diff --git a/src/Configula/Config.php b/src/Configula/Config.php
index d31ae31..c50426a 100644
--- a/src/Configula/Config.php
+++ b/src/Configula/Config.php
@@ -158,7 +158,8 @@ public function getItem($item, $defaultValue = null)
         } elseif (strpos($item, '.') !== FALSE) {
 
             $cs = $this->configSettings;
-            if ($val = $this->getNestedVar($cs, $item)) {
+            $val = $this->getNestedVar($cs, $item);
+            if ($val !== null) {
                 return $val;
             }
 
diff --git a/tests/ConfigTest.php b/tests/ConfigTest.php
index 79e0ba4..9b7821c 100644
--- a/tests/ConfigTest.php
+++ b/tests/ConfigTest.php
@@ -333,6 +333,19 @@ public function testNumberedConfiguatroniArrayKeysAreNotClobbered()
         $this->assertEquals(array(1,2,3,5), array_keys($result));
         
     }
+
+    // ---------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    public function testDotSyntaxRetrievesItemsCorrectlyStrict()
+    {
+        $obj = new Configula\Config($this->configPath . '/../yaml');
+
+        $this->assertSame(true, $obj->getItem('i'));
+        $this->assertNotSame(1, $obj->getItem('i'));
+        $this->assertSame(false, $obj->getItem('j'));
+        $this->assertSame(true, $obj->getItem('section.k'));
+        $this->assertSame(false, $obj->getItem('section.l'));
+    }
 }
 
 /* EOF: PhpDriverTest.php */
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/yaml/bool.yml b/tests/fixtures/yaml/bool.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6a3177
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/yaml/bool.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+i: true
+j: false
+section:
+  k: true
+  l: false
\ No newline at end of file