Thatched Roofing, The General Information
Thatching, just part of the (forgotten) history?
Thatched roofing and wood shingles belong to probably rearest types of roofing, anyway, in certain areas thatched roofs are still very popular. I am not talking about Africa or Australia only, no, in certain regions of United Kingdom (Devon, for example) thatching has really solid status and you will find couple of tens of thousands wheat straw thatched houses and cottages there.
Thatched roofing, how it works
The principle of thatched roofing is the same as the principle of any shingle roofing. The thatching reed/straw sheaves are laid in layers so that they overlap each other and so form a sort of compact and cohesive roofing/waterproofing surface.
Just like any shingles, also the thatching straw/reed sheaves have to be laid on sloped roofs only as on the
flat roof (hydrostatic pressure of rain water) the thatched roofing would leak (gravity works - water will find its way down).
In the past, the thatchers always added new thatch layer over the weathered one (sometimes it resulted in 2m thick thatched roof), now usually the weathered surface is removed and new layer is laid to keep the roof thin and light-weight.
The modern-day thatched roofs
At these days, again, the natural materials start to play an important role in building industry, therefor straw or reed thatching is very popular. If you do not trust the roofing material that is potentially flammable, you can choose one from the variety of existing fake, plastic thatching materials, e.g. PVC thatch.
Wheat straw - still the most popular thatching material
Wheat straw is, for certain reasons, still the most popular thatching material. Why? Well... wheat is rather tall plant so its straw offers enough material for thatcher. It also resists very well the water, better than all the other cerealsī straw.
On the other hand, I have to admit that nowadays, thatchers only use special wheat (without spikelets) straw from specialist growers. Cane reed and bamboo are also very popular, mainly in Asia.
