I love bamboo! It's so hardwearing! I had timber floors & with a little terrier they were scratched up in no time. Downstairs where the bamboo is it looks as good as it did 5 years ago when it was laid. I've just put bamboo in my new house all throughout except the laundry. We laid it over the existing timber floor so i'm pretty sure you could lay it over your tiles as they put an undercover on first. The thing I would suggest is to do your research. There is bamboo & there is bamboo. The strand woven is the best & the strongest. I've heard of people putting in the cheap bamboo & it buckling. Last but not least it is environmentally friendly, unique & beautiful!

Thank you, Gesiet. I am in Brisbane, so would appreciate the name of your supplier/installer.

One of the main reasons for it buckling, or "cupping" is that it is not acclimatised to the new environment, i.e., if it has been in a very dry place and your environment is humid, it needs time to adjust, and vice versa.

We laid our own, glued directly to the slab eight years ago, and have had no problem at all with it. We are also in a very dry climate in WA, so I'm surprised to hear it is not advised for these conditions. I suspect it is more about the acclimatising prior to laying than the actual final location - I know of someone else in my area who did have a problem with cupping, but who also installed it straight off the truck. We left ours inside while we were finishing the build, so it had months to get used to its new home.

Oh yes, and plus one for the strand woven. If your salesman can't explain the difference, go somewhere else.

Best to remove existing quarry tiles. You did not mention subfloor type ( timber or concrete slab) so removal cost and difficulty may vary. Installing over existing means you will add another 19mm or more and this will create problems such as trip hazards if you bamboo meets another floor covering in adjoining rooms and doors will need to be cut. When your quarry tilles are removed, especially if your subfloor is timber , you then can check it is in good condition, because as you say it is 35 years old.Quality bamboo is expensive, so don't skimp on floor prep. This is biggest problem for floor fails, no matter what the floorng, is inadequate floor prep. Also a good idea to remove skirting boards and replace after installation, so no quad required. Make sure you employ an experienced installer and buy from a reputable supplier. They will advise once a site inspection has been done. Get 3 quotes and have installer, not salesperson, inspect before you pay deposit and sign up. Good luck and enjoy your new floor.

Yes bamboo flooring can be laid over tiles but you remember bamboo is 15-18mm so that may affect some of your doors. It may also look a bit funny around the skirting.

Would recommend to use a 3-4mm rubber underlay which is about $2.50-3.00/m2. Bamboo costs around $45-50/m2 for supply. Laying costs around $25/m2 for domestic. Once you add quading, transition trims and caulking you are looking at around $80/m2 for a complete supply and install.

Make sure the installer leaves the bamboo in your house for at least 3 days before installing to acclimatize (very important!). Also bamboo does move a lot so we prefer a Click system (as opposed to a Tongue and Groove system). Make sure the installer leaves 8-10mm gap off the walls to allow for expansion.

We suggest to pull up the skirting boards for the best finish. If you do not want to pull up the skirting, then you will need to use quading which is about $4-5/lm. Where the bamboo meets the kitchen or other joinery, we prefer to use a silicone / caulking instead of quading as it looks better. Caulking is about $3/lm.

We use a cold pressed bamboo which are a bit more expensive to hot pressed due to the more difficult production process that makes the boards more consistent. I wouldn't get too bogged down in it though, the right board is the board that you think suits your house! :)

Hope that is helpful information to all :). We are a Melbourne based company and supply and install building finishes materials. Feel free to check out our website, im slowly getting all our products on there!

Regards,
Arun Yuvarajah
sales@buildmat.com.au

BuildMat Website

Thought I'd chime in with my negative experience with bamboo to help you avoid any issues. It's great to hear that so many are happy with their bamboo floors, but we had to completely rip up our solid board, strandwoven floor as it was creaking and cracking everywhere (like walking on cornflakes!) . We had three installers come out to inspect the floor and none of them could work out what the problem was. As jtoot222 mentions, preparation is key. We had grinded and levelled our concrete slab to well within tolerances, laid a high quality acoustic underlay, let the boards acclimatise for weeks, had the boards professionally installed (tongue and groove with flexible glue) and left adequate expansion joints. At first we were told the cracking noise was just the floor settling in, but it didn't go away and we had to rip up the entire floor (about 120sqm).

