Post #262732 by Bwana Tiki on Wed, Oct 25, 2006 4:03 PM

Hey all I Just returned from the world waterpark show and while I was there I ran across a great new thatch product. it's an artificial thatch that comes as either "reed" or "palm" mounted to a 304 stainless steel binder strip which means it goes up more or less like a standard asphalt shingle. and here's the kicker... this stuff looks great and has a U.L. class A fire rating, a 4000 hour accelerated UV testing, wind driven rain testing and a severe hail damage testing, in fact in the field it has proven its salt against Hurricane Charley and held up to 140 mph winds and came out intact while neighboring structures got thrashed. anyway so far all the building depts. in the US that have seen the stuff have given it the okay. as far as cost goes it looks like the break even point is around four years unless a storm comes along before then and thrashes your natural thatch, in which case this stuff would jump ahead. for California folks you can see it installed in Disneyland the reed type is installed on the mad hatters tea cup ride shack. this was a rather shaggy style of installation. there may be more of the palm type over near the tiki room but I've not had time to go check it out. on the east coast you can see it at the Bronx zoo, ( I'm a left coaster so I can't give you much more detail than that). anyway no more mildew, no more bug infestations, no more rotting thatch. I've omitted the name of the product and their email address as I'm not sure that sort of thing is allowed on the forums, but if you need info just drop me a personal message and I'll hip you to the details. (I don't sell this stuff or have anything to do with the company that does, I just thought some TCers may find it useful).

See ya round the funny farm,