Bamboo or Hardwood!


  #41  
Old 01-24-07, 12:09 AM
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"Old or young bamboo makes very little differance to the hardness." Could you please expound upon this?

And this installation technique? "I do prefur to loss lay it and not stick it to the sub floor."
 
  #42  
Old 01-27-07, 07:15 AM
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Reading the comments of actual bamboor floor owners, I'd say you have maybe a 50-60% chance of not liking it. There are enough red-flags in this thread to convince any person of a likely disappointment in choosing bamboo. The "yes people" say you have to do your research. That's hard to do because some people get lucky or have different circumstances for their install, and other sources of info. are sales pitches.
 
  #43  
Old 04-14-07, 09:42 PM
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Originally Posted by Jeff Matthews
Reading the comments of actual bamboor floor owners, I'd say you have maybe a 50-60% chance of not liking it. There are enough red-flags in this thread to convince any person of a likely disappointment in choosing bamboo. The "yes people" say you have to do your research. That's hard to do because some people get lucky or have different circumstances for their install, and other sources of info. are sales pitches.
I'd say this is probably pretty accurate.

Earlier in this thread I had asked about SimpleFloors.com. Unfortunately I couldn’t not find anyone who had purchased bamboo from them. After a longer internal struggle over price vs purchase risk I ultimately decided to buy from SimpleFloors.

I'm glad I did. The following is a reply I just wrote another member after she PMed me looking for more info about SimpleFloors. I haven't checked these forums since I made my purchase and I probably won't again anytime soon. So if anyone has any questions for me please send a PM.


____________________________

Hi Celeste!

I cautiously went ahead and ordered bamboo floor from SimpleFloors after comparing prices and reviews. At the time of my order there were very few SimpleFloors reviews... but the price was just so good so I took a leap of faith.

It paid off. 1300sqft of floor arrived before the estimated delivery date. I had only a few bad/warped boards in the entire order... and I was able to use most of them on wall pieces.

The floor is beautiful and is complemented on by everyone who comes to our house. And though bamboo is prone to scratch and dent pretty easily this floor is holding up really well with a 5 year old, two adults that like to roughhouse and a consistent flow of visitors. And what few blemishes have been made blend in to the grain and IMO add character.

OK - enough about my floors. I had read a few negative reviews about SimpleFloors and I almost went with a more expensive company, but I'm glad I didn't! My SimpleFloors experience was great. I'll order from them again on my next home renovation.

____________________________
 
  #44  
Old 08-02-08, 07:50 PM
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Strand Bamboo is different

For those folks that are on the fence about the quality of bamboo, you need to both consider and understand these differentiators:

1. Standard, Carbonized or Strand Bamboo. Strand is by far the hardest and is proven to be harder than just about any hardwood out there (you will see this on the janka hardness scale, strand rates around 2800).

2. The glues and finishes used by the manufacturer will impact off-gassing. If you go with something like eco-timber you do not have to worry about fumes or the use of immature bamboo. As someone mentioned, young bamboo has different properties than mature bamboo, just as wood does.

I enjoy the unique patterns of strand bamboo floors and have done extensive research around this type of bamboo floor. This seems like the best type of bamboo (hardest, color goes all the way through the product, uses more of the bamboo plant, resistant to water damage, easily glued down and there are rare complaints around this product) unless you simply like the typical bamboo figuring in the planks.

I am seriously considering the LL (morning star) and ecotimber strand bamboo for our new house. Ecotimber does NOT use form formaldehyde in its glue and you will pay almost $6sqft where LL charges almost $4sqft and you can expect some level of formaldehyde in the product. If anyone has done a similar comparison please let me know.

Thanks
 
  #45  
Old 08-06-08, 10:55 AM
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Thank you for descibing Golden Arowana!

Originally Posted by sunshiwei
I am from China and I agree with some of you said but some not. We have good resources of bamboo and competitive labour, not slave I have to add. Mao bamboo is one of the best kinds of bamboo, and we manufacturer bamboo with 5-6 year-old mao bamboo. You have to select material strictly when wanna get a perfect artwork. Then use good machines, many of which are made by Germany to make sure their great quality. Then use good glue to put them together such as Dynea. Of course good coating is necessary such as Treffert. Finally is Oxide Aluminum wear-resistance. Then I think you can find bamboo is not so worse compared with wood. Some of our bamboo are sold in big market in USA. Chinese quality does not mean poor quality. I welcome friends to visit China and know us more. Waiting you in Shanghai.
Mao is another name for Moso Bamboo (Phyllostachys heterocycla pubescens )
 
  #46  
Old 08-08-08, 09:35 AM
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No formaldehyde in strand bamboo??

Originally Posted by twig2121
For those folks that are on the fence about the quality of bamboo, you need to both consider and understand these differentiators:

1. Standard, Carbonized or Strand Bamboo. Strand is by far the hardest and is proven to be harder than just about any hardwood out there (you will see this on the janka hardness scale, strand rates around 2800).

2. The glues and finishes used by the manufacturer will impact off-gassing. If you go with something like eco-timber you do not have to worry about fumes or the use of immature bamboo. As someone mentioned, young bamboo has different properties than mature bamboo, just as wood does.

I enjoy the unique patterns of strand bamboo floors and have done extensive research around this type of bamboo floor. This seems like the best type of bamboo (hardest, color goes all the way through the product, uses more of the bamboo plant, resistant to water damage, easily glued down and there are rare complaints around this product) unless you simply like the typical bamboo figuring in the planks.

I am seriously considering the LL (morning star) and ecotimber strand bamboo for our new house. Ecotimber does NOT use form formaldehyde in its glue and you will pay almost $6sqft where LL charges almost $4sqft and you can expect some level of formaldehyde in the product. If anyone has done a similar comparison please let me know.

Thanks
Strand bamboo is produced with a phenol formaldehyde adhesive, and there are not currently other options.
 
  #47  
Old 08-17-08, 03:55 PM
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Questions on Bamboo

I have been on here in the past looking for answers for Bamboo. I found a site (www.findanyfloor.com) that seems to have more info on bamboo than I have found anywhere else. I am thinking of using their installation guidelines and installing it myself. My biggest concern is my ability to do so.
 
  #48  
Old 09-06-08, 06:43 PM
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Originally Posted by wellmade
Strand bamboo is produced with a phenol formaldehyde adhesive, and there are not currently other options.

wellmade - you are correct - I could have clarified that I was referring to the form of formaldehyde that most folks find harmful - urea formaldehyde (the one that is a carcinogen). Any other insights from your perspective?
 
  #49  
Old 09-17-09, 09:55 AM
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Morning Star Bamboo is awful!

I told the salesman we had 4 kids and two dogs. He assured us there was nothing better out there that wouldn't scratch. What a lie! Our dogs can't even come in the house. All my furniture has padding on the bottom now and I spend my days with Old English trying to darken the scratches. So much for "low maintenance" flooring. What a crock. And NO you can not get any assistance from Morning Star "we've never had any complaints".
 
 

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