@Nikkiee Cruz What an adorable pup! We're glad to hear you are happy with your floors! :) We run a contest every month called "Project of the Month" we would love to have you submit your photos! All you have to do is send us 4 or more sharp photos to photos@calibamboo.com. 1st Place wins a $250 Amazon gift card, 2nd Place wins a $100 gift card, and 3rd Place wins a $50 gift card. It's fun on our Facebook Page, feel free to check out our current contest going on right now :) https://www.facebook.com/CaliBamboo/posts/10158529467952326

I posted a Q about bamboo last Dec. but, of course, the post disappeared. I'll cut and paste the responses I got, but they'll be out of order. _______________________________ Thanks for the idea -- I'm now looking at (http://www.teragren.com/products_countertops.html) Teragren's product for our install. In San Francisco, it is running under $450 for a 30'x96' piece, end-grain, unfinished. It is stocked here by our distributor. I'm leaning to using using Waterloxx on it as well as an underhung sink. They have excellent installation instructions on their site. Expansion is probably the biggest design difference compared to a stone or stone-like product. I'm not concerned about hardness -- stilettos will kill any hardwood flooring. As I understand it, the bamboo products are comparable to oak. sfjeff _______________________________ Ok, I'm really puzzled by these statements -- Bamboo is pretty well acknowledged as a reasonably hard wood. For example, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janka_hardness_test) Wikipeida gives Bamboo hardness as very comparable to oak and maple. Where are these claims of 'bamboo is soft' coming from? What evidence supports it? sfjeff _______________________________ I would have some concerns that they would dent easy. May not be a good comparison but, I looked a bamboo commercial floors. I was told they would withstand high traffic so I brought some samples to the office and did some wear tests. After a few hits with some ladies heels, I was amazed at how easy they dented. charlesp _______________________________ I know two people who installed a bamboo island, that required a seam. In both cases the seams seperated. Too bad, because they looked cool. hmdennis _______________________________ I have bamboo floors. The guy who installed them told me they were really quite a soft wood, and I agree. If you look at them closely, they show every single mark, scrape, ding. They are beautiful and have a lovely warmth to them, but I don't think I would want them as a countertop with the customary scratches, dropped things and knife marks. e4849 _______________________________ The only evidence I have are the big scrapes, scratches, and dings in my floors. e4849 _______________________________ I don't know about bamboo for counter tops, but I'd like to add to the general discussion about bamboo and floors. I just had Teragren's Synergy strand bamboo flooring installed in my upstairs remodel, after a long period of research. And info seems to be fairly scarce about bamboo on the net. I've been looking into it for a couple of years. What I learned was there are significant differences in bamboo flooring products. Carmelized colored regular bamboo is softer than natural colored, because they somehow heat the bamboo to get the carmelized color and the heating process makes the carmelized softer. The age the bamboo is harvested makes a huge difference. You want 5-6 year old bamboo. Younger is too soft. Strand or woven strand is MUCH harder because it is manufactured under pressure and is essentially shredded and glued back together with hi tech expoxy (reminds me of how strong laminated beams are...). Anyway, I abused my Synergy sample and the only things that scratched or dented it were running a pair of scissors over it and throwing a granite rock at it! I have no concerns about shoe traffic, this stuff is hard! It is not engineered with a wear layer adhered to the top of plywood, it is through-body. The owner of DHs company has had bamboo in a commercial showroom for several years and he loves it too. So, I guess the moral of my story is all bamboo is not created equal. :-) kimkitchy _______________________________ Verrrrry interesting. HMDennis: Any chance you can get more info on your friends' islands, i.e., type of Bamboo, where they got it? betsyhac

Thanks all of your for chiming in. And thanks suzannesl for posting the photos. I see what you mean that the same floor may appear in different colors when in different lighting. Your floor matches your dog! I told DH that the java color may be too close to cat puke (he once stepped in it not seeing it), but he says light color will show the stain from the cat puke. Who would have though the flooring color decision is tightly intertwined with our little furry companions. Anyhow, despite all your help, we still have not made up our mind yet. Maybe we'll do coin toss. One question though... Do you all have your floor nailed down, or floating? One installer told me about another reputable brand, Plyboo, who happens to be local (in SF Bay Area). Unfortunately, their wide plan of stranded bamboo only comes in click & lock type. For whatever reason, I got the impression that click & lock will look, feel, and sound temporary. Any thoughts on that?

We installed Cali Northshore oak longboard in our rental cabin when remodeling it and absolutely love it. The oft mentioned issue of repetiveness did arise but our installers did their best and we don't even notice it now. We are now thinking about doing the same in our main house on the entire 1st floor. I since discovered flooret and understand it's wear layer is twice as thick on the signature versions. I ordered samples. Upon comparing with Cali I still like Cali better - it's texture is more 3 dimensional and it feels better to our bare feet. The color, hue and design on the northshore is better than all the samples from flooret ( kingswood, elmsford and sutton ). The floorets are definitely nice but somehow the Cali feels better. Also the Cali rides a bit higher - it's backing is thicker than the flooret. We are torn on this decision because it seems a thicker wear layer for around the same price would be better. But in terms of appearance and feel the Cali wins out. If anyone has any suggestions I welcome them!