What can you tell me about bamboo or cork flooring?

(I was wondering about that condo. The wheels are certainly grinding slowly. What’s the status?)

I had cork tiles in a house that jutted over the shore line of a fresh-water lake. It was attractive, soft and warm to bare feet, but eventually the moisture rotted the floor. The newer generations may be better.

I use to sell carpet for Home Depot. If a pet is in the picture, I would never buy cork or bamboo. Pets have a way of leaving surprises everywhere and sooner of later cork or bamboo would be destroyed. Also, the same applies to burber carpet. Its made of one continues string and once a pet pulls one string, the rest of the carpet will follow.

I would spend a little more money for real wood. It will last practically forever.

I read in a Consumer Reports a while back that bamboo is definitely not as durable as hardwood flooring.

If you want a carpet tip, my carpet guy recommended solution-dyed nylon for durability. He said you can pour a 50% bleach solution on it and it won’t touch the color.

My husband is a flooring professional.

Bamboo is beautiful, but considerably softer than, say, an oak floor. Dog paws and furniture can scratch the floor quite easily. The upside to bamboo is that it’s a renewable resource, so if you’re into earth-friendly, Bamboo or Cork are the way to go. But you must consider that the resale value of bamboo will be lower, mostly because it won’t be an asset for anyone with animals or small children.

Also, I wouldn’t recommend installing the floor yourself, unless you know what you’re doing. A professional will know how to lay out the floor to avoid “stair-stepping”, which can take away from the attractive flowing of the grain. Also, it’s important to work with the wood to allow for the natural swelling and contracting of the material throughout the year, in order to prevent cracks and separation.

If you’re shopping for hardwood, the longest-lasting way to go would be to purchase raw hardwood, than have it sanded and finished. That way, if the floor becomes damaged it can be easily buffed and recoated. Downside is this often costs more up front.

Engineered Finished hardwoods have the finish baked directly on to the wood. This is a little cheaper than sand-and-finish raw wood, but if the finish becomes chipped or damaged, it’s hard to repair. And then if a replacement is needed, you might find the company no longer makes a matching board.

@gailcalled It’s not the same one. He abandoned interest in the other one because the place only had 4 units, the condo association was in disarray, and the water bill had not been paid for a year.

@john65pennington & @Seek_Kolinahr He’s also talking about getting a Mastif, so it sounds like Oak or above is the way to go. Thanks.

@XD I doubt much has improved in the basic material, Thanks for the feedback.

@ETpro: A mastiff? Maybe he should be looking at a carriage house with a horse stall?

My sister has had three large (but not enormous) setter-type dogs for thirteen years. Her floors are oak and have held up well. The sound of the clickety-click of dogs’ nails or bare wood is noticeable. Perhaps some nice oriental throw rugs on top of the wood.

I have wide-board pine floors that I love. Over the past four years, however, Milo’s occasional accidents have eaten the polyurethane down to raw wood. I have had to do some patching (not hard).

@gailcalled Thanks. Yes, a mastif. He occasionally has to be away for National Guard issues or business travel and it seems the breed is willing to chill and not too concerned when their human is away, so long as so long as someone comes over to walk them several times a day. And on the good side, muggers beware of people walking their 160 pound mean looking mastif.

Pine makes pretty floring, but it dents easily if you drop things on it.

What kind of sub floor is it? There are different ways to install it depending on what it is being attached to. (We glued ours down to the concrete slab.) I don’t know much about cork, but we have installed Bamboo in two of our own houses and are getting ready to install it in a commercial job. There are a lot of variations in quality, even with the same kind of wood.
We get samples from ifloor.com, then try to abuse them to see how they hold up. You can also see if it is a thick solid board or if it is just a thin veneer over particle board.
We have two dogs, a Weimaraner and a queensland. They may scratch the floor a bit, but it isn’t noticable. We chose the hand scraped bamboo and it just adds to the character of the floor.

@Judi I haven’t been able to inspect the sub-floor, but it’s ground level, so I’m betting it’s a slab. Good poing on the hand scraped variety of bamboo. Thanks.