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I am more interested in the engineering aspects of Bamboo than just the aesthetics. The entire video is about how unique it is, and how beautiful it looks. None

I am more interested in the engineering aspects of Bamboo than just the aesthetics. The entire video is about how unique it is, and how beautiful it looks. None of that matters if the whole house of cards falls over. There was an interesting brief comment about treatment to protect the Bamboo from rotting away but very little information was conveyed in the presentation. I wish they'd show the technical fundamentals of why Bamboo is unique.

Retric 8y ago
Bamboo has a very good strength to weight ratio allowing you to build very tall structures. The real issue is it degrades faster than wood.
cwkoss 8y ago
I visited this bamboo factory - they soak the bamboo in a chemical bath (bromine I think?) and wash it off to make the bamboo harder and less vulnerable to pests. As such, the bamboo they are building with may have notably different mechanical properties than raw, dried bamboo.
- geomark 8y ago
  I have done some bamboo construction here in Thailand. In addition to mold problems, untreated bamboo gets eaten by powder post beetles. Treating the bamboo with a borax/boric acid solution preserves it for many years and does not affect its strength. I have bamboo rafters on a cottage that are still solid after more than 10 years. A few untreated pieces at the edges were eaten up in 3 years. The way I did the treatment was to use a long piece of sharpened rebar to punch out the membrane between the sections in the bamboo poles, leaving the last one intact. Then stand the poles vertically and pour in the solution and let it soak for several days. So I did not need a tank to soak them in. Also, soaking them in a tank is not very effective because the outer skin of the bamboo poles is pretty water proof so the solution doesn't soak into the walls which contain all the sugar that the power post beetles crave. After treatment you let them dry thoroughly and then they are ready for use. You need to protect the treated bamboo from the weather since the chemicals are water soluble so the ends and any cracks will allow rain to leech it out and expose it to attack by fungus and pests. Also not suitable for direct contact with the ground for the same reason. Other treatment methods I have seen that are aimed at converting the sugar to make the bamboo unattractive to pests: Roast the poles over a low fire - results in loss of strength. Soak them in a running stream for a few weaks - results in a very foul smell that takes a long time to go away. Bamboo construction is very interesting but there are some real challenges with making good connections with it. It has great tensile strength which all comes from the skin of the bamboo. Putting holes in it, nails, screws, bolts cause the bamboo to split, making it difficult to take advantage of its tensile strength. Connections that grab the outer circumference make the most of the tensile strength but due to the high dimensional variance of bamboo nearly every connection ends up being custom made.

Retric 8y ago

Bamboo has a very good strength to weight ratio allowing you to build very tall structures. The real issue is it degrades faster than wood.

cwkoss 8y ago

I visited this bamboo factory - they soak the bamboo in a chemical bath (bromine I think?) and wash it off to make the bamboo harder and less vulnerable to pests. As such, the bamboo they are building with may have notably different mechanical properties than raw, dried bamboo.

geomark 8y ago
I have done some bamboo construction here in Thailand. In addition to mold problems, untreated bamboo gets eaten by powder post beetles. Treating the bamboo with a borax/boric acid solution preserves it for many years and does not affect its strength. I have bamboo rafters on a cottage that are still solid after more than 10 years. A few untreated pieces at the edges were eaten up in 3 years. The way I did the treatment was to use a long piece of sharpened rebar to punch out the membrane between the sections in the bamboo poles, leaving the last one intact. Then stand the poles vertically and pour in the solution and let it soak for several days. So I did not need a tank to soak them in. Also, soaking them in a tank is not very effective because the outer skin of the bamboo poles is pretty water proof so the solution doesn't soak into the walls which contain all the sugar that the power post beetles crave. After treatment you let them dry thoroughly and then they are ready for use. You need to protect the treated bamboo from the weather since the chemicals are water soluble so the ends and any cracks will allow rain to leech it out and expose it to attack by fungus and pests. Also not suitable for direct contact with the ground for the same reason. Other treatment methods I have seen that are aimed at converting the sugar to make the bamboo unattractive to pests: Roast the poles over a low fire - results in loss of strength. Soak them in a running stream for a few weaks - results in a very foul smell that takes a long time to go away. Bamboo construction is very interesting but there are some real challenges with making good connections with it. It has great tensile strength which all comes from the skin of the bamboo. Putting holes in it, nails, screws, bolts cause the bamboo to split, making it difficult to take advantage of its tensile strength. Connections that grab the outer circumference make the most of the tensile strength but due to the high dimensional variance of bamboo nearly every connection ends up being custom made.