I posted recently about our choice of synthetic thatch for added thermal insulation and aesthetics on BaanLoiNaam. But it occurred to me that someone out there might be interested in seeing the selection of other possibilities.

We ordered the samples from here. They distribute the Palmex products that I posted the video about their fire retardant properties in my previous post, as well as a number of other options.

Since we had actually ordered a minimum sample of each style that we could get from the distributor, here is a more complete set of pictures of the whole selection of samples we compared:

We decided to go with this one. It looks and even feels quite natural.

I believe it isn’t the Palmex but rather Virothatch. It also has Class A and Class B fire retardant options as well as non-retardant ones. I’ll have to see what the distributor can source. The website also mentions that it is made from HDPE which is UV stable and comes with a 20 year guarantee against fading and cracking. That’s pretty cool. And according to a quick Internet search HDPE is also naturally somewhat fire resistant.

This one was a close second. It looks like it is exactly the same as the previous one, but just a darker more textured color.

This other one was sort of interesting but not what we are going for. It looked like a pretty good replica of a reed thatch. We weren’t really going for a “reed thatch” look. I’m guessing that is more of a pacific islands thing. While it felt very plasticky, that probably isn’t an issue. How often do you think you will be bothered by the way your roof feels?

This one is probably meant as a grass thatch style but it is starting to look a bit fake to my mind:

This last one was probably the only one that I thought was completely fake looking for anything but a cursory glance. I’m guessing it is going for a “palm frond” thatch style:

It might look fine layered and from a reasonable distance, so I won’t judge it too harshly. But the one we chose above was almost indistinguishable from a natural thatch. And if it has significantly reduced fire hazard and likelihood of rodents and other pests, I’m seriously considering it. Bear in mind that several of our neighbors burn their grass cuttings, so there are floating ash particles in the air at various times of the year. I don’t want to mess with natural thatch picking up an ember in the ash and going up in flames.