What is the meaning of thatched roof?

What is thatched meaning? Please give us a thatch definition.

For some new clients who saw our website at the first time or found us in the Facebook advertisement of synthetic thatch roof, we are asked to give explanation of thatched roof meaning sometimes.

It simply means using natural thatch or synthetic thatch to cover the roof structure. Anyway, as thatched roof is developed with human being’s history, so we have to explore human being’s history, then we could know the thatch meaning better.

Thatched roof exists long before in human being’s history since human start to build their homes in wild. Primitive manusedwood forstructure, use dried grasses to cover the roof. That is the beginning of the thatched roof. This is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates.

Ancient style thatched roof in Japan:

Various thatched roof Structures in the world

And later, with the development of the world, there are more and more methods are developed to use various thatch for roofing, using natural thatch for roof covering are so popular for society. And in different areas in the world, there are different ways or traditions of thatch roofing. And they have different names of thatched roof.

In Maldives, the thatch roofing is always called Fangi Vinun, the materials are coconut palm fronds that dry and drop off:

Maldives Fangi Vinum Thatched Roof Tile Weaving

In Philippines, it is called nypa fruticans, or nipa palm or nipa thatch or mangrove palm, the materials are mangrove nipa palm leaves. This plant is a kind of trunkless species that grows in coastal areas in Philippines (also some South East Asia countries). Nipa leaves are still harvested for roof shingle and widely used for house, gazebo roof construction, as a quite cost effect way of thatched roof deocration in Philippines.

In Chile, coiron thatch is more popular for beach house, garden gazebo roof decoration.

Coiron Thatched Roof in Chile

In Fiji, it is called bure thatched roof. In Indonesia, called alang alang grass. In Panama and South America countries, they call Bohio thatch, and they usually palm thatch as roof. For Europe, reed thatch is more usual. And in ancient China, straw thatch is more often for used.

But all natural thatch has problems of maintenance, you need to take care of waterproof, windproof and fireproof issues. And need to do many things to prevent natural thatched roof from fungi, worms, birds, and natural thatch is easy to be rot, decay, the maintenance cost sometimes are much higher than the initial investment for the thatched roof.

With the development of the world and the technology, people now have much more choices for thatched roof-synthetic thatch, also called as artificial thatch or fiber thatch. It is made with synthetic resin, and need to add materials like UV proof additives. Some clients request fireproof thatch, fireproof additives would be put to meet such request.

There are many different looking of synthetic thatch:

1.  Palm thatch

2.  Reed thatch

3.  Straw Rod thatch

4.  Dried branches thatch

According to the materials used for thatch production, synthetic thatch roof tiles could be divided into following series:

1.  PE thatch

2.  PVC thatch roof

3.  Nylon thatch

4.  Aluminum thatch

Advantages of synthetic thatched roof:

1.  Synthetic thatch are longer lifespan than natural thatch especially in high humidity area.

2.  All materials of synthetic thatched roof tiles are recyclable; the supply is not limited (natural thatch materials need to be obtained from nature. The supply will be not stable, the quality is difficult to control.)

3.  Synthetic thatch roof do not need maintenance

4.  Synthetic thatch is not afraid of bird, worms, fungi

5.  Synthetic thatch not easy to decay or rot like natural thatch

6.  The installation of synthetic thatch is easier than natural thatch

7.  From the long terms, the initial investment cost and the maintenance cost of synthetic thatch roof is much less natural thatch

8.  Synthetic thatch’s looking could be customized, could reach some decoration effect which natural thatch could not reach.