Looking at different floors and came across this company: CaliFloors
https://www.calibamboo.com


Local Lowe's has one of theirs that can be special ordered - an engineered one. They don't know anything about it so we contacted the manufacturer directly. They sent us a lot of samples to look at and some of them are really nice. They have solid bamboo & engineered (bamboo over plywood). Looks to be very durable.

We are assuming the engineered would be more dimensionally stable - is that right? The actual bamboo layer on that product is thick - about 1/8". We'd be going over slab and floating it, but we could glue it down. We want to float it so we can change our mind later if we want to.


edit to add link

My parents special ordered a bamboo flooring from Lowe's when they redid their floors about 9 years ago. I don't know the brand, but it still looks brand new. That's saying a lot since my kids spend the night over there every Friday. It's like my parents want to stress test the entire housing structure every Friday and Saturday.

One difference is that they are in a pier and beam.

Talked to my dad this evening, and he sent me a photo of an extra box they still have.

Thanks! Glad to hear they have had good luck with it.

i read something about warping if humidity is off in your house

I will always advise people to stay away from it, especially if you live in Houston.
Back in 2018 we went on vacation for a week and came back to 25% of our house full of buckled/warped floors.
We had installers do the best moisture barrier glue on the market and it still didnt last for 6 months.
Our house, much like all slab homes in Houston, was a "wet slab" that would always have moisture in it. Turns out, doesnt work with bamboo floors.

Yes, bamboo can warp very easily. Had issues with it in a house up in FW. Humidity is everything!

Hmmmmm. Even engineered - not solid?

We got our bamboo floors delivered from California yesterday. We'll be unboxing for acclimation later this week. We are still a bit away from laying it - actually want to have the people installing the countertops to be done schlepping thru before we put it down. Plus need the hearth in place, too.

We plan to put a liquid membrane product on the slab, then a good underlayment. We went with engineered vs solid for added (hopefully) stability. It is really pretty - mocha stained, a good mid-range. It has a nice, subtle sheen.

Fingers crossed that it's as great a product as we think it will be & that we put it down correctly to insure many, many years of use. The bamboo layer is thick enough to re-finish should we ever want to do that, but by then we will be too old and sheet vinyl would probably do just fine at that point - LOL

edit: As far as moisture in the slab/air goes, we had CHEAP laminate floors in there over just plain plastic for 15 years & never had a warp. Our HVAC also dehumidifies really well & shows our % all the time. I think/hope we are good.

Weird. Our beach house has had bamboo floors for years and there hasn't been any issues.

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Our beach house has had bamboo floors for years and there hasn't been any issues.

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That's what I want to hear!

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Our house, much like all slab homes in Houston, was a "wet slab" that would always have moisture in it. Turns out, doesnt work with bamboo floors.

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That doesn't sound good for any floor finish. You need a moisture test and possible a moisture barrier.

I'm not sure if bamboo is the same, but I've heard you need wood flooring to sit in the house for a period of time to acclimate to that environment...to avoid future issues with warping/buckling.

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I'm not sure if bamboo is the same, but I've heard you need wood flooring to sit in the house for a period of time to acclimate to that environment...to avoid future issues with warping/buckling.

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Correct - bamboo needs it, too. We are going to unbox it all and it will sit for a couple of weeks at least because we have too much other stuff going on & it was delivered early.

This was 10+ years ago on an old pier and beam. Sounds like you shouldn't have any issues.

Bought a house 5 years ago that bamboo floors (engineered). They must've not acclimated it appropriately. Floors started to buckle within 6 months. Big parts of it. We use a skilsaw for n many places to trim it for relief but all too late. We eventually ripped it all out and out down LVP. It took the crew 3-4 days to remove maybe 800 sqft of it. Stuff is hard as a rock.

I would NOT do it.