What a long “long weekend” that was. While most people were outside celebrating Canada’s 140th birthday, I was at home installing new bamboo flooring in our dining room and kitchen.
In case you are not familiar with bamboo flooring, here are just some of the advantages of using bamboo instead of wood:
- Bamboo is very environmentally friendly. Since bamboo grass grows so quickly, it only takes about 3-5 years to reach maturity, and even after it’s harvested, it continues to grow.
- Bamboo withstands changes in temperature and humidity much better than a wood such as oak. It expands and contracts half as much as most hard woods.
- If you’re looking for a durable floor, the bamboo is the way to go. Bamboo is up to 30% more hard than oak.
My entire weekend was spent installing the floor. It was my first real experience installing hard-wood (or in this case hard-grass) flooring. The process isn’t really that hard, it just takes a long time to make all the cuts and to make sure all the planks are nice and tight.
I worked from 6:30 AM until 10:30 PM on Saturday, 7:00 AM until 9:00 PM on Sunday and then 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM on Monday. I finished my dining room and kitchen. I hope to do the living room soon too, but I’m back at work now, and have to put the flooring on hold for a couple weeks.
Here’s a couple pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like:
Before:
After:
Also, just for the record, we picked up our bamboo at Rona for $3.98/sqft. It’s called “strand-woven bamboo” and our floor is quite dark compared to some bamboo out there.
