thatched awning - questions

I'm considering building a thatched awning for the front of my (outside) bar. I think 36-inches out from the front of the bar. I'd like the awning to be hinged from the beam over the bar and supported with angled poles from the posts on each side of the bar. Hinging it would allow it to fold down over the front opening of the bar. I think this design will be best to avoid having to completely take it off in the winter and avoid concerns with snow load.

From the perspective of supporting the thatch, how far apart should supports be under the thatch?

I'm currently considering making the support frame from pvc pipe...either 1-inch or 1.5-inch. Or would I be better off with real bamboo from a strength fof material perspective?

Also if the awning is 10x3, how much thatch would be recommended....does it typically get over lapped and if so how far?

[ Edited by: jimsflies 2014-06-14 08:01 ]

Nice bar.
You are in Michigan! Bamboo and or thatch will rot in like one or two years.
Plus you get earwigs and all sorts of bugs in that stuff.
Do yourself a favor and put up Corrugated Steel and let it rust.

I'm just looking to do a swath of it on the front. I assume it won't last too long....but with being able to "collapse" it with a hinged design, I think it will help it. Being stored in the vertical position, would help water/snow to run off when not in use.

I suppose I could look into artificial if it creates too much of a problem. I'm just thinking that it will have more of a hut feel to it with some thatch versus the corrugated metal I already have for the roof.

Bad idea?

I hear ya, love real bamboo rattan and thatch but I'm in Ohio and when I put those things outside
well this wonderful weather we are blessed with kills them.

That thatch is not cheap as well.
If you do use thatch make a huge cape that you can remove in the winter, but then we just had what two weeks of rain and next week calls for rain.
So that's just rot city.

And as far as how to hold it up I would use rusty old chain. (No rot, No bugs)
Or how about block and tackle with rope to hold it up, that would be nautical.
Also on the Corrugated Steel you can glue Chinese newspaper to the underside then shellac and that
makes a cool treatment, I saw this at the Mai Kai.

I like to try and do this stuff once and be done.

Good luck!
Post what you end up with.

The paper on the metal sounds interesting...would like to see a photo of that.

Perhaps reed fencing might work and hold up a little better?

"The paper on the metal sounds interesting...would like to see a photo of that."
I don't have one but I think Danny did this at the Tonga Hut in Palm springs as well.
Heck buy a paper and try it.
Be sure to seal the paper with white glue before you shellac it.

"Perhaps reed fencing might work and hold up a little better?"
Well I don't know about reed fence it is hollow so maybe not so good.
But here is the Willow fence we put in our back yard.(Willow fence is solid not hollow)
The first photo is after 7 years?
The second photo is just one year old we did put a protectant on it once.

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Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

Trader Vic'e in SF did the newspaper treatment as well.

Really looked great

-Longboard

[ Edited by: longboard 2014-06-16 18:51 ]

You could try synthetic thatch. Like this:

http://www.palmex-international.com/en/

I did something very similar and originally used thatch. The thatch was great for about three years and then started disintegrating. I replaced it with corrugated metal to match the original roof and was very glad I did. My original thatch hung low to provide shade and I was worried that I wouldn't get enough shade with the corrugated metal but that wasn't the case. I used 2 x 4's for the facia, 2" landscaping poles for the rafters and 1 x 2's for the cross supports.

"The thatch was great for about three years and then started disintegrating."
sur2baja are you in California?
If so that three years would be two or less here.

Yep, inland San Diego County. The third year heavy rains just pummeled it after the sun exposure of the summers.

[ Edited by: sur2baja 2014-06-17 14:51 ]

Nice awning sur2baja! Thanks for sharing your photos.

I think I'm convinced to stick with the metal roofing for the awning.

Thanks tikiskip for helping point me down the road. I guess the thought of maintenance/replacement that thatch would require sounds less appealing after more consideration.

I'll be sure to update with the final results.

[ Edited by: jimsflies 2014-06-17 19:03 ]

No problem,
I've seen people go f#$% it I'm putting up thatch, and then a few years later go
f#$% it I'm taking down this dam thatch.

Just trying to save you time and money.

Good luck!!

I can attest to the 3 years. That's where I'm at now an not looking forward to getting back up there to redo it.

man, we got earwigs up the wazoo here in So Cal!!!! never seen so many in my life till I moved to Hemet, anyone know a good way to get rid of them??

If you have your heart set on thatch, I can understand.
I have seen some pretty good looking artificial thatch. Never tried it though.

@Trader Mitch I think artificial thatch would be great. Besides cost (compared to metal or even real thatch it is 10x more), I think a lot of varieties want to be installed on a subroof, and I was hoping to keep the weight of the awning down since there isn't a lot of structure to support it from off the front of the bar.

@sur2baja I would like to see more photos of your project...not just the awning. You have some cool stuff going on there. I found your old build thread, but looks like it didn't get updated with your final build. :)

On 2014-06-17 22:16, Pele Paul wrote:
man, we got earwigs up the wazoo here in So Cal!!!! never seen so many in my life till I moved to Hemet, anyone know a good way to get rid of them??

Here ya go this works too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlgpfCT0wYo
We have earwigs out the wazoo too, they will eat your plants down to nothing.
Slug bait plus, or one that says it's for earwigs too works well.(Some slug baits don't kill earwigs)
Remember they like small spots to hide in during the day, like Bamboo or thatch.
This is why I no longer use bamboo to stake my plants with, it's like building them
a home right near your plants.
So solid thing are best as they don't rot as fast AND you don't give bugs a hiding place.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Monterray-Sluggo-Plus-New-Slug-Snail-Control-2-5lb/200492069053?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D23423%26meid%3D7705285166233912353%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D10050%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D310659475076&rt=nc
This new formulation of Sluggo controls slugs, snails, earwigs, sow bugs (roly polys), pill bugs and cut worms too.

Here is one more, Diatomaceous earth...
diatomaceous earth *Works by causing abrasions on insects as they come in contact with product resulting in loss of body fluids then dehydration *Digestible by earthworms thus causing them no harm *Very effective in controlling snails and slugs in bedding plant areas and around houses *Indoor/outdoor use

Good Luck!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Natural-Guard-Crawling-Insect-Control-Snails-And-Slugs-4-lbs-/181412395808?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a3d057b20
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