Thatch Treatment for Montague Gardens homes and businesses

Montague Gardens is mostly warehouses, showrooms and distribution yards, so the calls we get here are about stock, loading bays and compliance rather than bedrooms. A rat in a food warehouse is a bigger problem than a rat in a garage, because one gnawed pallet can mean a rejected consignment.

Montague Gardens: what drives timber pests here

Wooden pallets and crates are worth checking for borer before they go into long storage, since imported timber packaging sometimes brings beetles in. The steel buildings themselves are not at risk.

Big steel-framed sheds with roller doors, mezzanine offices and long racking aisles make up most of the area, with a few trade counters and factory shops mixed in. Roller doors that stand open all day are the main entry point for rodents and birds. Racking that goes up to the roof gives mice somewhere quiet to nest where nobody looks for months. Ceiling voids above the offices tend to be where the droppings turn up first.

Rodents come first by a long way, mostly roof rats in the racking and Norway rats around bins and drains. Stored product insects follow wherever grain, pet food or packaged goods are kept. Pigeons roosting in the roof trusses and flies around waste skips round out the usual list.

Worth knowing

For holiday rentals and lodges, insects falling from an open thatch ceiling are the kind of thing guests photograph. An annual check before the busy season is cheap insurance.

How to tell you have a problem

1. Insects such as cockroaches or spiders falling from the ceiling.
2. Birds pulling reed out of the roof or nesting under the eaves.
3. Rustling or scratching in the roof at night.
4. Droppings on beams or along the top of walls under the thatch.
5. Small round exit holes in the poles, especially in the paler sapwood.
6. Tunnels or loose patches in the thatch where rodents have been moving.

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.

Prevention that actually works

• Ask your thatcher to check the poles and laths for borer whenever the roof is being repaired or re-combed.
• Have electrical wiring in the roof inspected regularly, especially if you have had rodents.
• Fit bird netting or wire at the eaves if birds keep pulling reed or nesting there.
• Have open thatch ceilings in lapas and lodges checked once a year, since problems are easy to see early.
• Keep trees and creepers trimmed back from the thatch so rodents cannot step straight onto the roof.

Pricing, honestly

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.

Frequently asked questions

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