Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Jun 02, 2013 10:32 pm Hi We are thinking of putting bamboo flooring in our living area which include kitchen. We are building in South Australia on canal. Our really only option is to buy from Choice Flooring. The choices that we have is ARC and Arrow Sun. Both appear to be of the same quality. They are both cold pressed, strand woven bamboo flooring. However I am not sure whether to go cold pressed or hot pressed. Hot pressed seemed to work better in humidity environment than cold press. They are better for moisture. But where we are located we don't have problem with humidity. They are so many different arguments. Please my question is if you have bamboo flooring at home, has it been good? Any problem with it? Is there issue with maintenance? what is your option on it? Should I go for hot or cold pressed? any suggestion on brands? The color that we like is Champagne. I look forward to some feedback paula Re: BAMBOO FLOORING 2Jun 03, 2013 5:31 am Visit Michael at Gepps Cross Harvey Norman. He has Naturally Bamboo which is a hot pressed premium bamboo. CALL 1300GOHARVEY www.harveynormanflooring.com.au Carpet, Rugs, Timber, Bamboo, Laminate, Vinyl & Vinyl Tiles TIMBERMAX Real Australian Hardwood Flooring IN STORES NOW Re: BAMBOO FLOORING 4Jun 03, 2013 8:36 pm Hi jen I actually contacted embelton and looked at difference between different products. If you have any concern you can call their head office.. And the difference between hot & cold pressed. Embelton is made with hot pressed bamboo. For qld with what I read you should use hot pressed bamboo due to humidity. Hot pressed has better moisture content. With what I could see this brand appear to be good. so I think you have made the right choice. Paula Re: BAMBOO FLOORING 7Jun 18, 2013 7:50 pm Hi, we're thinking about Bamboo too in Adelaide. I found Bamboo Flooring SA, and their product looks pretty good (but then again, it's hard to compare when I don't know much about the options). Our first choice was Tiles, but we liked the idea of the Timber Look Tiles (but the price is around $95/sqm). We have over 100sqm, and then add in the labour, it's going to be over $150/sqm (no accurate quotes). In comparison, the rough estimate for bamboo was less than half this cost. I guess I have figured out the following pros/cons: - Tiles should have minimal maintenance, just general cleaning. Bamboo on the other hand will require refinishing (sanding and/or varnishing), care with furniture, kids, pets and stilettos (at least the first three will effect us), and any water mopped up immediately (considering we're planning on a pool, this doesn't sound good to me). - Tiles will feel cold and hard on the feet. Bamboo should be warmer and softer, and possibly things may bounce rather than break? - Tiles (especially these timber look ones) look pretty good, but the varnished Bamboo creates a real feature floor! - Tiles cost twice as much up front, but Bamboo will require time/effort/cost down the track (not really sure how much?). - Tiles probably have a better thermal performance than Bamboo (although I haven't found any real facts to back this). Tiles are a thermal mass and should retain the Winter sun. Bamboo on the other hand, has timber properties of a mediocre insulator and mediocre thermal mass, which some say regulate temperatures quite well too... - Tiles can be continued outside in the Alfresco, Bamboo can't really be used outside. - Bamboo is more sustainable??? - Bamboo has skeptics in terms of glues/paints being bad for health, and warping/cupping occurring from any moisture... I was leaning towards Bamboo due to cost/look/sustainability, but in terms of maintaining it, especially with mopping up water (kids coming in from the swimming pool), moving furniture and refinishing in 5/10/20 years??? I'm now wondering whether tiles might be better off? Sorry, I might have hijacked your thread a bit :S Re: BAMBOO FLOORING 8Jun 18, 2013 8:12 pm Hi You are putting alot of thoughts into things. I am very similar. I have done my research and i am comfortable with bamboo flooring. With bamboo floor you can't sand back and vanish again. Its almost like floating floor, it comes finished with the color stain that you select. It is supposed to be hard wearing floor that can handle wear and tear. And they come with life time or 25 year warranty. We are like you, our first option was hardwood floor but it is expensive and that needs maintenance with sanding and re polishing. That's why we ended picking bamboo floor because it does look like timber floor and its 14m thick. and we don't like tiles. we are building on the canal. so we are 100m from the water. I think so for you.. For peace of mind.. maybe tiles is the way. Its actually cheaper than bamboo i think. I know someone who works for Arrow sun. this is their website http://www.arrowsun.com.au/ i can't find out things for you. Good luck paula Re: BAMBOO FLOORING 9Jun 19, 2013 10:35 pm I was hoping to hear from people who have installed Bamboo flooring to get their feedback if they are happy with it. Please let me know if you are happy with it and if its easy to clean & maintain. And I want to make sure too that it doesn't scratch