We had researched dozens of suppliers and went with the 'best' quality we could find. Mind you this was 5 years ago and product quality control could be better now. At the time, just about all suppliers sourced their product from unregulated Chinese manufacturers, meaning that quality control was unpredictable at best.

As an aside, there is a lot of marketing talk of the product being 'eco friendly', which I think is a bit dubious, as the strands of bamboo (which is a quick growing crop) are essentially bonded with a lot of resin/glue. The product is very hard on the Janka scale, but be aware that the polyurethane coating applied to the surface will scratch and may show up as white or lighter colour scratches (more obvious with the carbonised colour). Bamboo flooring will also absorb water and can be unstable in different climates. Absolutely you can argue the same for timber flooring. From my experience, the bamboo product we had did not cope well with any water contact.

We were very lucky that our bamboo supplier gave us a full refund and we ended up replacing it with a recycled timber engineered floating floor, which we love and has had no issues. The only drawback is that it's quite soft and dents easily, which we have come to call 'character'.

We have since noticed bamboo flooring in cafes and other retail environments and have heard that cracking noise underfoot or seen water damage and wear. A few of these places have since replaced their floors. Looking at how flooring survives in shops if often a great way to see how it wears with heavy use.

Hope this is helpful and good luck with your new floor. I'm sure you will be just as happy as other posters.

Would like to disagree. Sorry, but a rubber underlay is for under carpet. All reputable suppliers of the bamboo would recommended several types of underlay, including an acoustic. Usually only 3mm thick. You wiil only confuse people by saying rubber. Why use caulking? You sound like an amateur DIY person to me. Only use a caulking in an area you can't undercut such as door jambs, for example, steel frame. Also, $80 a square metre all up is very cheap and sounds a bit dodgy. Remember, unless it falls off a truck, you only get what you pay for.

Getting bogged down sounds a bit confusing. The right board is the best you can afford and suitable for the purpose it was intended for. Don't get caught with a cheap import just to save a few bucks. And believe me, a lot of cheap imports in the market. And don't buy online. See the product first, and take samples home. Good luck

Everyone is entitled to their opinion :). We use a rubber underlay (Damtec) because we do a lot of high-rise and require acoustic insulation between slabs. In a house yes a 3mm foam underlay is also OK but customers and builders still ask for a rubber underlay - some people do not like the bouncy feel under their feet. The rubber underlay you are talking about for carpet is a completely different product and you cannot use carpet underlay for timber flooring, that is a no brainer.

We are happy to sell for more than $80/m2 but there is high competition and people undercutting each other. Unfortunately that is the going rate in Melbourne and not much margin left. The quality of the supply and install is not lacking. A lot of the retailers buy off the same major wholesalers as we do so the products more often than not are the same.

Quads around joinery are unsightly. The best way is for the flooring to run under the joinery but if the joinery is already down and you cannot easily remove the kicker, then we use a silicon bead instead of quading for a better finish. Each to their own :)!

I was just making the case not to get too caught up on hot pressed and cold pressed bamboo - there is a difference in the manufacturing and finish of the product. We prefer cold press as it is more uniform but some deep colours can only be manufactured using the hot press method.

I agree to go into store and see product for yourself. As well as being onsite, Buildmat has one of the biggest flooring showrooms in Melbourne located in Dandenong, Victoria next door to National Tiles. We welcome visitors! Our range includes Greenearth, Airlay, Dunlop, Preference, Royal Oak and more.

Yes, horses for courses. You go cheap, you take the risk.

We've had bamboo on our kitchen floor for 12 years. Was good quality and I was happy with everything...except we've had a few water stains and now the finish near the back door is very sad... There's many dings and scratches and it looks like it needs a good sand back and re polishing...but no! I understand you can't do this with bamboo... So what's the solution? You can resand and spritz up a wooden floor but you're stuck with bamboo for life unless you pull it up and re do? That's expensive. I love the look but I wouldn't do it again. Just saying..

