Morning Star Bamboo Flooring Review

Morning Star Bamboo Flooring Review

By Fortino Rosas / August 8, 2018 / 64 Comments

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    You find yourself thumbing through award-winning home catalogs, gawking at the beautiful bamboo flooring glistening in the photos.

    Fast forward a few hours, and you are now giving up your precious credit card number, in the hopes to have one of those photo ready homes. Was Morning Star Bamboo the right choice?

    With the plenty of unique options, the Morning Star Bamboo flooring is sure to catch your eye.

    But we all know, the worst part of remodeling a home is making mistakes. Whether it’s wasting money, or picking something with constant issues, we all want to be confident that our purchase is the best option.

    HGTV makes these beautiful home remodels look easier than they are. I’m here to help you sort between the good and evil of the home remodeling confusion. In this article, I will be reviewing Morning Star Bamboo. Here are some things you can expect to read about:

    Pros and Cons of Bamboo

    After designing my mother’s home, she decided to have bamboo flooring installed after researching the pros and cons. After having it in our home for ten years, here are some of the pros and cons that we discovered after living with the flooring.

    • Bamboo is a soft wood.
    • Bamboo requires more specialty care.
    • The flooring provides a unique look.
    • It is an eco-friendly flooring choice

    In our home, the specialty care did not have a huge impact, once we learned the best method for upkeep. The softness of the wood was the biggest con overall.

    I still remember the fight when my brother dropped a screwdriver on the floor, and it left a pretty x on the floor for my mother to look at every day. The wood is soft, and susceptible to denting, no matter how much the website raves of the hardness of the wood. However, it isn’t something to actively worry about day to day.

    Besides those two drawbacks the flooring is a great choice. My mom loved how unique it was to other wood flooring options, and I loved the eco-friendly aspect of the bamboo.

    All in all, both my mother and I would choose to install bamboo flooring again. However, after researching Morning Star Bamboo, I would do a lot of research into which company you purchase it from.

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    Morning Star or Bust?

    Bamboo itself does not seem to be the issue with the Morning Star brand. As mentioned before, the flooring does have its shortcomings.

    Yes, you are getting a softer wood that may require more specialty care; however, splitting and separating of the flooring is never acceptable, especially not with a flooring that is as expensive as Morning Star’s.

    After spending hours on the internet, my initial overview of the product was that it is generally not as budget-friendly than some of the other click together bamboo competitors. With that, I expected to read about a higher quality product.

    It seems that this product looks better than it is to the untrained eye, but digging a little deeper it had many pitfalls.

    The flooring offers a 30-year warranty, which has now had a light shined on it by the legal sector. With a class action lawsuit against Lumber Liquidators, the claims on the products website of the flooring being, “extremely durable” and “free of defects” are being called into question.

    According to reviews, many people had issues with the product in the first year, sometimes even while installing the product. When being installed by a professional the flooring would split, dent, and even separate very early on.

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    Is Lumber Liquidators the Culprit?

    After reading the thousands of reviews of Lumber Liquidators, it seems the overall trend is positive. There were some issues, as with any large-scale company. However, that did not seem to be the topic of most of the reviews.

    In comparing the reviews of Lumber Liquidators to the reviews of the Morning Star Bamboo flooring, the reviews of Lumber Liquidators much exceed those of Morning Star. The Chinese-made flooring has more complaints than compliments, which leads me to believe it may be a poor investment for a new flooring option. However, I don’t think it’s Lumber Liquidators that is the bad investment.

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    D-I-Y or Don’t-I-Y

    With the Morning Star Bamboo, and all of its issues, I would not suggest self-installation. If you do decide to go with Morning Star bamboo, I would leave the installation to the professionals.

    It seems that even when done correctly, there are still major issues with the flooring. This does not seem like an easy, weekend project, even for the professionals.

    If you are looking for something you can do yourself, then click-together flooring is a good choice. I installed it myself, with little knowledge of flooring, and have had no issues so far. However, this bamboo may not be the best choice for beginners.

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    The Verdict is In

    Our opinion is that Morning Star is not worth the headache or the cost. Bamboo is a specialty flooring that does have some trade-offs for the beautiful look. However, falling apart and separating are not the expected results of any bamboo flooring product.

    If you do decide to go with Morning Star I would strongly suggest having a professional install it. I do not believe the culprit is the provider.

    Lumber Liquidators seems to have their array of positive and negative reviews, but the trend seems to be positive. On the contrary, when reading about Morning Star Bamboo, it was difficult to find a single positive review.

