[TheForge] bamboo redux

[ljudes at verizon.net]

From: lee robbins <naturadoc1 at yahoo.com>
  I'm thinking of
putting down some
 Moso 
by the creek for commercial purposes

not until global warming big time will i be able to
grow any bamboo near my place, i envy the moso. even
the -20F hardy fountain bamboo f.nitida died here 

Lee
========================================================

I like bamboo, too, and put some in my family room.  It shrank a good one inch, side-to-side.  Caused me lotsa problems.  I think the reason was 'cause it was not acclimated to my area.  I live in the desert and the humidity is usually about 10-15 percent.  After a year and a half, it has finally stopped shrinking and is not stable, but I have cracks/spaces in a couple of places.  Depending on where you live and the "atmosphere" in your house, you might consider the plywood substrate with bamboo on top.

This is just what happened to me.  Hope yours works out better.

Oh, by the way, mine was installed as a "floating floor."  Each piece was edge-glued to the piece next to it, layed on a rubber matting material, so it could expand and shrink at will.  Problem is, the floor is wide enough that the glue didn't hold in the center.  So there was separation because the "piece" was just so big that the glue failed when the shrinking pulled so hard and the flooring kinda stuck to the rubber matting.  Nailing to a good subfloor might solve that problem.


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