Bamboo Flooring for Sole replacement

[Wildrice]

I'm thinking ? of replacing my carpet with bamboo flooring, has anyone ever tried and if so what did you think. I've read that people put it in their swimming pool areas and have no problems. The expense is about equal with carpet so i thought i may give it a try. Any advice greatly appreciated.



Keith

[knottybuoyz]

What I've heard, read and saw it's great stuff. Hard as nails. It'll expand and shrink with humidity so proper installation method is important.

[Intentional Drifter]

Having recently put in quite a bit of the stuff in my house, I've learned a couple of things about it. One, Rick is absolutely correct, the stuff is hard as nails -- harder than the brad nails used in most nail guns, in fact! It laughs at them if you try and use them. So, when installing trim pieces, you have to use a drill, hammer and punch. Not a big deal, but it slows down the install a bit. Two, for as hard as it is, it can be dented and scratched pretty easily by heavy stuff, going at 90 degrees across the piece. The frig did quite a number on a few pieces. Three, we haven't found a properly colored filler for the nail holes. We experimented with quite a few and still haven't found a combination we like.

It is sensitive to humidity and temp, so let it acclimitize for a few days where it will be before trying to install. Be sure and use a good quality underlayment, too. And, make the joining as tight as you can.

When done, though, it is quite attractive and easy to clean. I hadn't thought of using it on a boat, but if you can get a week of pretty constant humidity and temp for the installation, I don't see why not. There are a couple of things I very much like about the stuff, including that I would estimate it to be 15 to 20% lighter than hardwoods and since it is a grass that grows very quickly, you aren't cutting down precious trees to get it.

If you decide to do it, I'd be interested in hearing how it went and what you think of it after you're done.

ID

[Maddog]

I'm going to be using this. I found a product which is a 3 ply bamboo plywood, called, you guessed it, "Plyboo". Each ply is about 1mm thick, so it can be sanded down and refinshed 3 to 5 times. It can be kerfed on the back for curves. I plan to finish it with "Ultimate Sole". It also comes in 2 colors, natural which is a little yellow looking and Carbonised which is a deep rich brown that will go well with teak. Plyboo states that their product is dimentionally stable, so humidity may not be that big a problem.

I plan to cut my pieces from a template, let them season on the boat for a week. 2 coats of penetrating epoxy on all sides, install with expoxy, finish with teak trim and then 3 coats of Ultimate Sole. It should look great and outlast me.

[SkiprJohn]

You might try doing a search on this forum. We've covered this subject before and I'm totally against using bamboo flooring for a cabin sole. I live in a very humid area. My friend used bamboo floowing in his home and it has never stabilized. He can't do trim around the edges. Think about it before you do it.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[SkiprJohn]

"floowing" should read "flooring" I don't usually talk like Elmer Fudd.

[Wildrice]

Thanks for all of the input, I'm going to give it a try seeing as the cost is very low and carpet is such a pain!!.

Keith

[Benny]

Ever hear Elmer Fudd sing 'Crazy' the Patsy Kline toon? Goes like this:

Cwazy, I'm cwazy for feewing so wonewy
Cwazy, I'm cwazy for feewing so bwue

Now where is that wascaly wabbit

[cat man do]

Certainly got me interested , until I read here about the instability of it.

Yet when I did a search in OZ I find this:

Bamboo Flooring - General Information


An extremely stable hardwood
Bamboo Flooring by nature is an extremely stable hardwood - this stability is further enhanced by its constructional lay up. Peerless Bamboo Floors out perform traditional flooring due to its innate moisture resistance and stability with absolute minimal expansion and contraction. Bamboo is also rated, as a hard floor, suitable for residential and commercial applications.

I reckon this will look good on the floor of the cat and hide any minor damage.



Pretty cool me thinks

Dave

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Keith,
I'd be interested in knowing the outcome. It is pretty stuff buy I prefer the teak.
JohnL

[cat man do]

Just had these sent to me, all Bamboo floor, door and trim in a big cat done in QLD.

Interestingly it uses strip plank KIRI composite construction like mine.

Dave

[GordMay]

I’m certainly not a flooring expert, but I wouldn’t reject Bamboo out of hand.

Along /w Teak (& Mesquite) Bamboo flooring tops the list of common wood species for dimensional stability prepared by the USDA.

Once a wood floor is installed, it will swell and shrink based on the changes in relative humidity. This movement can result in buckling or gaps between the boards and is a big issue with wood floor installation.

Dimensional Change Coefficient for Common Wood Species
Prepared by the Forest Products Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture

Bamboo - .00129 (technically a grass)
Mesquite - .00129
Australian Cypress - .00162
Teak - .00186
Wenga - .00201
Purple Heart - .00212
Santos Mahogany - .00238
Black Cherry - .00248
Heart Pine. - .00263
Southern Yellow Pine - .00265
Douglas Fir - .00267
Black Walnut - .00274
White Ash - .00274
Brazillian Cherry - .00300
Pecan - .00315
Yellow Birch - .00338
Hard Maple - .00353
White Oak - .00365
Red Oak - .00369
Jarrah - .00396
True Hickory - .00411
American Beech - .00431

Natural Bamboo ranks very high on the hardness scale of available wood products (higher than Teak). Even Carbonized Bamboo slightly outranks Teak.
Hardness is the resistance of wood to wear and marring. It is measured by the load required to embed a .444-inch ball half its diameter into the wood.

Wood Flooring Hardness Scale (Unfinished, Plainsawn, Unimpregnated)
Prepared by the National Wood Flooring Association

Pecan - 1820
Hickory - 1800
Maple - 1450
White Oak - 1360
Natural Bamboo - 1340
Ash - 1320
Beech - 1300
Northern Red Oak - 1290
Iroko -1260
Birch *- 1210
Southern Red Oak - 1060
Carbonized Bamboo - 1010
Teak - 1000
Walnut - 1010
Cherry - 950
African Mahogany - 830
Honduran Mahogany - 800
Pine* - 540
Fir* - 440

Numbers denote dent resistance in pounds.
* Denotes average of species group.

[Lodesman]

Dave,

That is a big cat! It looks really sharp - I say 'go for it!'

Kevin

[Wildrice]

I've also been looking at the composite teak and holly (PRICEY), but having a problem laying it on fiberglass substrate, Would you glue it directly down or glue plywood down and then nail it? I've been using Bamboo in houses I build and have had no problems other than dings and scratchs. I have also left cutoffs laying in the yard for months at a time with no visiable effects that I could detect. Weight is also and issue on cats so I need to figure out what the different species weigh. I'm realy just thinking out loud, looking for anything you guys might think of that I haven't. Anyway thanks for all the great advice

Keith

[Intentional Drifter]

You can glue the bamboo. Surface prep is important; absolutely clean and flat. You want to run it at 90 degrees from underlying supports. Liquid nails will do on the floor. I've also used Gorilla Glue for trim pieces on the granite countertops. (Great stuff that Gorilla Glue, but follow the instructions. If you haven't used it before, I suggest doing a trial run on some scraps.) As I said earlier, the bamboo does seem 15 to 20% lighter than the usual hardwood floors.

ID