Post #208339 by JimTandem on Tue, Jan 17, 2006 9:02 PM

Pappy, the room is looking real good so far. Thanks for the progress pics.

When I was removing the culms from splitting bamboo I used a heavy duty wire cutters. They have a slight curve to the blades, so just cut from one side with the curve of the bamboo, then go to the other side and out she pops. You can go back and snip the little jagged parts pretty close to the bamboo and finish it off with your dremel if its required. It worked really fast for me.

I've been looking at your ceiling dilema and this is a tough one. Everyone gets to staple or glue their matting to finished ceilings with smooth wallboard, just like you did on your sidewall. Without being able to attach it to the ceiling joists, laying it over the bamboo will be near impossible to lay without sagging because of the uneven nature of bamboo poles. I can only think of two things: Fill in each 15 inch gap with another pole, that would only leave 7 inches between poles which might not allow any noticeable sag. You could hold up a spare pole to see how it looks first.

If you can take some poles down you could try this if you think the poles are stout enough to support thin plywood sheets. Get some thin 1/4 inch cheap plywood 4 x 8 sheets. Glue or staple your matting to the sheet, wrapping it around to the backside a few inches. What you'll end up with is a set of matting panels that you just slide up there and lay across your bamboo poles. A problem might be hiding the seams where the panels will butt up to each other but it might look o.k. as is. I don't know how much clearance you have for the panels but I don't know of anything thinner than 1/4 inch that you can staple into.

I would give some of the big guns on this board a shout and see if they can offer you any tips.

Good luck Pappy, take your time, and if you get frustrated just walk away from the job awhile, let the baby put a smile on your face, and go back when your ready.