easily either. Look forward to opinions. paula Re: BAMBOO FLOORING 10Jun 30, 2013 11:32 pm Hi Paula We renovated our home with stranded bamboo flooring 5 years ago. We had wanted to go for vertical but as soon as they saw that we had a 3 year old all the showrooms told us we had to go for stranded as it was the hardest wearing form of bamboo flooring. Aesthetically it is beautiful. The eco factor also greatly influenced me, I chose it for its environmental sustainability. That said, we will never use it again. It discolours in sunlight, as does timber. I have pale shapes on the bamboo from mats/furniture. That is the least of bamboo's problems. It is incredibly soft and dents, marks, scratches VERY easily. These then discolour and then your beautiful, pale floor looks like it has flecks of dirt on it, not great. I might add that we have a japanese-style of living and never wear shoes in the house, so our floor has probably been pampered in comparison with the traffic in most homes. On par with the scratching, bamboo has a ZERO tolerance to water. We have had some water damage as a result of damp coming through from the bathroom wall and discolouring/warping the bamboo skirting and flooring in the adjacent bedroom. A heavy rain storm some years ago caused some water seepage when the gutters overflowed and despite us drying it immediately with towels the floor warped. All this after we had gone to considerable trouble and expense to have a resin sealer applied to the surface prior to installation. We have just bought a new home. Whilst house-hunting we did not consider any home with bamboo flooring. I am sad to say that after our experience with it we would not recommend bamboo to anyone. It's a bit like communism - great in theory but not so successful in practice. I do hope this was helpful? It is rather negative but I am just being 100% honest. Re: BAMBOO FLOORING 12Jul 01, 2013 10:22 am Must admit we have none of the problems that eCo has experienced. We have just over 100 sqm down and really haven't had a problem. Re scratches. Of course it will scratch, what "wooden" floor won't. You must be prepared to accept this, in this type of flooring. Having said that, we have 2 very enthusiastic Staffords that of course live inside - what respectable Stafford doesn't - and they as far as we can see have not caused any obvious scratches with their claws. We do have some but most of these have been caused by stones being caught in the bottom of shoes from people not taking them off when they come in. Re dents. We have only one dent we know about. That was from a bloody apprentice dropping a hammer coming down from the roof. It put a mark a couple of mm deep. Not bad from 2.7 metres. We have dropped things on the floor with basically no marking. Being so hard things break, not bounce. Re water. Again what "wooden" floor will tolerate a large quantity of water left to lie on it. We have had water spills, mopped them up straight away and have no problems. Would I use it in a bathroom or laundry, no, but we do have it in the kitchen. Given its 14mm thick it can be resanded. The colour in out boards goes through the entire board. It is not just surface colour. We have had tiles and now boards. Both types have their pluses and minuses and you just have to make a decision which type of flooring you want, then get the best product you can afford. Also eCo, you said you had storm damage and the floor was damaged. Why didn't you get it repaired/replaced under insurance? Our flooring was sourced through Harvey Norman, Dandenong, as was our carpet. They were great to deal with, travelling 200 k for a consultation plus install. Photos of the floor are on our blog. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: BAMBOO FLOORING 14Jul 01, 2013 11:23 am Hi Deladite13, Have you had any issues with noise? We have a quote from HN for our flooring and being in WA no one has it over here. Does it have an echo type noise that you get from some floating floors or being that it is thicker boards does it sound quite solid? Thanks, Sarah H1 Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=61557 Re: BAMBOO FLOORING 15Jul 01, 2013 2:49 pm Only had it 12 months but so far no colour change yet and parts have direct arvo sunlight. Given we have multi colours it won't be very noticable if it does. With the noise. When we first laid it, seemed to be a little bit that way. Also had a few creaks as well. But as we have walked on it more and more it has settled down pretty much completely. Only the odd spot now. It obviously has to bed in. As for the hollow sound, it doesn't sound like a wood floor on stumps if that's what you mean. It has a solid sound to it as you walk on it. Each board has a fair bit of weight in it, so it really doesn't move at all. Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ 1000000% definitely add insulation. I have in my home and it makes a big difference minimising sound transfer. Insulation is pretty cheap and definitely worth it 2 6173 Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 15885 Hi there, I'm a conplete newbie to this, but I'm looking to put a floor down in my 6x9m shed. It's currently sitting on a 100mm thick concrete perimeter (dirt floor… 0 6454 |