noisy. Not the fault of bamboo in particular but just made the normal room noises louder than the previous wall-wall carpet.

Second and third related to the pets. She had two small dogs and thought the hard wood would be easier to keep clean. Well, it is easier to clean but the darker wood shows dust and dog hair a lot more than carpet did. She ended up vacuuming or dusting two or three times as often.

Last, neither dog liked the floor and stopped playing when in the house. Guess they could get any traction on the slippery & unfamiliar surface. The male dog was terrified of it would avoid walking on the surface. Was funny at first to watch him nervously scurry from one throw rug to the next. He wouldn't even eat unless his food bowl was on a big enough patch of carpet.

The female wasn't quite as paranoid as she would walk on it. But she would not run, play or fetch toys like she did on carpet or outside on grass.

This breed is prone to hip and knee problems and guess I couldn't blame them. I'm cautious on slippery floors as well.

She sold the house about a year later. The noisy hardwood floor and the dogs behavior was a factor in that decision. But, it did look nice and your dogs may be quite different than hers.
 
I debate too about whether to go with hardwood or stick with carpet. Carpet is a lot warmer and something you may want to consider if you do go with hardwood is installing a radiant heat element under the hardwood floor.
 
All I can say is that after a water heater explosion,,wife wanted wood floors rather than carpet, well we have wood floors,,but they are cold, noisy and a pain to keep clean, I personally would never have them. I hate it. Carpet is much better in my opinion,,,
 
I have lamimate flooring in the common areas.I also have two large dogs.The flooring has been down for about 4yrs.No problems with scratches from the dogs.On any floating floor get the best under floor padding,It'll greatly reduce the noise.I have wooden subflooring.Also the finish on mine is semi-gloss so smuging isn't an issue.Mine is a blond wood and shows dog tumbleweeds,did I mention they are long haired dogs?So what I'm saying is;It holds up well yet takes a little more cleaning effort.Less dust in the house now also.Carpets hold dirt and other nasty stuff like allergens.Morning ritual is quick swiffer vac followed by damp mop let dry and follow with swiffer dustmop for any thing missed.I know it sounds like alot of work but we're only talking about 10mins. or so.My house is clean and stays that way.

D.G.
 
We have had prefinished bamboo flooring for over 4 years now.
Another house we had, the flooring was site finished oak.

We were happy with both but have noticed several potential concerns:
1. Flooring will change color when exposed to light. so if you put down
throw rugs the color will remain original under the rug, but darken
where there is no rug.

2. Flooring is slicker than you would expect. Wife wears those type of
sockes that have non slick strips on them, similar to what the
hospital, nursing homes have. You can buy this type of socks in
various designer types also. If you have kids consider that their
roughhousing is potentially of concern, and kids will find a way to
make a game of sliding, with mixed results. :)

3. Certain types of throw rugs, those with adhesive/non skid bottoms
can leave a rubber type residue after a period of time.

4. Flooring is cold on the feet in the winter unless you have a radiant
flooring heat source. This a potential big concern if you are not
expecting it, especially with a basement.

5. Pet feet have no traction as previously noted.

6. You can see minor surface scratches from both pet feet, and chairs
moving (such as the dinner table) over time.

7. Anything hard dropped on the floor has the chance to dent the
flooring.

8. Wife is very happy with the ease of cleaning of a wood floor versus
carpeting, Swifter type cleaner. Spills are easily wiped up.

We have cork flooring (tiles) in the bathrooms, and still are evaluating this. Again the cork is cold on your feet in the winter.
 
Another recommendation I got from a wood floor salesman if you have pets was to get a textured wood floor that didn't have the slick surface because then the marks and scratches don't show as much, if at all, because they blend in with the finish.
 
I put a laminate floor in the entry, kitchen and dining room ~ 12 years ago. Granted, I didn't buy the most expensive floor I could find, but after 12 years, it's beginning to show it's age. It will dent if you drop the corner of a 10 lb. oak cutting board on it. It does scratch, if minutely. If I could refinish it, like an oak floor, I would, but I think it's getting close to replacement time. Now I'm thinking about the floating ceramic tile. It's the latest, greatest, dontcha know. ;)
 
I own a construction company and have installed wood floors for years in houses and commercial buildings, and I don't know much about the wear of Bamboo but I would highly recommend a distressed oak floor. Oak is a very hard wood and if it is distressed, that means it has a mottled and scarred finish with dings and little holes in it. Any marks or scratches you put in it later, usually just blend in, or at worse they can be easily touched up with a little "Old English" or Watco oil. Since it is distressed it also doesn't show dirt too bad and is very fast and easy to clean with a dust mop and some wood flooring cleaner/treatment. Armstrong and Bruce are pretty good brands, and I don't think I have ever heard a complaint or heard someone say they don't like it.
 
