Thatching is really a craft which is traditionally handed down from father to son, taking numerous years to fantastic. It's not usually taught in other techniques. So there's relatively tiny documented details. In South Africa there's proof that numerous home owners and potential residence owners would welcome such details. Mainly because thatching is a labour intensive method, the cost of a thatched roof is generally as much as 60% greater than that of a traditional roof.

Thatch includes a organic capability to free-curved shapes to make a warm, informal finish that blends in properly due to its natural look. Thatch, getting a organic material, will mellow in colour from its original fresh straw to a dark sheen that tones in wonderfully using the South African outdoors. At the same time, the rustic roughness of textured thatch inside the constructing lends itself to co-ordination with other organic components for example stone & wood etc. The high open ceilings in thatch roofed homes give the rooms a spacious, airy feeling that is usually followed through with large window openings, and perhaps stone or slate floors to add to the rustic ambience.

Thatching makes use of components that are naturally available - grass or reed. In South Africa certain indigenous grasses are usually used. There are coarse varieties of this grass, with stalk thicknesses greater than 4 mm, that are not considered suitable for thatching. Natal thatching grass has a finer texture than the Transvaal grass when laid and is often preferred for this reason. The stalks of thatching grass are normally hollow and about 3 mm thick. Dekriet stalks, however, are solid and about 3-4 mm thick and considered the best quality and therefore the most expensive.

A thatched roof should have a minimum pitch of 45° and min 35° over dormer windows. Take advantage of your steep pitch to provide accommodation in the roof space to make the style more expense effective. Try to keep a thatched roof as simple as possible, but the potential of thatch to adapt to totally free curved shapes to develop a less formal plan could be implemented. Consider flashed areas features that pene¬trate or interrupt the roof should be avoided as far as possible. Chimney shafts should be designed to penetrate the roof plane at the ridge, thus avoiding the necessity of back flashing.