my new bamboo floor

here's the floor i did in what used to be my back porch that is now a real insulated room. did the floor sunday and tuesday, and did the trim/paint yesterday. the in-progress railing was built on wednesday out of 2x4 and 1x4 framing lumber to stay cheap and tie in with my pine wall. my dad and i mill 2x4's down with the planer to make all kinds of things, the wood is actually really nice once you get past the rough factory finish. i did most of the work to the room 2 years ago but the dog and muddy feet destroyed the carpet, and i put that down as a temporary solution anyway. the flooring is nail down t&g from lowe's for $1.98/s.f.

I really like the color variation in that floor! I have the kitchen and upstairs floor to do and bamboo is looking better and better.

Looks great!
I too have given more consideration to Bamboo. I have a big living room and dining room that currently has old carpet but I think wood may be too cold and too loud. To reduce that cold/loud I would need big area rugs which then just brings me back to the circle logic of just re-carpet the whole area.
I am not ready to drop the dollars on flooring yet but when I am, I will get in touch with you.
My living room is a similar green/gray and white as yours.

i did some click together floating solid 5/8 thick strand woven bamboo for a customer thursday and friday. unless i told you, you would think it was some kind of solid wood and not woven grass. when they weave it and machine the planks it gives it a very tight woodgrain look. that stuff is HARD too - 2x harder than the stuff i used in my house, and 2.5x more expensive. it goes on a very nice pad though that takes away some of the unforgiving nature. that strand woven stuff was hell on our blades. i had a brand new blade in the miter saw and i think it dulled over the course of two days.

the green is a custom color. i picked up a 5 gallon bucket of very very light green at HD for $15 as a mistint, and a $3 gallon of dark army type green and mixed until i liked it.

one day i'll be out toward sandusky and actually have time to check your place out.

i milled the stair noses myself, the pre made ones cost too much. for a paying customer it's one thing, but for my house i'm cheap.

I like the look of a new bamboo floor, but dislike the look of an older bamboo floor. That stuff dents and gets grooves in it very easily.

I work with a number of builders who jumped on the bamboo wagon and quickly jumped back off when they had to replace just about every floor.

That looks great! I like bamboo but it just won't 'work' in my house.

Bamboo is supposed to be harder than hickory on the Janka scale.

In reply to patgizz:

Bamboo is very hard on saw blades. It's a grass, so it takes up silicates from the soil.

Shawn

Watch out for scratches from furniture legs. When I did bamboo floors in my house, I was diligent about putting sliders or felt pads on all of my furniture until my wife and I bought a new piece several years later and forgot to protect the legs. The first time I moved it to vacuum, I put a huge scratch on the floor.

I really like those floors, if/when I am able to remodel a house to my liking I would love to have bamboo floors.

i put felt pads on everything.

I require floors that can handle dogs, kids, my wife scraping the sofa across the room to see what it looks like over there, etc. Our real wood floors seem to look pretty decent. Most of the scrapes and dents look more like patina than damage.

patgizz wrote: i did some click together floating solid 5/8 thick strand woven bamboo for a customer thursday and friday. unless i told you, you would think it was some kind of solid wood and not woven grass. when they weave it and machine the planks it gives it a very tight woodgrain look. that stuff is HARD too - 2x harder than the stuff i used in my house, and 2.5x more expensive. it goes on a very nice pad though that takes away some of the unforgiving nature. that strand woven stuff was hell on our blades. i had a brand new blade in the miter saw and i think it dulled over the course of two days. the green is a custom color. i picked up a 5 gallon bucket of very very light green at HD for $15 as a mistint, and a $3 gallon of dark army type green and mixed until i liked it. one day i'll be out toward sandusky and actually have time to check your place out. i milled the stair noses myself, the pre made ones cost too much. for a paying customer it's one thing, but for my house i'm cheap.

FWIW: What typically "dulls" a new blade is buildup on the teeth. Oven cleaner + a grill brush = cuts like butter until the blade NEEDS to be sharpened/replaced.

typically we usually dull blades by hitting nails, not we per se but my last couple helpers were not great at checking for metal before cutting with my new $60 blade.

i just got done staining the railing, what a colossal pain in the arse. i carried it outside in the sun and it took a solid 2 hours to get the stain in all the nooks and crannies. i decided to use spray can poly on this otherwise i might go insane.

Sweet. I can sleep out there now.

if you guys ever come back around. we actually have a really comfortable pullout in the living room now. or i could make you sleep the futon for the years i've been sleeping on yours. and for the pullout in your basement that has a crater in the middle like you guys had a 3 way with a 300 pounder one night.

railing now has 2 coats of semi gloss poly, and as far as i'm concerned it's done and drying. not very fast because it's cold out, but as long as i can get it back in the house before i go to bed all will be good.

You made the railing out of 1x4 and 2x4 stud grade? It looks great! I'm impressed.

I made new window trim for the outside of my old house out of 1x4 and 1x2 that I routed into shape myself, it looked good. Not that good, but it was being painted so it wasn't as critical.

I love your bamboo floor; it looks nice.

carguy123 wrote: I like the look of a new bamboo floor, but dislike the look of an older bamboo floor. That stuff dents and gets grooves in it very easily. I work with a number of builders who jumped on the bamboo wagon and quickly jumped back off when they had to replace just about every floor.

There are definitely different harnesses to the bamboo floors. The cheaper stuff really isn't that hard, the more expensive stuff is very hard.

Sorry, I did not notice this was a zombie thread. Damn you personal water crafts!

dculberson wrote: Sorry, I did not notice this was a zombie thread. Damn you personal water crafts!

thats ok it gives me a chance to update.

i'll have to get a pic of the railing installed.

the floor has held up well. the only ding so far is from the little guy dropping a cast iron coca cola horse/carriage toy.

the railing spindles are 2x4's ripped in half and then planed down to 1 1/4" squares. so i got 6 spindles out of a $2 2x4. the posts are 1x4 nailed/glued together in a square. i attached 6" tall blocks to the floor with glue and long screws into the floor framing then slid the rail posts over them and attached with screws then plugged the holes.