Blue wrote:I really don't understand the appeal of thatch, (roofing or politically)
What about Lady Garden???
To each his own, there is no way I could live in a big town or city any more - the noise and proximity of people just drives me up the wall; I would just want to kill everyone...........
Me either Pete, I know where your coming from, ive got used to living in the sticks now, pain in the 'arris sometimes if you need to get anything quick means a good hour or more gone having to drive into nearest town, but the quiet way of life and the area far out ways it.
Lovely cottage Pete. Insurance not too kind on the pocket on thatched roofed properties though.
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You can see the start of the Thatching process where the Yelms are placed at the Gable end at a 45 Degree angle and then gradually brought to the vertical as they work into the centre of the roof.........
...you can also see how battered the existing thatch is, but this is merely flatted back and a cover of new thatch placed over it. This is called "Spar Coating".
Only Reed needs to go back to the timbers each time (unless there is Rafter damage on a Long Straw Building).
The Thatch had lost a LOT of material over the Windows (or had not been done properly the last time)....so a great deal of material that was dropped when the Yelms were made or trimmed on the roof fitting was then packed above the Window Eyebrow.............This took ages....probably 2 days...........
Attachments
Packing the eyebrow.JPG (203.03 KiB) Viewed 1350 times
Once the Yelms have been packed to the correct thickness and shape (obviously all done by eye), the Thatcher then installs the "Liggers" to keep the thatch in place prior to the final finishing off and wiring..
The Liggers are held in place with more Spars - ohh Goodie!!!!!
You can see it taking shape and ho much more "body" the roof now has..........
In London after 1212 it was compulsory to whitewash the thatch to reduce fire risk, shortly after Thatch was banned in London. Didn't stop the "Great Fire" though..............
There is a detached double garage with Pan tiles and Roydon is currently building a double garage at the bottom of the garden which will be Slate, busy busy busy.......
I have a question,do you remove all the old thatch after some time and replace it all or do you keep layering ,and how many layers can you put on a roof, before it is to much?
Basically, you only take off enough old thatch so that the new Yelms lay flat. This is done by simply running a comb over it - I had to make this as the Thatcher had "lost" his old one - I also have to repair his pick up truck on a regular basis, not sure why...............
The only time you take off more or back to the wooden rafters is when there is a structural issue......It is not built in defined "Layers" (Conservation people do not understand this either) you just have to level it out and do your best...............
