Bamboo or hardwood

[acommondisaster]

We're in the planning stages of replacing carpet in part of the house (about 1500 square feet). I've been doing a lot of reading about the pros and cons of hardwood and bamboo, but sometimes I think those reviews are just written by hired writers with no real experience.

We like the fact that the bamboo is environmentally friendly, we like the look of both, but what's the preference? Which one is best, and why is it best? How will each type affect resale (not that that's a huge concern, but I like to keep it in the back of my mind.) I'd hate to love bamboo and then have people walking through my house thinking "oh, they went with bamboo...yick". Does bamboo have that hollow sound like laminate does? Which one really wears better?

I've been reading customer reviews and seems that most people complain about dark stains showing every little bit of dust - any other cleaning maintenance tips? Any advice would be welcomed.

 

[czygvtwkr]

Bamboo is extremely hard, harder than hardwood, but not as hard as the aluminum oxide coating on laminate. I think bamboo is beautiful, but there aren't many choices to go with as with hardwood or laminate.

PS I've been in houses that I could not tell if it was laminate or hardwood until I got very close, cheap laminate is a different story.

 

[GURPS]

We like the fact that the bamboo is environmentally friendly, we like the look of both, but what's the preference?

how is bamboo any different from hard wood, as far as the environment goes :shrug:

they are both natural ?

 

[BadGirl]

how is bamboo any different from hard wood, as far as the environment goes :shrug:

they are both natural ?

Because bamboo grows a hell of a lot faster than a tree grows, and it is much more dense than a forest, and it can grow just about anywhere, and it is easier to harvest.

That's why.

 

[Dakota]

Because bamboo grows a hell of a lot faster than a tree grows, and it is much more dense than a forest, and it can grow just about anywhere, and it is easier to harvest.

That's why.

 

[GWguy]

I put down laminate bamboo flooring in the kitchen. Tough as frikin' nails. Dropped pans, knives, etc... not a scratch. Looks nice.

HOWEVER..... spill some water on it and the edges curl up just enough to catch on things. If the water sits on it, it warps. I can't wait to remove it.

Could have been the brand, could be that's it's laminate, not planks, but I'm not going to try again.

 

[czygvtwkr]

I put down laminate bamboo flooring in the kitchen. Tough as frikin' nails. Dropped pans, knives, etc... not a scratch. Looks nice.

HOWEVER..... spill some water on it and the edges curl up just enough to catch on things. If the water sits on it, it warps. I can't wait to remove it.

Could have been the brand, could be that's it's laminate, not planks, but I'm not going to try again.

Laminate bamboo as the man made composite wood like base with a picture of bamboo on top of it?

Hardwood does that too, my old place had oak parquet floors in it, they were beautiful however as soon as they got a little bit of water on them from a water leak they were never the same.

 

[GWguy]

Laminate bamboo as the man made composite wood like base with a picture of bamboo on top of it?

Hardwood does that too, my old place had oak parquet floors in it, they were beautiful however as soon as they got a little bit of water on them from a water leak they were never the same.

It was composite made from bamboo, not wood, applied over a backing. The "picture" on top looked like real wood.

I've never had much trouble with real oak hardwood floors and water. It may stain, but never had it raise the grain.

 

[acommondisaster]

Laminate's out of the question. We put Pergo in our house in Waldorf and I'm not a fan. Is everyone here saying that bamboo is the same thing as laminate? Is engineered hardwood then the same as laminate. Ugh. All I find online are sales pitches for one thing or the other. I want solid nonbiased critique.

 

[KDENISE977]

We put down real walnut hardwood...WHAT A MISTAKE, scratches so so easily. And we paid over $20K for it 3 years ago, today, looks like crap. Even the installation workers were denting it and scratching it with knee protectors.... we got sold.

 

[Christy]

I have light bamboo in my bedroom and red oak throughout the rest of my house. I like them both. I have the solid bamboo planks. I like the red oak because it was the kind that they finished when it was installed rather than prefinished. It is a smoother floor and easier to clean. The bamboo went down much quicker and it has held up well to 6 dogs.

