BUILDING BRIEFING:

Post-War Homes

Style and Structure

In the fourth article in this series Trevor Yorke takes a look at the style and structure of post-war houses from the 1950s onwards.

The Labour government elected into power after the end of the Second World War faced problems with housing far greater than that after the First. Not only was there demand from returning soldiers and increased numbers of young married couples but also more than 200,000 homes had been destroyed and even more partially damaged. Add to this the work that was still needed to clear the slums, the shattered economy, restrictions upon imports of timber and the general shortages of traditional materials which meant that the construction industry had to look to other means to meet this high demand for new housing. The post war decades may not be renowned for quality but certainly are of great interest for the ingenuity in house design and modern style on the tightest of budgets.

Under Labour the concentration was upon the public sector, council houses in all manner of designs and materials were built, some permanent others intended to last just a decade or two. The most characteristic of these were prefab bungalows constructed from war surplus steel and aluminium in aircraft factories and erected on site in a matter of a few days.

Simplified designs

To be more cost effective houses built in the post war decades were made smaller and simplified in design. There were few of the large semis with steep hipped roofs, decorated gables and large bays filled with stained glass which had been popular in the 1930s, now facades were generally plain with wide windows and large panes of glass, which seemed appropriate for the modern style which had gained some acceptance especially after the Festival of Britain in 1951. Initially many were built in a simplified form of that which was used before the war with cheaper square bays and gabled roofs but soon a watered down types of modernist house with hanging tiles and weatherboarding across the front to give them a more comforting vernacular appearance began to be built. Further savings were made by lowering the height of ceilings and the pitch of roofs so less materials were needed and less heat to warm the rooms. This general theme of simplification was even extended to the layout of the estate, which were often set out in grids with straight or staggered lines of terraces making surveying and construction easier.

Room design

Inside the old rigid room structure where each had a specific role was broken down by a move to more open planning, the living room becoming a flexible space and the dining room having doors which could be swung open to make one large space and a serving hatch to the kitchen. Most houses in the Fifties still had a chimney fitted although fewer and fewer used solid fuel heating in these new properties preferring electric bar, portable gas and paraffin heaters which were flexible and cleaner than coal, this becoming an issue especially in London after the terrible smog killed thousands. Central heating did not become standard until the Seventies but alternative systems like hot air heaters which were positioned centrally and blew warmth through vents into the surrounding rooms were common especially in flats and bungalows. Hot water could be supplied from a stove in the kitchen or from instantaneous heaters on a wall although increasingly an immersion heater upstairs fed by a tank in the loft became the norm.

The biggest change started to take place in the kitchen, the old scullery was gone and now washing and cooking was done all in one place. Where there had been a live in maid a generation or two before now there were appliances designed to help with the daily chores, twin tub washing machines, fridges, and gas or electric cookers were popular labour saving devises. The kitchen was now becoming an important family room and swish new Formica worktops, sliding glass fronted wall cupboards, and fluorescent strip lights made it a more attractive and hygienic space. Freezers however did not become common until the 70s so most post war houses still had a tall larder accessed from the kitchen typically under the stairs and against an outside wall for ventilation. 

Materials

Restrictions on materials and a shortage of skilled labour encouraged architects to come up with alternative types of structure resulting in an incredible range of materials and methods of construction. Steel was used for many of the prefabs built after the war, beams and columns forming the load bearing structure with an external coat of render on wire mesh on the lower storey and profiled metal sheets along the upper creating distinctive estates often referred to as ‘Tin Towns’. Timber frames were used initially to form many of the prefabs but by the Sixties it was becoming common as the load bearing structure of many houses, although behind an outer weather proof covering of brick, tile or boarding so the owner may be unaware of what is holding up the building (windows fixed to the inner leaf of a wall and drip holes near the base are clues its timber framed). There were protective layers around the wood but if these were  poorly fitted, damaged when built or cut through by later fitting then damp can get into the frame potentially causing problems. 

Cross-wall construction

Cross-wall construction which became popular from the late 1950s through to the 70s was based upon a pair of load bearing side walls with an infill frame clad in weather board or tiles forming the front and back between them. The cross walls were made from brick, breeze block or concrete (often clad in brick) and required some support to stop them simply toppling over so beams and trusses between them, concrete floors, or a short return making them appear as an ‘L’ shape in plan were used. As the front was not load bearing it could be it could be filled with glass and long open windows dominate the facades of these houses. As with any building where there are a number of materials in their structure which perform differently the junction between them is a vulnerable point and in cross wall houses it is where the front stud wall meets the sides that water can get inside (it was often only sealed with mastic). There can also be movement in the walls if there was not sufficient support to resist wind pressure and in some cases where the joists run between the cross walls their expansion can push the walls out if not properly accounted for. The most visible problem with these houses tends to be deterioration in the cladding across the front especially where weatherboarding had been poorly maintained and it is common for this to be replaced by pvc types.

