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Bamboo flooring


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Here's a photo of that sample that I immersed all last week, and left to dry for three days:

 

59529ea9277bd_Driedoutbamboo.thumb.JPG.44cde048f6266c3f16ebf2d5802f3afb.JPG

 

The colour seems to have returned to the same as before it was soaked, with no clear staining.  It has remained very slightly cupped, about 1mm in the centre.

 

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Iam planning to use bamboo in our renovation and I think it would look so much better right through the ground floor, into the kitchen too.  If we were to seal it well with that Sikaflex that you recommend, do you think that would be sufficient protection from flooding/water damage.  I too was looking at the 10mm strand woven t&g from Simply Bamboo.

I dont really want to use tiles but neither do i want to leave the new owners with a possible problem should they ever have a water leak/flood.

 

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From the tests that @Crofter has done, it seems as if the 10mm stuff is far more prone to water damage than the thicker stuff.  I'd say the 14mm stuff we have would survive a short duration flood, say a washing machine malfunction that was cleared up pretty quickly. 

 

Whether it would tolerate a flood for a day or two I don't know.  I suspect it might, but would possibly need sanding and refinishing just to get it dead flat again.  The test I did was a bit extreme; the sample was immersed at the bottom of a bucket of water for over 4 days, and that's probably far worse than would be likely from a kitchen accident, I think.  Being bonded down may well help a lot, as it should completely stop water getting underneath, at least for a few hours.

 

Unfortunately I don't have any left over adhesive, as if I had I could bond a few bits down to something and try a more representative test.

 

 

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Well, one of my three 10mm samples did just fine. The only difference was that it was matte finish and the other two were glossy.

I'm going to order some more samples just to make sure, but as I prefer the look of the matte anyway I hopefully have a winner.

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That's good news, I wonder what the difference is between the gloss and matte finishes?

 

I did notice that the underside of the bit I tested, that has a rough gloss finish, felt slightly slimy after a few days in water, so perhaps the gloss finish tends to break down a bit when immersed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just about to click 'buy' on this and having a last minute hesitation about how much extra to order...

If I buy eleven packs, I calculate that gives me just 2% left over (0.7m2). Not ideal!

OTOH another pack sets me back £80. I'm trying to rein in the budget and it will be pretty frustrating to spend that money on a pack that might never be opened. And these things are almost impossible to sell on at a decent price in such small quantities.

I'm a pretty careful worker, but 2% is a *very* slim margin... in the real world, how much wastage do people find they need to account for?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hopefully a last wee question before I start laying this...

 

Obviously I'll leave fitting skirting boards until after the flooring is down. But what about door linings- before or after flooring?

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18 minutes ago, PeterW said:

I normally do them before and then use an offcut and the multi master to trim the bases as you may find they are slightly different lengths. 

That's what I / my guys always do, as by the stage that your flooring the door linings are usually already fitted so you can PB to them and skim ( so floors aren't damaged by splats etc ). Not life or death, but 'part of the process'. 

Are you doing the linings yourself? If so then there's nothing wrong with doing them after flooring, just you need to be spot on with the cuts and the heads need to be level. It may even be easier for you that way, but I'd assumed the linings were in by now :ph34r:?

Edited by Nickfromwales
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Hrm, walls are plastered and painted, but openings are still just roughed out. Kind of assumed that the point of the architrave was to cover this joint/gap between studs and lining.

My thinking with doing the linings after the flooring was that I wouldn't need to worry about expansion gaps etc. Obviously you can't put beading inside a door frame, and anyway I want to avoid beading.

Is it not easier to cut the bottom of the lining to the exact length, than to cut flooring to an awkward shape to fit exactly to the lining?

 

I was planning on getting a chippie to do the linings and hang the doors, so I hope he's not going to do the whole shaky-head tut-tutting routine if I've done the flooring first :D

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This is a shot of the laminate, slid underneath the linings which were undercut as @PeterW mentioned. Off cut of flooring and underlay with the blade of the multitool sat on that. No 'awkward' cuts here chief. ;)  Arch's and skirts go on afterwards. ?

image.thumb.jpg.2a66d75da2f173dc97d0d3390976e60f.jpg

 

In the flats I'm building, we've done :-

Studs

linings

PB

Skim

Mist coat paint ( sprayed ) ?

Arch's

Flooring

Final paint ( by hand ) ?

 

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18 minutes ago, Crofter said:

I want to avoid beading

Yup. It's disgusting, but totally avoidable in a new build ;)

DIY heros usually thrive on it, but not everyone owns a multitool, the tool of all tools. 

Cue Tina Turners 'Your simply the best' coupled with a standing ovation for the guy ( :ph34r: ) who invented it.  

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Yep having the flooring undershoot the lining is surely the way to go. Just since I've not fitted the linings yet there can't be any reason not to crack on with flooring...?

Right where did I put those kneepads :0

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3 minutes ago, Crofter said:

Right where did I put those kneepads :0

 

Not just knee pads, either.  I needed industrial quantities of Voltarol just to get both my knees and back functioning again after every day of laying the flooring.............

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1 hour ago, Crofter said:

Yep having the flooring undershoot the lining is surely the way to go. Just since I've not fitted the linings yet there can't be any reason not to crack on with flooring...?

Right where did I put those kneepads :0

Nope. Crack on. ?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Where did August go??

OK I mean it when I say I am actually starting the flooring now. So one final question: why do I still need to leave a 10mm gap when it's all getting bonded down? And why isn't the expansion gap proportional to the width of the room?

 

I'm strongly inclined to reduce the gap to make it easier to cover with a 12mm skirting.

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