Combining Onduline & Thatch on a Roof

The aesthetics of a thatch roof can't be beaten; thatch is warm and rustic and blends into the environment around it... but in some situations thatch just isn't practical.

The Cintsa Thatching team have, over the last few years, had regular work on a residential house right on the beach on the Wild Coast. This stunning house was unfortunately thatched in the wrong thatch type for the climate, this as well as the fact that it is surrounded by tropical palms and inaccessible overhanging trees mean that the thatch roof was permanently rotting, leaking and causing endless headaches.

We were asked to come up with a solution - how could our client keep the beautiful aesthetic of the thatch and the curved roof shapes, but get rid of the constant problems of particular areas of the thatch leaking and rotting?

The solution?

A Combined Thatch and Onduline Roof

This solution makes great sense for such roofs. The roof was stripped entirely of the old cape reed thatch which was an ineffective thatch type for the tropical climate of the Wild Coast.

One of the problem areas in the thatch

Another leaking section of the thatch
where two roof junctions join

The thatch stripped from the roof

Problem area's on the roof (where the trees overhang, where one roof junction joins another, where one roof hangs over another), were fitted with onduline sheeting and proper drainage valley sections.

Onduline on the back of the roof (under the trees), where roof junctions
meet and where one roof overhangs another

Onduline and thatch roof combination with onduline fitted
in problem areas

Onduline fitted on the back and joining sections of roof

The front of the roof which is visible from the road and beach was re-thatched in hyparrhenia hirta which has proved many times to be able to withstand the humidity, heat and tropical rain storms of the Wild Coast.

Find out more about Onduline roofing and onduline roof sheeting on our website.