The use of bamboo as a stuctural material could spread across the US following approval of the species for construction purposes in Hawaii.
Maui-based Bamboo Technologies obtained approval from the International Code Council (ICC) to use Vietnamese “tregai” bamboo in construction, following nine years of research in conjunction with the International Bamboo Foundation.
ICC’s 6,000 members in the US, including counties, states and cities, will receive formal notification of the use of the bamboo standard during the coming weeks.
The tregai bamboo is about 3in in diameter with a thickness of three-quarters of an inch. L-shaped steel plates are used to help meet required hurricane and earthquake stresses.
Bamboo Technologies, which claims the species has twice the compression and bending strength of Douglas fir, has already built 20 structures on the Valley Isle after receiving exemptions from the county board of code appeals.
