Bamboo As a Building Material

Advertisements

Bamboo is one of the oldest building materials. If we see in history, bamboo

was used for construction of houses in areas where there was abundance of
plants especially in South America, Africa& south East Asia.
Climate and Bamboo growth:

Bamboo usually grows at temperature of 250C to 500C.The ideal place for

growth of bamboo is fully water free area. These trees usually grow on sandy
soil and clayey soil. Organic soil hinders the growth of bamboo. Bamboo
usually reaches at height 75 ft with circumference of 0.3ft.The life of bamboo
tree is usually 20 to 100 years.
Bamboo as the building material:

To make usable the bamboo for the construction, first it is usually harvested
and then it is dried. For drying, two methods are used:

Air drying (It takes 6 to 12 weeks)

Kiln dryin g(It takes 2 to 3 weeks)

Moisture is one of the big killers of bamboo. As the moisture increases risk of
attack of fungi, an insect increases. So the best time for harvesting of
bamboo is cooler season.