How to Make Your Bamboo Flooring Last a Lifetime: Care and Maintenance Guide

 Bamboo Flooring is a natural and renewable material that can be used in a variety of applications. It is also highly durable, even in the face of moisture and heavy traffic. Bamboo floors are also easy to maintain and often require no special cleaners. They can be installed over almost any type of subfloor, including a concrete floor if it is sealed first. Bamboo flooring works well in almost any type of home and is a green alternative to hardwood.

Slicing, solid and engineered

There are three basic types of bamboo flooring: slicing, solid and engineered. Slicing bamboo is the process by which hollow bamboo stalks are split down to produce thin, equal-sized strips. These strips are then glued together, pressed and milled. This is the same process that wood goes through in traditional lumber planking, but with far less energy and waste. Bamboo is split into strips rather than sawn, and this process saves about 50% of the energy required for traditional hardwood sawing.

 Vertical or horizontal grain flooring

The strips are then glued and pressed into either vertical or horizontal grain flooring. Horizontal strips are arranged and glued with their skins (nodes or "knuckles") facing up, for a classic bamboo look that is more resistant to dents than the flat strip construction of vertical bamboo. This style is available in natural or carbonized, and can be stained. It is not recommended for high humidity areas or for use with radiant heat.

Sanded and re-stained multiple times

Solid bamboo is a more stable product than strand-woven and can be finished on-site. It can be sanded and re-stained multiple times, making it an excellent choice for a DIYer. However, solid bamboo is not as strong or as durable as strand-woven or engineered bamboo. Solid bamboo can be glued to a plywood or oriented-strand-board (OSB) subfloor, or it can be nailed down. It is not recommended for installing over concrete.

Conclusion

Engineered bamboo is a much more durable product than solid bamboo, and it can be finished on-site or in the factory. It can be glued to a plywood subfloor or floated on top of a foam underlay. It is not recommended for installation over concrete. It is very important that a new bamboo floor be allowed to acclimate for at least three to four days before it is installed. If it is not acclimated correctly, the bamboo could shrink and develop gaps. Using a moisture meter is the best way to test for proper acclimatization. This is especially important for solid bamboo, as it can take longer to stabilize than most other wood flooring products. A proper acclimatization is also necessary for Bamboo Flooring that will be used in rooms with excessive moisture or direct sunlight. This will ensure that the floor will not swell or buckle when exposed to moisture or UV light. The proper acclimatization time for solid, slicing or strand-woven bamboo depends on the moisture level of the environment and is outlined in the manufacturer's installation guidelines. Most manufacturers will recommend a minimum of 48 hours.