Bamboo Roof

Now that summer and the hot season is just about to start, took the precaution of getting my bamboo roofing, redone. A well made bamboo roof will last 2-3 years, at which time the leaves need to be replaced, but the bamboo itself can last up to 5 years before having to be dismantled and rotten pieces of wood discarded. Bamboo work is skilled and experienced artisans (like the bamboo crew chief Prem Mani) can create all sorts of ingenious structures.

A bamboo roof on top of a house will reduce the internal temperature of the home by about 5c degrees - so both ecofriendly and aesthically pleasing. The below is of a bamboo shelter around the sides of my little farmhouse. You can see papayas way up on the tree through the bamboo framework.

A couple of the crew tying the leaves to the bamboo framework.



A nice view of the bamboo structure around the sides of the house. Its really interesting watching the men create the bamboo structures. I've even seen little bamboo houses made with separate little rooms.

And the below is a photograph of the more complicated bamboo roof on top of the house. A big, heavy, complex cover that took several days to complete when I had it made two years ago.

It gets really windy close to the Hill, and often lightweight furniture can get blown right off a roof. But this roof is a solid and immovable. Two years ago someone wagered that if my roof lasted longer than 6 months he would pay me Rs.50 and take me for a lunch at one of our better hotels. Well two years later, I'm waiting for my cash and lunch! The roof did so well that it hasn't in fact been necessary to take down the bamboo, instead we only needed to replace the bamboo leaves.

And from the bamboo covered roof, a view of the prize, Arunachala.