Hardwood flooring is becoming an increasingly popular option for those looking to upgrade the look of their home, with the general feeling being that it has a much bigger wow factor than carpet and is also far easier to clean and maintain over a long period of time. With that said, many of those people are installing bamboo flooring over the traditional hardwoods such as maple, oak and cedar, and it’s not really that surprising given that bamboo flooring tends to be a little cheaper and is also sturdier, with a beautiful natural grain that really pops when it is installed.
How To Install Bamboo Flooring
Proper preparation is the key to successfully installing bamboo flooring, and that begins with the room measurements which will determine how much bamboo flooring will have to be purchased. Once that has been decided, be sure to add about 10% extra to the total to account for waste and cutting. The most important step in the installation of bamboo is making sure that it has been acclimatized to the room it is being installed in. Bamboo is a natural material that is subject to expansion and contraction, therefore be sure to open all your packages and allow the bamboo flooring to sit in the room for 3 days, with the optimum room temperature being 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bamboo flooring is a very versatile product and can be installed vertically or horizontally, and can be floated, glued or nailed during the installation process. If you are installing on top of concrete, then gluing is the best method, but for the purposes of this article let’s look at installing bamboo flooring using the floating method. Many professional believe that laying horizontally is best for bamboo as it shows more of the natural markings, but either way is fine.
Use your measurements to determine how many boards you will need to cover the width of the room, and then divide that number in 2. If you are going to have partial boards it’s far better to have them at both ends of the install rather than one skinny row on one side; the end result is far more aesthetically pleasing.
Install the underlay, being sure not to overlap the strips, and then start to lay the bamboo flooring, with most installers recommending nailing down the first two rows on either side of the room. Be sure to inspect each and every piece of flooring as bamboo is all natural and is therefore prone to color fluctuations and irregular markings. When locking the pieces together, use a hardwood hammer, but do not strike the bamboo directly as this can cause splitting, instead use a wood block as a buffer.
In most cases, bamboo flooring can be installed in one day, even by a flooring amateur, and the end result will be a beautiful bamboo floor that will easily stand the test of time.