The phone rang – it was a client who had been the first hotel to install a Strand Woven Bamboo floor in the Western Cape. They had wanted to go green as was the international trend, so had decided to take the plunge and installed an Eco-Logic Strand Woven bamboo floor in their lobby. It had been three months and they were very happy with the floor, what could this be all about?
“We have a problem”, was the opening line. “What’s wrong?”. “The floor is lifting, we need you to come round a see what’s happening”. As I jumped in my car to go have a look, my mind was racing:- “whatever could be the problem?”
Upon arrival, all my fears were confirmed, the floor was lifting a good few centimetres in the middle. Hotel clients were tripping over it, this was serious. It wasn’t long before we had the installer out to see what was causing such a big movement in the floor.
We quickly discovered the cause; the hotel was an older building that had been refurbished. Some roof leaks were not discovered and repaired during the refurb, so with the usual Cape winter rains, water had poured down the wall cavities and under the floor from both sides.
Flooring Installer— Hendri – Hendri’s Wooden Floors, Client Testimonial
If this had been a laminate or Oak floor, you would have had to throw the floor away!
The flooring specialist asked how long the water had been running down the walls and it was calculated to have been about three weeks. He was amazed, after installing floors for many, many years, he had never seen a floor sustain water damage for so long. He said that “had it been a laminated floor, it would have lifted within a maximum two days”.
Lifting the flooring planks - notice the huge wet area in the middle of the floor
It was decided to lift the floor planks, fix the leaks whilst drying the planks in the sun, then see what options remained.
We left the sopping wet planks to dry in the sun.
It took five days to sort the leaks out and by that time the Strand Woven bamboo planks had dried and returned to normal. The original planks were re-installed with only 4 sqm of replacement planks being required to complete the re-installation (some planks were damaged when the floor was lifted).
Green Hotel
We specified Oriental Bamboo for both Erinvale Estate Hotel & Spa as well as Devon Valley Hotel, in line with our strategy to “green” the hotel group, using sustainable resources like bamboo flooring.We had moisture damage in the public area of one of the hotels and Oriental Bamboo assisted in getting the best people on site to sort this out; after allowing for drying time we were able to reuse over 90% of the original floor.
I have enjoyed the proprietorial spirit of active caring that I experienced with Oriental Bamboo and thus I am pleased to recommend them. — Craig Seaman – Managing Director Louis Group Hotels & Vineyards, Client Testimonial
The owner was over the moon, not to mention the insurers. The installer? He has gone on to be our biggest evangelist for bamboo flooring.
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