I work for moving companies handling claims. As such I see a lot of new wood floors including the very popular Brazilian cherry and the bamboo. The cherry dents easily and changes color quickly. The bamboo is not resistant to dog scratches at all. Brand new floors start to look dented and worn quickly. There is also the damage from chairs,sofas, pianos and excercise equipment. Since these new floors cannot be refinished nothing short of replacement can be done.

The toughest floors are oak, maple and hickory. Pecan also seems to hold up better and checkout the distressed look floor as farmer17 suggested.

I personally would not get the bamboo. If I wanted a light color it would be Maple. A really tough floor for pets and people is ceramic tile. However if it is too slick the dogs may not be able to get traction. It is also is cold and hard.
You would not believe the thousands of dollars that moving companies have had to pay to replace wood flooring. It gets damaged way to easily.
One time I looked at a brand new floor that a large tv was rolled across. There was a continuous double depression from the front door back to the family room. This particular flooring has a luan mahogany under the laminate and it has almost no compression resistance.
Solid oak is still available, expensive and worth every penny.
All the other flooring I have seen in homes has been very disappointing.
Just my .02
Bruce
 
Strand bamboo is very hard since it's basically compressed bamboo fibers and resin. The finish is what can and will get scratched, just like most finishes on wood. The only way we've installed strand is by gluing it directly to the floor, and the correct glue is expensive. I wouldn't want to even think about removing it. If it can be floated that seems like an attractive option to me.
 
I don't have bamboo flooring , but I've worked with some of it. Bamboo is very close to Oak in hardness/toughness but at less than half the price, you're going to be seeing a lot of it because it grows to harvest size in about 7 years.

Good laminate is tougher than all the woods but can never be refinished , the better wood laminates can be refinished twice and of course solid wood can be redone many times. Much of it is what you want for looks/price.

Ray
 
Bamboo is hard but when it is used as flooring something is going terribly wrong. I've seen bamboo floors with large numbers of dents from chairs and pets which as been down less than a month. Medium and large dogs have trouble walking on the flooring. Floors below stairs will have 2"-4" long dents from dog claws where they push off to go upstairs. When Bamboo is scratched or dented through the finish it discolors quickly and looks terrrible. Despite its varigation in woodgrain and color it seems to show the damage more readily than some other types of flooring. I'll post two pictures that I have handy. One is bamboo which a bicycle fell over on. Then other is a long compression dent in brazilian cherry. I believe the basic problem is the material is hard but so thin that it will dent easily. Flooring is a composite of woods such as luan,fir mdf with the veener on top. As I mentioned before luan compresses readily. You can doubt what I say and tell me I'm wrong but I go to about 600 homes a year and I have just about seen it all. I would never buy laminate flooring after seeing how it looks after some use. That is just me. My flooring is 58 year old solid oak. I have carpet.

Bruce





 
From what I have read it looks like the stranded bamboo is the hardest almost as hard as red oak. I want to stay away from lament. Being on a cement slab it will have to be a glue down installation or floating. Seems that regular bamboo is soft and carbonized, the darker ones are even softer due to the steaming process that produces the darker colors. Cost is a major factor for us but we really need to get this old carpet out. Thanks for the information, suggestions are always welcome.
 
I had some carpet on a slab floor and didn't like it. Put in laminate flooring and it was horribly slick and loud. Fortunately, the washing machine overflowed and ruined it within a month. After that, I had a 3/8" troweled colored concrete topping put on it with a press in texture that looks like of antiquey, then it is coated with a sealer. Now, it looks nice in a rustic sort of way, but you can drive leaky forklifts on it. A beagle wouldn't stand a chance at ruining it, nor would the replacement washing machine.
 
For the best wearing floor on a slab, go with tile. Inexpensive, and the dogs will never scratch it. The tile will outlast you and your dogs, plus there are many styles of rugs to accent tile floors.

Laminate is inexpensive and goes down super quick. Last room I did in laminate was 14 X 22, and the flooring was done in about 4 hours, just the wife and I and my power miter saw. It was individual boards 5" X 48" and looks like white oak. Total cost for floor, underlayment and mouldings was $650. If it looks shabby in 12 years, I'll just pull it up (easy on a floating floor) and install new. You can't get a sand and refinish on a wood floor for that price.
 
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