I agree with blenderdesign. We put in around 200m2 of bamboo flooring 2 years ago and are now thinking of pulling it up because of the creaks. Looks great, sounds terrible.

I've had bamboo in 2 rooms downstairs for 5 years & not had a problem. I think all these "creaking" & other problems are a result of either buying an inferior product or it being laid poorly.

jennydivine1 yes you can sand it back. It's a solid hardwood floor. If you have one that is not the natural colour you'll lose that colour & have to re stain it but if it is the natural coloured bamboo, you just have to sand it & seal it again. That's one of the reasons I bought it as I know engineered wood floors can only be sanded once or twice & solid timber floors cost a bomb.

So many great comments here. Thank you all. I am now wondering whether I should go for bamboo, or timber, or re-tile. Decisions, decisions!

I think I'd check that "resanding" issue out. Someone asked the question a few days ago here on Houzz and I actually looked it up. Bamboo isn't wood, it's grass, it's glued together and if you sand it you can have issues, not the least of which is the release of toxic formaldehyde into the air. Depending on the quality, there can also be problems with the individiual strands "tearing" and splintering. So you get mixed opinions in the blogosphere as to whether it really can be refinished. I'm not an expert (was thinking about bamboo and for a variety of reasons went for recycled engineered timber instead) but were I you, I'd be looking into that point a little further.

Kerry, bamboo is not a hardwood, but a grass and fibrous and therefore you cannot sand it. I've heard some floor sanders claim you can but I'd like to hear that from a professional supplier of bamboo flooring before I went ahead. Anybody out there like to confirm this? Worth checking out! I wouldn't mind restaining and repolishing, would be cheaper than resurfacing!

Pick any debate and depending where you look, the internet will both debunk and support it. Confusing much!

From my research I have concluded that the refinishing potential of bamboo flooring comes down to quality, which involves several things: the initial choices of either mature (best) or not mature enough (bad) bamboo; how dry the manufacturer gets the bamboo before manufacture (the drier the better); what kind of glues and finishes are used in manufacture; where it is manufactured. This Brisbane company seems to be on the ball with all those things: http://strandwovenflooring.com.au/why/why-strand-woven-flooring/

I've read a few websites that give mixed reviews of the sanding/refinishing process - which probably supports the above comments. But in the right circumstances, there are those that have done it and are happy with the result. So, it can be done.

Sometime if I have nothing better to do (ha!) I'm going to try sanding back and re-finishing a spare plank of our bamboo. I'll let you know how it goes.

Don't hold your breath...

Glad to see the troll's nastiness has been deleted. Houzz is such a great little community sharing with each other it would be such a shame for it to be spoiled by disrespect for others & bullying.

Here's a video of an area of water damaged bamboo being removed and replaced Joyzzz. Maybe you'll consider replacing the area in front of your fridge.

Like you I also have bamboo in the kitchen (and pot plants throughout the house), but haven't had any issues with spills marking the floor. It's a shame there's so much variation in the manufacturing process resulting in some floors tolerating spills and others not at all.

I do have a damaged board though thanks to a guest leaving a tap running causing an overflow...that I wasn't told about until days later, grrr. Fortunately the damage is in a shadowed corner and the sealer is still intact, so it isn't noticeable, just a wrinkled surface to the touch. Which is lucky, because our home is earth-covered and there is nowhere for water to drain out of the sub-floor as we "tanked" it with a sealer to ensure no moisture can make its way in. That board sat there in a puddle for days! I still wonder why only one board suffered damage, very strange...

Very nice. Love the look. Oops. That's Carpet Court slogan. Sorry. Anyway, I really have enjoyed all the posts as we are building a new home. However, I am reluctant to ask a question here, because so many off topic here. The question was should the quarry tiles be removed before a new floorcovering.

Amazing.How many answers gave advice for that question.?