Where to start laying down bamboo

[MagicMarker]

Ok.. so not for the garage, but for my home office. I've never done this before, but it seem easy enough. Just need advice where should I start laying down flooring. The bamboo has been acclimated... about 4 weeks now. Let me know which wall you think I should start with. The part that is throwing me off is the baseboard heating. This is free floating flooring.

Entrance


Wall 1


Wall 2


Wall 3


Wall 4

 

[Garage Flooring]

I have only done a floating floor like this once so this is a personal and not a professional opinion. I would start at the baseboard heat because if you don't it is going to be really hard to get those pieces in place.

 

[MagicMarker]

^^Thanks for the real world advice.. do you think I should run the flooring parallel to the baseboard heating?

 

[Todd.Brock]

Good thing you let it acclimate that long. A family member had issues with Morningstar bamboo. Lumber liquidators said it was because they didn't have a humidifier. It shrunk up quite a bit. The installer only let it sit for a week. - I am going on the look of your box logo. Ignore me if you used a different brand


I don't think it would matter as much over top of existing flooring and floating flooring ( assume it's not the nail down bamboo) , but when traditional nail down hardwood is installed , it's typically perpendicular to the joists

 

[Garage Flooring]

^^Thanks for the real world advice.. do you think I should run the flooring parallel to the baseboard heating?

Good thing you let it acclimate that long. A family member had issues with Morningstar bamboo. Lumber liquidators said it was because they didn't have a humidifier. It shrunk up quite a bit. The installer only let it sit for a week. - I am going on the look of your box logo. Ignore me if you used a different brand


I don't think it would matter as much over top of existing flooring, but hardwood is typically installed perpendicular to the joists

Again to confirm this is a click lock system not a nail down system?

I would double check instructions to see if they have a preference as to the direction you run it... Regardless of if you go parallel or perpendicular to the baseboard heat. I would start at that point (personally) because it just makes it easier to get it in there.

On a side note... We are dealing with this with our house now. We did not install the floor but we would like to extend it... Unfortunately the direction they ran it makes it very complicated to do so. Hard to explain without pics. But step back and have a look at the whole house and which way you would run it if you were doing the entire thing.

 

[MagicMarker]

Good thing you let it acclimate that long. A family member had issues with Morningstar bamboo. Lumber liquidators said it was because they didn't have a humidifier. It shrunk up quite a bit. The installer only let it sit for a week. - I am going on the look of your box logo. Ignore me if you used a different brand


I don't think it would matter as much over top of existing flooring and floating flooring ( assume it's not the nail down bamboo) , but when traditional nail down hardwood is installed , it's typically perpendicular to the joists

Yes.. floating floor. We bought it at LL and they told us to acclimate for a minimum of 3 weeks... I figured longer can't hurt.

Again to confirm this is a click lock system not a nail down system?

I would double check instructions to see if they have a preference as to the direction you run it... Regardless of if you go parallel or perpendicular to the baseboard heat. I would start at that point (personally) because it just makes it easier to get it in there.

On a side note... We are dealing with this with our house now. We did not install the floor but we would like to extend it... Unfortunately the direction they ran it makes it very complicated to do so. Hard to explain without pics. But step back and have a look at the whole house and which way you would run it if you were doing the entire thing.

Thanks for the ideas... This flooring will be unique to the room.. at the threshold we will end up ripping out the old tile and installing new tile.

 

[bczygan]

The rule of thumb is to lay out the joints so the you end up with full or almost full width pieces against both walls.

If you can, it is always good to begin with a full width piece at the wall opposite where you enter the room, or have the largest view of the floor against the wall.

Bill

 

[shoot summ]

General rule is to start on your longest unbroken wall. That covers most installs, and is typically the wall opposite of the door.

 

[3sum]

General rule is to start on your longest unbroken wall. That covers most installs, and is typically the wall opposite of the door.

^^^ This. You beat me to it. And don't cheap out using an 'adequate' (read: thin) underlayment. Go with the thickest you can get.


Chris Pope
Locust Grove, GA
07 Sprint ABS
07.5 Tuono
85 V65 Magna

 

[3sum]

This my sitting room dba my wife's office. I laid this locking maple as a floating floor (out of time constraints - I'd rather have glued it). It's almost a square 10x10 and running it parallel to the left wall looked much better than walking in to the room and seeing the wood going across, perpendicular to the opening.


Chris Pope Locust Grove, GA
07 Sprint ABS, 07.5 Tuono, 85 V65 Magna

 

[MagicMarker]

^^Interesting way to look at it.

 

[steve308]

Is that the 'English Toffee' color? We just completed our living room and main hall with the Morning Star product. (By we I mean pro-installed) We pulled the old carpet, tightened up the boards and removed the furniture and pellet stove and had everything ready for when they arrived. They flew thru the install of about 400 sq ft in just under 5 hours. Cost to install was $650.00 --- and I'm glad I didn't try it myself.

 

[3sum]

Can't remember the color name but it wasn't that. It's a Maple that comes from a manufacturer out of Texas.

 

[southalabama]

I laid similar stuff in a room in the office. I went with the longest run direction.

The problem I had was that while the slab looked level it wasn't. I removed the largest rises and then skimmed over it. Nevertheless the levelness of the floor caused problems.

 

[Vantastic]

Lol. You say it seems easy but don't even know where to start.

 

[jhelrey]

Make sure you leave gaps around the walls... or it will bubble up in the middle. Prior owners of my house did not do that so I had to fix it in the basement.

 

[Deej-79]

You can try to make a room look bigger by laying the strips perpendicular to the long wall. Otherwise, work yourself out of the room. That stuff is simple to install but will kill your saw blade in no time flat.

 

[MagicMarker]

Thanks for all the advice.. will start by screwing down any squeaky spots.

 

[tncatadjuster]

I have only done a floating floor like this once so this is a personal and not a professional opinion. I would start at the baseboard heat because if you don't it is going to be really hard to get those pieces in place.

I'm just the opposite, I would finish there and do a bang up job of blacking out the background before installing. It will see the fastest and biggest expansion due to heat, so leave a nice gap there, not that you need to see it.

 

[egdede]

The rule of thumb is to lay out the joints so the you end up with full or almost full width pieces against both walls.

If you can, it is always good to begin with a full width piece at the wall opposite where you enter the room, or have the largest view of the floor against the wall.

Bill

Excellent general principals. The first tile job I was entirely responsible for looked like ****. It was level and had even straight grout lines. But, without any layout experience, I ended up with the longest reveal wall having having a row of 1/2 tiles.

 

[duneslider]

Flooring generally works best if you start along your longest straightest wall BUT most manufacturers want the floor laid perpendicular to the floor joists, or on a 45 degree angle to the floor joists. Running parallel to the floor joists is asking for issues down the road. Read the manufacture instructions to verify this as they will be covering, or denying the warranty should you have any issues.