Hmm I'm no expert but it doesn't look like a clumper to me. The pattern it's spreading in is similar to the ones I'm growing, which are non-clumpers.

The way the culms are growing from each 'group' of culms, leaning outward from each group, it looks like several individual plantings, which makes me think that it may be a clumper, but if the culms are all from one 'mother' plant, then it is a runner. How thick are the culms and how tall is it? How large are the leaves? Do the culms have a sulcus?

Thank you! It is probably 20 to 30' tall and my guess of diameter is probably around 2+" in some cases. The leaves are medium (I don't know how large they are considered for bamboo). No groove that I could see (is the the sulcus?).

I went by today and took some more pictures.....

I am still leaning toward it being a clumper since many of the culms curve upward and outward from a center point in each group of culms and by seeing the trimmed-out culms suggesting a tighter clump than a runner, but what kind it is, is hard to tell. Where is this located, or what is your climate? From my experience, I would think it is a Bambusa or possibly a Dendrocalamus depending on your area. Either way, since it covers the whole area, being a runner or a clumper, it will be about equally difficult to remove, I would like to have some of it if I knew what it was. You may try selling it, or... Free bamboo, You dig.

Yes, it's a Bambusa that has been thinned out to give a see through grove effect like you might get from a running bamboo.

It would of course be easier to buy a different house and let somebody else - who likes the bamboo feature - have this one. If you instead buy this one and then take all of the planting out, run decking throughout the entire space then the setting will no longer be special.

A compromise that might be the best option would be to reduce but not entirely eliminate the planted area, so that there is much more space for sitting etc. - but there is still something to look at besides nothing but walls and decking.

I agree, I would leave it there, but removing it would only require that you cut the culms all down to the ground and cut any new growth for the next few weeks until it stops shooting.

Thank you, everyone. Not sure what we are going to do, but that was super helpful!