Barking mad

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

well that Barking fire just again shows that there is no substitute for masonry separating walls.....did they not learn anything from the great fire of London?.....all those arty farty timber frame and metal stud separating walls my have been tested in ideal conditions but in the real work don't work.....lets get back to masonry separating walls........spoken by somebody who shares a timber separating wall with my neighbour .....and I hope it is never tested ......

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

and don't get me started on sound performance ...

[Brian Gaff]

I have to say that back in them days of yore, Tomorrows World was full of fire retardding wonder substances used for isolation of rooms in buildings. Did they all have massive disadvantages in the end like those use your power drill under water and super cool toasters? Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Sound performance is unlikely to kill you though. The houses built in the

60s around here have awful party walls and really they were all built with no internal walls at all, one supposes so that they could be completely customised, but the nff walls erected in most of them are little more an office partitions. Brian

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

yes there are some bad ones about ...

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

all about saving money and eliminating wet trades...and speed of erection ....

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

I remember our housing dept brought in a new wonder product to improve party wall performance in their failing kooncil houses....it was a very thin sheet lead they stuck on the party wall....it didn't work as advertised but cut off all the kooncil tenants tv reception and radio reception .....they had to give them external tv antennas to replace their no longer functioning set top antennas ....tee hee...

[Andrew]

Semis and terraced houses, built in the 1970's weren't much better.

It wasn't until about 1980 when builders had access to better quality blocks to build party walls and the inner leaf of houses.

[Tricky Dicky]

I think it is very much a regional thing how houses were built in the past with the cost of land and labour being major factors. The last house my parents owned t'up North, built 1962 was entirely brick built inside and out and no sign of any block work or studding. Our last house in Greater Manchester built 1957 likewise was all brick except for two walls one between the bathroom and landing and another between box room and landing. Both these walls were built out of blocks which were oddly much bigger than the standard block these days they were laid with timber battens embedded in the mortar line and stood over joists for support! Our first house built 1975 was brick built outside with cinder type breeze blocks on the inner leaf plus a single wall down the middle of the house the rest was all studded walls. Our present bungalow also built in 1975 is brick and stone outside with the inner leaf and all dividing walls out of cinder type breeze blocks no studding whatsoever. My daughter's new build is stone outer walls and concrete block inner leaf, everything else is studded walls with not that much studding either with studs on 600m centres relying on rigidity by the use of 8'x4' and 15mm thick PB. Some other weird features are a decorative chimney absolutely no function, this arrived ready built plonked on two trusses at the end of the gable with the outer wall built up to it. Inside the party wall finishes just above ceiling height and what appears as some kind of foam sheet is stuffed in the gap between the two leaves of the party wall this foam continues up to the apex and is the only thing that divides the two lofts!

Richard

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Mate has a timber framed '80s terrace. Sound insulation between houses is better than my Victorian house with 9" brick wall. Even although the build quality was poor. He's on to his third set of windows and outside doors.

[Roger Hayter]

I don't think it is much to do with what they had access to - they built plenty of luxury houses to high standards in previous decades. It is much more to do with building regs for fire, sound, and heat insulation.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Jim GM4DHJ ... brought next idea :

Cavity wall between me and neighbour, all original partition walls are brick or block, except for 80's revised layout of bathroom, where stud wall was used. Even the large over stairs cupboard is block work.

[Andrew]

Which are generally treated with dirision by the big building companies, and too many smaller outfits too.

Bellway built 100 new houses near me in 2010 and one house had an extension in 2016.

A footpath passes by this property which was built right up to a 6 foot wall marking the edge of the path, and when the original cavity was opened up, all there was inside were sheets of white expanded ply, about an inch thick, inside a

4 inch cavity, but just chucked in loose, and no attempt to join them up, seal the joints and attach firmly to the inner leaf, as they should be.

[Andrew]

But in the past you have always said there is no substitute for mass to reduce sound penetration.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've no idea how they achieved this result. Although timber framed, it might have a solid wall between the houses. But a timber frame too, as the internal party wall is plasterboard on stud work.