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It’s called engineered bamboo [1] but it’s not widely used yet as a load bearing material because manufacturers are still working on certifying it with building
by throwup238 9mo ago
It’s called engineered bamboo [1] but it’s not widely used yet as a load bearing material because manufacturers are still working on certifying it with building code organizations (and it may not be strong enough).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineered_bamboo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineered_bamboo
- moomoo11 9mo agothat's really cool! i'm no expert at this stuff, but i used to live in a home that had a bamboo garden maintained by a housemate. that stuff was so strong, i used it to make a box lol
- throwup238 9mo agoBamboo is orthotropic so it’s strong parallel to its fibers but much weaker perpendicular to them whereas wood is adapted to grow in both directions at the expense of being much slower. When you start adding fasteners (screws, nails, etc) bamboo starts to split along the fibers, becoming brittle and weakening the entire support structure. That’s not to say it’s not strong enough necessarily, but building with bamboo requires different construction techniques and people are still working on validating its safety and updating building codes, which takes decades.