Cons of building with bamboo

The other day we looked at some of the pros of building with Bamboo. Before I jump into the cons, I wanted to point out what someone commented on – the fact that Bamboo is not a wood, but a grass, which is true. However to simple things up I tend to talk about it like a wood, because when used in building its applications are wood-like. If you want to learn more about the true background of bamboo species I’d check out the book Bamboo Rediscovered or Building with Bamboo – which doesn’t go as much into the background of bamboo, but does cover harvesting and building techniques.

That said, let’s look at some bamboo building cons…

Most bamboo is hollow. Although some species are not, the ones that are can be harder to join, than say normal wood planks.

Bamboo is not fire resistant and can be quite combustible.

Bamboo pieces are not all the same, even when cut to the same size. If you think about how easy it is to stack bricks together because of their same size, you can also imagine how hard it would be to build a symmetrical structure with pieces of bamboo that vary.

If bamboo comes into contact with wet soil it deteriorates fairly quickly. Obviously because bamboo doesn’t fare well when exposed to wetness, this makes it problematic in wet weather unless it’s been properly treated (usually with chemicals).

Learn more about bamboo homes. Later we’ll look at some of the home construction companies who build with bamboo.