You Make The Call - Stranded Click Bamboo Nightmare

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If your a contractor for LL and you have never read anything about the bamboo they sell and it's requirements for rh and flatness then blatently go out and install out of the box without checking site conditions then your a complete idiot. Thats intentionally screwing the consumer.

Same with a retailer or manufacturer not advising your customer about the rh. Why would you try and hide the requirements? Is it so you can sell more bamboo than other retailers?

All this national retailer still says to people is to stick it in the home for two weeks, thats it. Obviously they should know by now it is a moisture content thing, not time. These guys sell more wood than anyone else in the country and they cannot be up front with the consumer? These so called hardwood pioneers?

These people are the worst IMO, there is what I call The Gang of Five out here, maybe you have more. The Gang of Five promises free installation, lifetime warranties, up to 70% off the product price and one even promises a free cruise.

Hmmmm, thats a good head line for an article, The Gang of Five, Express, HD, Slowes, LL and that other one from back east.
 
rugaddict said:
i have to agree-----its self defense

It's actually a duty of care but I think you're accurate about the industry being set up that way. An employee installer wouldn't have near the duty of care as a contractor.
 
Some pics of the floor.

Note the shrinkage and the caulking of the unlocked click, plus thats an amazing filler strip they added in.

6 ADDN BAMBOO FLOOR PICS 006.jpg


6 ADDN BAMBOO FLOOR PICS 004.jpg


unlocked bamboo strand clic4.jpg


unlocked strand clic3.jpg


unlocked strand click1.jpg


unlocked strand click2.jpg
 
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Another factor that may have made this situation worse could be premature harvesting of the bamboo. I have heard this is the reason some companies can sell it so cheaply. Without the right amount of years to achieve proper hardness, the bamboo then becomes more likely to shrink due to a lack of moisture.

Tia
 
I think TNT hit a key point, in addition to everything else. Premature harvesting of bamboo not only causes severe problems with shrinkage, but produces a much softer bamboo.

The cupping is evident, but just that. Evident. Here in New England, if you want plank, you will have some cupping. Our climate is just too volatile and ranges from dry, dry, dry to wet, humid, wet. That's why so much strip was installed in this part of the country.

The shrinkage is impressive. I don't see undercutting of those baseboards either. The fit and finish appears poor. Caulking the gaps? Really?

I'm wondering how many pounds of moisture left the bamboo?

Spongy floor with shrinkage? Poor substrate preparation. If it was expansion, it could have been buckling. But it's not. So the spongy floor is caused by poor substrate preparation. This is the installer. It's not the product. It's not the homeowner. The installer caused that.

Homeowner can help themselves with some humidity. Not easy in AZ, I know. But any bit can help.

Perhaps the installer would like to use a baseball bat sized shoe moulding? (Just kidding . . . some people take things so seriously . . .)
 
Not sure about premature harvesting when it comes to carbonized and strand, but definetly natural. Carbonized is essentually baked, and strand has so much glue in it. Now the moisture content at milling can be a big deal. Plus when they store it after manufacturing, if not wrapped it can significantly gain lots of moisture. Seen some wrapped in boxes and celophane that read in the high teens and low twenties with visible condensation in the celophane.
 
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Thought id gained a lot of moisture coming over in the belly of a ship.

Nick, so far thats not been proven or no one is interested in proving how much the bamboo can gain MC wrapped in plactic inside a box. I have no idea either. I can only tell people what I see when it gets here and I can put a meter on it.

I've seen pics of strand blocks sitting outside without any covering waiting to be milled. I've also seen stacks of bamboo flooring sitting out in covered, but open air storage facilities. None of them I have seen to date in pictures of bamboo manufacturing facilities have any running HVAC/air quality control systems. Open widows in warehouses with machinery running out in the jungle? Well, it's a crap shoot for sure.
 
I think alot of poducts are crap but people don't usually pay me for my opinion, just installation.
 
I think alot of poducts are crap but people don't usually pay me for my opinion, just installation.

It is hard to keep your trap shut when your in a clients house and the flooring is krap! Ain't it ernie. lol

Take today for instance, we was installing Lowe's item # 56306. Worst POS laminate I have ever installed with exception of the junk from PregoXP and Ikea laminate. Holy cow farts, thats some stinky shit there.
 
Not sure about premature harvesting when it comes to carbonized and strand, but definetly natural. Carbonized is essentually baked, and strand has so much glue in it. Now the moisture content at milling can be a big deal. Plus when they store it after manufacturing, if not wrapped it can significantly gain lots of moisture. Seen some wrapped in boxes and celophane that read in the high teens and low twenties with visible condensation in the celophane.

There's a problem right there ... strand is baked with epoxy resin, which is way different from glue. Epoxy resin is hard as a friggin' rock. Glue is just glue, it gives. The other? If you were ever an old hippie, you understand how hard resin can be.

Tia
 
There's a problem right there ... strand is baked with epoxy resin, which is way different from glue. Epoxy resin is hard as a friggin' rock. Glue is just glue, it gives. The other? If you were ever an old hippie, you understand how hard resin can be.

Tia

Carbonized is baked prior to being formed with the epoxy into blocks of strand memory serves correct.
 

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