PRESERVATION OF BAMBOO FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES

FOR LOW INCOME PEOPLE

W. Liese (1), J. Gutiérrez (2,3) and G. González (2)

(1) Ordinariat für Holzbiologie, Universität Hamburg, Germany

(2) Bamboo Foundation, (FUNBAMBU), Costa Rica
(3) LANAMME, University of Costa Rica

ABSTRACT

Bamboo can be destroyed by fungi and insects in a relatively short period of time.
Therefore, it is necessary to protect and preserve the bamboo culms when good quality and
durability are required. In this paper, the scientific and technical experience with preservation
methods developed in Costa Rica by the Bamboo National Project (PNB) and the Bamboo
Foundation (FUNBAMBU) are presented. Anatomical considerations as well as techniques
for drying, storage and quality control are discussed. Performance of treated bamboo
structures used for the building of houses for low-income people, furniture, and other
building components is commented.

INTRODUCTION

The Costa Rican National Bamboo Project (NBP) was created to offer low-cost houses to
help in the solution of the housing deficit. Initially, in 1988 the NBP worked under the
administration of the United Nations Center for Human Settlements (Habitat) and the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP), (Projects COS 87/001 and COS 90/005), with
financing from the Royal Government of the Netherlands (Chaves y Gutiérrez, 1990). As of
January 1996, all professional, technical and material resources of these projects were
transferred to the Bamboo Foundation (FUNBAMBU), a nonprofit non-government
organization presided over by the Minister of Housing and Human Settlements (MIVAH)
and dedicated fundamentally to the construction of housing for low-income people. This
Foundation has the function of perpetuating in a self-sustaining manner the gains and benefits
of the National Bamboo Project (Gutiérrez, 1998).

Since then, nearly 3000 houses have been built and more than 300 ha of bamboo been
planted. The government plans to extend the plantations up to 2000 ha in the near future.

The need of bamboo preservation. When the project started, insect attack of the
bamboo in use was a very serious problem Today, the durability of bamboo is no longer in
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question, since it was possible to find effective, low-cost preservatives and to develop
simple and efficacious systems for its treatment. In recent years, the demand for bamboo
culms for the construction of houses has considerably increased. Besides it has become
necessary to treat several thousand of culms and laths for furniture making, handicraft,
construction parts, for the local market as well as for exports.

Bamboo culms provide an excellent structural material for many purposes. Its use, however,
is restricted because of their low resistance against degradation by fungi and insects.
Whereas fungal decay can be prevented by architectonic and constructive details that keep
the bamboo dry, insect attack can be avoided efficiently only by a suitable chemical
preservation. The possible treatment techniques for bamboo have recently been summarized
in numerous papers, for example: Liese (1980, 1997), Sulthoni (1987), Kumar et al.
(1994).

A wider application of the bamboo preservation is, however, rare. This is mainly due to the
fact that bamboo is a low-cost material, which would become more expensive and less
accessible to the poor after proper preservation, although it may be more economical at the
end. In addition, bamboo culms show a refractory behavior towards penetration compared
to timber, which difficulties simpler preservation methods like immersion. A continuous
market demand of durable material is required to merit the necessary treatment installations
and to develop the technical skills.

BAMBOO PRESERVATION RESEARCH IN COSTA RICA

Resulting from consultations by the first author during the years 1988 to1992 (Liese, 1988,
1989, 1990a, 1990b, 1992) and with the assistance of research done at the University of
Costa Rica and the Technological Institute of Costa Rica, the methods and preservatives
available in the country were analyzed. At the same time, the technical personnel of the BNP
with the help of researchers and laboratory facilities at the mentioned universities conducted
tests to be adapted to the treatment of bamboo in the rural areas of the country. It was
necessary to treat bamboo culms as well as “esterilla” (culms spliced open with an ax into a
flattened kind of board) for the construction of houses as well as the production of furniture,
handicraft, and decorative elements for buildings. Later on, it became necessary to treat,
besides “esterilla”, also “reglilla” (small boards or laths obtained by longitudinally sawing the
bamboo culms). First trials for the application of boron preservatives were done either by
soaking or by sap-displacement for round bamboo pieces and dip-diffusion was tested for
the treatment of “esterilla” (spliced bamboo) and “reglilla” (laths).

