Bamboo floors are durable, environmentally-friendly and uniquely beautiful. Plus, they are less expensive than solid hardwood flooring. As such, bamboo floors have become a popular alternative to traditional hardwood floors in recent years. But just like other types of flooring, there are several pitfalls to bamboo flooring. Warping or cupping is one of them.
Here are the possible reasons why your bamboo floor has warped.
Not Enough Space For Expansion
Just like any wood floors, bamboo floors are installed with gaps around the edges. This is because the floor will experience some contraction and expansion as the seasons change. You may notice that your floor expands in the summer and will suddenly shrink in the winter. In most cases, you may even find gaps in between floorboards during the winter time.
Bamboo will need room to grow and breath. Make sure that you maintain around ¼ to 1/5 of an inch for expansion space around the perimeter walls and other vertical spaces when installing bamboo floor.
Excessive Humidity Levels
Although bamboo flooring is durable, maintenance requires an understanding of how it responds to changes in humidity as if it were alive. High humidity levels can cause the floors to expand and eventually warp, even when it is properly acclimatized.
Inadequate Acclimatization Process
Every professional floor installers know that bamboo floors take about 3 to 6 days to get acclimated. You’ll have to wait for bamboo flooring to adjust to the atmosphere of the room prior to the installation. However, most DIYers do not realize how important the acclimatization process is and often skip this step.
There’s a good chance that the bamboo floor will warp in the future if it is not given enough time to acclimatize.
Liquid Spillage
Water damage is usually the main cause of bamboo floor warping or distorting. To prevent this from happening, make sure that you clean up spills as quickly as possible. Or better yet, ask your family and guests to remove dirty footwear before entering the house to reduce the chances of water coming in contact with the bamboo.
Contact Denver Carpet and Flooring for more information on bamboo flooring maintenance.
