Thatched Houses - Pros And Cons

[Barmaid]

Do any of you live in a thatched house or have you ever done so?

We are looking to rent as an interim measure and have found a lovely thatched farmhouse.

What problems are there with thatch? Bear in mind that the upkeep etc is the landlord's responsibility so I am talking more about the practicalities of it.

I understand the downsides to be:-

No guttering so you can get mud spashes round the property
Potentially higher insurance
Mice and spiders

Anything else?

[kvalidir]

We lived in one for a bit and for us it was just spiders, I am terrified of spiders, however there were not thousands of them. I don't mind mice but don't recall that many anyway but then we have cats and dogs and we had open fires but obviously there is something of an increased fire risk and thus insurance was more expensive, but we're country type bods so really there were no downsides to speak of that were a massive problem and it looked really nice.

[Barmaid]

kval, it's the spiders that I am struggling with too.

Mind you, I have some monsters here. I started off absolutely terrified, but by the end of summer, I had trained myself sufficiently well to do the glass/paper thing. Not quite at the stage where I can pick them up in my hand like the OH.........

[ummmm]

I just leave them be.

[Barmaid]

I may yet get there, ummm. I was quite impressed with how I went from "jumping, screaming, running away and then tentatively coming back to bash the ******" to "calmly getting pint glass from kitchen, placing over said beastie, sliding under card, depositing outside and then rewarding myself with large pinot".

[kvalidir]

I've got a Spider hoover it just very gently sucks them up a long tube you cap the end of the tube with a cork thing and then release them elsewhere. I love it , it doesn't hurt them at all, I can keep them at arms length and makes me feel safe. We didn't have realistically any more or any bigger ones when we were in thatch, we have some whoppers here and this isn't thatched, so I imagine it would be doable for you, but muddy round the edges in frantic weather but honestly nothing terrible.

[ummmm]

Lol...it's all about the rewards :-)

[EcclesCake]

I had a colander on my living room floor for four days having trapped a spider with it, it took me that long to muster the courage to approach it with the hoover!

[alavahalf]

If you cant handle them .. use your teeth !

[diddlydo]

Barmaid - if you're only renting as an interim measure, the landlord will be responsible for maintaining the thatch and insuring the building so I wouldn't worry about those factors. Fire risk is small if it's in the sticks and you have no open fires. No more spiders in a thatched house than in any other. The downside for me would be that thatched properties tend to have very small windows and are therefore very dark inside.

[wolf63]

I don't know anything about thatched roofs - I think that it is an English thing.

Spiders - Frankie loves Spiders. He eats them whilst their legs are still moving. They are crunchy - waking up to him sitting on the pillow eating a Spider is a regular thing during the summer.

[Barmaid]

Kval, I think I'll get one of those!

Ummm, indeed. Just dont read too much in the fact that I put "pint" and "pinot" in the same sentence.

Eccles - now THAT'S funny. I know I'm bad, but 4 days?!!!!! (Although I'd have put a large bowl over the colandar, cos colandars have holes).

Diddly, yes I realise that about the repairs and insurance etc, but I imagine the house contents policy will be higher too.

Wolf, ASBO would never do that. The only time he ever did, he was so traumatised by the scream as I hit the roof he has never looked at another spider since. ASBO is looking forward to catching mice inside now instead of having to go out every now and again.

[Togo]

Thatched roofs are a technique used for centuries not only in England but Asia and Africa. Notably Indonesia, Bali, and Fiji. The Mayans also used thatch.

[wolf63]

Togo - Scotland?

[Togo]

Must be some Wolf. There are thatched houses in Ireland, Germany, Denmark, etc. etc.

[Togo]

http://www.thatching.net/thatched-roofs/thatching-scotland/

[wolf63]

Togo - to be honest, I could wander past a thatched roof and not notice.

Thanks for the link - I will read it through if/when I eventually wake up.

[melv16]

A friend of mine had a thatched cottage when he lived in Hants. The roof needed repairing and he soon found out to his cost that thatchers run a cartel. They divi up the work between themselves and he found it impossible to get a competitive quote.

[Barmaid]

I shant be paying, Melv!!!! We'll only be renting.

It's a very chocolate box little place though.