Those floors are going to look GREAT! I have tile, so I'm sticking with it, but if I had carpet I would do what you are doing. It is so rewarding doing stuff yourself and seeing the progress.

I have bamboo growing in my yard and I use smaller branches of it for plant stakes, etc. It's very handy.

I use a bamboo cutting board. That's it so far.

Bamboo floors look great!

I am planning to plant one or two clumbing bamboos in my courtyard to transform it from a rocky desert into a jungle.

Oh you lucky girl!!! Allen & I plan on doing the same thing hopefully by the end of this year. I cannot wait to get rid of this carpet! I've been so tempted to just rip it out and live with concrete floors until we can buy the bamboo. There is a Chinese restaurant here in town that has gorgeous bamboo floors. We plan on DIY too so any tips you can pass along would be most helpful. We've tiled before but never put down wood/laminate. I think "Toast" is the color that we have been eyeing.

I use bamboo poles for trellis's and plant stakes too. Would like to plant some clumping variety but have not been able to find any locally that was affordable. I think it's wonderful that Mark has decided to remember the bamboo from his Nam experience. Bless him!

I don't know if this would work down here but back in the frozen north I used old carpeting as a weed block under a stone patio and paths. It did a super job!

~Betsy

Bamboo floors are lovely. I'm sure you will enjoy it! I know it will be a lot of work, so goodluck! I would love to see pictures when you are finished. :)

We have a few bamboo stakes in the yard. I have one set of bamboo sheets and I find them to be wonderful. I got ours at Target.

Cathy

Yay! Marcia,you are on a roll. you are getting everything from
Mark. He just can't say no to you. But then all your wants have been winners to begin with. I remember you telling me about the bamboo floor. They are beautiful and so durable.
Does that mean we will not see you guys for a while?

hugs,Felix

Thanks, everyone. Felix, we are moving a friend into a new house on Saturday and then will start pulling up the carpet and seeing if we have to level any of the concrete anywhere on Sunday/Monday. If we get tired and need a break, maybe we'll call and see what you're up to.

The following weekend, we will start putting down the new floor. I think it will take at LEAST two days. Maybe into the weekend after that. There's a lot of cutting to make the ends come out right.

All I know so far is that after your have your concrete level and clean, you lay down a layer of plastic and then a matting material (looks like foam) that has plastic on top of it. So you have two layers of moisture protection under the flooring, with the matting in between for cushioning and sound reducing. Then you start laying the flooring. It snaps together and "floats" on top of the mat with no gluing, and at the end of each row, you have to cut the last piece to fit, then you bring the remainder of that piece up to start the next row. (If that makes sense.)

I don't think it is extremely difficult, but it will definitely be time consuming, and Mark is very particular. If he's going to invest money and time into the project, he will want it perfect.

After you get it all laid down, there is a molding strip that goes around the edges where they meet the baseboards to finish it off. And there are matching threshhold strips where it meets the tile in the foyer and the kitchen.

And there you have everything I learned about it yesterday. I think it looks great and hope we don't run into any unforeseen problems.

Will definitely post pictures after.

Cathy, I spend half of my life at the SuperTarget, it seems. I will check out the bamboo sheets. We need new ones anyway, and I may as well give them a try. Have yours held up well?

Bamboo is so versatile. I like knowing that something which is growing in my yard is also being used in my house in various ways. Mark has always made stuff from it. I have several mirrors framed with bamboo and grass cloth that I really like, and he has made salt shakers and pepper mills out of thicker types, and cannisters out of the really big stuff. But the idea of flooring and clothing is very new to me, and I'm excited.

Hope more of you will try different products as it such a sustainable material.

Marcia

This is my favorite use so far
{{gwi:857147}}

Oh, Goldenpond! You scamp, you! I saw that very idea in one of my gardening mags and I have a ton of cobalt bottles. I was going to do the same thing, but never even thought about using bamboo for the stakes! *tsk* I think they showed them on copper pipes and while I wasn't going to do that, I was still thinking metal for some reason. But why not bamboo? Yours look GREAT!!!

