N Q, that's an awful situation for your friend. The insurance industry is a mess, and it is causing chaos for a lot of folks.

I sorta wonder if insurances have drop roof coverage all over the US or are trying to find excuses not to cover roofs, because I have a friend in Fla who's insurance drop roof coverage after the last big hurricane but they were lucky that it was only roof coverage for them, she said in other areas, insurance companies dropped all coverage. I have another friend in PA that had her roof coverage dropped a few years ago when straight line winds went through and a lot of roofs were damage. She's also having problems with keeping her insurance because they don't want to insure her anymore due to her having one large tree near her house and she's been quoted $15,000 to cut it down, money she doesn't have :(

Oh, N Q, the insurance and roofing debacle is alive and well here, too. Scammers went through and made false claims that roofs had been damaged by hail and people got their roofs replaced for free. Then the insurance companies figured out what was going on. Now they have jacked up everyone's insurance rates if you have a roof over 10 years of age (mine went up $500 per month!) and nobody can get coverage for damages at all any more. We are all having to replace the roofs at our own expense. It's awful. Between the insurance and the cost of the roofing, some people are having to evaluate whether they can even keep their houses (lots of retirees around here), but they may not pass inspection and/or be insurable due to the ages of the roofs. It's an awful catch 22.

Homely in 2023 we had a hail storm go through my town, along with two towns near me, which damaged every single roof in all 3 towns, so we've had roofers in town ever since and they still haven't replaced all of the roofs. I've had a long time to study roofing !! because of that storm, none of the HOA's can get roofing insurance anymore and none of the insurances will pay for another new roof for the next 10 years for individual residents. We had a 2nd bad hail storm go through a couple months later that caused more damage, luckily most residents hadn't had their roofs replaced yet, but for the few who got theirs replace fast, they had to pay for the 2nd roof themselves.

N Q, as someone who is creeping very close to needing a new roof, you know more about these things than feels comfortable, LOL

Homely, up to recent years I think all roofers were strong because most carried each bundles of shingles up the ladder to the roof and normally they had 3 or 4 bundles stack on each other that they carried up, now they have an arm that lifts whole pallets of shingles to the roof tops.

I think those folks that install these roofs have exceptionally strong arms and backs to lift all that weight up, manhandle it around, and then trim it!

Homely I always thought thatch roofs were an Irish thing so it's surprising to see them in other places. I once watched a DIY show that showed how thatch roofs are put on, it was interesting to watch.

Fascinating! And just today I saw a picture of houses in Japan that also have thatched roofs. I always thought it was a UK thing.

Homely I had to google that and yes, up to 5000 houses a year have new thatch roofs put on. They're suppose to hold up better than shingle roofs and they are excellent insulators.

I thought it was thatch, N Q - but do they have those in the Netherlands?

It is a nice place, I'm trying to figure out if that's a thatch roof or if there's moss growing on it ?

Lovely place!