Thatch Treatment in Atlantic Seaboard

The Atlantic Seaboard runs from Mouille Point and Green Point down past Sea Point, Bantry Bay and Clifton to Camps Bay, squeezed between the mountain and the cold ocean. Pest work here is mostly in apartment blocks, restaurants and holiday rentals, where one problem flat can spread to the whole building.

Thatch Treatment by suburb

We cover all 26 suburbs on our City Bowl & Atlantic Seaboard route. Each suburb page covers what we find there and what works for those streets and buildings.

• Bantry BayThatch Treatment
• Bo-KaapThatch Treatment
• Camps BayThatch Treatment
• CliftonThatch Treatment
• De WaterkantThatch Treatment
• ForeshoreThatch Treatment
• FresnayeThatch Treatment
• GardensThatch Treatment
• Green PointThatch Treatment
• HiggovaleThatch Treatment
• Hout BayThatch Treatment
• Imizamo YethuThatch Treatment
• LlandudnoThatch Treatment
• Malay QuarterThatch Treatment
• Mouille PointThatch Treatment
• OranjezichtThatch Treatment
• Schotsche KloofThatch Treatment
• Sea PointThatch Treatment
• TamboerskloofThatch Treatment
• Three Anchor BayThatch Treatment
• University EstateThatch Treatment
• Upper WoodstockThatch Treatment
• VredehoekThatch Treatment
• Walmer EstateThatch Treatment
• WoodstockThatch Treatment
• ZonnebloemThatch Treatment

Atlantic Seaboard: what drives timber pests here

Timber pests matter more in the older semis and the wooden-decked houses on the slopes, where sea air keeps timber damp. Many sales here still need a beetle certificate, so get an inspection booked early in the process.

Much of the coast is high-rise and mid-rise flats along Beach Road and Victoria Road, mixed with older semi-detached houses inland and big modern homes cut into the slopes higher up. Apartment blocks share refuse rooms, service ducts and basements, which is where rats and cockroaches settle. Holiday lets change guests every few days, and that turnover brings bed bugs in with the luggage.

The cold Atlantic keeps summers mild, but the air is salty and damp, so roof timbers and cupboards hold moisture. Lion's Head, Signal Hill and the Twelve Apostles rise right behind the houses, and the fynbos and rocky slopes are where rodents and some spiders come from. When the South-Easter drops in late summer, flies and mosquitoes become noticeable along the promenade.

How to tell you have a problem

1. Rustling or scratching in the roof at night.
2. Fine powder dropping from the poles or laths onto floors and furniture below.
3. Droppings on beams or along the top of walls under the thatch.
4. Small round exit holes in the poles, especially in the paler sapwood.

A note from the field

If you have a pool or pond next to a lapa, mention it. We plan treatments under thatch so nothing drifts into the water.

How the treatment works

We start by inspecting the underside of the roof, the poles, the laths and the eaves, looking for borer exit holes, frass and rodent or bird activity. Affected poles and laths are treated with a borer spray or injection designed for timber, applied to the wood rather than soaked through the thatch. For insects living in the thatch, we use a targeted residual treatment on the underside, keeping it as light as will do the job. Rodents are handled with traps and tamper-resistant bait stations placed at wall plates and entry points, and we advise on bird netting or proofing at the eaves. Fire safety of the thatch itself, such as retardant treatment, is a separate specialist job and we will tell you if it looks overdue.

Want the full step-by-step? See how our thatch treatment service works.

Keeping them out afterwards

• Fit bird netting or wire at the eaves if birds keep pulling reed or nesting there.
• Have electrical wiring in the roof inspected regularly, especially if you have had rodents.
• Keep trees and creepers trimmed back from the thatch so rodents cannot step straight onto the roof.
• Ask your thatcher to check the poles and laths for borer whenever the roof is being repaired or re-combed.
• Do not store firewood or boxes against the walls under the thatch, as they give insects and rodents cover.

What affects the price

The price depends on the size of the roof, how much of the structure is exposed and how many poles and laths show borer activity. A small lapa with an open underside is a very different job from a double-storey home with a closed ceiling. Rodent and bird work is added where needed, and timber that is too damaged to treat has to be replaced by a builder or thatcher.

Spraying the underside of your own thatch with a garden insecticide does very little for borer, which lives inside the poles, and soaking thatch in products not meant for it can do more harm than good. We would leave borer and rodent work in thatch to someone who does it regularly. Keeping the roof clear of overhanging trees is the one thing every owner can do themselves.

Questions we get asked in Atlantic Seaboard

Thatch Treatment nearby and related