I have heard people say that bamboo is a very eco friendly building material. Is that correct and how?

Question

I want to explore eco friendly alternatives to wood for making the floor and ceiling of my house. Will bamboo be good for that? Is it really eco friendly?

Answer 1

Bamboo uses low amounts of chemicals and is much easier to grow than regular sources of wood (i.e. trees) so there is less damage to the soil and a lot of bamboo can be grown in a small area as opposed to trees that need space for roots. Finally, bamboo grows very rapidly which makes it extremely renewable.  

Answer 2

Bamboo is considered eco friendly because it grows rapidly unlike trees. However, bamboo can only be used as a decorative building material since the wood is thinner.  

Answer 3

Bamboo is considered eco-friendly because it is a fast growing plant (in the grass family actually) so it renews much faster than wood.  The downside is it is typically mono cropped in a plantation style which can be bad for both the environment and the workers.

Answer 4

It is a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Some of its members are giant bamboo, forming by far the largest members of the grass family. Bamboo is the fastest growing woody plant in the world. Their accelerated growth rate (up to 3-4 feet/day (1.5-2.0 inches/hr)) is due to a unique rhizome system and is dependent on local soil and climate conditions.

They are of economic and high cultural significance in East Asia and South East Asia where they are used extensively in gardens, as a building material, and as a food source. In Filipino, they are known as kawayan, Chamorro as piao, in Chinese as zhu (Chinese: 竹; pinyin: zhú), in Japanese as take (Kanji: 竹; Hiragana: たけ, take?), in Korean as dae (대) or daenamu (대나무), in Myanmar as wa, in Vietnamese as Tre /tʃe/, in Hindi as baans (बाँस) or vanoo (वेणु), in Persian as nei (نی) and in Indonesian as bambu[1].

Answer 5

As long as you don't waste and make good measurements (as to avoid wasting), wood in general is a good building material. It is strong, plentiful and renewable. Bamboo grows back faster, but it is not nearly as strong or versatile. You can use it, just avoid using it in load bearing capacities.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

it's considered "green" because it is a sustainable natural resource.  It's not as hard on the soil to grow bamboo than other trees.

Answer 8

Bamboo is extremely hard but it is also thin, so that it is not good for weight bearing, it is also round and hard to manage.

Unless you are planning on building a hut on the beach in Tahiti.

Answer 9

well yes, considering that it takes less time to produce it and it's like abundant in many places. but then, it will be more-eco friendly design if you use indegenous materials in your area for example coconut wood (if it's locally available and manufactured and abundant)

Answer 10

Grows fast and is deep rooted.   After growing and shedding its leaves the top soil is actually better than before it grew.

Answer 11

A sixty-foot tree cut for market takes 60 years to replace.  Meanwhile, a sixty-foot bamboo cut for market takes 59 days to replace