I am not a pro, but have laid (all stapled) about 3000 feet (finished and unfinished) over a couple years to help my son in law in two different houses.

I am perplexed. My wife fell in love with bamboo. Picked up some bamboo T&G flooring -- all the same size (3-5/8" by 36" by 5/8") and my wife says "herrinbone pattern would look cool". Well, I started to lay it out and it appears that I can't do it without a bunch of trimming, grooving and splining.

What am I doing wrong or are there "left hand" and "right hand" cuts in batches for herringbone????

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

Hi Bill,
I'm sure you've probably already seen it, but there is an article on how to install a herringbone pattern here ... http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... ngbone.htm

I thought about it for my living room, but decided just laying the floor properly would be hard enough for me without trying to do the herringbone. The article makes it sound as if a lot of trimming, routing, and splining would be expected for this layout.

You are not wrong, herringbone requires a specific milling.

Thanks Paul and Marco.

I had read the link (which kind of inspired me), but I was hoping the trimming and routing was only for the making the random lengths uniform. Marco confirms my fears. This may push the limits of my abilities. I need to think long and hard about this (while the flooring is still acclimating -- I am giving it three weeks to acclimate with ten days to go).

Thanks for the responses.

Bill

Bamboo is fast becoming a favorite floor of mine. I like the appearance, the hardness and the cost.
There is a problem with bamboo. It is a grass which shrinks and swells with moisture content changes, more so than wood. It is manufactured at 6% to 8% moisture content then wrapped in plastic, to protect, for the long trip across the ocean. The installations that have been turned, quarter turned, bordered without acclimating it properly (remove from plastic and allow contact with the air in the home) have cupped. In other words, the long side placed tight against the short sides result in lack of expansion gapping not allowing swell with the increase in moisture content. The planks cup soon after installation. I would lay it straight and make sure the material is in the home, plastic removed to acclimate. I'm sure you will enjoy the bamboo floors. They don't splinter.... Just dent.

Whoa, Ray!

That is a big issue. Looks like herringbone is out. I do have a border BTW.

Do you think three weeks acclimating is enough time? I unwrapped it and stacked it in two piles about 3 feet high. Is it getting enough air or should I be racking it so each piece is reasonably exposed?

Thank you SOO much for your insight!

Bill

Why is herringbone out? Ray simply explained the importance of achieving proper moisture levels prior to installation. He is correct.

With the proper slot cutter, you can make an awful lot of herringbone with nothing but a router. You will need to spline your ends,though. 2-1/4 is a small enough distance to forgo splining every dead end. Anything wider is too much. You should do what you want to do.

You are already avoiding the moisture prob by way of acclimation.(I trust you are really acclimating the product, not stacking boxes.)

Making herringbone and bordering it can be an awful lot easier than you might think. I have tools that make it an absolute cinch. You can do the same quality work I do with some ingenuity, a router and a circular saw on a jig. I would be glad to give you some tips on the mechanics involved. It is amazingly simple to do.

Just let me know.

CHU


p.s. Herringbone is milled with lefts and rights. Sometimes they are in a common carton. Other times, the the cartons are marked left and right. A common misconception about herrinbone is that the length of the boards must be evenly divisible by the width. This is not true.

Chuck,

I kind of skimmed over "not properly acclimated" (I try not to linger over non-work at my real job). That, with his suggestion to "just lay it straight" kind of stuck in my head.

It is all unpacked from the boxes and plastic though I left the foam-paper interleaves. I figure I will give it another week just to be safe.

I am all ears on how to make the herringbone work. The Herringbone article was helpful for installation, but kind of glossed over the mechanics of trimming and slotting. I have the table saw, router and a router table, miter saw and circular saw (for trimming the edges for the border. I also printed out where to pick up the slotting router bit. I have lots of spline (3/8" for 3/4" wood) and figured I would trim it on the table saw to the 3/16" to match the bamboo tongue.

Thanks for the encouraging words.

Bill

Bill,

If you do not have airflow between each layer of product, you are only acclimating the outer edge of the stack. Fix your stacks first!

You say the length of your product is uniform. I would not trust the manufacturers dimensions. You should set a stop block on your mitre saw and chop every tongue end off. Then groove those ends on your router table. You only need enough spline for those endjoints on the left. The rights will be t&g by themselves.

Send me a pm. I'll give you my phone number. I stink at explaining these things in print.

You have all the tools you need to create a world class floor.

Go for it!

p.s. Spline is 3/16. Unless you have a really wonderful saw, You will find it exceedingly difficult to alter the overall dimension of a spine. It will need to be downsized in both height and width. I can't do it. That does not mean you can't. Be careful.

Chuck, Your Back! Hurrah!

Chuck,

I am so psyched. Will PM and then call.

I had suspected that unwrapping and stacking wasn't going to cut it - looks like I am racking and starting the acclimate clock over. I want to do this right.

Anyone know where I can get some 3/16" spline?????

This board is the best!

Thanks again Chuck!

Bill

Yea, nice to see Chuck again

Incidentally Chuck was involved in that herringbone installation seen on our website.

Bill, stacking and sticking might not be necessary.(or advisable) If your bamboo came exceedingly dry and you acclimate it to a humid environment, you might not be able to get it together. Thing is, if you install it in a humid environment,you are still going to have probs. (but at least you got'r done,right?:D )

I'm sure your stuff is right by now. You should make sure it will go together, though. If it is difficult to mate two pieces,you are going to have a bad time getting them together on the floor. That is not necessarily a bad thing, though.

How are you planning to install this stuff? Nail? Glue?

p.s. Ken, thanks for hooking me up with Paul. That guy is a prince. A walking encyclopedia, too.

I'm planning on staples based on everything I have read on this board.

Bonus is that I have lots of leftover staples from helping my stepson on his floors (he overbought). I plan on renting the bostich m111fs, pull off the plate and use a temporary plate that lines up with 5/8" flooring.

I'll be calling you this afternoon.

Thanks again.
Bill