I'm trying to date some work on a house (c1920), specifically a dividing wall in the attic space between two semis.
It's been made of quite new-looking aerated blocks - the ones with the zig-zag scribe marks on the side.
What's the oldest that they could possibly be? To the nearest decade, perhaps.
Think my parents house was buoilt with something like that in the 50s. Coal cinder block. But the later foamy sort are more 1970s IIRC
Aerated and breeze blocks are two different things. What are you talking about?
I'd go for 70's too. My place built 1925 used 3" coal cinder blocks on the inner skin and partition walls. They did not realise then how opaque they would be to wifi signals!
but they were thoughtful enough to fit twisted pair wiring.
NT
Aerated concrete and ash blocks have been around since the 1950s, a house I lived in built in the 50s had them.
There are other types, which may be later/earlier.
Of course, assuming they are the 1950s type, the work could be much later.
I believe, at one time, it wasn't unknown for there to be no dividing walls in some roof spaces, or for them to be incomplete.
I have certainly seen them in 50s buildings.
There are still loads of terraced houses with no dividing wall in the loft. It's a fire & security issue being addressed very slowly.
NT
In message , at 23:14:11 on Sat, 8 Sep 2018, Brian Reay remarked:
Yes, whole terraces of houses were built with one contiguous attic space. The introduction of dividing walls is more about fire precautions than stopping your neighbours paying a visit I think.
In message , at
11:57:34 on Sat, 8 Sep 2018, harry remarked:The ones at that url.
And noise/privacy these days.
I've seen those used in 70s buildings for sure.
Wiki sez this:
The history of foam concrete dates back to the early 1920s and the production of autoclaved aerated concrete, which was used mainly as insulation. A detailed study concerning the composition, physical properties and production of foamed concrete was first carried out in the 1950s and 60s. Following this research, new admixtures were developed in the late 1970s and early 80s, which led to the commercial use of foamed concrete in construction projects. Initially, it was used in the Netherlands for filling voids and for ground stabilisation. Further research carried out in the Netherlands helped bring about the more widespread use of foam concrete as a building material.
So I reckon that what that is is not the 1920s stuff, but the late
70s/80s onwards stuff.
The true "lightweight" blocks are made from PFA. or pulverated fuel ash as produced by "modern" coal fired stations where coal is "milled" into a very fine powder in large ball or roller mills before being blown into the boilers using something not unlike an oil or gas burner. IIRC it was normally ignited by oil burners. Kingston upon Thames, opened in 1948, must have been one of the last "chain grate" stations in the UK. As the name suggests, "bulk" coal is burned on a moving grate.
I think Croyden B, from about the same period, used Pulverised Fuel.
PFA is collected from the electrostatic precipitators and washed into lagoons where it settles. It would first have been available in large quantities from the 1950's but I think it started being exploited more seriously in the 1960's.
Amazingly, according to Wikipedia, the US trialed PF burning in 1918.
You're not looking at the same Facebook post I've been commenting on, are you?
1920's house where inner skin of gable wall is modern thermal blocks, and still has added timber framework which held up the roof when the gable wall wasn't there. Reason gable wall was rebuilt is unknown.In message , at 11:54:31 on Sun, 9 Sep 2018, Andrew Gabriel remarked:
The dash for gas, solar and wind is going to muck up the building industry at some point then.
Maybe the luddite UK building trades will drag themselves kicking and screaming into the modern era and use SIPP panels with cladding like they do in many other countries.
A bit bleeding obvious IMHO.
I would have said 1950's at the very earliest, but didn't become common until 1960's,
They are made from PFA, pulverised fuel ash from coal fired power stations. We were still building chain grate stations post-WW2 (Kinsgston upon Thames), but I think Croyden B (similar age) may have burned pulverised coal.
About the last five years ...
Our first house built in the early seventies had breeze blocks for some int ernal walls however a neighbour got hold of some concrete blocks that appea red to be constructed with wood chips mixed in which as soon as they got we t just seem to disintegrate of course the fool built a garden wall then won dered why it fell down. I have never seen anything like them since.
Richard
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