For any reader who is contemplating updating his or her floors, the one to go for is certainly bamboo flooring. Bamboo proves to be both renewable and extremely efficient flooring. In utilizing it, you will not just beautify your own house, but you will also have the inner personal satisfaction of helping to save the environment, too. This article goes through the step by step directions for laying a bamboo floor down.
Items and Materials Which You Will Require for This Project:
– Vapor barrier or underlayment
– Bamboo planks
– A Hammer
– A Crowbar
– A Tape Measure
– A Handsaw
– A Miter saw
– A Sawhorse
– A Square
– A Chalk Line
– A Drill
– Drill bits
– A Level
– A Nail Punch
– A Pneumatic Gun, or a Hardwood Hammer
– A Rubber Mallet
– Two by Four Lumber, two feet in length
Measuring and Gathering Materials
You begin by getting both the length and width measurements of your floor area in question. it is important to remember that not every room is a true square. Because of this, you will have to measure the whole perimeter to really learn the quantity of material which you will actually require.
Pull together all of your necessary materials along with the bamboo flooring. Leave it in the room itself for a few days. In so doing, you are allowing these things to become acclimatized to the temperature of the room.
Preparing the Floor
To prepare the floor, you will have to do several tasks. First, take out all of the old floor’s materials. If you can not save the prior sub-floor, then simply install a new sub-floor. Ensure that the sub-flooring is truly level. Detach all of the old door sills and baseboards.
Place vapor barrier or underlayment as a protection on the top of the underlying sub-floor. This is necessary to keep moisture from getting to the bottom of your bamboo floor and damaging it. This underlayment serves a useful double purpose. It is able to protect the wooden floor as well as to offer a cushion beneath the bamboo flooring.
Laying the First Bamboo Flooring Strips
Find the wall which is the room’s longest. This will be your point at which you will start. Use the chalk line to draw a guiding line which is parallel to the wall itself. You must calculate the distance from the wall using the guiding line.
Lay down the first bamboo floor strips. First, you will drill holes in the bamboo flooring strips. Then you will begin nailing them down according to a perpendicular angle against the joints. Holes must be drilled minimally a half inch from the side. At a forty-five degree angle, drill holes from the tongue. Allow a good half inch to three quarter inch for potential expansion of the wood. The quarter round or baseboard will serve to cover these spaces up later. Make certain that you keep the first strip lined up against the chalk line. To nail the bamboo floor down into its place, utilize spiral roll type of shank nails. Finally, employ a nail punch in order to cover up the nails well. You must repeat these above steps on the second row of bamboo floor strips. Complete this first row of bamboo flooring by cutting out a strip of bamboo floor which will fit into the space which remains. Do not forget to allow the expansion space once again.
Laying the Rest of the Bamboo Flooring
To install the remainder of the bamboo floor, utilize a pneumatic gun or hardwood hammer. Every six to eight inches in length, you will want to nail down every bamboo strip. When laying the final four rows of the bamboo floor, utilize the identical installation direction which you employed for the second bamboo strip. This is because you simply will not have enough space to work with the pneumatic gun or hardwood hammer there. On the final row, you will utilize the same directions which you previously used on the first row. If the full strip will not fit the space which remains, then cut it according to length.
Finishing up the Bamboo Flooring
Utilize a two foot by four foot section of lumber along with a rubber mallet to ensure that the tongue and groove of the bamboo planks are pushed together closely. Finally, you need to fill in the holes of the nails. Do this utilizing wood putty which is the identical color as is the bamboo floor itself. In order to get up any dirt or dust which has accumulated on your new bamboo floor, simply employ the vacuum cleaner.