    I urge you to do your own research, and if you have had an experience with Morning Star Bamboo, good or bad, let us know in the comments!

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    About Fortino Rosas

    Chief Floor Critic, 32 years of experience in flooring installation and sales

    Fortino Rosas is an independent flooring contractor with 32 years of experience in residential and commercial flooring installation and sales. He joined the Floor Critics team to share his expertise with our readers. Fortino has acquired vast knowledge and skills in the areas of product selection, space planning, and installation. He has installed flooring in residential, government, and commercial office projects in the Midwest. Visit Website.

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    64 thoughts on “Morning Star Bamboo Flooring Review”

    1. I am desperately looking for Morning Star bamboo flooring in Elk Creek. Does anyone have any? I am willing to pay well for it. Thanks!

    2. I installed just under 300 sq’ of morning star about a decade ago. We do not take proper care of it. Have not had any issues with it either. When I do decide to clean it up bit, it looks like new.
      I stumbled across this article specifically looking for more, planning on ripping up the carpet in the bedrooms. For myself, it has been one of the easiest floors to install out of the 1500 sq’ I have done.

    3. Hi, I am looking for a Morning Star Honey Strand Distressed Hand scraped Stair Nose 45″ long. Dose anyone have an extra one?

    4. Looking for 2 boxes of Morning Start Bamboo floor from Lumber Liquidators.
      Not in production anymore!

      Please let me know if you have something laying around. New or Used.
      Will pay good $.

        1. Hi Eugenio – I am looking for someone that has some extra Morningstar strand bamboo and I noticed you posted that you have some. Is there a way you can send me a picture of what color you have? I have a small area that buckled from having water on it for like 10 minutes. Now they stopped selling it ughh. My email is jhawk924@comcast.net

          1. I am looking for 1 box of morning star bamboo flooring stone house manor flooring (5/8”x7.5”)

    5. I am a contractor of 20+ years. I installed the morning star solid floating carbonized bamboo 3/8″ x 5-1/8″ in my inlaws house. BIG MISTAKE. This flooring is garbage. It looked beautiful and about a year later is buckling like crazy. I used the provided vapor/padding underneath. I have installed Tens of Thousands of Square feet of flooring (Every sort of flooring you can think of) . NEVER had an issue or call back, EXCEPT for this flooring. Which apparently every one else is having issues with. The Glue down or nail down version of this may not have as many issues, but the floating version is terrible. I have used LL for lots of flooring. No problems with their other products. I did Mayflower glue down in my own home, No problems. AVOID the floating bamboo at all cost. HUGE dissapointment. Now i have to try to find a way to get LL to make this right. My inlaws are an older retired couple and its almost 1200 sf. (Dining room, kitchen, foyer, living room, breakfast area) Cearly many years ago they knew this product was garbage and problematic. Thats when they should have stopped selling it…. I will be calling them tomorrow to see how they will make this right. Has anyone actually received compansation of any sort yet?

      Rob

      1. Hi Janene! I have one box of Antique Strand bamboo. Was purchased from Lumber Liquidators about 2 yrs ago. Box never opened. We live in Indiana, would sell CHEAP!

        1. Please queue me behind Jason, Tricia, Tim, & Jarred as another LL customer who loves their 50 year warranty Morning Star XD HS Antique Hazel Bamboo 1/2″ x5″ but needs to replace a few defective boards.
          My 2017 floating install looks mostly great but LL compensated me with a $137.02 class action store credit good til August, 2024 for my split boards. That amount would buy 2 boxes @ $63 (more than enough for repair) if the product hadn’t been discontinued.
          I asked corporate LL if they currently sold anything “compatible” with the 5 inch Morning Star click scheme but Megan Keesling could only reply with a copy of the settlement and not share whether similarly situated customers had discovered a compatible fit. My search on ZHEJIANG TIANZHEN TECHNOLOGY CO LTD (the manufacturer) for other distributors was also a bust.
          I’d pay $200 for a box.

      2. Ronald Bennett

        Hi Rob, I’m a contractor and installed about 1400 sq. in my house and find the same problems you described. I did multiple rooms on the same floor and I have several places that had separated. I hope you get some satisfaction. I haven’t yet.

      3. I am following this conversation. I bought my house in October 2020. This flooring was brand new. It has now BUCKLED horribly and I have 2000 sq ft. of it. I am a teacher and a single mom. PLEASE let me know if there is any restitution. Buckled out of nowhere and continues to get worse every day. I am calling Lumber Liquidators tomorrow. Please let me know if you have any advice or any new experiences. I cannot afford to purchase new flooring for the entire house. What a mess and a huge headache.

