Bamboo Flooring Installation Instruction

Dear customer, thank you for buying EverJade bamboo flooring. To provide better service for your usage and protect your rights, please conform to the following installation instructions strictly. We should not bear the responsibility caused by any operations that disobey the following rules.
Minimum acceptable jobsite conditions
Flooring is one of the last jobs of any construction project. Bamboo flooring installs just like traditional tongue-and-groove solid hardwood flooring. Any professional flooring installer can easily install EverJade bamboo flooring with excellent results.

Prior to delivery of the bamboo flooring a site evaluation should be done. Please check for the following:
1. The building should be completely enclosed.
2. All outside doors and windows must be in place and have latching mechanisms.
3. Surface drainage should direct water away from the building.
4. All concrete, masonry, plastering, drywall, and other wet work should be completed and thoroughly dry.
5. All texturing and painting primer coats should be completed.
6. In warm months, the building must be well ventilated each day.
7. Be sure the flooring will not be exposed to extremes of humidity or moisture.
8. Interior environmental conditions must be near the average for the geographical area.
9. Basements must be dry.

Crawl spaces
1. Crawl spaces must be dry.
2. Crawl space must be a minimum of 18 in. (400 mm) from ground to underside of joists.
3. The crawl space earth must be covered 100% by a vapor retarder of 6 mil black polyethylene.
4. Where a proper ground covering is in place, the crawl space should have perimeter venting equal to a minimum of 0.16 of the crawl space square footage.
5. Vents should be properly located to foster cross ventilation.
Note: Local-building codes may differ. Local building codes prevail. Follow local building codes.

Getting started
1. Keep the boards in room temperature for at least 24 hours in unopened package before starting the installation. The room temperature must be at least 18¡æ before and during installation.
2. Check the floorboards and make sure that the surface has no transport damaging before starting installation.
3. For floor surfaces exceeding 100 m2 and/or lengths exceeding 10 m and overlaps to new rooms and floor surfaces which do not join symmetrically, use expansion joints to divide the floor sections.
Note: If possible, the moisture content of the subfloor and bamboo flooring should be checked by an appropriate method. There should be no more than 4% moisture content difference between properly acclimated bamboo flooring and subflooring materials, taking into consideration normal living conditions and equilibrium moisture content (EMC).

1 Fixing -style installation
1.1 Lay a waterproof film on flat and dry ground; fix dry keels (HXW>30mmX40mm) on the ground with expansion bolt to form the basis frame (joist systems). The distance between the keels should be less than 300 mm with 8-10 mm distance between keel and wall. Mortar is prohibited when fixing keels. Joist systems must be flat, clean, dry, structurally sound, free of squeaks and free of protruding fasteners. Attention: the film has to overlap minimum 200 mm.
1.2 After installing the frame, directly nail flooring boards into the frame. Leave 8-10 space to the wall and do not press the floors too tight. Using pneumatic driven nails or hand nails (screws) as fasteners. Space fasteners at 150mm (for 915mm length board) and 300mm (for1830mm length board) intervals from edge along the border. Areas with higher humidity may require additional nails. The nails are at a 45 to 50 degree angle to the tongue of existing flooring.
1.3 If possible, for noise improvement and flooring performance, when laying bamboo flooring on the joists, adding an additional layer of 9-12 mm thickness plywood on the joists is recommended. Cut plywood to 1220×1220 mm sections and space sections 19 mm. Fastening for plywood are 1/8 in. (3.2mm) around perimeter and at every 150mm on bearing edges and every 300 mm along intermediate supports.
1.4 Leave an 8-10 mm distance between wall and floorings or subfloor to avoid distortion caused by heat expansion and drying shrinkage. 12 mm minimum expansion space at all vertical structures.

2 Floating-style installation (for soundproof flooring)
2.1 Lay dampproof mat on flat and dry ground before laying bamboo flooring boards.
2.2 Directly lay bamboo boards on the dampproof mat with double-faced adhesive tape for flooring. Glue boards with slight non-water-soluble glue.
2.3 Leave 8-10mm space to the wall for heat expansion and drying shrinkage. 12 mm minimum expansion space at all vertical structures.
2.4 As the requirement for evenness and dryness of the ground is extremely high when choosing floating-style installation, so choose it seriously. The floating-style installation without basis frame is only used for soundproof and quakeproof flooring.

3 Installation notes
3.1 Make sure that the ground is flat and dry before installation. (See Minimum Acceptable Jobsite Condition)
3.2 The keels for the basis frame must be dry and structurally sound enough.
3.3 No water-soluble glue allowed in installation to avoid dampness and distortion.
3.4 Separate bathroom, kitchen and balcony from the flooring area to avoid water dampening.
3.5 In order to avoid distortion, better not apply installation in wet season.
3.6 The cutting section of flooring boards should be coated with dampproof lacquer to avoid dampness.
3.7 Acclimation of the flooring must be completed with the temperature and humidity maintained at or near normal living conditions between 17 to 27¡æ (60-80¨H) and at the average yearly relative humidity for the area.
3.8 Although the color deviation is not so obvious in bamboo floors as in wooden floors, unpacking 4-5 cartons and putting the boards on the installation frame to distinguish and place those boards in color deviation in different areas randomly is recommended.
3.9 The bamboo floor can be used at least 24 hours later after complete installation.
3.10 Expansion space should be left around the perimeter. Typical expansion is equal to the thickness of product installed or in accordance with the mentioned above.