Talk to me about thatched roofs...

[jammydoger]

I've fallen for this barn BUT it has a thatched roof. Are they really as high maintenance as I'm being told they are? Are they extortionate to re-thatch? And is your insurance really expensive? That's it really.

from experience yes yes yes ,and that is that

Maybelater got there before me - no personal experience but as far as I know "yes, yes and yes".

Having said that, we have handmade several-hundred-year-old tiles and apart from the insurance, the answers are the same.

Seriously, when was it last re-thatched? You can factor that into your offer but it will be hard to get around the insurance issues

They need replacing every 30 years and you have to book the work in about 12 months ahead of time as the straw/reeds needs to be ordered.

It's Norfolk thatch which lasts 70 yrs I think. It was done 30 yrs ago so I plenty of life left. We'd need to do the ridges in the next couple of yrs.

Morebeta 12 months!!! I need talking out of it. Seeing a couple more this week before making an offer.

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/16018352

The thatch generally needs replacing every 20-30 years depending on the climate and prevailing weather conditions. I got my thatch replaced 4 year ago at a cost of 3k including the Fermanagh reed, the job took 5 days including the removal of the old material. I had a fire barrier fitted which is basically a waterproof/fireproof felt prior to the thatch being laid, this brought my insurance down to a normal level.

We used to have a lovely thatched cottage which we had to get rethatched as a condition of our mortgage as it was in such poor condition.

• Good news is that your barn is thatched in Norfolk reed so this should indeed last around 70 years, although as you say it will need re-ridging more frequently.
• Bad news is that your barn is thatched in Norfolk reed so if it does ever need to be re-thatched it will be v. expensive. We managed to get approval from conservation officer to use Hungarian reed which was much cheaper.
• Our roof was around 12K but this was back in 1996, and the roof was quite big.
• Thatching can only be done in good weather and thatching a roof takes MANY weeks and thatchers are in short supply which is why you tend to need to book them a long time in advance. Having said that, it is likely that it is only a re-ridge you will need in the short term which is a quicker job so a thatcher might be able to fit you in more easily.
• Our insurance wasn't noticeably more expensive, but it was a little harder to get hold of as bog standard insurance companies didn't want to touch it. However there are plenty of specialist insurance companies out there who are happy to cover thatched properties. As I recall we just had to have smoke alarms fitted and some big fire extinguishers.
• Once thatched and re-ridged, there aren't really any maintenance issues. It just sits up there shedding rain down your neck very efficiently and acting as lovely insulation.
• Ah, one maintenance issue I just remembered, get the roof wired (basically covered in something like chicken wire). This discourages birds and squirrels and also something in the wire is vaguely acidic and helps to discourage the growth of moss.

Oooh, nice house by the way!

We have a thatch. I'd agree with everything Grendel said.

I found the NFU very helpful when we bought our house. They are used to insuring thatched buildings and we found them a lot cheaper than "specialist thatch insurers". You could phone them with a description of the house and they should be able to give you a quote so you have a rough idea of cost.

We are moving next year and I would consider another thatch. The house you've linked to is lovely. You do need to factor in you'll need money to do the ridge and a bit more for insurance, but that's it really.

Thanks grendel The barn isnt listed i hope we dont have too many problems when we have to repair it. I'm assuming we would be able to find a cheaper alternative.

I've torally fallen for it. The only other problem is its a little overpriced, bought in 2008 at the peak of the market and the vendors don't look like they'll be accepting anything under 500k. We'll probably make a cheeky offer 5% under asking price given that it's been on the market since October 2011 and the works to the ridges. If it isn't accepted we'll probably walk away.