Browse Forums Flooring & Floor Covering 1 Mar 29, 2014 9:49 am We're thinking of getting floorboards installed throughout our new home, including the kitchen. We went into a flooring showroom the other day and left thinking bamboo was the right choice - less expensive, durable (good because we have a dog), can be sanded, comes in a range of finishes, and we can do the stairs in bamboo too. But just talking to a friend now, apparently bamboo is a bad choice because it can't get wet - so unsuitable for kitchens etc. What do you think? Keen to hear the pros and cons others have experienced with these different types of flooring. Re: Timber flooring - bamboo, engineered or solid? 2Mar 29, 2014 1:07 pm We had Cyprus pine boards throughout our last house including kitchen and it did fine. I'd avoid any engineered or floating flooring, its impossible to seal between so any of them getting wet may cause an issue. Get timber floors, allow the lengths to sit in your house for a couple weeks before being put down and then use a Polly finish to seal. http://camdenbuild.blogspot.com.au/ by invite only please pm me Re: Timber flooring - bamboo, engineered or solid? 3Mar 31, 2014 8:03 am We looked at all the same options as you have and scrapped engineered boards pretty quickly due to the price for the good ones or the cheap looks that most have. Bamboo from what we found out is naturally a blonde colour, unless its been heat treated which adds a lot of cost. If your looking a colour variant thats not the woods natural colour you need to factor in this added cost of staining to achieve that same colour in the future if you need to refinish the floors (sand and polish). On a 100m2 floor of our house we compared the cost of a good quality, solid, thick Bamboo with Spotted Gum and Grey Ironbark (both standard grade) boards and yes Bamboo was approx $3000-3500 cheaper but we are willing to pay the extra for a natural beautiful looking floor. If you want to same a bit of money over Spotted gum timber look at cheaper species such as Blackbutt maybe but it very much depends on the look you are after. Re: Timber flooring - bamboo, engineered or solid? 4Apr 15, 2014 12:30 pm Bamboo can get wet- just don't let it soak in. We are putting bamboo through out the house, even in the kitchen (open plan house, would look absurd otherwise). We got a sample from http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/dispick?_trk ... 1438.l2754 who comes very highly recommended. We put that sample through it's paces; whacked it with a hammer, stood on it with heels and submerged it in water. Bamboo is usually covered on a polyurethane coating, which will keep it protected unless the coating is damaged (this can allow water to become trapped under the coating. Not good). The only thing you have to worry about is the ends. For a small spill, as long as you get to it in a couple of hours our test showed it didn't effect the bamboo at all. When we soaked it over night the cut edge warped slightly, so don't let it sit in water for an extended period of time One thing we did notice, after about a month the warped edge dried out and returned to it's original shape. Today is under construction. Thank you for understanding. Engineering timber is certainly a less fuss option, times cheaper to supply and install and better withstands humidity. 1 15908 Thanks Simon, I guess I'm no concerned with the volume of the noise rather that dead and hollow sound and feel that is associated with floating floors. But I'm not sure… 3 6141 If this is a custom build then I would expect the builder to set out the door frame closer to the wall to avoid the gap between architrave and the wall and or specify… 9 8306 |