Bamboo Flooring

Challenge: Tear out mom's old and failing linoleum kitchen/bath room/garage entry floor (232 sq. ft.). You know, the kind that is glued down forever and is about 1/8 inch thick cork board (not at all like a soft malleable vinyl floor) that is mostly brittle but dangerously sharp to the touch when chiseling out. Then lay a new floor, bamboo floor.

We contemplated vinyl but who wants vinyl? Patterned in some way that you will have to convince yourself you can live with but only to discover 5 years later you absolutely hate it! And at roughly double the cost of vinyl you can enjoy the blissful feeling of being in Asia or your favorite tropical beach place.

So we picked the day to rent the tools. We went to Sunbelt Tool rental attached to Lowe's. We picked up an air compressor to power the staple gun and also a nail gun for perimeter finishing and hard to reach areas. We were off on our merry little way.

Tools and supplies:

• air compressor/hose/mallet $32/day
• staple gun $26/day
• finish nailer $26
• staples 1 box $12
• nails 1 pack $8
• 15 in. pry crow bar
• chisel
  
• spare wood block
• table saw
• hammer
  

We setup the compressor and guns, opened a few boxes and thought we were ready to begin. Which wall or line do you start at? Which directions do the boards go? Do we go in the direction of the groove or the tongue? We thought the staple went in the groove end but we were mistaken. And the staples weren't going in all the way. After several calls to Steve at Sunbelt Rentals we discovered we would need a finish nailer (which he would give to us at no extra cost) for the areas where the staple gun is too wide to line up next to the wall. He told us 90 psi is good for the guns. The compressor was not cooperating. At first it wouldn't turn on, we later figured out the circuit tripped. Then when it did turn on the psi immediately shot up to 120-130 psi. The adjuster just wouldn't drop the pressure back to where we needed it at 90 psi. We hurried back to the rental store a third time to swap the finicky compressor. Steve said take the new compressor at no charge. Great. But how do I get more time? We are now 5 hours behind schedule and we are hoping to conclude this mess within the allotted 24 hour rental. We took the compressor home and now we're in business. But wait, the staples aren't going in all the way. So after calling Steve again, he offered to come over to adjust the stapler. When he arrived he realized we're putting the staples in the groove side and should be putting them on the tongue side. We made the correction and dropped the pressure to around 65 psi and off we went. Steve also gave us an extra day at no charge and since they're not open on Sunday that translates to 3 full days for the price of one. We started at the kitchen sink/counter and worked towards the inner wall. Because there are five sections with 6 doors to work in and around this would be the greatest challenge yet. What made it so difficult was having to bridge a new section going in the opposite direction. Never join areas in a common walk way or visible area - try to make the visible area your starting point.

Working Backwards: One technique I developed involves laying out all the planks until I reach the perimeter where I would need to start. I would then nail down every other plank to maintain the right spacing. The in between planks can slide out to allow proper stapling. The only area on the boards that won't get stapled would be those joining the previously nailed spacer planks. Make these spacer planks 6 inches or so in length - the shorter they are the more area you'll have on the joining plank to staple. Another challenge with working backwards - the plank tends to move in the direction the staple is driven which is opposite the direction the planks are added. This 'movement' space adds up and can be detrimental to a smooth sectional join when you finally reach the bridge area.

Final Thoughts: Cutting the pieces was by far the most time consuming. I'm sure a jigsaw would have helped with shaping the planks in and around doors/molding/slanting walls. We decided to saw/chisel the door frame molding instead of removing to saw. Ultimately it would have been better to remove them but under the time constraints we chose the quick route. The more you can remove from the room the better - cabinets, walls, furniture, appliances. Removing stapled boards wasn't that difficult. The staple rips right through the board and then you just break the staple after many bends with pliers or use the hammer to pull it out. Bamboo shreds easy. When I wanted a ripped board for the perimeter I could cut the plank half way and then pull it apart the rest of the way. The floor looks great. Definitely worth all the pain and agony. The key to a perfect interlocking floor is starting at the widest section and moving in one direction. A 'one day' job, what were we thinking? We barely finished this morning!

Total Cost: materials $769 + rental $40 + labor $0 = $819 or $3.53/sq. ft. installed