 

[Christy]

Oh! My bamboo has worn better than the red oak, but again, I have 6 dogs and the red oak gets more dog traffic. I clean both with water and Murphy's Oil Soap.

 

[Christy]

Here's a pic of the red oak, still trying to get the bamboo to upload, I keep getting an error.

 

[GWguy]

Laminate's out of the question. We put Pergo in our house in Waldorf and I'm not a fan. Is everyone here saying that bamboo is the same thing as laminate? Is engineered hardwood then the same as laminate. Ugh. All I find online are sales pitches for one thing or the other. I want solid nonbiased critique.

No. There theoretically can be bamboo planking, but because of the size and shape of the original bamboo stalk, it's kinda tough to make planks. But (I believe) all laminate is engineered regardless of what it's made from. It's "laminated", therefore constructed or engineered.

If you don't want laminate, then your only other choice would be hardwood planks or......


linoleum.

I suggest you go to a flooring store and look at the samples and ask lots of questions.

 

[GWguy]

Here's a pic of the red oak, still looking for a bamboo pic.

That white thing doesn't look like red oak to me....

 

[Christy]

Could have been the brand, could be that's it's laminate, not planks, but I'm not going to try again.

Probably because it is laminate. I have the planks and have had no problem. They take a beating.

Also, bamboo planks don't have the feel of laminate at all, it's just like any other hard wood floor. I have the thick nail down planks though, not the floating floor which is much thinner.

 

[acommondisaster]

No. There theoretically can be bamboo planking, but because of the size and shape of the original bamboo stalk, it's kinda tough to make planks. But (I believe) all laminate is engineered regardless of what it's made from. It's "laminated", therefore constructed or engineered.

If you don't want laminate, then your only other choice would be hardwood planks or......


linoleum.

I suggest you go to a flooring store and look at the samples and ask lots of questions.

I guess here's the thing. When we looked at the Pergo in the store, I thought it was awesome, and I liked it when we first installed it. I guess anything was better than the vinyl tile that was in there. But after a few months, I realized how it really DID look like a picture of wood, it sounded awful to walk on and I became really disappointed in my choice. I'm sort of afraid of that happening again - that I'll be pleased with something I see in the store and then get home and hate it.

We've got a mix of hardwood and carpet in the house and both need to go - it's a strange setup I'm not even going to try to explain, but basically we want to replace the hardwood (foyer, family room/hallway) we have and replace the carpet in the dining room, living room and the area off the foyer with hardwood/bamboo. I'd like to do something that'll stand up to grandkids coming over and a small dog or two, which is why I'm leaning towards bamboo, but it's also important that I don't wind up with a product that leaves me with the same feeling I had towards the Pergo. I'm really hoping for more people to tell me how they feel about the flooring they have and what they'd do differently if they could do their floors over again.

 

[Christy]

I've had both the bamboo and red oak for about ten years now. The red oak is definitely showing signs of wear and tear, the bamboo not so much. The nice thing about both is that they can be refinished. The red oak an infinite amount of times. I have manufactured hardwood in my kitchen that I had refinished at the same time and it is trashed and I can't refinish it again. Never ever go with a manufactured hardwood if you want it to stand the test of time.

I don't think you will go wrong with the bamboo.

 

[czygvtwkr]

Engineered wood floors are plywood with a thin layer of hardwood on top of the plywood. They can be beautiful, the one thing you can't really do though it sand them down because the top layer is so thin you can sand down to the plywood fairly easily.

Engineered wood has certian advantages though, it can be laid over top of a concrete slab, something that isn't recomended for regular hardwood.

 

[czygvtwkr]

We put down real walnut hardwood...WHAT A MISTAKE, scratches so so easily. And we paid over $20K for it 3 years ago, today, looks like crap. Even the installation workers were denting it and scratching it with knee protectors.... we got sold.

Walnut is a rather soft wood, a beautiful and expensive wood but fairly soft.

For floors oak, maple, hickory, or ipe are the only hardwoods I would put down.