Bamboo is a grass that grows incredibly quickly, up to 1m (3ft)
per day. The high silica content in bamboo means it cannot be easily
digested by termites. Additional soaking in
borax salt
makes bamboo a reliable building material.
Bamboo has a higher tensile strength than many alloys of steel and a higher
compressive strength than many mixtures of concrete. Unlike wood, bamboo has no
knots. This allows it to withstand more stress throughout the length of each stalk. For a good overview of bamboo construction see
INBAR's
Bamboo in Construction (PDF 1.8Mb) and see more
bamboo buildings on Natural Homes. |
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John Hardy talks about bamboo |
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