Bora Bora Bamboo Barn with loft

Hello all, I started gathering bamboo for this last spring and then started getting carried away. My wife and myself spent 3 weeks in Tahiti for our honeymoon and can't get it out of my head. Love the whole feel and look of primitive buildings. I used elephant grass for the roofing and 3 types of bamboo for the structure. Tre Gai as the corner posts (viet nam) Guadua for the main beam 19' (Columbia) and Moso from Mississippi for the rest of kiln dried boo I needed. Please enjoy the photos and visit the blog if you are interested in building with bamboo structures. http://www.tikirancher.blogspot.com

WOW! Nice work, keep the pictures coming.

Mahalo!

Chris
WestADad

Thanks, its been a long labor of love....will be done before memorial day for my inaugural tiki bar launch pig roast...too bad you live so far away I'd make you a fog cutter.
cheers

Your doing it oldschool & island style! yea keep those pictures coming!

Primitive - only lashings and wooden pins! kind of a purist and I have done this about 99.5% solo - anyone can do it with the ambition, drive and about 4k.

On 2012-03-27 10:50, tikirancher wrote:
Thanks, its been a long labor of love....will be done before memorial day for my inaugural tiki bar launch pig roast...too bad you live so far away I'd make you a fog cutter.
cheers

Deal! Now to check my calendar....... :drink:

Sweet

That looks fantastic! Great work so far.

Now that's an ambitious project! Looks great ~ will it have enough thatch to be waterproof or will it have a waterproof layer hidden in the thatch?

EDIT - Lots of cool progress pix on the blog too.

"Ha, ha - I whooped ya', I whooped ya' all! You'll think twice before messin' with Percival C. McLeach!"

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2012-03-27 20:30 ]

That's really cool. Wanna come over and start another one?

Thanks for all the great encouragement! as far as the waterproof question you are very observant or you've worked with thatch before. In reality I was told I needed to overlap every 6 inches to insure a waterproof structure, but that would of doubled my cost and I'm not living in the barn. So, budgetary reasons I did it every 12 inches. but it rained the other day and the roof held up great, dry underneath. I'm going to waterproof the thatch and that will help too. The kids loft was the main reason I started this project as a playhouse for my 4 yr old, but I tend to go overboard when it comes to things like this so, I decided to make it a family playhouse that I could use too...wait until you see all the props and bar I'm going to build when its dried in. Does anyone have any suggestions for the wall materials? I was going to use the woven leaf, I forget what its called but it is what ya'll usually put directly on the wall of a room but I have the outside and inside to consider. I was thinking of glueing the weaved material onto a 1/4 ply both sides? I tried to use a reed fence material from Home Depot but it was too see through. I have about 4k into this project so far and am trying to keep total build under 5k.

Phew!- Very Cool - love it all - what fun for you and your gals, and us TCers too

an yr mancub

Awesome work! Looks amazing so far!

What a fantastic project! I can't wait to see more - going to check out the blog later. It looks great so far!!!! I want to live there.

Hey Lori,
thanks for the comments, it will be livable since it will have electric and a wet bar...what more do you need? Samoan Fog cutter anyone? Can't wait to camp out in it myself

Your lab has good taste!!! Nice job.

More progress this week...and a couple of sneak previews of cool items waiting to go inside.

Nice!

On 2012-03-30 12:23, WestADad wrote:

Nice!

This was the front lobby of the hotel we stayed at in Tahaa French Polynesia it is called Le Tahaa...its on a motu off the island. amazing...I will have to attach some pictures from that trip...awesome but 1800 a night

Awesome craftsmanship. Looks great, keep the pictures coming.

The roof is finally on and completed! check it out - this was the toughest part so far. I made the ridge cap out of sheathing, tar papered it and then applied the left over thatch from the rolls I bought. 3ft sections at a time. I had about 8 in of thatch left over...nothing like a proper take off before starting.

On 2012-03-30 12:34, tikirancher wrote:

On 2012-03-30 12:23, WestADad wrote:

Nice!

This was the front lobby of the hotel we stayed at in Tahaa French Polynesia it is called Le Tahaa...its on a motu off the island. amazing...I will have to attach some pictures from that trip...awesome but 1800 a night

My Wife made this mixed media piece from the photo we took at the resort - I need to make a bamboo frame

Wow! That is fantastic. I hope it holds up well to the rains in the Southeast. I am scheming as to the outdoor bar I want to build here in the FL panhandle, but the nasty storms make me worry about doing a thatched roof.

