Tips for DIY Bamboo Floor Installation
Bamboo flooring can be a beautiful and exotic edition to any room. With its rich color and intricate patterns, bamboo flooring is casual, unique, and adds a tropical atmosphere to your space. Though it may seem like something foreign, bamboo flooring can be installed using a tongue-and-groove system in the same way as a typical hardwood floor. In fact, it is an excellent do-it-yourself project if you have the time and ambition.
To complete this installation project, you will need a razor knife, trim nailer, stapler, miter saw, table saw, floor stapler, flooring underlayment, a tape measure, and, of course, bamboo floor boards. If you do decide to install bamboo flooring on your own, consider buying bamboo floor that is pre-finished. Trying to sand the bamboo and stain it yourself can be difficult for even experienced do-it-yourselfers. Begin by covering the floor with underlayment. Roll out the paper in sections that overlap at the sides by about an inch. Then, use a razor knife to cut them to fit and staple them down using a standard stapler.
Once this step is complete, position the first section of floor boards next to the wall where you would like the floor to start. Leave a half an inch of space between the boards and the wall so that the wood will have room to expand. Fit the ends of the boards together and cut the end pieces to fit. Next, use a trim nailer to nail the boards into the subfloor. Put one nail every foot along both edges of the board.
Continue installing sections of bamboo flooring in the same manner. Make sure that the sides of the boards are tightly connected. Lay about four sections of the floor, or enough so that your floor stapler can easily rest on the boards you have placed. Stand the floor stapler on the flooring you have installed so that the front of the stapler drops over the new section of floor. Staple the sides of the board in the new section into the subfloor so that they will be hidden by the next section.
Keep using this method to cover the rest of the floor, laying the boards one section at a time with the stapler. Make sure the ends of the boards don't fall in a line with one another from section to section. The boards should not all be the same size, so you can choose different lengths as needed. Once you reach the point where the stapler will no longer fit, install the remaining sections with a nailer. Finally, cut the last section of boards lengthwise with a table saw to create a half-inch gap next to the wall. That space will be covered by the floor trim.
Bamboo flooring can be a lovely addition to any home, especially when paired with a tropically themed space. Bamboo flooring can be professionally installed, but for the do-it-yourselfer with a little bit of time and patience, the installation process can be a fun home project. Simply follow the steps outlined in this article, and you will be well on your way to gorgeous bamboo flooring with minimal installation costs.