Surveying and the history of council house buildings
In my latest project I have taken a real interest in NSH (Non-Standard Houses). In this post it’s all about the pre-fab ‘Howard’ build in and around 1946 to help solve the post war housing crisis at the time. Now in 2024 surveyors like myself are surveying these properties some 78 years after the were built. These NSH were built with rolled steel angles, RSA and rolled steel joist RSJ beams built to form a two-storey house with a recess infill projecting a single-storey storage area on both the front and the rear of the house.
The external walls were made and constructed with PC (precast panels) and asbestos cement sheets, infilled with woodwool slabs. The ground floor ceilings were made from laminated board, and the first-floor ceilings were made from fibre board. The ground floor was concrete, whilst the first floor consisted of tongue and groove boarding on fletched joists.
The roof was covered with profiled asbestos cement tiles.
Typical problem areas and hazards are:
Structural Integrity
Damp and Moisture
Insulation Properties
From Substructure to Super Structure
When we inspect the buildings components, we can often find tell-tale signs of dilapidation and asbestos degradation as well as other wear and tear issues.
The steel frame components can suffer from corrosion as well as a breakdown in the substructure. The use of woodwool in the walls and partitions can lead to long term moisture ingress.
The concrete slab substructure is prone to movement, leading to cracks in walls and floors within the superstructure.
Some Local Authorities / Councils have improved certain aspects with these houses such as UPVC windows and doors, as well as replacement of the asbestos roof tiles with granulated light weight tiles. They have also added external wall system insulation and a poly render finish.
To prevent further dilapidation and corrosion of the building’s components, protective coatings have to be reapplied, damp proofing methods should be done with insulation upgrades to reduce energy costs (EWI). Any structural movement or damage should be addressed and may involve some underpinning works to the substructure. The exact methodology would be written in a report from our professional structural engineer.
These Howard Type A houses are a piece of history, and a rare property type, meant to be a temporary housing fix, all these years ago in 2024 they are still standing. With careful building adaption and careful management of the risks and necessary repairs carried out, the protection and life longevity of these houses can be increased significantly, using building adaption techniques can bring these houses up to a more modern finish and desirable look.
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