Selection of the treatment methods. After those preliminary trials it was decided to
concentrate research on the treatment of culms to be used as structural members by the sap-
displacement process. This method appeared effective, environment-friendly, and
particularly suitable for the treatment of bamboo for houses in the rural areas of Costa Rica.
For the treatment of Guadua culms, the sap-displacement method compared with other
methods, such as long period immersion, gives the best results regarding penetration,
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distribution, and retention of the preservative and is less time consuming in the operation
process.

For preservative treatment of “esterilla” and “reglilla” a dip-immersion/diffusion process was

tested in the laboratory as well as in the field. Taking into consideration the great potential of
contamination and misuse of the preservatives obtained from the first trials, it was
recommended to apply the dip-diffusion method only at a few centralized places as close as
possible to the plantations, and to have the work done only by skilled labor under proper
supervision. Nowadays, as it will be explained later on, a preservative treatment for laths has
been developed as an improved, effective, and safe way to treat the material.

The sap-replacement treatment also called Boucherie process after its French inventor A.
Boucherie in 1839 (Willeitner and Liese, 1992) has been applied since long for the
treatment of wooden poles. Its use for bamboo was first tried in India by Narayanamurti et
al. (1947) and was further developed to the “modified Boucherie treatment” by
Purushotham et al. (1954) and Liese (1955).

Although encouraging results were obtained from these experiments, its practical use
remained rather limited, because several parameters needed further clarification for its use
on a semi-commercial scale. Based on the literature about bamboo preservation and
practical experiences in several Asian countries, the research at PNB was directed to the
testing of several parameters, which had to be defined previously to a commercial operation
at a larger scale. It was especially necessary to answer the following questions:

• What kind of preservative to use?

• What will be the response of Guadua bamboo to sap-displacement treatment?
• What are the parameters necessary to obtain a good penetration?
• What kind of equipment will be necessary to treat Guadua culms?
• What kind of protection will be obtained for the treated material?
• What are the costs and times for the preservation of the culms and laths by this process?

Selecting the preservative. Since the final price of the treated bamboo culms for the
construction of low-cost houses has to be maintained as low as possible, the costs for
bamboo preservation must also be low. At the same time, the treatment should be reliable to
insure the expected duration and performance of the material. From the first tests done it
seemed to be a very difficult task.

About a dozen products nationally available in the market, which manufacturers claimed to
be “good” for the preservation of timber, were tested. However, most of these products
had to be rejected when the following criteria of selection were adopted:
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• A competent and responsible manufacturer or distributor of the product.

• A reasonable priced product.
• Good preservation properties, especially against Dinoderus spp. and other insects.
• Good distribution of the preservative within the culm by diffusion.
• Low toxicity to human beings and low environmental risks.

After many facts were considered, a preservative with boron as an active component was
selected. This type of preservative has generally good preservation properties, good
diffusion rates, low environmental effects towards human beings and animals, and is quite
economic in price. The main disadvantage being that it does not posses chemical fixing
properties and, in consequence, the treated material can be leached out if it is not well
protected against humidity.

The preservative TIMBOR showed most of the requirements needed. However, since
TIMBOR is not imported into the country, preliminary trials were done using the product
“Menorel-8” (SOLUBOR). This product is manufactured as a foliage fertilizer and is widely
distributed in Costa Rica. It consists mainly of Disodium Octoborate Tetrahydrate
(Na2B8013 4 H20) with an active boron content of 66.1 %, expressed as B203

ANATOMICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE SAP-DISPLACEMENT

TREATMENT.

