Bamboo vs vinyl plank flooring?

[firmanj]

Hi all. I've searched the forums and have found discussions about one or the other, but not a discussion of the pros and cons of bamboo vs. vinyl plank flooring. I've been looking at Cali and Allure products. Thanks for your advice!

[Jon Vermilye]

I have a floating bamboo floor in my house (including the kitchen) & it has held up well over the last 10 years...

[tractors1]

I used laminate, which is probably as stiff as bamboo, on my rig. No issues.

[Joe MacDonald]

I have bamboo in my house, I find it is affected a lot by humidity changes, swelling and contracting

[LindaandPat]

Originally Posted by firmanj

Hi all. I've searched the forums and have found discussions about one or the other, but not a discussion of the pros and cons of bamboo vs. vinyl plank flooring. I've been looking at Cali and Allure products. Thanks for your advice!

I installed Allure a couple years ago and am still happy . Pat

[GOB]

We put down vinyl planks in our Scamp 19. Fast, easy install. Looks great.

[Fredomatic]

I too have pre-finished bamboo TnG flooring in my house. It’s lovely, ages well, super durable but will scratch and wear under weight. For a trailer, consider the thickness of the flooring will affect your standing height inside. In addition, the weight of the flooring really does add up especially with floor planks. For those reasons, a thin glue down material may be a better practical solution for you.

I installed TnG cork flooring in my trailer and I really like how easy it was to cut out the wheel wells and it didn’t require glueing or fastening down. On the flip side, Being a natural material it will need refinishing in the future. It’s thoughtful work But have fun with it! Cheers

[Janet H]

I installed floating Allure planks with the sticky edges about 6 years ago. Looked great but after several years the planks have started to shrink and are no longer as flat as they once were. The seams are starting to lift a little. I cannot recommend...

[LindaandPat]

Originally Posted by Janet H

I installed floating Allure planks with the sticky edges about 6 years ago. Looked great but after several years the planks have started to shrink and are no longer as flat as they once were. The seams are starting to lift a little. I cannot recommend...

Wow sorry about all the work of your install . Ours have been installed about I think 4 years ? If I remember right there was 2 different products in the Allure line at the time . We got the one with the about 1 in of extremely sticky installation attachment . We installed over the original floor . It is a floating floor so the only attachment was the edge molding which sat on top of the flooring . We left 1/4 spaces to the walls following instructions . The floor with temperature changes will need to expand and retract as wood does . Being able to expand and contract with temps should keep the planks from lifting.
Saw a great video on utube using a black rubber chock and a mallet to move the planks back together. Still need that 1/4 in space though at the walls and it needs to float . Pat

[Bob T]

I've had good quality thick vinyl Plank (floating) in our kitchen for about 5 years and it still looks and functions as good as new. Last fall I put it in my Bigfoot 17 and it really updated the look and function as well. Colour chosen was kind of a grey, sawn wood look.

My experience with bamboo is checkered. It LOOKS fantastic, but I found that if you dropped a metal utensil on it it would leave a small mark. When I researched it more, the story seems to be that its harvested too young to achieve its potential strength and then they caramelize it with heat to give it a lovely colour, but that further weakens it...so double whammy. White, older bamboo might be hard as nails but that's not what you get in the box. As we didn't have young kids or pets, we were able to deal with its 'weakness'. I've also noticed that its almost disappeared from the building centres here in BC, so maybe that's an indication that there were too many comebacks.

[firmanj]

Thank you so much for all of your experience an advice!

[Raspy]

I installed about 1,000 sq ft of solid bamboo in my previous house. It was 5/8" thick and urethane coated on the sides, edges and cut ends. Every cut got urethane before being put in place. Mine was all glued down over a solid wood subfloor. Then I did a wall area of about 200 sq ft with the same method and material, glued to roughed in sheetrock.

I really like bamboo. It comes in both horizontal and vertical configuration and can be several shades of color, so you can do a lot of artistic borders and designs. It's a natural material that is beautiful, renewable and durable.

The weakness is the finish. After several years, there were obvious trails through the house where the normal foot traffic happened and it was time to re-finish. The material was perfect, but the finish was dulling and wearing. I never had any cupping with humidity changes and I think that was because I coated it so carefully during installation. Floating floors also sound different when walking on them than glued down floors. More hollow.

Now, we live in the desert on a decomposing granite material. That would cause much more wear. So, I went with tile in the new house.

In a trailer, I'd be inclined to go with the vinyl because it is probably waterproof, much thinner, and maintenance free.

[Glenn Baglo]

I have Allure in my kitchen at home.

I'd go with sheet vinyl if i were putting a new floor in my house or in the trailer.

[threepine]

We have bamboo in our house and find that it wears well for normal foot traffic but shows serious scratches from dog nails. I wouldn't put it in our trailer because of that.

[Joe Romas]

I installed no less then 4 different plank floors and ended up with 100% waterproof ""Coretec" by US floors but also the most costly.
https://efloors.com/usfloors-coretec...proof-flooring
Solid vinyl was too soft in hot temperatures and too stiff when cold, not suitable for a camper at all. I cut strips, painted the edges and used it for trim as it became very flexible with a heat gun. When Casita ditched that awful vinyl color flooring they originally choose they went to gray just like I used.

[rogerramjet]

Hi.

I own a 72 Boler. I was going to intstall laminate flooring over the sprayed flooring. Over the 4 years I was overseas (military) upon my return my style changed and we decided to try vinyl due to the many patterns available. I bought a long run of B&W checkered (cafe style) and just cut it in place for a perfect non slip floor and laid it over top of the old floor. Got mine in Edmonton Alberta Canada at End of the Roll.

Bonus
1. Very light.
2. No glue used so a very easy swap out if we decide to change it or it wears out.
3. I pull the whole thing out on the lawn for spring cleaning and once dry - just toss it back in place.

It has worked so well, best thing we ever did. Thought I would mention it as another option.

[firmanj]

It's beautiful! Thanks for sharing your experiences

[jon carpenter]

Several years ago I used a Cortec product in our kitchen. Had almost enough left over to install in our Casita SD. It had been discontinued so I went with a newer 7.5 mm floating floor type product. Glad I did. I wanted to check how much the dimensions would change so I measured the length of one piece of the older Cortec product at 70 degrees F to be 47-7/8 inches. Dropped it in the the chest deep freeze at minus 5 degrees F for overnight and found the length in the morning to be 48-1/16 inches. It changed 3/16 inch in a 75 degree swing. Thought that would be fine in a home where the temperature swing is only 25 degrees or so and it is floating over a 14 x 17 foot space with the manufacturers recommended gap around the edge.



Measured the newer Alura brand 7.5 mm floating floor product the same way and there was NO change is a four foot length with the 75 degree temperature swing. Thought that was a much safer way to go considering the camper may be stored in 0 degree to 100 plus temperatures. Installed it this past winter and so far no problems. I did leave about 1/32 inch space around the perimeter just in case there would be changes in either the camper cabinets or for some unforeseen change. So far so good . And it looks much better than the worn out blue nappy carpet Casita used to use.

[jon carpenter]

Meant to add a couple pics of the finished result.