Specification by Period

Specification Notes

Foundations - Some houses still had no foundations at all, the wall sitting directly on the earth a few course below ground level. Most houses had fairly shallow brick or concrete foundations.

Walls - Most houses were built with solid walls, usually one brick thick and in Flemish bond. Hidden walls often built in English Garden Wall bond. In upland areas stone was still the norm, probably 325mm or more thick and sometimes with a brick backing. A few houses were built in cavity construction - these were sometimes in stretcher bond but Flemish bond, using snapped headers, was also common. Mortar was usually lime based, probably hydraulic if it was available. DPCs were becoming common and were lead-cored bitumen coated, slate, asphalt, and for horizontal DPCs only, waterproof cements and natural pitch. Most plasters lime based, usually with cheap bulk fillers such as ash in base coats. Special hard plasters such as Keene's used for external angles and decorative work. Gypsum plasters used mostly for 'running' cornices and mouldings. Lime plaster was sometimes gauged with gypsum to speed up the set.

Windows - Sash windows the norm. Window heads were often stone lintels or segmental arches, both with timber lintels behind.

Roofing - Traditional 'cut' purlin roofs most common. Larger properties with strutted purlins or even trusses. Double-lap slate or clay plain tiles, or single-lap clay tiles depending on location. Some houses had torching but no roof insulation or underfelt. Guttering and downpipes usually cast iron.

Ground Floor - Raised timber floor with square edged or t&g boards and terracotta or cast iron vents. Joist ends built into external walls, sometimes supported on perimeter sleeper walls. Bare earth usually visible below floor although a few better quality houses had concrete oversite. Some new houses still had flagged floors, either stone or clay tiles.

Upper Floor - Softwood joists built in to walls or supported on corbels; square edged or t&g boarding. Floors strutted with herringbone struts, folding wedges at each end between joist and wall. Ceilings timber lath and 3 coats lime plaster. Traditional trimming using tusk tenons and housed joints around stair openings and fireplaces.

Internal walls - Half brick walls, stud partitions, or stud partitions with brick on edge infill - all covered with lime plaster. Softwood panel doors.

Services - Coal fires throughout. A back boiler, often behind a range, may have fed a direct cylinder for water heating. Most houses only had hot water via coal-fired copper in scullery. Few working class houses built with separate bathrooms, many still had outside WCs (flushing). Lead pipework. No electrical installations but most houses had a piped supply (lead pipes) of gas for lighting. Combined mains drainage, two-pipe cast iron above ground drainage system, rigid jointed salt-glazed clay pipes below ground.