    6. We had Morning Star bamboo installed in our dining room, kitchen and one bedroom by a Lumber Liquidators “professional” installer back in 2011 and are currently looking at replacing the carpet in our living room and another bedroom. I have not noticed any major problems with the floor itself since it was installed (except in the kitchen which I’ll get to). The dining room has some scratches but we have a dog and two cats and it’s 8 years old so I don’t expect it to look brand new. Our biggest problem with this product/company was the installation. LL “professional” installer quit halfway through the job, and then demanded more money from us! Eventually after numerous phone calls our LL store found a different installer to finish the job. He did fine but the kitchen planks (installed by the first guy) have noticeable gaps between some of them that just collect crumbs and dirt. We are now working with our LOCAL flooring store to do our living room and another bedroom. They do not recommend bamboo but will install it if we want and get get the same flooring from LL that we have in the other rooms. We’re also looking at vinyl planks as an option but then we would replace the dining/kitchen and bedroom bamboo so the house is the same throughout.

      1. Do not buy engineered vinyl planks from Lumber Liquidators. I did and after a year I am having separation and gapping issues in some areas. LL denied any warranty due to a moisture / dryness disclaimer. Moisture / dryness is not a problem in our house and how would LL even know this as they never came to our house to inspect the problem, but just automatically denied the problem after we did all their warranty paperwork and sent them pictures. They do not have a customer service dept., but a disclaimer dept.

    7. VAUGHN LEIGH BRESHEARE

      Last year we had a professional install my 1/2 inch Antique Distressed strand bamboo, we glued it down. No issues. TOUGH STUFF. We not only love this product in the kitchen, it feels warm on your feet, doesn’t show dust, smudges, a great choice. And one we get comments on all the time.

      1. So you did not use the 18 gauge cleat nailer to put down the 1/2″ solid Bamboo? We were told we needed to use the cleat nailer by the flooring store. What specific glue did you use?

        Thank you!

        1. Peggy, I put down some 1/2 stranded bamboo also, but used the cleats. I was told that I could use glue if I wanted to, but they suggested that I not do that since I was installing myself and glue can end up making a huge mess. LL solid some glue that was around $250 a can if I remember correctly. I was also told that some of the flooring was not designed for glue, and on the labels showing the price of each sample in the showroom it would list if it was click, nail or glue. I hope this helps.

      1. I am NOT a professional. However – I had a house in Cincinnati I put A THOUSAND feet of the 1/2″ Click Strand in over 4 rooms and a hallway. Did it myself. Looked Spectacular for 2 years – then I sold the house. Bought one in Florida – put in another 400 feet in 2 rooms. Again – installed it myself. Been 2 years now. NEVER EVER AN ISSUE. I have 3 cats and lots of traffic. I even DROPPED A BURNING LOG OUT OF MY FIREPLACE — NO DAMAGE. And NO ONE EVER – Entered my homes without remarking how nice the floors are. Best Deal in Flooring on the market. Now if they want to send me a check as part of the Class Action suit – I’ll happily cash it. 🙂 But its nice flooring.

        The 1/2 inch Click Strand is the stuff to get. IF YOU USE NAILS OR GLUE – YOU ARE INSTALLING IT INCORRECTLY. Make sure it is close enough to the wall for your baseboard to cover it – and done. “Undercut” your door frames if the install raises the overall floor height. The ONLY THING I would make sure … is the boxes of wood get unwrapped and opened – and LEFT FOR A WEEK…..to make sure they acclimate. I think many of the issues are from either cold or hot wood being installed too soon after delivery. And reading the “Pro Installer” comments makes me think they screw it up more often than not.

    8. Jim Summerville

      I installed 3/4 inch Morning star in my hallway, living room and 3 bedrooms about 3 years ago. We had to use a heavy weight nailer to shoot the nails, occasionally we had to hand punch a few nails to make the tongue and groove fit. The floors still look beautiful and I have had no problems with movement or buckling. We live in Colorado, very low humidity.

    9. I had Morning Star Click Natural Stranded Bamboo installed in my 1937 renovated rental home going on 3 years now. I had it installed by LL recommended professionals and spent the extra to have it glued down with the LL recommended Morning Star adhesive. The family has two small children ages 2 and 4 with a indoor cat so the floor is really put to the test and I’ll say it is bullet proof. No buckling, No cracks. No movement, no squeaks, and no sign of wear. Yes, the glue is expensive but well worth it because it eliminates all concerns mentioned and if you ever do get a water leak, the glue stops the spread of the water under the flooring. I’m planning to do the basement with the same glue down process.

