To thatch or not to thatch

There's no denying the character of a thatched roof and it's part of a tradition that needs to be preserved, but thatched roofs worry a lot of people (including surveyors and insurers). Having grown up in a thatched cottage myself (which is still standing after 500 years) it wasn't much concern, not compared to some of the asbestos roofs we looked at anyway. But you need to understand and respect what you're dealing with, and to get friendly with a good thatcher.

We struck lucky finding the right person on the back of a casual enquiry. We'd asked about general price of thatching (on another cottage we looked at a year before) but soon discovered we'd hit on someone with a similar passion for messing with old cottages with an ability to combine traditional and contemporary methods. We're still bowled over with some of his restoration projects. 

We were told the cottage had been thatched ten years previously but it turned out to be a bit more recent (if you're not familiar with how thatch ages, do ask someone who knows rather than a structural engineer with no knowledge of the materials). Our engineer hadn't a clue. Unfortunately, it had deteriorated more than it should on the north side due to the neglected overgrowth of trees and brush. Cutting those back to eliminate dripping and allow the roof to dry out after rain was an early job on the list.

Thatching materials and techniques vary and there is no one way doing it. Our roof had been laid with reed over a galvanised iron roof, tied to a lattice of metal wires (the alternative would have been wooden batons fixed on the iron). Good fixing is important on the West coast, exposed to the winter storms (ours is moderately sheltered but in places like Donegal you would often see ropes or even fishing nets to hold down the thatch).


Thatching over an iron roof (even over slate) is quite common and provides an additional barrier against water or flame (thatching with no underlying barrier to the loft space is a big fire risk and would probably make it uninsurable in Ireland). Our cottage, like many in Ireland, wasn't insured by the previous owner. It's a risk that many people take to save on running costs. Either way, fire is something to take seriously. We know people who lost everything to fires, so new fire extinguishers, fire blanket and tamper-proof smoke alarms were the very first things we bought (even before the kettle). Do plan your fireproofing, do fit smoke alarms, do have fire extinguishers, do have an exit plan, do rehearse how to direct a fire crew so they can find your rural hideaway. Enough said.

The underlying roof structure was sound enough but not ideal. The timbers under the iron weren't really up to spec for the added weight of the thatch. So, although the cottage had a 'new' roof in recent years, it was only timbered with 5"x2" rafters, spaced 3-4 feet apart with 3 purlins (enough to hold everything up but not up to building regs). To bring the timbers up to standard would have meant taking off a decent roof and starting again, which we hadn't budgeted for. We decided to leave the thatch where it was, with a view to re-timbering when next thatched.