It’s been a long time since this topic has come up in our firm and I’m curious to hear other’s perspectives on bamboo products, especially flooring. For years our office has had a policy of not specifying bamboo products because of poor quality issues and bug infestations, from way back in the early 2000’s. 15 years later, have the products improved at all?
I have used plyboo by smith and fong for personal projects and have been satisfied.
A friend used bamboo flooring in her kitchen/dining area and is quite unsatisfied. Water spots the floor and it is difficult to remove the spots.
I’ve had personal experience with two construction types of bamboo flooring. The first was about 8 years ago when I installed some ‘vertical’ bamboo flooring for a friend. I wasn’t impressed. The flooring was prone to splitting when nailing in the cleats, and the long edges where the wearing surfaces meet at the T&G joint would send off these long splinters. To avoid destroying the edges of the boards, you had to cut the splinters with a knife and sand it smooth. I would not recommend this floor to anyone.
The second was when I purchased a condo about 6 years ago that had ‘horizontal’ bamboo flooring. I was very impressed. It held up well, was not prone to damage or scratching, and I would install it again given the chance.
For definitions of ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ bamboo flooring construction, see the following (I’m not sure if this is terminology recognized throughout the industry): https://www.bambooflooringcompany.com/bamboo-flooring-blog/what-are-the-different-types-of-bamboo-flooring/
The secret to a successful bamboo floor installation is the construction of the flooring product. True engineered bamboo flooring products do well. Laid up bamboo-only flooring products do not do so well, comparatively. The quality of the finish also plays into the success of the installation. High quality factory finishing with urethane/aluminum oxide wears very well. Lesser quality transparent finishes generally do not wear well at all, especially in a space subject to occasional wetting (like a kitchen, or a bathroom). Perhaps the best solution to this is to specify a square-edged (no bevel or micro bevel) engineered product (this may mean bamboo only at the wear layer, which is a good thing) and a field finish with a high quality urethane - there are several on the market. I would have provided product info in this post, but figured if i did, I would probably be called out by the anti-anon forum members as a shill for those companies - which i am not. So - happy googling!