Appletree Cottage

Wiltshire is a county home to many charming Listed thatched properties. Over the centuries, the timber roof structures degrade, and the thatch behaves as a shell structure as the supporting timber structure no longer serviceably functions.

Inevitably the thatch also degrades and needs attention, which in many cases can compromise the integrity of the roof, requiring extensive invasive repairs to the timber structure to reinstate a functioning structure.

MLDE have successfully tackled this issue in an alternative way, by introducing lightweight steel armature structures within the roof spaces to provide a secondary ‘helping hand’ to the existing structure, without the need for extensive timber structure repairs and full scale removal of the thatch. Such an approach preserves the historic building with minimal intervention.