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Post by the light works on Mar 4, 2017 11:44:27 GMT
Just saw this resurrected, and remembered back myself, because about a month ago, I thought of this thread, and forgot it again by the time I had got home. I had been through a wind-damaged place from a storm. In it were several damaged houses where the roofs had been lifted off by high winds. On the edge of this hamlet were a section of old thatched roofs.... Houses centuries old with an occasional re-thatch every 40 to 60 yrs or so. One of those roofs has been there for decades. About 50 yrs since its last major re-thatch, and even then, all they do is remove the top surface and replace that, much of the under surface is "good as new". How many storms have they survived?... So I need to ask a question, in the face of up to 100mph storms that have wrecked this land of ours now and agaiun, just what DOES it take to blow off a thatched roof?... Can they try this?.. Of course, Pick a house that is due for a re-thatch to do the "Over the top" test with, but pick one that has recently been thatched to see how strong a thatch really is... And the over the top?.. we get hundreds of mini-tornadoes in UK every year, but can a thatch survive a roof-wrecking tornado of the size of those that wreck parts of USA every year?.. BTW, if possible, Get someone from the UK thatch industry to do a presentation of how to thatch a roof, and get various methods of construction tested, as there are as many differing ways to do thatch as there are materials supplied, a wizened time served thatcher from UK that has been a thatcher since his own days half a century ago as an apprentice will know most of them. I suspect there are thatched houses in USA, but of course, We ALWAYS do it better over here?.. [/sarcasm...] there do seem to be thatched roofs in the US. I must admit to being a bit surprised at that.
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Post by silverdragon on Mar 5, 2017 7:02:05 GMT
there do seem to be thatched roofs in the US. I must admit to being a bit surprised at that. There must be good reason, either they are protected, or, as I am thinking, they must be quite strong.
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Post by the light works on Mar 5, 2017 15:06:02 GMT
there do seem to be thatched roofs in the US. I must admit to being a bit surprised at that. There must be good reason, either they are protected, or, as I am thinking, they must be quite strong. the surprise or the existence of them. I have a sneaking suspicion the reason for the existence is almost entirely aesthetic, although the splash lines on the sites that came up in the search were plugging environmental friendliness and energy efficiency.
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Post by silverdragon on Mar 6, 2017 6:42:42 GMT
There must be good reason, either they are protected, or, as I am thinking, they must be quite strong. the surprise or the existence of them. I have a sneaking suspicion the reason for the existence is almost entirely aesthetic, although the splash lines on the sites that came up in the search were plugging environmental friendliness and energy efficiency. You want to try living under one... They are heat resistant to a level that you wouldnt believe, they stop heat escaping out the top of your roof, if you have a slate roof, you need loft insulation?.. thatched roofs are the equivalent of insulation a couple of feet thick. They are also the same way backwards in summer, they keep the house cool by resisting heat absorption by the sun. They are the best form of heat insulation you can get as a roofing material.
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Post by the light works on Mar 6, 2017 13:11:01 GMT
the surprise or the existence of them. I have a sneaking suspicion the reason for the existence is almost entirely aesthetic, although the splash lines on the sites that came up in the search were plugging environmental friendliness and energy efficiency. You want to try living under one... They are heat resistant to a level that you wouldnt believe, they stop heat escaping out the top of your roof, if you have a slate roof, you need loft insulation?.. thatched roofs are the equivalent of insulation a couple of feet thick. They are also the same way backwards in summer, they keep the house cool by resisting heat absorption by the sun. They are the best form of heat insulation you can get as a roofing material. but as insulation, how good a roofing material are they? and how long do they last? can you get 30 or 50 year rated rushes?
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Post by silverdragon on Mar 7, 2017 7:06:24 GMT
You want to try living under one... They are heat resistant to a level that you wouldnt believe, they stop heat escaping out the top of your roof, if you have a slate roof, you need loft insulation?.. thatched roofs are the equivalent of insulation a couple of feet thick. They are also the same way backwards in summer, they keep the house cool by resisting heat absorption by the sun. They are the best form of heat insulation you can get as a roofing material. but as insulation, how good a roofing material are they? and how long do they last? can you get 30 or 50 year rated rushes? As I say, a good couple of feet thick thatch replaces two foot of normal grade loft insulation, and it will last typically 40 yrs without problems, 50 yrs if the weather is "Kind"
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Post by the light works on Mar 7, 2017 14:45:54 GMT
but as insulation, how good a roofing material are they? and how long do they last? can you get 30 or 50 year rated rushes? As I say, a good couple of feet thick thatch replaces two foot of normal grade loft insulation, and it will last typically 40 yrs without problems, 50 yrs if the weather is "Kind" my weather is rarely kind. here, they typical for a good roofing job is asphalt shingles, with the lower edge glued down with mastic in case it gets windy before it gets hot enough to activate the factory applied adhesive.
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Post by mrfatso on Mar 7, 2017 15:00:06 GMT
Here we typically have either slate or ceramic roof tiles. How long a thatched roof lasts depends on the type of material used, Water reed lasts longest 40-50 years, wheat straw 25-30.
Which material is used can depend on a number of factors, cost wheat straw is cheaper than reed, but building regulations state that in some areas straw is tradition so even though it does not last as long it is what must be used.
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Post by the light works on Mar 7, 2017 15:50:13 GMT
Here we typically have either slate or ceramic roof tiles. How long a thatched roof lasts depends on the type of material used, Water reed lasts longest 40-50 years, wheat straw 25-30. Which material is used can depend on a number of factors, cost wheat straw is cheaper than reed, but building regulations state that in some areas straw is tradition so even though it does not last as long it is what must be used. here, our traditional roof is "hand cut" cedar shakes.
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