    10. This floor was installed by the previous owners of our house and only had been down for 2 months before it started separating. We have gaps in the floor ranging from 1/4” to 2”. If you google this brand plus lawsuit you will find many with the same issue. It is defective and poor quality. Avoid LL at all costs, they just lost another lawsuit about formaldehyde emissions for their laminate. They are not a company you can trust.

      1. “They are not a company you can trust.”

        I agree…they do not honor their warranty. I have a lifetime warranty and waterproof engineered vinyl plank floor from Lumber Liquidators and am having separation / gapping issues with it at the ends and they have denied my warranty claim due to moisture / drynesss without ever coming to my house to inspect the floor. I got their disclaimer almost immediately after filling all their paperwork and sending pictures as they requested. I also filed a complaint on their FaceBook page which they remove within a couple days.

    11. Installed Morning Star XD ultra 9/16 nail down about 2 years ago. Used a cheap silicone vapor barrier from Home Depot 1st followed by quiet walk underlayment. Used 1 1/4 flooring staples ever 6-8 inches and didn’t have splitting issues. The floor is holding up great. Haven’t experienced any denting or scratches (dropped plenty of things) and have a 60lb pitbull. Just bought more to do 2 more rooms.

    12. Bought Morning Star XD bamboo flooring at Lumber liquidators back in December 2018, followed the instructions on what to do prior to installing and finally had it installed a month later. Walked into one of the rooms on Friday and there’s a hill now in the middle of the room from the floorboards buckling. Am finding out now that this is an issue some have experienced and that there is a class action lawsuit, so upset by this.

        1. Jackeline Mustac

          No, just got off the phone with LL and they are saying it is an install issue. I became very upset by this and the representative essentially said she would send out a 3rd party inspector from inspect solutions to come and take a look at my floors. Unfortunately from what I have read online, these inspectors although not affiliated with LL tend to always side with what LL has already determined – their product is not defective.

          1. Just got off the phone with Lauren from Lumber liquidators and she stated that the floor inspection report has found the buckling to be due to incorrect installation. Really baffling how we all happen to be experiencing similar issues yet we all didn’t use the same installation company. Expensive lesson learned, will never buy ANYTHING from Lumber Liquidators ever again.

            1. Lumber Liquidators disclaims all warranty issues with “incorrect install” or “moisture / dryness”. They disclaimed my engineered vinyl plank flooring that is waterproof with a life time warranty for moisture / dryness without ever inspecting my floor.

    13. We had Morning Star Bamboo flooring installed and I must say it turned out beautiful. HOWEVER, it was the worst decision ever made. Our floor began to warp and lift throughout the home. Applied professionally according to manufacturer/LL recommendations. LL contends that install was wrong. We will never buy bamboo and never deal with LL again.

      1. If it is “warping or lifting” this is caused by the floor being cut too tight at the wall, specifically at corners. This is an install issue. Best floor for the money IMHO

    14. We installed two bedrooms with solid strand click bamboo from LL about two years ago and the floor still looks beautiful! The only place where there is a tiny gap is between the closet and the room itself because those pieces were not connected with the click system.

      1. Is this the engineered bamboo product or solid? There is a difference and I want to make sure we don’t purchase something Not good. We are looking at the MorningStar XD engineered stranded bamboo quick click.

        1. My husband and I installed Morning Star XD Solid click strand bamboo in our 3 season glass enclosed porch ourselves. We followed all of the install instructions and have had no issues after ~1 year of use. We have 3 cats that run around like maniacs and have destroyed our other floors with their claws, but not this floor. I am impressed with how well this floor is holding up to the cats and this high traffic area. We love the porch floor so much that we wanted to redo the whole house with the same bamboo, but then saw all of the negative reviews and articles. From what I can gather of the people who have had issues with separating, buckling, and poor wear, its the engineered floors that must be installed with glue/nails that seem to be the issue. At least from our experience the solid click bamboo floors seem to be of good quality, and not have these issues.

        2. It is an Engineered “Hardwood” Heated up Mash put through an extruder with some dye. I have used tons of it – never had an issue – and it looks great. Installed it myself with a tape measure and a chop saw. No glue – no nails.

    15. Had morning star bamboo installed by LL. Looked amazing and really loved the new remodel in our home for about 2 weeks. We went with a dark colored finish and was told by the salesman that this was the most durable and easy to maintain floor on the market. Floor has been down now for about 18 months and honestly it looks 10 years old. Very dissatisfied with this product!

