Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

My kitchen tiles are SHOT - they're gettin gholes in them, the grout is disappearing and its making my already awful kitchen look even worse.

We've purchased laminate flooring from Costco and used it in our home and have been very happy with it. They now carry bamboo flooring and we were thinking of possibly putting it down in the kitchen.

Does bamboo work in a kitchen? I'm so clueless with this stuff!!!!!!!

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Lori- I have done a ton of research about Bamboo and have gotten so much mixed review we actually have decided on wood. I am not sure about durability in a kitchen with all the traffic.

Maybe someone else has more to add. I know Goldenrod just used bamboo in his reconstruction and I believe is very happy with them.

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

I have it in my office. I love the color and the pattern on it. I got my from http://teragren.com/ . According to many independent sites, natural bamboo (not the darker colored ones) is one of the strongest "wood" floors around. They "cook" the bamboo to make it darker, so it's a little bit softer. It's still pretty hard, though. Plus, they put several layers of protective polyurethane on it.

Depending on how our kitchen design goes, we may look into getting bamboo for the kitchen and/or dining room.

I've seen several kitchens with wood flooring, so I don't see why you couldn't use bamboo.

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

We have it throughout the house, including the kitchen. I haven't noticed any difference between it and regular hardwood flooring, but we've only had it for about 6 months so I can't comment on long-term durability..

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

My BIL & SIL put Bamboo flooring throughout their apartment 4 years ago. They have a mini yorkie and an 18 month old son. They is alot of scratches, I never noticed them though. My BIL siad he would do it again but only with Teregan bamboo floors. You can get ones that are stained and they have gorgeous colors. I think for $20 you get a BIG box of samples. We are on the fence too about putting the bamboo in our kitchen or not. It isn't cheep but they do offer an engineered version of the what ever color you pick. It's about $6.99 a sq/ft with them.
One thing to keep in mind is that if your house is on a slab you would be puttin down a floating floor or glueing it down.

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

When we bought our house in March 2006 we gutted basically the entire thing, including the kitchen. We loved the look of the light bamboo floors so this is what we put in in our kitchen and living room (we have an area rug over it in the living room).
I can honestly say this was one of the worst decisions we made! I curse the floors everyday! we have a dog, a toddler and now a newborn. the kitchen obviously gets a ton of traffic and the floor shows all of it. it has scratches too which dont bother me half as much as the slightest bit of dirt that shows up right away. I would stick with either a darker wood or tile. HTH

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

I wanted bamboo floors.

The reviews I saw were not good. Lots of people complained about scratches all over.

I was quite surprised since a lot of shows on TV use them and they are very durable.

I think there are different types of quality and density of bamboo.

Do your research! A lot of people were dissatified with the "basic" bamboo in the home improvement stores.

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Check out lumber Liquidators . If you check out each of the reviews for each flooring type, you will see what people loved or didn't. Stay away from the "Carbonized" bamboo flooring. It's the softest one. You can order or go into one of their stores and get samples for free. I actually took one of my high heels and hit the samples. The "Strand" flooring seemed to be the hardest, from Lumber Liquidators brand. GL with your decision. Do lots of research before you buy it.

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

I just did a search on Morning Star Bamboo flooring and came up with this not so good review. Lumber Liq. sells this brand. Just something to keep in mind.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flooring/msg1117314013190.html

Message edited 1/18/2009 10:52:10 AM.

Message edited 1/8/2010 1:04:40 PM.

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Bamboo hardness (as with any natural materials) varies. My bamboo was rated stronger than almost any wood around. Other bamboos were much lower on the list.

If you get good bamboo, it will be stronger than most wood, so if it scratches, it would probably scratch if it was anything but carpet...

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

my dh who did floors.....says they are not strong...go w/oak...something stronger

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Lori, we have Bamboo flooring in out bedroom and guest bedroom.

We love it. Phil gets his flooring from a website for a great price. I don't know the site, but I will ask him.

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Are you putting the flooring over a slab or over sub-flooring? We bought Home Legends engineered bamboo for our living room from Home Depot (and we put 1/2" plywood underneath and a moisture shield) and we've had nothing but problems. It was great in the summer, but the planks started to shrink as the weather got cooler. I wouldn't put it in a kitchen, between the moisture and the temperature changes and the chronic clean-up a kitchen needs, you'd have your hands full.

edited for spelling

Message edited 1/19/2009 1:16:39 PM.

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

Thank you all so much for your feedback.

Costco has bamboo flooring in the store and its a great price so we figured we'd try it b/c we have their laminate wood flooring in our basement and we love it (2 kids and an 85 pound dog and it looks good still after 2 years). Under the tile in the kitchen is just concrete so we'd have to put something down (subfloor/moisture barrier) which I *think* the kit from Costco comes with - it did with the flooring.

But with hearing all the negative we may just go to Procida tile and see if we can get something on closeout.

In a perfect world I'd win enough money to gut my kitchen and do it the way that I'd love........but realisticly I'm going with new tile

Re: Any feedback on bamboo flooring?????

We looked into the bamboo from BJs-its probably similar to Costco's & we decided against it. We are still considering a higher quality bamboo for our great room in the future.
If you are considering tile Home Depot & lowes both have tons of stuff on clearance now. I saw really nice 18X18 tile for less than $1 a sq ft.