vinyl plank vs laminate flooring

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Okay cool, thanks for the reply. It is hard to justify spending a lot on a garage floor since you don't even really need anything, anyway.

We poured an exposed (plus colour) concrete garage pad, in Heratage
Lake for a customer. Talk about upkeep!

Sent from my tablet, while drinking swill.

[MaDMaN_26]

Probably not the price range your looking for, but I went with Bamboo for my flooring in my entire upstairs and I love it... pretty sure I'll be going with Bamboo from here on out...

Hey Bigtime - any down side to bamboo that I have yet to experience or don't know about? (I can't think of any - also I believe it is water proof... i.e. water will pur through it but no warping etc... at least I have a hot tub, I wander around dripping everywhere never wipe it up and you'd never know.)

[Bigtime]

Depends on the type of Bamboo, I was aware of 3 types:

-Horizontal Grain (the least stable, not ideal for our dry climate)
-Vertical Grain (more stable, better suited for our climate)
-Strand Woven (tough as nails and the most dimensionally stable)

Pricing wise we never went above $4.99/sf for price point in bamboo (material only, not install).

Quite frankly bamboo flooring seemed to be a flash in the pan back around 2006-2008. All the design/home/condo magazines had it and everyone wanted it (same goes for Cork). Then all of a sudden the demand for bamboo just plummeted, I mean plummeted. By the end I was clearing out all our stock for $0.99/sf, whereas the cork flooring dipped a little but has remained a steady seller ever since.

Oh and water can and will definitely affect it, any natural wood flooring is susceptible to moisture. If your case of no visible issues holds true with your hot tub you are very very very lucky.

[MaDMaN_26]

Odd... (mine based on pictures and google searching) is horizontal bamboo. I think I paid $2.99/sqft for it back in 2008-9ish? I didn't mention this as I just assumed you'd nod and agree with me but when I did my floor a few scraps, maybe a foot long each, were left out side on my deck for the remainder of summer and all winter... when I picked them up in the late spring the following year they had visibly faded to a grayish white but zero water warp or expansion, I think a bit of the protective lacquer had flaked off the one end – Actually I was so surprised at the condition I took it in and compared them to new left over pieces I had in a box in the basement and they were the same thickness/width etc... I was sure they would have expanded... Bamboo is a grass, so I'm not sure it follows the same rules as a hard wood.

It’s too bad Bamboo lost its market momentum, as the same plant can be harvested every 4-5 years instead of killing a hundred year old tree for similar floors.

Something else I experienced with my bamboo is that when I installed it I left some boxes and boards on part of it for about 6 months. When I moved them the floor underneath was drastically darker. (I was quite surprised how much the floor lightened in comparison) I assumed due to sunlight and that the irregularity would always be visible. Thankfully now – even the parts under the couches have evened out to the point where I couldn’t point it out if you asked me too. I assume this was some sort of oxidization… at any rate it’s the same color all through the house now and the lighter color actually looks quite nice.

[Bigtime]

The bamboo being greener is definitely a greenwashing thing. I'd take a responsibly harvested Canadian hardwood over a Chinese bamboo every day of the week. At one point in China they were chopping down natural forests to plant bamboo instead, not exactly the greenest thing. Then factor in manufacturing and transportation to get it here and it really isn't as green as the domestic hardwood.

Oh and the colour change thing is totally natural, all woods do it.

[MaDMaN_26]

[QUOTE=Bigtime;4381946].... and it really isn't as green as the domestic hardwood.[QUOTE]

Actually now that you mention that - I think I read that as well a while back... too bad it could not have been done more responsibly or grown locally I guess would be the better statement.

GMO bamboo? lol - Headline: "Panda's eating GMO bamboo are 18 times larger and 16 times more aggressive - Entire cities under siege!"

Now I have really hi-jacked the Vinyl vs. Laminate thread.