Question for thatchers

[Penners]

I've been doing some work in the attic of my daughter's thatched Norfolk farmhouse, underneath the roof. As is normal with thatch, you can see dozens (maybe hundreds) of bits of dark brown twine, tying the thatch to the rafters. I don't know how old the thatch is but I would hazard a guess at 20 years or so.

About 50 per cent of the bits of twine are broken. How serious is this? Is it something we should worry about, or not? Strangely, the majority of the unbroken bits don't seem to be under much tension - they are just loosely tied around the rafters.

If we should be doing something about this, could you explain what? I think there's enough of most of the broken bits showing to be able to tie in new pieces and re-secure them. Should we do that? And if we should, is it best to tie them tightly or loosely?

Many thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[Penners]

Just bumping my question up the heap, in the hope of getting a reply. Any thatchers out there?

 

[middi]

i wish there was someone out there Penners, I may learn something as well.

 

[Ian Bond]

I've no idea at all about thatch, but am intrigued so did a trawl if t'internet (at the risk of being a blokish bloke...)

Tarred Cord Strong cord treated with Stockholm tar. Synthetics are also used but tying is rare as a permanent fixture, when used the sway is tied to the rafter or batten or no sway is used.

Here's a glossary:

http://www.thatch.org/glossary.htm

I have no idea what any of this means, but it might make some sense to someone with a thatched roof?!

Whatever you do, don't pull the strings!

Right, I'm off to smoke my pipe, and drink a pint of strong ale.

 

[biffvernon]

I dunno. But when I helped a thatcher recently we used brown tarred twine to tie the thatch down. I think I was told that the twine was used on reed while longstraw was held down with hazel or willow hoops. On the work we were doing I should think the twine was pretty important. We stitched it in using a sowing needle about two foot long. A two person job since one had to be outside pushing the needle through and another (me) hooking the twine into a notch at the needle's end so that it could be pulled up through the thatch to be tied in a knot before being poked back down. It worked like a sewing machine put with a person what the gadget in the base of the machine does.

So if your daughter's twine does need replacing you'll need to find one of those big needles.

 

[Penners]

Thanks chaps. I'm still hoping that the world's greatest thatcher will come along and give me a definitive answer (no disrespect to your helpful comments).

I tested one of the broken bits of twine, and if you pull one end it does appear to slip through the thatch without too much problem, so I wonder whether I could just tie some new twine to one end and feed it through like that. Frankly, I don't want to do it unless it is definitely necessary, because I'm 63 years old and was hoping to do one or two other things within what remains of my allotted time!

 

[Ian Bond]

Thanks chaps. I'm still hoping that the world's greatest thatcher will come along and give me a definitive answer (no disrespect to your helpful comments).

I tested one of the broken bits of twine, and if you pull one end it does appear to slip through the thatch without too much problem, so I wonder whether I could just tie some new twine to one end and feed it through like that. Frankly, I don't want to do it unless it is definitely necessary, because I'm 63 years old and was hoping to do one or two other things within what remains of my allotted time!

No problem - as I said I know nowt about thatching.

Yes, I'm sure I could think of better things to do than pulling twine around rafters too!!!!

Ian

 

[skier-hughes]

I don't want to do it unless it is definitely necessary, because I'm 63 years old and was hoping to do one or two other things within what remains of my allotted time!

Blimey if you think it's going to take you 20/30 years to do you'd better get someone in........... :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Penners]

I don't think anyone would be mug enough to take on the job, Graham. Mind-numbingly boring!

 

[Penners]

Still hoping for a real, live thatcher...

 

[Moo]

I'd have thought you were tripping over them in your neck of the woods.

 

[Penners]

If I tripped over a thatcher, I'd plummet some distance to the ground, Madam! :wink:

Yes, there are always plenty of them at work around and about, but I feel a bit reluctant to call them down to ground level in order to ask free advice. I suspect I might get some advice of a more biological nature!

 

[Moo]

Just wait until one of them is having a (ground-level) tea break and ask him.

It's not as though he'll be heart-broken about losing a bit of work - from what I've heard thatchers are so busy that you have to put your name down at least a year in advance (a bit like those nursery schools where if you wait until the child is born you've missed the boat).

Failing that, ask Mrs Penrose to use her womanly wiles.

 

[Penners]

Yes, I reckon that's what I'll have to do, Moo, since there are obviously no thatchers on this forum. If you hear of a shifty old bloke caught loitering suspiciously around a Suffolk village, you'll know who it was.

If the present Mrs Penners is with me at an opportune moment, and if she happens to have her wiles with her, I'll leave the job to her.

Many thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Moo]

Nothing to do with thatch (or thatchers, come to think of it), but just how many Mrs Penroses were/are there, David?

When you refer to 'the present Mrs Penrose' it conjures up images of a sort of relay system of wives.

Or is that how they do things south of the border?

 

[biffvernon]

Is the thatch reed or straw? I think that may be relevant.

 

[Penners]

There's just the one at present, Moo, and has been for 39 years, but I don't like her to feel as though she's got her feet under the table too much - she might start taking me for granted. :wink:

 

[Penners]

Is the thatch reed or straw? I think that may be relevant.

It's Norfolk reed, Biff. At least, it's reed and it's in Norfolk....

 

[Moo]

Be careful, Penners. After all, two can play at that game.

 

[biffvernon]

Right, I tried to check with my thatcher friend but he's just gone travelling. In Poland at the moment. As far as I recall what he told me, reed is traditionally tied with tarred twine in the manner I described in an earlier post, while straw is pegged with hoops of hazel or willow. The twine is pretty essential when you are laying the thatch. You don't actually see the twine from the outside as the courses of thatch higher up cover the twine that holds the course below down. What I don't know is whether, after a few years, the thatch beds itself down firmly enough to not actually need the twine anymore. So before spending a great deal of time trying to thread new twine through I'd look at it and make a commonsense judgement as to whether it was about to blow away. My guess is that it will be quite firm without the twine.