Installation
of Bamboo Flooring
When
installing bamboo flooring, the use of this quide will
help you understand the proper installation steps.
Installing and the General Conditions
In
the area of installation, temperature and humidity should
be in normal usage levels and maintained before, during,
and after installaion. All materials that are going
to be used, planks, moisture barrier, and glue, should
be brought into the area where the install is going
to take place, at least 4 day prior of the installation.
Bamboo should be exposed as well during this time.
General
floor condition
Before
the installation of bamboo flooring, surfaces should
be clean, dry, smooth and free of wax, oil, dirt, paint,
and curing agents, anything that would interfere with
the adhesive bond. You can install oil resilient floors
provided that the above conditions apply to the area
of installation. All holes and cracks should be filled
in concrete sub-floors, and it is strongly recommended
that a moisture seal be applied as well over the concrete
sub-floor. Prior to installation over a wood sub-floor,
the sub-floor should be sanded level before you install.
Bamboo floorings is more resistant to moisture than
wood, however, bamboo floors should not com into contact
with a slab that is consistently wet. For a wet slab,
install a floating system over a non-absorbent pad or
a sleeper sub-floor.
Radiant
Heat
The
heating process, based on small increment increases
in relation to the outside temperature, should be gradual
in order to minimize any trauma to the floor. Proper
moisture testing should be done to all sub-floor surfaces.
A polyethylene vapor barrier of 6-8 mil. Should be installed
over the slab radiant heat systems and all seams of
the barrier should be taped. Foam sheeting of 1/6 of
an inch can be laid over the vapor barrier to double
the protection. Turn the heat in for a few days before
installation once the slab has cured. To review, for
a flooring install over radiant heat, the following
systems can be applied: floating on solid, floating
on laminated, double plywood on floating, singer layer
of plywood on sleepers, tongue and groove nail to sleepers,
and direct nail to sub floor.
Glue
Down Bamboo Flooring
It is a much safer choice to provide a moisture barrier
to any wood floor. Use the appropriate moisture barrier
if the moisture level is high in the area. Franklin
811 or Bostiks best is a great choice for wood flooring
adhesive and comes recommended. Adhesive can be applied
to substrate with a suitable trowel (3/16 x 3/8 x 9/16
inch V notched trowel), and right away place flooring
onto the wet adhesive. Another method with the adhesive
that can be used is to apply the adhesive to substrate
with the trowel and allow it to become tacky, then istall
the flooring onto the tacky adhesive. Immediately with
a roller, roll finish the surface. Please be sure to
follow the manufacturers directions when using the adhesive.
Remember to allow for expansion by leaving 1/4 of an
inch space between the flooring and the walls.
Nail Down Bamboo Flooring
Leaving
a 1/4 of an inch expansion space from the base plate
or the wall, planks should be started square with the
room and parallel to the longer dimension by positioning
them with a chalk line. You can cover this space with
a molding. The starter rows should be firmly in place
by either wedging or face nailing. The second and further
row will be blind nailed at a 45-50 degree angle to
the face directly above the tongue. Do not use staples,
instead, fasteners should be spaced (with a minimum
of two fasterners per piece), at 10 to 12 inch intervals.
Bamboo
flooring is wonderful due to the fact that it can be
installed the same way as regular hardwood flooring!