Common Defects

Reinforced concrete was a cheap and a more widely available material after the war and was used in flats and houses alike, in some cases forming the structure and outer walls. These could be constructed from flush panels or horizontal slabs held by vertical posts which were quick and easy to erect but gained a poor reputation due to condensation and noise problems. More seriously it was later discovered that the steel reinforcing which is normally protected by the high alkaline content in the concrete was becoming exposed due to poor quality pre casting and insufficient depth of surrounding material (as the concrete mixes with carbon dioxide in the air, carbonation,  it becomes less alkaline and vulnerable to moisture penetration). As the steel rusts it expands causing cracks to appear on the outer surface of the concrete in line with the rods, the weakening of any structural components becoming a major problem which resulted in building societies refusing to mortgage many of them and leaving owners with in effect blighted properties.

Many houses were built in a traditional form with brick cavity walls joined by regularly-spaced metal ties, and built up on concrete slabs in foundations which were now generally deeper. Unfortunately, wall ties produced before the 1980s had less rust protection and are more prone to failure. Heavily corroded wall ties can often be identified by the horizontal cracking that occurs along the lines of the brick courses – typically at every sixth course of brickwork – and may require replacement.

Common bricks were transported all over the country and local colours and high quality facing bricks were rarely used replaced by these cheaper types in distinctive sandy yellows, light browns and pale reds. Calcium silicate bricks (made from lime and sand) were popular especially in the Sixties, however they could shrink as they continued to dry after building and could cause unsightly cracks to form where this was not planned for. With timber shortages concrete was used to form the ground floors of most houses with a hard-core base and a damp proof membrane set within it, the upper surface was finished with a screed and a wooden parquet type covering in the best positions while by the late 1950s vinyl tiles were more generally applied.

As the timber to hold the roof was still formed on site and the central dividing wall was used to support part of the structure it was load bearing and hence was usually made from breeze blocks, which by the 1960s were also becoming the standard material for the inner leaf of external cavity walls. Other internal walls could be made from timber studs covered in plasterboard, a material which gained popularity after being used to quickly patch up bomb damage during the war, this form of wall being used throughout many houses from the 1970s when prefabricated roof trusses meant a load bearing dividing wall was not always required. Metal frame windows in more standardized sizes were still popular in the late 40’s and 50’s. These were prone to condensation and corrosion and have often been replaced by UPVC equivalents. Timber ones have dominated since but containing mostly sapwood of the tree they are more prone to infestation and rot (this is due to our use of fast growing trees cut down early so they have little of the tougher heartwood and not because they are softwood).

Roofs were usually covered in a range of man made tiles designed to suit lower pitches and underlined with water proof sheeting, the main problems tend to be the exposed edges above gables becoming insecure and needing repointing or capping and fading from some which were originally only surface coloured.

Houses built for the masses since the last war are often labelled ‘too small’ or have ‘paper thin walls’ with the public believing that ‘they don’t build them like they used to’. The problem with this is that the surviving Victorian houses which people have in mind when making this comparison were aimed at the middle classes who even at the turn of the 20th century only represented about 20% of the population. Those which the majority of the working classes lived in were either bland tiny terraces whose charm today comes through age rather than design or were unsanitary hovels which have long since been demolished. It was left to post war authorities and architects to sort the problem out and the much maligned houses they built must be put in context of what they were trying to achieve with a limited economy, materials and skilled labour.

As these cheaper materials and methods have been adopted across the industry the top end of the market cannot  compete on quality with similar properties from the Edwardian period. However for the majority of us we live in houses beyond the dreams of our grandparents, they would expect a two up two down with their own outside toilet if they were lucky, we have central heating, kitchens, electric lighting, bathrooms and gardens. It seems it is our high expectations and a very English approach to what we require from our home which makes them cost more due to the limited appeal of flats and an obsession with gardens and angled plots which eat up expensive land. 

They also have to make deeper more secure foundations, better insulated walls, and structures which meet stringent fire and building regulations. On top of this he is expected to fit electrics, gas and water, a fully fitted kitchen, a bathroom and often an ensuite features which Victorian builders rarely had to cost into their houses. It has been through the experiences in the post war decades with combinations of different materials, mass production and prefabrication that the modern house has remained affordable and experiments with making even cheaper houses to rent or buy continue to challenge architects today.