Revach5 — Revetment and repair of thatched roofs | revach5.com
Most weathered roofs are worth saving: the decay sits in the top 300-400 mm, and the thatch underneath is usually still sound.
The question 'is this roof worth saving' has a measurable answer. Decay in a thatched roof concentrates in the weather-exposed upper layer, so the standard assessment is a strip-back: 300-400 mm of thatch is removed from each slope, down to the ridge, to expose the material underneath.
If what the strip-back exposes is firm, the roof is a candidate for revetment — fresh straw or reed laid over the sound thatch, instead of stripping back to the rafters. The layer that came off is not reused; it is re-thatched with new material.
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If the decay continues below the strip-back depth, revetment alone will not hold, and the job moves towards full reroofing. The 300-400 mm figure is therefore the practical dividing line between a repair and a renewal.
There is also a third outcome: the slopes are sound and only the ridge needs work. Because the ridge is renewed every 8-12 years on reed and every 5-8 on straw, a tired ridge on healthy slopes is the most common repair of all.
Whatever the scope, the same conditions apply after the work: a pitch of at least 45-50 degrees, and ventilation at the eaves and ridge rather than a covering sealed with bitumen felt.
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