@SJ McCarthy thank you for the detailed response I appreciate it. Very disappointing. I feel like Im going in circles. The bamboo floors we have now were glued down so the demo will be pricey. We have to remove them due to the powderpost beetle issue. Do you have any recommendations for other brands that are on the low end of the toxic scale?

Any thoughts on engineered wood?

Your infestation will need to be dealt with. Are you installing over concrete slab or wood-joist system? How old is the house?

The Cleo product is made up (mostly) of ground limestone. It has the potential to be the least toxic but then again so is porcelain tile. As an aside, I am sure you are well aware that Bamboo is 30% glue...which can lead to higher toxicity than say a SOLID hardwood.

It is often the GLUE that causes chemical issues rather than the product itself. Until we know more about your home's situation, it is impossible to make suggestions.

Are you in a hot climate or a cold climate? How old is the house? Concrete slab or wood-joist system?

@SJ McCarthy the one area that has the beetle is the entryway which is over concrete. This is currently active. There is one other area thats on the 2nd floor that hasnt been active for at least 2 years now. It was in an area thats about 3 feet by 4 feet.

The house was built in 1981.

These bamboo floors were here when we moved in. The house I live in has a lot of stairs too.

I live in Southern CA so the weather is pretty mild.

Thank you for the info on the glue. I had not considered that.

A house built in 1981 will NOT have a moisture barrier underneath the slab. Almost guaranteed it isn't there.

That makes 'gluing down' anything very very tricky. California's CARB II requirements are VERY strict. It means the adhesives available to you to put down either vinyl or hardwood or cork or anything that needs glue must be VERY LOW VOC. And LOW VOC isn't as grippy as the nasty solvent stuff of the 50's - 80's.

You will need to eradicate the infestation before you do anything else. I suggest you remove the bamboo and then clean up the concrete. And you will spend ++$$ on the concrete slab preparation. You will also need to repair the upstairs subfloors etc.

The insect infestation and repair is going to double the cost of a normal floor renovation. And then give yourself about 30% overrun money. 'Cause $h!t happens when dealing with structural issues from insect damage.

In California tile is often used on the main floor. You can then choose a floor for upstairs....depending on how much money you have left.

@SJ McCarthy yes we are starting the demo in a couple weeks to deal with the infestation. We have no clue how this happened or where the pests came from.

Im not a fan of tile but we may end up doing that over the concrete areas. The stairs add a lot of cost to whatever we will end up doing too. Im already seeing some potential issues with LVT and stair pieces since some of the stairs have side exposure.

With vinyl planks, are there drawbacks to floating it rather than gluing it down?

Floating vinyl (click together) needs the same amount of subfloor prep as a glue down. Vinyl (the thin stuff) is flexible (like chewing gum). It will mold into every hump, bump and jump left in the subfloor. The glue from the bamboo has to come off (regardless). I vapour barrier can be put down over the glue residue but an attempt really should be made to get rid of as much of the glue as possible. Once the concrete subfloor is al nice and smooth and level, you can put any floor you want over it.

Personally I prefer a HIGH END laminate ($4.50/sf out of Switzerland or Germany). The product out of Europe is extremely good. You can put down a small amount of tile in the kitchen and bathrooms and you are all done.

If you currently have carpet on the stairs, you might want to update the carpet. Changing the surface on the stairs is expensive. As soon as a new product is added to the treads you MUST update the stairs to current code. And that can be MORE expensive than the flooring job. I kid you not.

The benefit of LAMINATE: you can add as much underpad as it can handle (6mm cork is lovely). Drawback of laminate = it cannot be used in a kitchen (which is where the tile comes in).

Benefit of vinyl: it is water proof.(which is only needed in 10% of the house)

Drawback: it HATES underpad (just assume it must go down over the concrete...no extra padding allowed), it HATES direct sunlight (can warp/fade) it HATES heat (warps).

