Thatched house

[illmonkey]

Looking at a thatched house to buy soon and wanted to know a little more about them. The thatch has been done recently, so has a good life left.

The roof needs a bit of attention along the ridge, it's probably 12meters long. Costs?

Is it possible to add a window, one side of the top floor has no windows? Be it a skylight equivalent or dormer.

What to check when buying? All electrics in the house look good, but I've not ventured into the loft space.

Insurance, is it all lies about massive premiums?

The house is 'st and straw', generally in a good condition (bar the gardens, yuk). I'm just concerned about a thatched property.

[Fidgits]

i employed a thatcher to check over the roof of a thatched cottage i was looking at buying, and was glad i did - while it looked fine, he reckoned in the next 5 years it would've easily cost north of £20k, and more like £30k to just get it all done at once (rather than touching up here and there).

then it would only last 15-20 years before it cost a similar amount again..

So i'd highly reccomend getting a specalist to look at the roof specifically (and not relying on a standard surveyor)

[illmonkey]

Fidgits said:

i employed a thatcher to check over the roof of a thatched cottage i was looking at buying, and was glad i did - while it looked fine, he reckoned in the next 5 years it would've easily cost north of £20k, and more like £30k to just get it all done at once (rather than touching up here and there).

then it would only last 15-20 years before it cost a similar amount again..

So i'd highly reccomend getting a specalist to look at the roof specifically (and not relying on a standard surveyor)

Yes, I've read this. Will defiantly be getting someone to look at it. I was more after ideas before offering on it though.

[DKL]

It rather depends what it is thatched in. Long straw which is most common will last about 18-30 years depending on the prevailing weather and as houses tend to have 2 sides it will wear at a different rate so likely to be 20 and 30 years. Water reed roofs last longer up to 60+ years.
As a general rule long straw tends to be netted and reed doesn't but there are plenty of exceptions. Your material will depend on where you are geographically and if the house is listed you won't be able to change materials.
A ridge lasts 7 years ish but will get done with each half of the roof to. A reridge at 12m would be 4-7k ish but get a proper quote.
We had half our house done and the ridge last year. The last rethatch was 1991 and ridge about 2001. We stretched it rather time wise and the roof will manage with the gullies patched for a surprisingly long time but it looks very tatty after a while. It will take a lot of neglect for the thatch to leak as its very thick and only the top 3" actually get wet. The flashing around chimneys will leak though.
I like ours. Yes its higher maintenance but its good insulation.

Extra windows - I doubt it especially if listed. It will also need a lot of work to rethatch around the opening as the thatch will need to be cut around it.
Insurance - yes its more. Ask the NFU they tend to be competitive.

Any electrics in the roof space should be armoured cable or ideally not there at all.
If it has a wood burning stove you want a decent chimney lining. Most thatch fires are internal from superheated air from woodburners and cracked chimneys. Setting thatch on fire from the outside is like trying to light a telephone directory (when they were directories not the slips of books we have now).

Edited by DKL on Wednesday 23 April 13:49

[illmonkey]

DKL said:

It rather depends what it is thatched in. Long straw which is most common will last about 18-30 years depending on the prevailing weather and as houses tend to have 2 sides it will wear at a different rate so likely to be 20 and 30 years. Water reed roofs last longer up to 60+ years.
As a general rule long straw tends to be netted and reed doesn't but there are plenty of exceptions. Your material will depend on where you are geographically and if the house is listed you won't be able to change materials.
A ridge lasts 7 years ish but will get done with each half of the roof to. A reridge at 12m would be 4-7k ish but get a proper quote.
We had half our house done and the ridge last year. The last rethatch was 1991 and ridge about 2001. We stretched it rather time wise and the roof will manage with the gullies patched for a surprisingly long time but it looks very tatty after a while. It will take a lot of neglect for the thatch to leak as its very thick and only the top 3" actually get wet. The flashing around chimneys will leak though.
I like ours. Yes its higher maintenance but its good insulation.

Extra windows - I doubt it especially if listed. It will also need a lot of work to rethatch around the opening as the thatch will need to be cut around it.
Insurance - yes its more. Ask the NFU they tend to be competitive.

Any electrics in the roof space should be armoured cable or ideally not there at all.

Edited by DKL on Wednesday 23 April 13:47

Thanks. The whole thatch was done in 2009, in water reed, it's long and has no netting. It looks ok, but the overlaid pattern has slipped and looks tatty. Maybe worth just removing that?

Hopefully I can get into the loft and see if there are any cables.

Property is in conservation area and is G2 listed, so no hope of swapping it to tiles etc.

Just seen your edit: Yes, it has a new log burner, but can't say if the chimney lining was changed.

So, off the bat we're looking at a fair amount of investigating, and potential cost to right bits.

[Jobbo]

Insurance isn't impossible but NFU had both the most competitive quote and fewest restrictions/conditions - I was told they insure about 80-85% of thatched properties in the UK but no idea of the accuracy of that claim!

One thing I encountered which made insuring the property awkward before I'd moved in was the lack of electrical inspection certs, fire inspection details, knowledge of chimney linings, spark arrestors etc so I'd suggest looking through the quotation request form on the Thatched Owners Group website and raising enquiries of the seller to find out any details you need: http://www.thatched-group.com/tog/insurance.htm .

Thatchers tend not to be mercenary types, and if you can find the details of the thatcher who last worked on the roof then just give him a call and see if he can give you any info before you even have it inspected. Inspecting it is vital; I didn't bother of course Mine is long straw and the front is probably 40 years old but is in really good condition, so that must be the sheltered side.

Adding a window is probably going to be awkward - I considered it with my place, which isn't even listed, but I think it would lose some character and alter the looks in an unpredictable way. You still need the right pitch to thatch over a window opening so it's not like sticking a dormer into a normal roof. And of course listing would probably mean no chance at all anyway. At least you will get excellent insulation from the summer sun and heat

[illmonkey]

Jobbo said:

Insurance isn't impossible but NFU had both the most competitive quote and fewest restrictions/conditions - I was told they insure about 80-85% of thatched properties in the UK but no idea of the accuracy of that claim!

One thing I encountered which made insuring the property awkward before I'd moved in was the lack of electrical inspection certs, fire inspection details, knowledge of chimney linings, spark arrestors etc so I'd suggest looking through the quotation request form on the Thatched Owners Group website and raising enquiries of the seller to find out any details you need: http://www.thatched-group.com/tog/insurance.htm .

Thatchers tend not to be mercenary types, and if you can find the details of the thatcher who last worked on the roof then just give him a call and see if he can give you any info before you even have it inspected. Inspecting it is vital; I didn't bother of course Mine is long straw and the front is probably 40 years old but is in really good condition, so that must be the sheltered side.

Adding a window is probably going to be awkward - I considered it with my place, which isn't even listed, but I think it would lose some character and alter the looks in an unpredictable way. You still need the right pitch to thatch over a window opening so it's not like sticking a dormer into a normal roof. And of course listing would probably mean no chance at all anyway. At least you will get excellent insulation from the summer sun and heat

Sounds like a quick quote from NFU would be a good starting point, it's free to do and I can gauge if it's going to be expensive.

I'll see if I can get the thatchers details, there are a few around here, so I may be able to get a few opinions.