Can You Refinish Bamboo Hardwood

My experience sanding bamboo flooring.

Can you refinish bamboo hardwood. It can sometimes be hard to tell when it s time to refinish your bamboo floors. The techniques of sanding and finishing bamboo do require higher skills and best left to professionals. Take a look at this project and you will like what. The truth is that bamboo flooring hasn t been around long enough for installers to form a consensus about refinishing it so you re taking a chance by approaching it as a diy project.

Thin bamboo flooring has to be refinished very carefully and only on the finish layer. Your impression that bamboo can t be refinished is inaccurate according to don conner technical director for the national wood flooring association a trade group that sets standards and provides. Like traditional hardwood floors bamboo can be a bit deceptive. Humidity affects bamboo somewhat more severely than it does hardwood flooring.

If the flooring is installed in a very humid climate the moisture in the air can cause the floor planks to swell and buckle while in a dry environment the planks can shrink. Unsurprisingly if bamboo sands like a wood floor and it finishes like a wood floor then it costs the same as a wood floor to refinish whether professionally or diy. Few bamboo flooring distributors raise these concerns however and most recommend using the same refinishing techniques you would use for hardwood floors. If you re unsure about the issue a flooring contractor will be able assist you in determining whether your engineered hardwood can be refinished or even if refinishing rather than simply refreshing it is the right option.

Bamboo flooring with a thick top layer can be sanded and refinished much like regular hardwood to remove dents and scratches and it can be refinished several times over the floor s lifespan. In many cases you can only refinish thin bamboo floors once. Fortunately you can refinish bamboo flooring to eliminate such visual flaws. They don t necessarily mean your floors have to be refinished just yet.

So roughly 3 a foot for professional refinishing and around 1 2 dollars a foot for diy depending on the size of the floor. Although bamboo is very durable it like wood can be vulnerable to surface scratches. If your floors have been treated with any non hardwood friendly products such as. This is because bamboo is often heated to deepen its color which leaves it softer and more prone to scratching.

Engineered bamboo flooring however usually cannot be refinished.