Cob: RE: thatch

[Michael Saunby]

On 13 January 2000 05:35, Ted Schluenderfritz [SMTP:teds at rtvision.com] 
wrote:
>> what about pests? I like animals well enough but I don't want them 
living in my
> roof.

That might be difficult if there is a lot of wildlife nearby, and if there 
isn't - well, what an awful place to live.  Mind you, it isn't the straw 
that attracts them, it's the fact that a thatched loft is a warm, dry place 
- no condensation or other unhealthy problems.  The advantage is that the 
timbers will last for centuries; I'll not claim that all the timber in the 
roof here is original, but most is, so although the straw only last a few 
decades the roof timbers should last 400-500 years or more.

Having said that, we've got bats in our roof - no trouble at all, and a 
sure sign that there are no rats in there - which given that rats are 
common here, we've even seen one on the front wall of the house, is quite 
good going.  The occassional shrew seems to be able to find it's way in, I 
wouldn't mind if they didn't take to chewing on electrical cables, and an 
electrical fire in any roof wouldn't be funny. Perhap plastic or even metal 
ducting for cables would be a sensible precuation. Interestingly they never 
chew on straight runs only at tight bends in the cable.

If you didn't have bats, a cat would soon sort out anything you're likely 
to get in your loft (wasps excepted) that you didn't like. A cat would soon 
kill all your bats though, which wouldn't be nice.

Michael Saunby