Impregnating stage. As it has been mentioned, since a bamboo culm is resistant to lateral
penetration by its hard skin, the appropriate idea of the Boucherie treatment for an axial
liquid exchange was taken up. Along the culm length, both at the inner and outer part, the
vessels run straight without any branching or obstructing connections of single vessel
members (Fig. 1). Nodes, however, interrupt the easy fluid transport. Observations of the
nodal structure have revealed that many vessels turn lateral changing their size into shorter
cells with many perforations for an intensive interconnection with other vessel members.
Thus, the diaphragm, as the inner part of the nodal area, provides a distribution of liquid and
sap in the vessels and sieve tubes of the phloem to all sides of the culm (Ding and Liese,
1995). Obstacles between these cells reduce an easy flow. Apart from the twisting and
realignment in the nodal part, some vessels do not turn in but run straight through into the
following vessel, as shown in Fig. 2.

The long stretching vessels are thus perfect pathways for the exchange of sap by the
preservation solution. However, a main obstacle has to be considered for a successful
treatment: the vessels occupy only a rather small area of the whole cross section to be
protected. Whereas for an axial penetration of softwoods, the lumina of tracheids provide
60-70 % cross-sectional area, and the vessels in diffuse porous hardwoods amount to 20-
30 %, bamboo has only about 5-8 % vessel area (Liese, 1994).
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Figure 1. Cell tissue of a bamboo Figure 2. Twisting and realignment in

culm with vascular bundles the nodal part. (Drawing after Ding
surrounded by sclerenchyma sheaths and Liese, 1995)
and parenchyma as ground tissue,
100x

Total vessel area available for liquid flow. In order to get more information about the
vessel area available, some detailed investigations were made for Guadua “Sur” and
Guadua “Atlantico”, the two main Guaduas that have been planted in Costa Rica. Internodal
parts were cut from the bottom, middle, and top portion of the culm. Samples were taken
from each disk from two opposite sides, divided into their outer and inner half. The
measurements were made with an Image Analyzer (CUE-3, Olympus) at 40 times
magnification. After a delicate preparation, the metaxylem vessels could be clearly
differentiated from the fibers and parenchyma. The results are summarized in table 1.

Table 1. Vessel area of Guadua Sur and Guadua Atlantico

GUADUA “ATLANTICO” GUADUA “SUR”

Portion of
Bamboo Vessel area (%) Vessel area (%)
Outer Inner Average Outer Inner Average
Top 5.2 13.7 9.4 4.4 9.8 7.1
Middle 5.3 10.7 8.0 3.8 7.8 5.8
Bottom 3.9 6.4 5.2 3.1 5.0 4.0
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The figures about the vessel area demonstrate considerable differences, since the vessel area
at the inner half is about double than that of the outer half. Moreover, the vessel size
increases considerably from the bottom to the top, both at the inner and outer half.

The average vessel area for the two Guaduas reveals different mean values, since Guadua
“Sur” showed distinctly lower values. As both Guaduas differed considerably in their flow
behavior in the preliminary testing, the average vessel size of the two Guaduas was further
analyzed as shown in table 2. The results of such measurements demonstrate that Guadua
"Sur" has considerably smaller vessels, which could account for the lower vessel area and
the longer treatment time experienced.

Table 2. Average vessel size (vm2).

GUADUA “ATLANTICO” GUADUA “SUR”

Portion of
Bamboo Cross Sectional Area Cross Sectional Area
Outer Inner Outer Inner

Top 12400 38700 10800 29100

Middle 11300 34200 9400 25700

Bottom 12200 35600 12200 29000

Average 12000 36200 10800 27900

Independent of the respective vessel area, the bamboo culms must be treated as fresh as
possible, because soon after their felling the vessels are filled by a blockage due to cellular
outgrowths (tyloses) and slime (Fig. 3). Therefore, both ends have to be cut off immediately
before the treatment for a clean surface.

