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Shoot: Bamboo leaves problems at Southie condo project
By adamg on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 7:08pm
Boston Condo Guy explains the bamboo-flooring problem bedeviling some units at the Macallen development - which has become a relatively popular Google search over the past couple of days:
... We recently visited a studio/one-bedroom for sale overlooking the green terrace and lap pool, only to find that the door to the unit opened only half-way because the bulge in the floor stopped the door from opening further - the floor had buckled together like two tectonic plates wall-to-wall across the entire unit. ...
Blame the supplier, not the developer, he says.
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Comments
Blame the installer?
We are in the process of selecting and installing flooring for our kitchen. I have been reviewing the installation procedures, as we will be doing this ourselves.
If these are "floating" floors, they need to have space at all edges to expand/contract. This is particularly true of bamboo, one floor type we considered, because it responds more to temperature and humidity than other types of flooring. We selected laminate, but it still needs these same gaps, albeit a bit smaller, for expansion.
If the installers put the bamboo floor in on a dry day, or didn't let the flooring "acclimate" to the surroundings for several days (you are supposed to leave the stuff out in the area - no matter what stuff you are using - for up to a week), it might have expanded once it was installed and caused the noted problems. This might also occur if there wasn't a sufficient gap at the edges when it was laid out - 1/2" was the recommendation I saw for bamboo.