False thatch roof?

[Taipan]

I'd imagine the wet weight of thatch can far exceed that of tiles? Would your roof structure bear such additional weight?

[Cousin Jack]

Thatched roofs require stronger beams to support the weight, and much steeper slopes to shed water. Doing it properly would need replacing the entire roof structure.

[gremlin]

Cover the roof in glue and then sprinkle a few bales of hay on it. Job jobbed.

[Yambo]

The decorator told me that he'd done a place that had a fake one, he said it looked like the real thing.

Get him to tell you where it is and go and have a look for yourself. Talk to the owner if you can.

[Count Steer]

Would a thatch or thatch-alike be in keeping with the err, local vernacular?

(When I was talking about a new roof, wife said 'slate would be nice'. 'Oh, unlike every other house in the village?' Sez I. We're slap bang in the clay tile making heartland and still have a clay quarry(?)+ tile manufacturer a couple of miles away).

[Cousin Jack]

Thatch on a modern low pitch roof would look daft whatever the local vernacular.

[Horse]

(When I was talking about a new roof, wife said 'slate would be nice'. 'Oh, unlike every other house in the village?' Sez I. We're slap bang in the clay tile making heartland and still have a clay quarry(?)+ tile manufacturer a couple of miles away).

New house built near here on a long-empty plot.

Planning application said that materials would be similar to surrounding buildings. Approved.

So it's wood cladding and slates, surrounded by bricks and tiles ...

Boring historical note: bricks for my house came from the Woodley Brick Company.

When built, every house had a name rather than number. This house was (and still is) 'Woodley'. So every (well, almost) brick has the house name

[Yorick]

Thatch on a modern low pitch roof would look daft whatever the local vernacular.

It would look daft on the houses here with flat roofs

[Count Steer]

Would a thatch or thatch-alike be in keeping with the err, local vernacular?

I've just been reading about thatched roofs and (as people have also said here) it's not practical unless we're changing the whole roof and that's a big job and making hard work of something that doesn't need to be done.

I was behind an old geezer in the bank and he was explaining that his loft wiring. under thatch, had to be fire (and rodent) resistant. Possibly for insurance purposes rather than regs, dunno, but that's another possible complication. (With actual thatch, don't know what thatch-alike is made of).

[MyLittleStudPony]

Slate can look really good IMO. Collyweston Slate* was quite the thing to have among the chattering classes when I lived in Stamford.



* sedimentary fissile oolitic limestone from the Jurassic period

[Cousin Jack]

Would a thatch or thatch-alike be in keeping with the err, local vernacular?

Yeah it would look spot on, there is one at the top of our lane with a thatched roof, the houses are very stereotypical places, there are only two houses on our lane and then the thatched one at the T-junction at the end, ours and the one over the road are old slate.
The one at the top of the lane seems to be a money pit, he's throwing tens of thousands at it, it's looking lovely inside now but he's paying for it.

I've just been reading about thatched roofs and (as people have also said here) it's not practical unless we're changing the whole roof and that's a big job and making hard work of something that doesn't need to be done.
Shame, because it'd look nice I think.

Ours is very similar to this, but with old grey slate.

Old slate may have been thatch originally. Lots of old stuff locally were built with very steep roofs, then had slates added later.

[Rockburner]

Would a thatch or thatch-alike be in keeping with the err, local vernacular?

I've just been reading about thatched roofs and (as people have also said here) it's not practical unless we're changing the whole roof and that's a big job and making hard work of something that doesn't need to be done.

I was behind an old geezer in the bank and he was explaining that his loft wiring. under thatch, had to be fire (and rodent) resistant. Possibly for insurance purposes rather than regs, dunno, but that's another possible complication.

As I understand it, fires caused by electrical issues (not sparks, but old or under-specced wiring getting too hot due to handling too much current), is a bigger cause of thatch fires than external (to the building) causes (eg sparks from a fire coming out of the chimney).

For the vast majority of the year the outer surface of a thatch roof is damp, especially if it's mossy - it'd be like trying to set fire to a swamp. But the insides are bone dry and often very old straw/reed: ie a tinderbox.

[MyLittleStudPony]

Slate can look really good IMO. Collyweston Slate* was quite the thing to have among the chattering classes when I lived in Stamford.

I didn't know what that was, so I googled it and the picture they use on the wiki page on the righthand side is exactly like our roof, so it might be that.
Our place looks like the picture I posted (the cream coloured one), with that roof. I thought thatched would look lovely but it's an expensive folly to follow.

From memory it was highly regarded, very durable and expensive too.

Years ago we looked at a house with thatch and the initial research of living with it put me right off.

[Sunny]

I seem to recall real thatch needs replacing every 25 years too. Bugger that.

I can't help but imagine 'fake' thatch would discolour over the years like the old-school white pvc windows that went yellow.
I'd stick with the slate

[Rockburner]

I seem to recall real thatch needs replacing every 25 years too. Bugger that.

I can't help but imagine 'fake' thatch would discolour over the years like the old-school white pvc windows that went yellow.
I'd stick with the slate

Depends on the state of it, but it's not a "complete" replacement. According to the master thatcher we had to look at our place they only strip off the worn out material and then re-cover, leaving the stuff deeper in which is still ok. Obviously a COMPLETE re-thatch is possible, but I'd guess that only really happens if the building has been completely rebuilt after it's been derelict (eg what you see on Grand Designs or somesuch where they've rebuilt the pig-farm without lifting any of the material off the floor... )

Looking at some of the really old buildings at the Weald and Downland museum you can actually see multiple "ages" of the thatch material.

[Sunny]

I went to a thatching demo once, it's a fascinating skill tbf. New business idea Potter?

[Count Steer]

I seem to recall real thatch needs replacing every 25 years too. Bugger that.

I can't help but imagine 'fake' thatch would discolour over the years like the old-school white pvc windows that went yellow.
I'd stick with the slate

Depends on the state of it, but it's not a "complete" replacement. According to the master thatcher we had to look at our place they only strip off the worn out material and then re-cover, leaving the stuff deeper in which is still ok. Obviously a COMPLETE re-thatch is possible, but I'd guess that only really happens if the building has been completely rebuilt after it's been derelict (eg what you see on Grand Designs or somesuch where they've rebuilt the pig-farm without lifting any of the material off the floor... )

Looking at some of the really old buildings at the Weald and Downland museum you can actually see multiple "ages" of the thatch material.

It's definitely a go-to place to have a close look. I've watched them refurb and replace. One of the best is a house in the middle of the place that I think either one of the staff live in or it's an office.

The one up towards the gridshell looked a bit tatty at the corners for a while 'cos some birds had raided it for nesting material.

(We sponsored a beam - in the MiLs name - in the new visitors centre as a sort of in memoriam because she loved places like that. Her names on a board in the area just after the reception).

[ChrisW]

The only thatched house in the village I used to live in is also listed - they'd love to replace it with a clay tile (which is what the other houses have)!

[McSatan]

Unless you're a big fan of beasties, mice, birds, eight legged monsters and an attic that will look like something out of Hammer House of Horror crossed with an Alien film, I'd steer well clear. Plus gigantic bills every twenty years or so. My mate lives in a cottage in Oxfordshire with a thatched roof. It's a bit like Scotland. Beautiful place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there.

[Dodgy69]

Synthetic thatch might be lighter than normal thatch, last longer and maybe no gritters. Never heard of it before.