Figure 3. Tyloses blocking a vessel of a vascular bundle. 400x

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Diffusion phase. For an effective treatment of the bamboo culm by the sap-replacement
process it is important to realize that even a complete filling of all the vessels covers less then
10 % of the whole tissue to be treated and that the remaining large portion stays liable for
degradation. Consequently, the sap replacement phase has to be followed by a second
treatment phase, namely the diffusion of the preservative from the vessels into the
surrounding fiber sheaths and bundles as well as the parenchyma. In order to provide the
maximum reservoir for such diffusion, nearly all vessels have to be completely filled with a
sufficient high concentration. This will happen first to the larger vessels at the inner part of the
culm and only later to the smaller vessels at the outer zone. Thus, the time necessary for the
treatment will be governed by the time necessary for a complete exchange of the sap by the
preservative solution

BAMBOO PRESERVATION AT FUNBAMBU

For the commercial production of treated bamboos using the sap-displacement method,
several technical matters had to be settled or improved, which required a very tedious trial
and error process, among them:

• Some variables of the process are sensitive to the bamboo species being treated and
therefore must be adjusted accordingly.
• Harvesting and transport should be well-coordinated in order to keep the culms as fresh
as possible, otherwise water storage facilities are necessary.
• Design, construction and operation of the treatment caps at the butt end are critical. They
must be flexible and durable to accommodate repetitive deformations and displacements
without brittle fracture of parts and spilling of liquid. Good connecting devices between
culm and cap are essential.
• The caps must include a special device to allow for the complete air removal from the
system.
• An adequate pressure should be maintained at all times of the treatment process.
• Clean water must be used for the preservative solution and it must be kept clean in order
to avoid suspended particles that will produce obstruction of the flow through the vessels
of the bamboo culm.
• Permanent and strict quality control of the process as well as of the treated bamboo
products is mandatory.

The sap-displacement preservation plant has been described before (González and
Gutiérrez, 1996). Since then up to now, this process as well as the dip-diffusion method
have been improved according to the description below.

Commercial sap-displacement pressure treatment plants. In the treatment plants being

commercially used at FUNBAMBU, the rubber caps embracing the culm ends have been
improved to simplify and speed the process. They allow a fast fixing of the culm to the cap
with a tight joint that prevents leakage. It is possible to have twelve bamboo culms ready for
treatment in only 8 minutes. On the other hand, the problem of the air remaining in the upper
 8

part of the cap during the preservation process and thus preventing the flow of the liquid in
this part of the culm, was eliminated by a bleed valve (González and Gutiérrez, 1996).

Even though clean water is employed for the preservative solution, the liquid flow was
decreasing with time. It was found that particles of soil and dust, picked up by the
preservative solution during the process, were plugging the extreme end of the culm were the
liquid was entering. To overcome this problem, two kinds of filters were installed. First, a
coarse one made out of cheese cloth, to filter the mixture of solution and sap coming from
the top end of the culm as well as from the reservoir, collecting the liquid from the bleed
valves. The second is a fine in-line filter with a paper-filtering element, which is installed just
before the entrance of the preservative solution to the manifold where the culms are
connected.

The pressure system was improved for a larger capacity with an eighty-liter pneumatic tank.
With this tank more culms can be treated at once. At present, up to 100 culms can be
treated simultaneously. With the tank larger capacity, the pressure can also be kept constant
for longer periods. The pressure plant was further improved by placing corrugated
galvanized iron roof sheets underneath the culms being treated, in order to collect the liquid
spilling from the nodes. In this way, almost 100% of the preservative can be collected and
recycled (Fig.4).

Figure 4. Improved sap-displacement pressure treatment plant.

