Building wit Bamboo,3. advantages of bamboo as a building material

Building with Bamboo, Anja Henseler 1997

3. advantages of bamboo as a building material
Bamboo is offen used as a building material.
Not only bridges, like the one on the front page, but also complete houses can be made from bamboo.
This is simply done, by covering a bamboo frame with a bamboo matting. (See figure 2)
figure 2; A bamboo house in La Bambuseaie (Bamboo garden in France)
These houses are very solid and good protected against rain, wind and snow.
They are also very earthquake resistant.
big advantage ís that these houses can be build very quickly.
In 1985, aller the eruption of Nevada del Ruiz in Columbia, thousands of homeless people were housed in bamboo villages which were built in no time.
Bamboo can also be used, in stead of iron bars, to make concrete stronger.
A big advantage of bamboo over steel is that it doesn't shrink and swell that much and that it can stand more pressure.
This was also noticed by Paul Emile Victor, who lead a pole expedition in 1950.
He used aluminium and bamboo sticks as markers.
When he put the sticks in the snow, the aluminium ones conducted the heat of the sun. The snow around them started to melt and eventually they would fall down.
This is why Mr. Victor could only rely on his bamboo sticks.
Bamboo is also used for "Plyboo" (2) , which is a new innovation for flooring materials.
Plyboo bamboo flooring is constructed by laminating three layers of bamboo-veneer, glued together under high pressure.
It looks very beautiful and is very durable (see figure 3 and 4). --
There are some big advantages of bamboo floors over hardwood floors:
(note 2Plyboo internet page)
- It only takes 4 to 5 years to grow a bamboo plant, in stead of the many years which are needed to grow rain forest hardwood.
- Plyboo doesn't shrink and swell as do most hardwoods, thereby making it a very stable flooring product.
- Plyboo is harder and durable than oak.
Figure 3; "Plyboo, tomorrow's timber"
Figure 4; Plyboo floor elements