Got a few questions post install. It's too late now but at least I will learn for the next time.

1. Bamboo 5/8 floor installed with 2.5" finish nails via dewalt electric nailer. How bad will results be from using the wrong nails.

2. Installed on parcticle board subfloor. Bad idea ?

3. Did no leave enough expansion at the edges where wood meets base board. Disaster ?

4. Did not stagger the seams where the boards butt ends and I have a uniform pattern across 200sq ft. Visual nightmare ?

5. I am doing another room with the same material on the same floor of the house. Should I do the pattern the same even though it kinda sucks ?

6. Am I complete bonehead ?

1. might not be the end of the world.
2.oops
3.go remove the last row and redo it with a 1/2" gap
4.spilled milk
5.I would rack it out and see for yourself which you like more.
6.reading the directions in the box never hurt.

Why oops on the subfloor ? I did not leave enough expansion at the ends as well as the sides. There were no instructions in my packaging.......

No instructions, must be Lumber Liquidators.
particle board doesn't have enough holding power once the floor starts moving around.
The floor won't expand much length wise so it wouldn't hurt to redo the first and last rows with more expansion.

You can remove the floor (carefully) and cut the nails (Fein saw works wonders) this will take time but you should be able to salvage most of it. You should also consider a extra plywood sheathing 1/2" to ensure your floor won't squeek. Now to the staggering part ensure you stagger no less than double the width of the board 3"= no less than 6"stagger. if you are dealing with a board 4" or wider you should be glueing the ends. I known installers to glue and nail the whole floor hope this helps

This thread reminds me of when I was picking up the spline at LL the other day. Two guys in there and the young sales guy is telling them about the MVP4 and the difference between that and an underlayment for floaters or under a naildown kinda stuff. They looked totally clueless. Turns out one guy is the son of a builder I used to do work for but he thought I was to expensive. He commented to the salesman on how they had a floor blow up in a new 2 million dollar house, not seeing me standing there. They tore it out and did it again the same way. It blew off the floor again. But gosh darn it, they did do some Cacl tests.

Some days you hear things and you just have to smile..

No. It was lowes. How does a floor blow off ? I did not question just putting it down with rosin paper because the flooring in the foyer is installed the same way and has been there for 10 years. I asked a few friends and got some bad advice. Im glad I can be humorous to some. I guess I'll just take my chances and see what happens when the humidity builds up. I'm not going to tear it out until I need to. If it starts to look bad I'll just pull it up and start over. It will still be cheaper than paying someone even if I have to do it twice. Thanks for the advice !

Floorfool, It's hard for me to imagine considering your time, & labor, not to mention what your floor must look like with the step pattern, potential aggravation down the road from different issues, then more time, labor, and material..... that you wouldn't have been, or won't be, way ahead of the game having a professional install your floor. Sorry, had to say.

Well, everybody has a different situation. I work freelance and have time off. The install only took 1.5 days. I work with my hands a lot and am not a bad mechanic and carpenter. I just did not know much about floor installation. If the problem I may run into is the flooring might pop up then I'll wait for that to happen as it would just make my job of tearing it out easier ! My only concern is that it may need to be redone in a few years and I might not be able to find the same wood then...oh well.