WOW! Bamboo floors was all I knew about.
They are beautiful. I will put one on the imaginary island that I will buy with my imaginary lottery winnings!!
Thanks
I got curious about bamboo and went looking for the other uses of the product.
Bamboo Furniture. Sofas, chairs, kitchen and dining room tables, bed frames and headboards, chest of drawers, kitchen cabinets. Bamboo has captured the imagination of both traditional and contemporary furniture designers.
Bamboo Flooring. Bamboo has become the most popular alternative to using hardwood flooring materials, found now commonly in mainstream building suppliers.
Bamboo accessories for home and commercial use. Bowls, plates, utensils, cutting boards, and other accessories are now commonly found in Western homes and mainstream retailers.
Bamboo fabric and clothing. Bed linens, bath and hand towels, dresses, tops, shirts, pants, undergarments, sweaters, sweatshirts, socks, shawls, baby clothes. Unlike cotton, bamboo for fabric does not need pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, irrigation, or flat land. Planted on hillsides, it grows on its own. Everyday, more green fabric manufacturers and designers are discovering the possibilities of working with bamboo fabric blends.
Bamboo paper. Imagine how much paper is used in the USA every year--from trees. What if we grew bamboo plantations for paper at 3 times the rate of biomass production of trees in tropical climates?
Bamboo healing and medicine. Bamboo has for centuries been used in Ayurvedic medicine and Chinese herbal medicine . Tabasheer, the powdered, hardened secretion from bamboo is used internally to treat asthma, coughs and can be used as an aphrodisiac. In China, ingredients from the root of the black bamboo helps treat kidney disease. In Japan, the antioxidant properties of pulverized bamboo skin is used to prevent bacterial growth, and it is used as a natural food preservative.
Bamboo as food. Bamboo shoots provide nutrition for millions of people worldwide. Taiwan alone consumes 80,000 tons of bamboo shoots annually.
Bamboo's ancient historical significance. Bamboo is a symbol of strength, flexibility, tenacity, and endurance. For centuries throughout Asia, it has been integral to religious ceremonies, art, music, and daily life. It can be found in the paper, the brush, and the inspiration for poems and paintings. Some of the earliest historical records from the 2nd century B.C. were written on green bamboo strips.
WOW! Who knew!
These are very beautiful home designs from the outside. I was just beginning to think of adding a room here at my home in NE Florida. I was thinking about closed cell foam insulation. Can you avoid all that plastic or fiberglass insulation with bamboo?
I went back to the site and could not find an R rating for their houses. They do have an energy star certification and provided the following information. I hope it helps. Keep us up on the addition.
Bamboo Living Homes withstood 3 hurricanes with winds at 173m.p.h. in the Cook Islands in Polynesia in 2005. Meanwhile, most of the wood frame houses on the island were damaged beyond repair. All of the twenty bamboo houses built for the National Bamboo Foundation survived a 7.5 Richter scale earthquake in Costa Rica in April 1991. An earthquake in Colombia in January 1999 also destroyed 75 percent of the buildings in the region, however, the bamboo structures survived uniformly unscathed.
On top of being engineered to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes, Bamboo Living green homes are designed to be weather, termite and mold resistant. The exterior siding, overhangs and porches on our green homes are coated with the highest quality water resistance finishes. All joints are completely sealed to keep out insects, air, wind, and rain.
Closed cell foam insulation was a new term to me so I found some information on it just in case I am not the only one who didn't know the difference. Thanks for the in put conasauga!
R-value (a rating of a material’s resistance to heat flow): Closed cell foam has a higher R-value per inch and may work better in cases where there is less room to insulate.
Weight: Closed cell foam weighs more than open cell and may cause a problem in some applications.
Cost: Closed cell foam appears to cost more than open cell.
Vapor permeability: Closed cell foam will form a vapor retarder that inhibits drying of the wall on the side of the wall to which it is applied. Open cell foam is vapor permeable and will not inhibit drying of the wall. Understanding and planning for how a specific wall assembly will dry when it gets wet will help inform this choice.
Liquid water management: Closed cell foams resist liquid water. Open cell foams may absorb minimal amounts of water.
Air barrier: Both foams can be used as air barriers if installed properly in a planned air barrier system.
The most important property of both types of foam is their ability stop the movement of air if installed properly in a planned air barrier system. Water vapor carried by leaks in building enclosures to places where the water vapor can condense poses a larger threat to the health and durability of a building than water vapor moved by diffusion through vapor-permeable building materials.
In the South, one is engaged in a battle to keep warm, humid air from condensing on cool air-conditioned surfaces, especially if the cool surface is inside a sheetrock wall where liquid water will cause mold to grow. Closed cell foam can work well in this battle if it is installed on the outside of the house and also serves as an air barrier. When the installation is done correctly, warm, humid air never hits the cool interior surfaces.
Regarding vapor: An additional vapor barrier in the wall can cause more problems than it solves in the South. It can be a condensing surface if it is on the cool side of the insulation and it can prevent a wall from drying.
Our local codes require vapor barriers due to our very wet climate. Wall insulation currently must be R-13 or higher The ceiling below the roof must be insulated to R-38 or higher. There are various requirements for roofing materials and for protection around windows and doors that are locally specific Some siding materials are now requiring water runoff protections. There are also slab or foundation vapor barriers required. Some areas may require subpumps or ventilation systems in basements or crawl spaces. We rarely see direct slap construction.
There are standards coming to recycling air flows to prevent humidity build up and stagnant air. As houses become more air tight it becomes more important to dehumidify and bring in fresh air from outside to prevent indoor pollution. Some air tight houses have particulate levels that are illegal elsewhere and promote the growth of molds.
Here we have naturally occurring radon gas issues and there may be some issues with natural asbestos.
National codes are usually made state and local specific.
It is not easy to take one design and make it a "world" standard.
That is true. Most of those rules are to insure safe places to live.
Everyplace has different issues.
Here most houses are on slabs. We are more concerned with hurricane standards than R values.
I am no where near Polynesian islands, but there is much bamboo no too far from where I live. They make everything from bird cages to furniture for the entire house from it. In fact there is a two lane bridge spanning over a 4 lane highway not too far from my house and it is completely made of bamboo, no concrete or steel enforcement.
Bamboo can grow almost anywhere other than artic regions. There are lots of varieties. Even lots of colors and sizes. Bamboo is used as a decorative planting in the Northwest extensively. One of the problems is that it tends to take over where ever it is planted. Typically it is planted here in specially prepared concrete beds to prevent unwanted spread. Thinning is required for a healthy plant.
Colgringo-I have been looking everywhere to find a picture of that bamboo bridge. Is it the one built by Velez in Bogata? Found lots of articles but no pictures.
John- Bamboo comes in lots of varieties but only about four of them are used for building. The ornamental ones make wonderful screening from the neighbors.
