Economic houses Bacolod
 

Economic housing : Bamboo house in Bacolod

Humanity from cradle to grave in many countries since ages in Bamboo has a very long history for its use in various purposes viz. Food, shelter, furniture etc. Bamboo has been serving many different and ingenious ways.

Bamboo is one of the oldest materials used for the construction of economic houses bacolod and other structures. As an excellent building materials it is relatively cheap, easy to work with and readily available in most of the countries where bamboo grows.

The global shortage of housing materials especially in the developing countries is such that it warrants serious consideration. To keep pace with the population growth and to replace old houses, about 75 million units need to be constructed each year in Asia alone. The short supply of timber and other conventional construction materials accompanied by rising costs make it imperative to increasingly use of bamboo for housing. The demand of low cost houses in Philippines from 1993 to 1998 was about 3.8 million units.
 

Why Bamboo Housing?

Affordability: Of all the advantages of bamboo housing technology, the most important is its low cost that doesn't sacrifice quality, durability nor space. In stead it allows an option that is feasible for populations of scarce resources. According to PNB Costa Rica, bamboo houses are about 20% cheaper than the usual type of economic social housing. The cost of one house built by in Equador is less than US$450 which is pretty affordable for poor and marginal people. The government subsidy could further reduce the total cost for poor.

Bamboo properties- Great advantage for economic housing

The mechanical properties of bamboo differ with species, age, climatic factors, moisture content and different heights of the culms.

The density of bamboo varies from 500 to 800 kg/m3. Bamboo possesses excellent strength properties especially tensile strength. Study shows that bamboo is as strong as wood and some species even exceed the strength of Shorea robusta and Tectona grandis. An increase in strength is reported to occur at 3-4 years and thereafter it decreases. Therefore maturity period of bamboo is considered 3-4 years with respect to density and strength. The general mechanical properties of bamboo are (Purwito 1998);

¨ Tensile strength = 1000 - 4000 kg/cm2
¨ Compression strength = 250 - 1000 kg/cm2
¨ Bending strength = 700 - 3000 kg/cm2
¨ Modulus of elasticity = 100000 - 300000 kg/cm2

The important thing is failure in bending of bamboo is not actually totally failure. Due to its strong fibers, it first cracks unlike timber which breaks if bending fails. This quality of bamboo gives an opportunity to repair or replace failure parts of house. The elasticity of bamboo is better than wood for seismic resistant housing and as has been proved in the case of several small houses. One more advantage of bamboo over timber is that it does not have rays. Rays are mechanically weak therefore bamboo material is better in shear than timber material.

 

Related articles about:

Budget plans for low cost housing Bacolod?
Housing loan program? Pag-ibig finance your choice
Urban social sector - housing

For more information please "contact us"