WHY BAMBOO?
IN A NUTSHELL — BAMBOO IS BETTER
Not only is bamboo the best eco-friendly alternative to building with timber from a green perspective, it actually performs better in University tests that measure things like tensile and compressive strength. And in real world events like hurricanes and earthquakes, well-constructed bamboo homes (like the ones we create) stand strong while conventionally-built structures often don't.
As strong as mild steel with the compression strength of concrete. Amazingly, one inch of bamboo can hold up to 7 1/2 tons of weight.
In 1992, 95% of all homes were built with softwoods like Douglas fir. University studies show softwoods can't match bamboo's compression and tensile strength.
Tests show that termites refuse to eat even untreated bamboo.
Termites continue to cause significant damage to wood homes, requiring continued treatment with chemicals.
Bamboo Living Homes surpass the toughest hurricane codes in the USA, and in 1995, our homes withstood three back-to-back hurricanes with 173 mph winds.
Recent tests show that conventionally built wood homes can't stand up to even 100 mph winds.
Bamboo bends instead of breaks. In April 1991, twenty bamboo houses built for the National Bamboo Foundation in Costa Rica suffered no structural damage from a 7.5 Richter scale earthquake, despite being directly over the epicenter.
The same earthquake leveled scores of conventionally built homes, hotels, and resorts.
Our homes exceed California Air Resources Board standards. And all of our materials are minimally treated with natural borates to better resist mold and mildew.
New home construction increasingly uses "manufactured" woods like particle board bonded with adhesives and polymer materials which can lead to reduced indoor air quality from volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
THE BRILLIANCE OF BAMBOO
Discover the several additional benefits bamboo plantations have to offer!
CARBON SEQUESTRATION
Currently, over 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent are produced each year by human activity. Bamboo offers one of the quickest natural ways of removing vast amounts of that carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Bamboo buildings are a carbon capture and storage system. Bamboo takes CO2 from the atmosphere and through the process of photosynthesis turns it into sugars. The bamboo plant transforms these sugars into the compounds that make up the bamboo fiber. Half the weight of the bamboo is carbon. The carbon from the atmosphere is thus locked up in the bamboo fiber itself. Once the bamboo is treated with natural borates and used to build buildings, you have sequestered and stored the carbon for a hundred years.
Growing forests absorb CO2. Bamboo, as well as trees, sequesters carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converts the carbon into plant fiber. If the bamboo and wood are made into houses, then the carbon is effectively stored for the lifespan of the house. Thus, bamboo homes become a carbon capture and storage system. There is strong evidence that plantations of clumping bamboo produce significantly more biomass than trees. Therefore, bamboo is able to produce more houses and sequester more carbon than the same area planted in trees.
TIMBER GRADE
Bamboo Living Homes are made with a special tropical clumping bamboo species. The poles used in the houses are 3 ½ inches in diameter and the wall of the bamboo pole is a ¾ inch in thickness. The exceptionally strong and flexible bamboo poles are able to withstand the extreme forces imposed on a house during hurricanes and earthquakes. It has twice the compression strength of concrete and roughly the same strength-to-weight ratio of mild steel. The hollow tube shape gives a strength factor of 1.9 times more than an equivalent solid wood beam.
We’re proud to say that our Bamboo Living homes are the first and only bamboo buildings in the world that have achieved ICC-ES certification from the International Code Council. This means that they have surpassed all conventional tests and can be permitted anywhere in the world. In addition, the engineering of our homes has exceeded even the strictest hurricane codes set by Florida’s Miami-Dade County—proving that bamboo is not just a green choice, but also a superior building material.
Understanding the full benefits of using bamboo requires an open mind, imagination and a bit of re-education. We’re sometimes asked, “Is a bamboo house strong enough to hold up a heavy roof as well as solar and hot water panels?” Our answer is a resounding, “ABSOLUTELY!”
BENDS, BUT DOESN'T BREAK
Bamboo Living Homes are not only designed to exceed international seismic and hurricane code requirements, they also surpass the toughest hurricane codes in the USA – Florida’s Miami-Dade County. And in 1995, our beautiful bamboo homes were put to the test in the islands of Rarotonga when three category 5 hurricanes hit in February, causing extensive damage or completely demolishing most of the timber structures. But even 278kph (173mph) winds couldn’t blow our Bamboo Living bungalows down. The owners were ecstatic that they’d built with bamboo. READ FULL ARTICLE
BEFORE/AFTER
Bamboo Living cottage in Rarotonga during and after the hurricanes. Slide the bar over the image to reveal full image.
The cottage was boarded up to protect the glass windows. The roofing sustained some damage, but the cottage structure was completely unharmed and is still in use as a beautiful resort rental today.
Image Taken in 1995 During Hurricane Season
Image Taken in 2020
Bamboo Living’s buildings are engineered by licensed structural engineers and address the need for resiliency in a time of changing climate. The homes hold up extremely well due to the inherent strength of structural bamboo. Bamboo has been shown in tests as well as in practice to be a superior building material. In the US, building materials are only tested up until initial failure. In India at IIT in Delhi, researchers tested bamboo after initial failure by continuing to add loading. Unlike concrete and steel, which fail catastrophically, the bamboo continued to perform. This provides another layer of safety not found with concrete and steel construction.
GOODBYE, TERMITES & PESTS!
Bamboo Living has been building homes with structural bamboo for over 23 years, and the first home is still in excellent condition. Building with bamboo is a logical fit because of the threat of insects, especially termites, to homes. Bamboo has some natural resistance that other wood doesn’t have; Bamboo has a high concentration of silica, which termites don’t like.
Bamboo Living structural poles are thoroughly treated and third-party inspected with time-tested natural non-toxic borates in a large pressure treatment tank at our factory, and we use a higher concentration of Borates than is used to treat conventional lumber. When treated properly, bamboo becomes an inhospitable environment for termites. Borates are a safe, easy, and very effective way to protect all wood species (including bamboo) from any kind of insect or decay attack. Borates successfully preserve wood and bamboo for well over fifty years. Its low toxicity and permanency give our homeowners assurance that the structures they have purchased are secure from these threats.
All additional bamboo materials that are used in our homes, including the woven bamboo strands, cross-laminated products used for cabinetry and mill work, bamboo weavings, and split bamboo siding, are also treated at our factory to ensure protection from those nasty little critters. That is why Bamboo Living provides a 10-year warranty against any structural damage on all of our green prefab home designs.
Bamboo houses properly treated with borates should easily last longer than conventional wood construction, well over 50 years.
IF WE REPLACE
12 %
OF STEEL, CONCRETE, & TIMBER WITH BAMBOO, WE CAN REVERSE THE CLIMATE CRISIS
It's true! If bamboo made up even a modest market share of conventional building materials, the climate impact could be monumental. If we can replace wood, concrete, and steel with bamboo at 12% of global construction, that would address one-third of humanity’s entire output of CO2. This figure includes bamboo’s actual carbon drawdown as well as the emissions avoided from steel and concrete production and cutting down trees for lumber. At Bamboo Living, converting this ambitious projection into reality is our ultimate goal.
Our ability to change the planet grows faster than our capability of understanding the consequences of our actions. Meeting the needs of our population without compromising the health and well-being of future generations is imperative.
Sustainability helps us evaluate and minimize the consequences of our daily lives while preserving resources for those that will follow in our footsteps. Sustainable living requires not only being environmentally conscious but socially and economically considerate as well.
By using bamboo to curb our use of wood as a building material, we introduce sustainable building practices which preserves forests and natural resources. Our focus is to increase the efficiency of material usage while reducing our impact on our health and the environment.
