How to Install Bamboo Floors With Stagger Joints

Unroll a sheet of underlayment on the floor that has been thoroughly cleaned. Lay as many sheets as required to cover the floor, and cut excess with a utility knife. Overlap the ends of adjacent sheets by 2 to 4 inches. Staple overlapping edges of the underlayment to the floor using galvanized staples and a staple gun.

Snap chalk lines on the floor, 3/8 inch from each wall, to serve as guidelines for bamboo flooring planks and allow for expansion.

Lay a bamboo flooring plank over a chalk line on the underlayment, with its grooved edge facing the corresponding wall. Insert flooring nails through both edges of the plank to secure it to the subfloor below. Space the nails 10 to 12 inches apart.

Slide the tongue end of another bamboo flooring plank into the grooved end of the installed plank to snap them together. Repeat the process to secure this plank to the floor with nails. Continue to install full-length bamboo planks on the floor for the first row, until the gap along the end cannot accommodate a full plank.

Measure the exposed surface of the floor along the end of the first row and cut a bamboo flooring plank 3/8 inch shorter in length. Snap the end of this plank into the end of the previous full plank to secure them. Continue to secure the planks to the subfloor with nails.

Use the remaining length of this plank to start the second row, thereby creating a staggered appearance. Slide the grooved section of this remaining plank section into the tongue edge of the first plank on the previous row to secure them together. Repeat this process to secure planks for this row, and the subsequent rows, until you lay all but the last row. Make sure the joints of each row don’t line up.

Measure the gap between the edge of the second-to-last row and the wall, minus 3/8 inch for expansion. Cut the partial bamboo plank left over from the end of the previous row to the required width and use it as the first plank for the last row. Also cut the remaining bamboo planks identical in width and repeat the process to secure these to the subfloor.

Lay lengths of floor trim or molding over the expansion gap along each wall and secure it to the wall with nails.