European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 9, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Life at the top roofer carries on dutch tradition by Norm Zeigler travel outdoor writer for Many cutting grass that is More than calf High is a daunting chore. God Sluis cuts his when it is Over his head. Sluis is a roof Thatcher. Eight months a year a from april through november a he installs traditional Reed roofs. The other four months he spends harvesting the raw material of his profession on a 247-acre plot near Kampen Netherlands. Quot every year in the wintertime we Harvest the Reed Quot he says. Beginning before Christmas and ending sometime around easter he cuts wraps and stacks More than 7,000, 1 meter bundles of the Tough Marsh grass that grows throughout the Netherlands. Later the big bundles Are transported to his Home where they Are cleaned trimmed and broken Down into 21.000 smaller bundles about 55 centimetres 22 inches in circumference. To a Layman it seems like a huge Quantity of grass. But Sluis Points out that it takes about 2.000 bundles to thatch an average roof. The Netherlands does not produce enough Reeds to meet its needs so additional amounts Are imported from Poland France and elsewhere. Sluis knows that his profession is an anachronism. These Days few new houses Are built with thatched roofs. Three quarters of his work year is spent re roofing old houses. Sometimes the Job takes him far afield. Quot i work All Over. Germany France Luxembourg Quot he says. He climbed up on his first roof 24 years ago at the age of 16. After a five year apprenticeship to a master Thatcher he struck out on his own and has been his own Boss Ever since. Often he works alone but he tackles Large projects with one or More colleagues. Quot we have in Holland 1,000 men who work on Reed houses Quot Sluis says. Fifteen of them live within a 15-mile radius of Kampen. Four or five of them May travel together to a construction site. A thatched roof is not cheap. It can Cost from $50 to $100 per Square meter depending on the steepness the number of Gables and dormers and the size and location of the chimneys. This puts the Cost of a roof for a modest size Home at Between $10,000 and $20,000. Sluis says the area of roof he can thatch in one Day also depends on the style and steepness. On a Long Day he says he usually can do about 8 Square meters. Though they May seem outdated in this age of increasingly High tech construction materials thatched roofs do have advantages. Chief among them Are their insulating properties. According to Sluis houses Are Quot warm in wintertime Cool in  this is because the Reeds Are basically hollow tubes and trapped air is one of the Best insulators. The Standard thickness of a thatched roof is 27 centimetres about 101/? inches. Despite its apparent fragile nature thatch is surprisingly durable. Because sunlight tends to break Down the Reeds the life of a roof depends on which direction it faces and its slant. Quot on the Southwest Side of the House maybe 25 or 30 years. On the East 60,&Quot Sluis says. Steep roofs last longer than Flat ones. There Are thatched roof houses scattered throughout Rural regions of the Netherlands. But the Best place for visitors to View this ancient dutch construction style is in the Mars Side Village of Giet Hoorn about 10 Miles Northeast of Kampen. Every roof in town is thatched. One place you will not find thatch is on Sluis Home in downtown Kampen. It has a tile roof. Quot i live in the City. In the City it thatching is verboten Quot he says. From december through March god Sluis keeps Busy cutting and gathering the Reeds that he will use the rest of the year to thatch roofs. In the dutch Village of Giet Hoorn every building has a thatched roof. A amps photos by Ken George the hollow Reeds hold heat in the Winter and Cool air in the summer a making a thatched roof a Good year round resting place. 10 stripes Magazine april 9, 1992