Bamboo

Bamboo is used in the Philippines for a variety of purposes ranging from food to housing material, furniture, and handicraft products.

The woody grass, known as Bambusae grows in abundance and generally cheaper than other materials. The durability of the bamboo, usually three to five years, is improved by treatment and preservation techniques applied to the poles. Bamboo poles are used as framing for furniture. Strips of outer or inner skin are woven into furniture sidings, seats or back. Bamboo is bleached, dyed, finished with oil or sprayed with paint and other finishes to improve quality and appearance. It is also ysed in combination with rattan, buri, and other furniture materials.

There are 54 species and four varieties of locally grown bamboo, nine of which are commercially used: Kawayan tinik, kawayan kiling, bayog, anis, botong, giant bamboo, buho, yellow bamboo, and bolo.

A versatile plant, bamboo is used as raw material for low cost houses, furniture, handicraft products, fishing implements as well as source of pulp and paper. As a construction materials bamboo is made into sawali panels, veneers, plywood, parquet tiles and as reinforcement for concrete blocks.

We show today a sunken area with a floor covered in bamboo, slats, a gazebo of bamboo poles, a bar combining both slats and poles, bamboo furniture and bamboo curtains. This materials can be combines with wood or plain cement walls painted in a soft or neutral colors.

Bamboo must be thoroughly dried before use. In air drying bamboo poles are stocked upside down in a shaded but well ventilated area. Kiln-drying is also used. bamboo cut when less mature is less susceptible to powder post beetle damage, but the danger remains unless preservation method are used. Traditionally methods of preserving bamboo include immersing the material in salty water or in the sandy seashore. White washing is another method where bamboo culms are painted with slaked lime, which makes bamboo resistant to fungi. When properly treated and used under favorable conditions it can last as 10 to 15 years.