A specialist quotes better with photos of the roof, its size and what is wrong. Send one request with the details and we pass it to thatchers and maintenance crews working in towns and cities across Northern Cape.
Thatch Roof Maintenance in Northern Cape
Looking after a thatch roof in Northern Cape? Say how many roofs you have, how old they are and when they were last checked, so thatchers who work in Northern Cape and around Northern Cape can quote a yearly visit before the rains.
The main thatch roof maintenance page explains the options, the materials and the costs in more detail.
Repairs & protection in Northern Cape: local notes
Repairs here are more often about wind and sun than rot: loose courses at the edges, a cracked cement ridge, grass bleached and thinned on the north side. Farm lapas surrounded by dry veld need a firebreak and <a href="/thatch-fire-protection/">fire protection</a>. The eastern side around Kimberley gets summer thunderstorms, so ask about a lightning mast. Rats, wasps and birds nesting in lapas are common, and inspections usually need a visiting inspector.
Northern Cape: the buildings, the weather and the thatchers
The Northern Cape is the driest province, and that is good for thatch: a roof here dries quickly after rain and rarely grows moss. What wears it down instead is strong sun, hot wind and dust, and on farms and game ranches the risk of a veld fire. Thatch is not everywhere: most of it is on guest farms and lodges around the Kalahari and the Green Kalahari along the Orange River near Upington, on hunting farms near Kuruman and Kathu, and in garden lapas in Kimberley, Kathu and Upington. Distances are huge. Many towns have no thatcher of their own, so crews come from Kimberley, the Free State or Gauteng, and grass and poles are trucked a long way.
Typical thatch roof maintenance requests in the area come from:
- Farms and smallholdings: the farmhouse, lapa and rondavels checked together to save on travel
- Guesthouses and B&Bs: a yearly visit in the quiet season so guest rooms stay dry in the rains
- Homeowners: a yearly check, combing and ridge touch-up on the house and the garden lapa
Local tips for Northern Cape
Common here: guest farm lapas, hunting lodge bomas, shade lapas in town gardens. Ask each supplier about this: ask whether travel, accommodation and delivery are quoted separately. Where they work from: kimberley, Upington and Kathu; many crews travel from the Free State or Gauteng.
Around Northern Cape the largest group asking is farms and smallholdings, which usually means the farmhouse, lapa and rondavels checked together to save on travel. Before you agree to anything: ridge, valleys, shade and thin spots. Getting a crew there: long trips for crews and grass trucks; ask how travel is charged.
Service area: Northern Cape and surrounds
Thatchers and suppliers on our network work throughout Northern Cape, including Kimberley, Upington, Kathu, Kuruman, Springbok, De Aar, Postmasburg. For farms, lodges and small towns, ask how travel, accommodation for the crew and deliveries are charged.