We had our hands full with this job in Melton Mowbray. All four cottages had been gutted by a devastating fire around 18 months ago. Before we could begin any form of thatching we had to start with fire boarding.
After many delays for different reasons, we could start putting some reed on these 4 fire damaged cottages. However, we are currently still limited to what we can do until the fire boarding is finished on the rear on the cottages.
If any type of thatch catches fire it will spread quickly and can be devastating. In this case, there were four cottages in a row, all of which caught fire as the fire picked up the pace. Due to the fact that thatch is designed to shed water, once it catches fire it is extremely hard to extinguish. This is why putting fire boarding and other fire preventing materials down is highly important.