Marcia

marcia,
i've done all kinds of flooring. floating floors are very simple to install -- aside from the updownupdown part of it, you won't have any problem.

if it's possible, start in an inconspicuous place (maybe a closet? maybe a hallway that needs some bamboo?), b/c, as you'll find, it's a learning experience, and just as you're finishing, you get the hang of it. but even your first couple cuts will look fine, esp once the furniture's back in place, rugs are down, etc.

some advice -- make sure you are using an appropriate saw. go ahead and spend the few dollars on a new jigsaw blade. if you have one or can borrow one, a table saw makes the job MUCH MUCH easier. even for short cuts that you might try with a circular or chop saw. (cutting straight with a jig or circular saw is something even professional carpenters screw up.)

finally, make sure you're cutting on the right side -- make a few initial experiments to see which saw cuts best on which side of the planks. it seems the floors and the saws are all different, so make to test. it makes a huge difference. (oh, and be sure to undercut!)

Marcia,

I was just telling my husband yesterday that when the carpet starts to go, we will put down bamboo flooring. You're right, with pets in the house, it's the more reasonable choice.

I have one small bamboo plant, which I trimmed back and saved to use as stakes for my plants.

I also bought a bamboo set of sheets last year, and they really are so soft!

Show us pictures of the floor once you're done.

Thanks, guys! Ill, I appreciate the tips. We have every kind of saw you can have, from scroll saws, to jig saws, to table saws, to band saws. I used to do a LOT of wood cutting for my folk art, and Mark builds shelving and lots of stuff. He was thinking to use the table saw. I'll read him your post.

Wish we had seen you at Seminole Springs, Saturday. I was looking forward to introducing Mark to more GWers than I saw. But it was still fun!

Marcia

Marcia, I have seen videos on the internet on how to put the floors together. Bamboo flooring companies have it on their sites. google it. My daughter had a guy install it and it seemed so easy.
By the way I love the bamboo water features used in oriental
gardens and also the wind chimes look and sound wonderful.

Felix

Marcia,

Target is one of my favorite stores too. I love it.

Our sheets have held up well. Sometimes Target will run a sale on them, and that is when I picked up my set. I haven't had to do anything special to them. They are soft and not scratchy.

Cathy :)

i'll second the recommendation for bamboo sheets -- we got ours at target, too. they've lasted WAY longer than cotton, and seem to get softer every time we wash them. great product, and worth the extra money, tho we got them on clearance and paid very little...

Great endorsements on the sheets, thanks! I've always wondered if they would PILL like so many others do, even some really expensive ones. I'm going to get them for sure, and I might try the towels, too. Don't know if Target carries those, but I do know that Penney's does. I'm all for supporting this bamboo craze we are seeing right now. Anything that replenishes itself that fast is surely worth promoting.

On the flooring, I think Mark really understands completely how to do it, and I know there are thorough instructions included with the products. I, myself, only have the general idea, but I'm pretty sure he is comfortable with how it is going to go. We talked to the folks there a long time, and they were very specific with him. But I am going to read him everyone's comments, too, in case it gives him more ideas on how he wants to tackle ours.

We are doing the dining room and living room, so no closet to start with, but we will start in the least conspicuous place (the far corner of the dining room) and work our way across and into the living room.

I'm SO excited to be getting this done, finally. I won't know until we have it down if I want to use it in any other rooms. A large portion of our house (foyer, halls, bathrooms, kitchen, breakfast nook, family room) are ceramic tile. We aren't going to mess with that. It's impervious to anything and the color hides dirt & cathairs beautifully! (A big plus around here!) But the bedrooms and library are carpeted. I know I want the library carpet removed, and since it sits off to itself and not in view of where the bamboo is going, I'm considering a less expensive laminate for in there. It is the least "dressy" area of our really informal house. But if I love the bamboo enough, I may just try to use it anywhere else we decide to rip out carpet.

Felix, the dwarf bamboo you gave us is putting up new shoots, and I'm looking for a decorative container to put it in. Mark isn't too sure he wants me to put that one in the ground, since it isn't a clumper, but it's SO nice, I want it looking good. (BTW, the grape vine is leafing out nicely, too. YAY!) I wish we had another half acre to devote completely to various bamboos. But I'm only willing to give up so much real estate for them here, as I don't want to lose my other garden areas.

Marcia