Bamboo: An Alternative to Timber
Planning for a more sustainable and eco-friendly build but unsure of the materials to use to help you achieve your goals?
Many timber alternatives are often overlooked in the material planning process, including one of our favourites, bamboo.
Images courtesy of House of Bamboo
Known to be incredibly durable, sustainable and versatile, it is worth considering what this uncommon yet fascinating timber alternative can do for your next renovation.
Dubbed 'tomorrow's timber', suppliers note that anything made in timber can also be made more sustainably via bamboo.
WHY USE BAMBOO?
Bamboo is a fantastic alternative when looking at the strength and durability of timber and is one of the most sustainable materials on the planet, making it ideal for use in construction.
Bamboo, on average, produces 35% more oxygen than trees and, in turn, absorbs four times more carbon, providing us with higher amounts of clean air. Not only does bamboo help facilitate the purification of air, but it is also self-regenerating, meaning once harvested, it will continue to regrow from the base stalks rather than requiring replanting.
Another benefit of bamboo is its positive impact on biodiversity as it naturally fights soil erosion and helps maintain the health of surrounding plants. Along with assisting with the health of surrounding flora and fauna, bamboo is quite a low maintenance crop, requiring little support and, more importantly, low water levels.
KEY ADVANTAGES OF BUILDING WITH BAMBOO:
It's sustainable and durable, but it's also naturally lightweight.
It's remarkably flexible with high levels of elasticity, meaning it won't snap at the first signs of tension.
It's known to withstand natural disasters from rough storms to earthquakes where other materials could crumble.
The lightweight nature of bamboo means it's easier to transport and install. This can result in lower labour costs as less time is spent moving the material between supplier and build.
The fibres in bamboo run axially, giving it higher tensile strength than steel.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BAMBOO AND TIMBER?
While bamboo offers you all of the advantages (and more) of traditional timber, it technically isn't classed as timber.
Bamboo is a form of grass, not wood; thus, it can't be labelled as such under a traditional definition of timber.
The range of different bamboo species falls from almost identical to timber to increasingly dissimilar, but this depends entirely on the type of bamboo in question. Harder, more durable bamboo species mimic timber qualities making them ideal for construction, while other more soft species don't share these same qualities and aren't suitable for construction, thus ruling bamboo as a whole out of the hardwood category.
Despite not being technically within the "timber family", bamboo performs at the level of traditional hardwoods. It passes timber tests with flying colours, making it an excellent choice of material for your next build.
Bamboo really does offer you the best of both worlds when it comes to strength & flexibility.
DID YOU KNOW?
When measured using the Janka Hardness Test, bamboo rates at 2-3 times harder than traditional timber! Bamboo flooring, in particular, utilises the hardness of the material incredibly well as it causes a dramatic reduction in wear and tear over time.
USING BAMBOO IN YOUR NEXT RENOVATION
The variety of uses of bamboo throughout your renovation is almost endless due to its incredibly durable and versatile nature.
Bamboo can be used to update a home with more sustainable accessories such as screens and furniture or be integrated into the design from the beginning in decks, blinds and flooring.
It can also be naturally dyed to compliment your interior design and colour palette. Bamboo flooring is also widely overlooked in homes but is highly regarded for its durability and is twice as hard as comparable timber.
Bamboo also allows for a design flow from indoors to outdoors with matching deck options. Offering the same durability as the indoor flooring, bamboo decking is also naturally termite resistant, unlikely to warp and can be coated in slip resistant finishes, making it ideal for outdoor use.
We recommend exploring the vicarious applications of bamboo for building with House of Bamboo - one of Australia's leading bamboo suppliers and the go to supplier for flooring, decking and rattan screens.
At Yarrow Build, we're dedicated to creating beautiful, sustainably conscious designs that help close the loop in a circular 'take-make-waste' economy.
Together we can design and build a home that suits your unique lifestyle needs without compromising the needs of the surrounding environment.
Interested in learning more about sustainable building practices or how we can help you build your future home?
Book a call and say hello; we'd love to hear from you!