Bamboo fencing is a great way to spice up the look and feel of your back yard. Using bamboo instead of conventional wood materials for your fence is also a great way to help our environment. Bamboo is a form of grass and it grows very rapidly. In fact, bamboo is one of the most easily renewable natural resources in the world. By opting for bamboo fencing instead of wooden fencing, you’ll be helping cut back on our consumption of more precious wood materials.
Choosing your style
This type of fencing comes in several different styles, and choosing the right one for your back yard depends entirely on the type of look you are going for. In almost all cases, though, regardless of the style, bamboo will come in either rolls or panels. Most commonly, these will be made up of long poles 1″ in diameter or thinner canes ½” in diameter, all held together by durable, stainless steel galvanized wire.
But the rolls and panels also come in woven bamboo, which is made of smaller canes held together in bundles. Another fencing style is split bamboo, which, as the name implies, is made of the outer surface of the bamboo cane tied together with wire.
When choosing a style of fencing, you should also consider the issue of durability. How long do you want this type of fence to last? This material is made of pole and canes lasts about 20 years. Woven or split bamboo, while lighter and aesthetically different, only lasts for half as long.
Installing bamboo atop existing fencing
If you have a chain-link fence already in place, it is easy to install a rolled bamboo fence on top of the pre-existing chain-link. To do so, you will basically wrap the bamboo roll around the chain-link fence, attaching the bamboo with heavy-duty galvanized wire at regular intervals.
If you have an existing fence of wooden boards and want to install bamboo fencing over it, you can use woven or split bamboo. To attach, use heavy-duty stainless steel staples, instead of wire.
Stand-alone fencing
Installing a stand-alone bamboo fence is a harder than installing one over pre-existing chain-link or panel fencing. You’ll have to put in place heavy-duty wooden poles to provide the vertical framework upon which the bamboo fencing will then be placed. If you opt for stand alone fencing, remember that the actual bamboo fencing should be a few inches off the ground, as bamboo rots more quickly if it is contact with the grounds moisture. For this same reason, make sure that the vertical poles you install are made of strong wood, and not bamboo.
