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| Bamboo Floor |
| A cheap and green alternative to a timber floor. |
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The owners of this home are renovating and have decided on a timber flooring. The difference is that they have chosen a new flooring alternative - bamboo, as a floating floor. Bamboo is often not the first choice when it comes to laying a new floor. This decorative plant comes in a wide range of species (around 1500) and, as most gardeners can testify, will rapidly become a pest if care is not taken.
One Japanese variety of bamboo can even grow an amazing 120cm in 24 hours! In South East Asia, bamboo has a wide variety of uses, including its use in scaffolding for building purposes, as anyone who has visited Hong Kong can testify. Tall office blocks in construction are often surrounded by seemingly rickety bamboo frames. However, bamboo is immensely strong and durable.
About The Product
This bamboo strip flooring is made of 100% bamboo fibres that are glued and compressed together to form a kind of veneered bamboo. The flooring comes as tongue and groove strips and is available in a raw or polyurethane (matt, semi-gloss or ultra high gloss) finish.
Patterns (markings on the floor panels) can be horizontal or vertical. Patterns and colours vary from very light to very dark. The veneered bamboo also comes in the form of parquetry flooring, skirting boards, wall panelling, stair treads, architraves and all types of mouldings.
Advantages Of Bamboo Flooring
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One of the main advantages of using bamboo as a building product is that bamboo is a renewable resource. It is extremely fast growing and can be harvested every 3-5 years compared to traditional hardwood which takes years to mature.
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Bamboo is a hardwood but until quite recently has been overlooked as a flooring product in Australia. (Bamboo flooring has been available in Australia for about a year but has been used in Europe, Asia and the US for the last decade). Because bamboo is harder than most hardwoods the manufacturers claim it is an ideal flooring product.
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In addition bamboo is naturally moisture resistant and does not warp, buckle or twist due to its tropical characteristics.
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Bamboo is the only hardwood which is naturally light in colour. The light coloured choices in traditional timbers are in pines, ie, cypress pine and baltic pines which are softwoods.
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It can be “secret-nailed” to ply or chipboard, or glued straight onto concrete.
Laying The New Floor
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To make way for the new floor, the old carpet, edge strips and underlay are removed and the concrete slab base swept clean.
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Bamboo flooring can be installed on different surfaces by gluing, nailing or, as the owners have chosen in this case, as a floating floor. New underlay foam (3mm thick) is cut to size and laid over the concrete base.
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The boards are then cut to size on site and PVA glue is used when fitting the tongues and grooves of the boards into place. Any excess glue is wiped off with a damp sponge.
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Once all the floor boards are laid, new bamboo skirting boards are glued and nailed in place. Bamboo floor boards can be installed in a day and because they are supplied in a pre-finished form, can be walked over immediately.
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Cost
Bamboo strip flooring for this project cost $68 per square metre supplied or $98 per square metre laid. The panels used were 1200mm long by 90mm wide.
NB: This price is for 90mm-wide strips. Prices vary for different thicknesses.
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More Info
Contact Bamboo Floors Australia. Free call: 1800 042 150 Fax: (02) 9546 2314.
Email: bamboofa@ihug.com.au
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Disclaimer
All Fact Sheets and other material on the Our House website are provided as a general information service only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for the advice of a properly qualified tradesman. Neither ninemsn nor its licensors (including the Nine Network) assume or accept any responsibility for, and will not be liable for the accuracy or appropriate application of any information whatsoever in any Fact Sheet or other material on the Our House web site. Your use of the Our House web site is governed by this disclaimer and the ninemsn's Terms of Use.
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