Thatch Treatment Rondebosch

Rondebosch is old Cape Town: oak trees, Victorian houses, big schools and the UCT campus spilling down the slope toward Main Road. Between the students, the historic buildings and the squirrels, there's rarely a quiet week for pest work here.

Timber pests around Rondebosch

Rondebosch has a lot of original pine floors, roof timbers and joinery, and common furniture beetle is regularly found. Beetle certificate inspections for sales are routine here.

There's a real mix. Victorian and Edwardian homes with timber floors and pressed-ceiling roofs sit next to student digs, blocks of flats and large school and university buildings. Old houses split into rental rooms mean lots of people sharing kitchens, which is where cockroaches thrive. High ceilings and wide roof voids give squirrels and rats plenty of room.

The Liesbeek River runs through Rondebosch and Rondebosch Common is a large open space in the middle of the suburb. Table Mountain's eastern slopes and the forests above Newlands bring heavy winter rain and a lot of tree cover. Damp, shady gardens and river banks are good rat and mosquito habitat.

Squirrels and roof rats are the headline problem, followed by German cockroaches in shared student kitchens. Bed bugs are a known risk where tenants change every year. Wood borer in old timber comes up often when houses are sold.

From the technician

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 to tell you have a problem

1. Fine powder dropping from the poles or laths onto floors and furniture below.
2. Rustling or scratching in the roof at night.
3. Insects such as cockroaches or spiders falling from the ceiling.
4. Birds pulling reed out of the roof or nesting under the eaves.
5. Droppings on beams or along the top of walls under the thatch.

Our process, step by step

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.

1. Roof inspection

   We look at the underside of the thatch, every accessible pole and lath, and the eaves and ridge.

2. Identify the problem

   We separate active borer from old damage and confirm which insects, rodents or birds are involved.

3. Timber treatment

   Affected poles and laths are treated with borer spray or injection.

4. Thatch and pest treatment

   Insects in the thatch are treated from below and rodent stations or traps are placed.

5. Report and recommendations

   You get a report noting what was treated and any timber that a thatcher or builder should replace.

Keeping them out afterwards

• Have electrical wiring in the roof inspected regularly, especially if you have had rodents.
• Do not store firewood or boxes against the walls under the thatch, as they give insects and rodents cover.
• Ask your thatcher to check the poles and laths for borer whenever the roof is being repaired or re-combed.
• Keep trees and creepers trimmed back from the thatch so rodents cannot step straight onto the roof.
• Have open thatch ceilings in lapas and lodges checked once a year, since problems are easy to see early.

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.

Questions we get asked in Rondebosch

Thatch Treatment nearby and related