Bamboo as a Sustainable Building Material—Culm Characteristics and Properties
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The article presents interesting research on the use of bamboo as sustainable building material. In fact, the mechanical properties are well investigated. Please consider the following comments:
- At line 38, there should be a dot at the end of the sentence. The same at lines 75, 139 and 165
- Please standardize the units of measurement, at lines 71, 99-100 and 221-224
- Lines 98-99: Five culms were randomly extracted from five selected clumps. The extraction is not randomly as there are five selected clumps. Please clarify the sentence
- Lines 115-116: Have the curing conditions (temperature and relative air humidity) been selected according to ISO 22157-1: 2004?
- At line 187, there shouldn't be dot after (d). The same at line 209
- Figure 15: Please insert the details, what are (a) and (b)?
- Lines 261-263 and 283-285: The study of the chemical composition and microstructure of bamboo is based only on literature. If you have conducted chemical or microstructural analyses in previous works, please highlight it.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewer 1,
Manuscript ID: Sustainability-1262997 (Bamboo as a Sustainable Building Material – Culm Characteristics and Properties)
We are very grateful for your comments and have addressed all points raised by you.
1. At line 38, there should be a dot at the end of the sentence. The same at lines 75, 139, and 165.
We agree with this point and already changed it, as requested.
2. Please standardize the units of measurement, at lines 71, 99-100, and 221-224
We agree with this point and already changed it, as requested.
3. Lines 98-99: Five culms were randomly extracted from five selected clumps. The extraction is not randomly as there are five selected clumps. Please clarify the sentence
This is a good point. We already re-phased “Five culms were randomly extracted from five selected clumps” to “Five culms were randomly collected from five randomly selected clumps”. Please see the 1st paragraph, page number 3.
4. Lines 115-116: Have the curing conditions (temperature and relative air humidity) been selected according to ISO 22157-1: 2004?
According to ISO 22157-1: 2004, all test specimens shall be conditioned and tested within the temperature range of 27 °C ± 2 °C, and the relative air humidity range of 70 ± 5 % in order to avoid significant changes in strength properties.
5. At line 187, there shouldn't be dot after (d). The same at line 209
We agree with this point and already changed it, as requested.
6. Figure 15: Please insert the details, what are (a) and (b)?
We added the details of (a) and (b) in Figure 15. Please see page number 14.
7. Lines 261-263 and 283-285: The study of the chemical composition and microstructure of bamboo is based only on literature. If you have conducted chemical or microstructural analyses in previous works, please highlight it
This is a good point. I did not conduct the chemical or microstructural analyses in this work. So, I could not present all data as you request. However, the phenomena could be explained by two previous works that have conducted and explained the effect of chemical compositions and microstructure of bamboo on its hygroscopic property and equilibrium moisture content.
I suggested that you marked "English language and style are fine/minor spell check required". Then, we have asked a native English speaker proficient in English to proofread and edit this paper. If there are any specific concerns, please feel free to respond with specific comments and we would be happy to address any questions.
We hope that with these changes our manuscript is now acceptable for publication in the Sustainability.
Best regards,
Pannipa CHAOWANA
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper presents Culm characteristics and properties of the Bamboo as the sustainable building material. According to the reviewer’s opinion, the paper is well-structured and clear. The topic is interesting and falls within the aim of the journal. In addition, the results are well-presented and could be helpful to further develop the same topic. Therefore, the paper can be accepted for publication in the current form.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer 2,
Manuscript ID: Sustainability-1262997 (Bamboo as a Sustainable Building Material – Culm Characteristics and Properties)
We are very grateful for your comments.
We noted that you marked “English language and style are fine/minor spell check required”. Then, we have asked a native English speaker proficient in English to proofread and edit this paper. If there are any specific concerns, please feel free to respond with specific comments and we would be happy to address any questions.
We hope that with these changes our manuscript is now acceptable for publication in the Sustainability.
Best regards,
Pannipa CHAOWANA
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