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The dip-diffusion treatment plant. The dip-diffusion treatment plant was built to treat
“esterilla” and “reglilla”. It consists of a tank made of four used steel oil barrels, which have
been cut into halves and welded to produce a tank of approximately 300-liter capacity (Fig.
5). A steel frame that allows for a proper height to facilitate the immersion of bamboo laths
supports this tank. After a brief period of immersion, the laths are placed over corrugated
iron roof sheets and left for a brief time to collect the excess liquid and return it into the tank.
The laths are removed, wrapped with a plastic film and stacked for the preservative to
diffuse into the material. Finally, the plastic is taken off and the material is placed in a well-
ventilated covered place for drying. Since plastic sheets are expensive and do not last long,
a permanent covered place has been projected that can be closed for the diffusion stage and
opened later for drying.

Figure 5. Bamboo laths dip-diffusion treatment plant.

QUALITY CONTROL

In order to be sure that the material is well treated, it becomes essential to strictly follow the
different steps of the treatment process. First, the preservative solution has to be prepared.
For this purpose, the required amount of preservative is weighted and the water is measured
by volume and mixed in the working tank, according to the required concentration. After
complete solution, when the liquid is clear, a sample of the liquid is taken into a cylinder
 10

where, with the help of a hydrometer and a thermometer, the specific gravity and the
temperature of the solution are taken.

Figure 6. Variation of specific gravity with concentration for

Disodium Octoborate Tetrahydrate solutions at 20°C, 25°C
and 30°C temperatures.

Figure 7. pH variation of Disodium Octoborate

Tetrahydrate solutions at 23°C temperatures.
 11

With the help of Figure 6, the concentration of the solution is read directly. For example:
1.068 specific gravity at 25° C gives 12 % Boron-salt concentration. The concentration is
checked regularly and adjusted as needed by the addition of more preservative or more
water until the required concentration is again reached. Afterwards, the culms are connected
at their bottom to the rubber caps and the system is filled with the liquid preservative,
bleeding each cap to ensure that all air is expelled out from the system. Next, each one of
the inlet pressure liquid valves is opened and the treatment process starts. The sap will start
dripping at the other end of the culms almost immediately. The complete replacement of the
sap by the preservative may take from minutes to hours depending on the length and wall
thickness of the culms and the amount of time elapsed since it was cut. For the usual pieces,
3 to 4 meters long, the average time is below 20 minutes. To check that the culms have
reached the final point of treatment, a simple test with a pH sensitive paper is carried out. A
change of color is observed because there is a relation between boron concentration and the
pH of the liquid coming out of the culm.

After the culms have been treated they are stored and allowed to dry in a covered place to
avoid direct exposure to excessive moisture from rain and heat and ultraviolet rays from the
sun. The first effect may produce leaching of the preservative and subsequently fungi
infestation and insect attack and the second, splitting and structural collapse of the cross
section.

Drying in a very humid tropical climate takes a lot of time. It is therefore recommended to
allow for enough space between the bamboo pieces and an adequate distance from the wet
soil -not less than 40 cm- for good ventilation.

When the preservative has reached complete diffusion and the material is dry, a thin cross
sectional sample of several representative culms is cut near the extreme where the liquid
emerged. This sample is further dried for three to five hours in a kiln, heated to a
temperature of no more than 60° C. The sample is covered throughout with fine drops of a
curcumin solution (Solution 1) and, 15 to 30 minutes later, with an acid solution (Solution 2).
In ten minutes time a bright red color should develop, indicating that the culm has being well
treated and contains a sufficient amount of boron. A yellow color indicates insufficient
amounts of boron.

FINAL REMARKS

The sap-replacement treatment of bamboo culms, as developed by the Costa Rican

National Bamboo Project, is a well proven technology that has already being transferred to,
among others, the Environmental Bamboo Foundation, Bali, Indonesia, since 1994 and to
the “Bamboo World” Establishment of Victor Cusack, Australia (Cusack, 1997). The
FUNBAMBU technical staff is willing to provide the complete technology transfer
procedure upon request.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank the FUNBAMBU staff for their continuous support that made this
work possible.

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