    16. Morningstar 1/2” is not good flooring. The surface is hard but the tongue splinters off whether shooting it down with a 15gauge flooring nailer or a 18guage flooring gun. Being so hard makes it brittle. I would never put bamboo in my own house. Long story short “good stuff is not cheap and cheap stuff is not good, period.”

        1. The flooring store stated that the 1/2″ SOLID hardwood Bamboo (not click) had to be installed with 18 gauge cleat gun. Is this incorrect? If so, can you share a link with me that states this isn’t the proper installation and what is the paper for the SOLID Bamboo? Thank you so much!

    17. Have morning star from lumber liquidators. Would not purchase again. A lil puppy dog damaged floor on just 1 visit. Not as strong as we were told it would be. Professionally installed. Had to have them come back to nail edge boards down that they missed. And get putty for splits in wood where the nails are. Live and learn.

    18. Wow. I was getting worried reading some earlier comments. We had bamboo bought from LL but had a small kitchen fire. The floor was scratched when the firefighters were taking out the stove. The old bamboo was torn up and we have the morning star xd acclimating and waiting to be put down. I have a lesser grade morning star upstairs and it has done well. I hope the new stuff does as well downstairs as the stuff upstairs.

    19. We bought a house in August 2018 in Athens, GA. Beautiful Morning Star XD Engineered Bamboo floor installed by ‘someone’ prior to our purchase. By mid September it had started buckling. My question now is how do I fix this problem?

      Has anyone had any success in resolving this other than ripping out and replacing with different product? Not installed on slab but on some kind of sub-floor on main floor over basement. Mild weather, and yes air conditioned house. Seemed to start as soon as weather cooled off a bit. HELP!

    20. Yvonne Przybylski

      I am so dissatisfied with our morning star bamboo flooring which we purchased at the lumber liquidators in Fargo North Dakota. We’ve had it about two years, and it’s been a headache shortly after it was professionally installed.The buckling, the finish, the footprints and streaks are nearly impossible to keep up with. I am glad the Class action lawsuit is being waged against MorningStar and the lumber liquidators that sold it without giving us warning. I hope this can be resolved.

    21. I had Morning Star Bamboo installed in the master bedroom, office, and living room six years ago. No issues and the floors still look great.

      1. I installed it 4 years ago in my new construction house (850 square feet of wood) and it looks great. I have no idea what people are talking about that it’s soft. We drop a lot of items on it and not one dent. I installed the thickest available and on plywood.

    22. Bought a second home, a double wide manufactured home in Florida in July, 2018, that had just been remodeled with Morning Star Bamboo from Lumber Liquidators, throughout! Absolutely beautiful! Went home, as always left air on 84 degrees! Came back down two days ago and almost fell into the kitchen when i tripped over the buckled hump by the counter. Flooring is raised and buckled throughout the whole house!

    23. Arthur Paul Johnson

      Had Morning Star XD bamboo flooring professionally installed in my home in Portland, OR in June of 2018. Had considered other manufacturers. Chose the thicker material at 5/8 inches. Seasoned the product in opened-at-end packaging for 5 weeks before install. Leveled basement concrete floor before install, so very flat. Covered concrete floor with recommended underlay, left space at manufacturer recommended spacing locations. Result: product is as hard as advertised. Heavy traffic on tarp covered bamboo during subsequent major remodel left no scratches. Plenty of objects dropped and no dents. Dog lives here and has run of house – no scratches. Beautiful color. No splitting, cracking etc. To date I’m completely satisfied and everyone who sees it, loves it. My experience leads me to doubt the credibility of the article from this reviewer.

      1. Hi Arthur,

        Great to hear you’ve had a positive experience with Morning Star’s Bamboo, and understand your criticism. We’re always looking to improve our content to make it as helpful as possible for flooring buyers & researchers. We’ll queue this review up for another look.

        Thanks,
        Rob @ FloorCritics

        1. Couldn’t agree with Arthur more. This is NOT the “soft” bamboo of earlier and different manufacturers. I have installed lots and lots of it – and it is terrific. Looks awesome and wears well. Easy to clean.

    24. Had Lumber Liquidators install Morning Star strand bamboo flooring in 3 bedrooms and hallway 18 months ago. Still looks brand new, having 3 more rooms and 3 sets of stairs done in a few weeks. Got a dog in the house that weighs over 50lbs, hasn’t put a scratch on it!

    25. Instaled bamboo flooring from Lumber Liquidators on all my bedrooms in the house 4 years ago, NOT a single problem and it looks as good as when it got installed.

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