All about bamboo flooring

The floors in two bedrooms in my 80 year old house have 60’s era 10" square linoleum tile tightly glued to solid pine subfloors. Seems to me like a perfect substrate for click-lock wood flooring. I’ve seen types that have the cushion backing already applied to each board section — how do you feel about those compared to the type where you have to roll out the liner before laying the boards? Also, I’d like a good product (don’t mind paying for the value) that’s going to be stable, consistent in color and preferably low solvent emission. Any particular brands you’ve worked with that you recommend highly. I’m thinking I should go engineeered rather than solid for lower cost and the fact that these will not be high-wear areas. The rooms will have large area rugs and not get heavy traffic so wear isn’t a big issue.

I’ve been underwhelmed by the choices at the building centers but have heard mixed reviews of the products from specialists like Lumber Liquidators / Bellawood. After doing much on-line research and visiting some showrooms I’m still somewhat confused. I’m not interested in bamboo — the rest of the house has nice old long-leaf pine floors with a red oak look and I’d like to keep that appearance to suit the vintage of the house (Arts and Crafts bungalow).

I might be be installing this myself though I do have a good remodelling contractor I may pay to do it. Though I have installed solid oak tongue and groove in the past (and drilled and ring-nailed the tongue as I went) that’s a lot of work, even if I buy or rent a pneumatic nailer this time. I would love to just be able to click it without nails or glue. Any problems with that type of completely floating product or do you feel that nailed or glued installations are better?

I would welcome any advice or tips on product selection and installation from any of the pros on here.
P.S. Perhaps I was not clear on this: I do NOT want laminate. I like it for countertops but think it looks terrible on floors and, based on what I have seen in other people’s homes, it holds up poorly.

I want an engineered wood product — veneered real wood on a substrate,

I am in building maintenance and I endorse and have used Bruce hardwood flooring products. Be sure to use the underlayment. You have a different problem though and that is the existing floor you have may be asbestos laden. By your description of the age of your house and the size of the tiles it fits the era when that was common to use in flooring. You can remove it your self but be very careful that dust and debris does not contaminate the rest of the house. If you don’t remove it and cover it up with the new flooring it will still be a disclosure issue should you ever decide to sell. Professional companies can be hired to remove it and guarantee a safe removal but they charge an arm an a leg. Also by not removing it you will have a raised floor that will be harder to match in the hallways. Bruce flooring had a video for do it your selfers contact them and see if it’s still available.
Good luck!

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