Here are 2 options that are greener and easier to install over concrete:

1. https://www.greenbuildingsupply.com/All-Products/Waterproof-Cork-Flooring-by-Amorim-WISE

2. https://www.daltile.com/revotile

I'm not claiming these r headache free since clicking is initially where it is the hard AND cutting to get around existing cabinets, doorways, etc. is also tricky.

These 2 products don't required completely leveled sub-flooring. They have SOME allowance for uneven flooring. They also address install over concrete on their websites.

I'm in the process of flooring a new home but we have foster dogs and children so we too need scratch resistant flooring that will hold up over time.

I have not made a final decision since I'm waiting for my DalTile Revo samples. I'm leaning towards the porcelain tile since it has many options- wood look, marble look, stone look, and a concrete look- all of which work in our home. It also has a NO SEAL RapidGrout that is stain resistant too.

In general Porcelain Tile is perceived as higher end product over the cork/laminate products which is important for resale.

There are some reviews on HomeDepot for DalTile QuicTile and the complaints are not on the product but rather ease of installation.

Here are some product reviews: https://www.flooringinc.com/porcelain/tile/daltile-revo-tile.html

There are YouTube videos for DIY RevoTile/QuicTile installation.

@SJ McCarthy I appreciate all of this info. Funny you should mention laminate because I think the higher end stuff looks a lot better than vinyl. SOmetimes it's very difficult to tell that it's actually not wood.

We have the bamboo on all of the stairs. Sigh. Its stained a dark chocolate brown so perhaps we could leave it on the stairs and do a medium brown wood looking floor everywhere else-except kitchen and baths. I think it may blend well enough

@acdclosgatos thank you for the tile info. I wasn't aware of the click together tile. Very interesting!

Are you considering doing this type of floor in every room? I have a friend who put down a wood look porcelain tile throughout her entire million dollar ranch style home. I had no idea it was tile until she told me it wasn't wood.

@SJ McCarthy which laminate brands do you like? This one is from Germany, I haven't done extensive research but at first glance it looks promising: https://www.samsclub.com/p/select-surfaces-blonde-oak-spill-defense-laminate-flooring/prod23981829?xid=plp_product_1_9

We have a new build with leveled sub flooring, we are looking at the faux wood throughout the house except the bathrooms, laundry room, and mudroom area.

The "concrete" porcelain click tile with dark grey grout for mudroom and laundry room.

The faux white carrara marble porcelain click tile with light grey or off white grout for bathrooms.

Daltile RevoTile has Lifetime Limited Warranty; I'm trying to get the specifics of the limits.

FYI: www.greenbuildingsupply.com has many certified green laminate flooring options.

@acdclosgatos I see Daltile has a 6inch x 36inch option which I like better than the 24inch.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Daltile-QuicTile-6-in-x-36-in-River-Wood-Glazed-Porcelain-Locking-Floor-Tile-10-15-sq-ft-case-RV84636CLK1P/312975021?MERCH=REC--rv_gm_pip_rr--312974456--312975021--N

I cant seem to find many pics of large rooms with it installed. So many floors like great in small pics but in large rooms they look awful because of the pattern repeats. Please keep me posted on your decision and how the samples look in person.

Go to the https://www.daltile.com/search#q=revotile&t=seriesCoveoTab&sort=%40sourcedisplayname%20descending%3B%40relativepricingsortable%20descending%3B%40documenttitle%20ascending&numberOfResults=24&f:@sourcedisplayname=[Series]

There are many pics of it on floor at that part of site.

Many pics: https://www.picuki.com/tag/revotile

Look on YouTube since there r different installation videos w/ different tiles and even stores showing their display boards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGGElokMQiE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On1fZcjSBhY

The Sam's club product looks good. At $5.33/sf it is in the right range for HIGH END laminate. Trust me, a $5.33 laminate will out perform a $5.33 vinyl plank. No bathrooms, but it *should be able to handle everything else.