Very cool. You got island fever like the rest of us. Prodject looks awesome. I can tell this is going to be stellar when its done. Aloha!!

This weekend I got a chance to do more work on the barn. Next step was figuring out how to do the walls....well, what I came up with what seems to be a good idea...time will tell. I used 5mm tri ply underlayment (luan) weather sealed it and then stapled reed fencing from Home Depot to give it that tiki feel and a nice texture on the outside. The inside surface will get a nice woven matting like in most tiki room walls. I will use contact cement to apply that and then trim it out with bamboo. Seems to be working...tell me what you think.

Found a great hammock this weekend at a garage sale for 15 bucks! Score
Also planted two banana trees last night in the dark....

Wow...that is certainly shaping up nicely. Fun watching the build!!!

Looking great and I like the tropical plantings. Be careful though about using "banana" and "hammock" in the same paragraph :D

lookin good

Really nice work!
Can't wait to see it finished

Lots of action at the Bora Bora Bamboo Barn! Interior walls are up with the wall coverings, built a staircase / ladder to the loft, Added bamboo shades to the windows, found a couple of cool things here and there....new pair of 3 ft tikis, an Orchids of Hawaii flaming volcano scorpion bowl, some awesome bamboo furniture, bar has begun and much more. The landscapers show up tomorrow with a bobcat and start transforming the area around the hut into a tropical paradise...Super stoked. Enjoy the pics - keep watching as I have only 26 days until the pig roast luau. check out my blog for more pics and updates http://www.tikirancher.blogspot.com
cheers

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this is a before picture for the yard POV fom front door of the hut

[ Edited by: tikirancher 2012-05-01 12:12 ]

It just gets better and better! Great job. I can't wait to see it completed.

Oh... I REALLY like that three foot tiki!

Thanks for posting all the pics.

Aloha

New Landscaping has begun! I had a bobcat show up two days ago and 3 large loads of dirt. Now the barn is almost complete...bar has been set and built. now its just trim out, running the electrical and decor. Home stretch - Big Tiki pig roast inaugural party is happening May 27th...contact me if your in the atlanta area if you want an invite. Should be a blast! Check out the current state of things in my backyard...flagstone patio and firepit coming up!

PROGRESSSSSSSS....thank the tiki gods! I am so sore from moving rocks and mulch...check it out.

That looks great, love that paving with the grass

Really coming together nicely.

This is amazing - once you get the landscaping finished and lush vegetation growing it is going to look incredible.

Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas !

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2012-05-07 19:22 ]

Thanks everyone for the kind words....I'm on the final leg of this journey to bring paradise to the suburbs in Atlanta GA. It will be a constant work in progress but should be completed before the end of the month...keep checking my blog for more updates and diy tips. http://www.tikirancher.blogspot.com
Mahalo

I can't believe you sodded inbetween the flagstones! What a great touch ~ looks like that has been there a hundred years

That's beautiful now and will be spectacular later.

it's incredible. wow

NEW BAR with back bar and sink I built last night, I used base cabinets that are elevated 6" to give it a bar height and the back bar I cut the deepness to 10" off the base cabinets as well. The sink is just for ice and getting rid of left over drinks the morning after...:) shouldn't be too many of those.
I plan on staining the bar top and bar back tops with a nice mahogany stain and seal it with a high gloss poly. Belly up!

Wow what a weekend! mulch and more mulch along with some pine straw just before it rained for 24 hours! Check out the latest progress on the bar and yard. Cheers! you can see more details and pics at my blog:
http://www.tikirancher.blogspot.com

really coming together Rancher.

Looks great! How are the luau plans coming along? Are you doing your own pig?

Give us a shot of the car in the garage, please. :D

Mr Mike,
yes the luau is on! Memorial day weekend....I am doing a pig just how large is the question my rsvps keep growing, I might have to double up on the pork....I'm using a method I've never done before but my buddy has and swears by it. I have done it on an open fire with a spit but it takes a long time. He has a box of some sort (I haven't seen it yet) that the pig goes into on top of coals and seals up. I might have to do some more research before committing 100% I should have a backup plan regardless....mahalo

This is for the big kahuna.....and anyone else that cares. 1958 Buick special in Reef Coral - her name is Lucille.

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