Bamboo Floor F.A.Q. - Cleaning and Maintenance

** Please note that different flooring finishes require different cleaning solutions and methods - read our maintenance guide carefully for your specific finish type.

Never steam mop, never wet mop, and never use mineral spirits, turpentine or paint thinner on your floors.  If you have a cleaning solution you are not sure about, make sure to test it on an out of the way area or sacrificial plank prior to using it on your floor, to ensure it does not damage the finish.

ACCUSEAL finish (polyurethane).  We sell a bamboo flooring cleaner concentrate that is made specifically for bamboo.  Otherwise, you may use most standard floor cleaners approved for hardwood flooring finishes, such as Swiffer Wet Jet for Hardwood Floors, and Bona Hardwood Floor Care Kit.  You can also use one cup of white vinegar mixed in with a half bucket of warm water, with a lightly damp mop. 

HARDWAX OIL finish.  We sell a specific cleaner for our hardwax oil bamboo floors,  as well as the hardwax oil itself that is used to touch up the high traffic areas every 1-2 years to maintain the beautiful mate sheen.

Installation of certain materials may naturally cause small holes in the floor, for example after you screw a stair tread in, the resulting holes caused by the screws need to be filled in. There are also accidents that happen, sometimes an installer will drop a very heavy and sharp tool on the floor causing a dent or chip.

If it's a micro-scratch on the surface you can just place the toes of your shoe on the scratch and swivel back and forth with some weight on it, it'll start to fade away slowly.  Otherwise for a more immediate fix you can check out these products:

 WearMax Scratch Concealer For Hardwood Flooring
 Wood Floor Repair Markers
 Zenith Tibet Almond Stick for floor and furniture scratches.
   

If it's deeper than a surface scratch you can just use a marker that matches the color, or we recommend two products to help fill deeper gouges: Picobello Floor Repair Kit, and Timbermate. Timbermate does not get 100% hard and it will shrink and expand with the floors. There are some products that get rock hard will chip and break apart, you'll want to avoid these products.  You also might be able to find a wax filler pen at your local big box store.

If the finish has worn away, to touch up those problem spots we recommend that you use a buffer with varying 80/12/150 screens to achieve the desired smoothness and follow up with a matte-finish oil-based polyurethane for coating. Some installers have also reported success with Basic's StreetShoe waterborne finishes. Please note that these are only recommendations; each installer uses these tools and finishes differently; we strongly recommend that you test your process first on a sacrificial plank or out-of-the-way area before beginning to avoid problems with your floor. Please see our handy dandy guide here.

To avoid damaging hardwood and bamboo floors it is always recommended that you use natural rubber or felt rug pads under all rugs.  If you’re looking for a simple, non-slip rug pad we recommend using a natural rubber based pad. Natural rubber has excellent gripping power, is a renewable resource, and won't damage your floors over time like a more typical, less expensive PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pad. Natural rubber rug pads have been on the market for over 30+ years and have a proven track record for performance and floor safety.    If you need a larger area covered you can also use a 100% felt rug pad.  They offer excellent cushioning and support for larger areas and are less prone to slipping. A felt rug pad is thicker and denser than traditional non-slip rubber rug pads and offer a dense buffer.  Whichever rug pad you choose, make sure it's breathable (perforated).

The standard requirement for all wood flooring (including bamboo) is that you maintain proper interior humidity levels between 40%-60%.  As long as your installer follows our installation instructions, and those interior humidity settings are maintained, you'll have a trouble-free and super durable floor for a long time. 

Once adhesive cures on a wood flooring surface it is very tough to remove and may leave behind a dulled effect/area on your finish, however you can try the following method:

    1. Pour a small amount of Bostik Urethane Adhesive Remover on the glue spot, or squeeze a small amount of remover from a Bostik Adhesive Remover Towel.

    2. Let it sit for about 15 minutes.

    3. Wipe the area clean.

    4. Apply adhesive remover again to the same spot.

    5. Let it sit for about a minute.

    6. Use a Mr. Clean® Magic Eraser® to remove cured glue.

    7. Clean the area well.

If the steps above fail, you can also attempt to wear the glue spots down using denatured alcohol, but make sure to test on a sacrificial plank first as overdoing it may also rub off some of the finish.

The answer is yes!  Check out this page to see step by step instructions on how to refinish bamboo flooring, along with some helpful pictures of a past Ambient floor that was refinished:  How To Refinish Bamboo Flooring