How are UK houses built?
Posted by Shroomsnhoney@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 142 comments
I'm seeing a lot of reno videos in NZ/Aus/USA with Brits and European's commenting on the 'cardboard walls' and poor build quality overseas.
I've lived in new builds and 150 yr old villas (I know probably still young by UK standards) but these all have had Gib plasterboard walls.
How are they made in the UK? Is it really all brick? What's the brick clad with on the inside? How are you supposed to renovate or knock through a wall when they're made from bricks?
Kayakayakski@reddit
Ahem... currently undergoing a major renovation. Concrete with steel supports. Facade is red brick and internal walls are red brick, breeze block and newspaper.
usedqueendream@reddit
uk houses are quite unique honestly
nfoote@reddit
Mate, I'm from NZ originally. It'll come down to this: the correct way to build a house is the way houses around the reader are built.
Basically Europeans love brick cos they live jn brick, Americans love wood cos they live in wood.
Its often just lead by traditionally available resources.
The caveat for NZ is that wood/steel frames flex earthquakes. Brick doesn't.
oblectament@reddit
In Europe we need bricks cos there are free-roaming wolves who'll huff and puff and blow our houses down otherwise
No-Assignment-5287@reddit
Especially since they made it illegal for me to shoot the wolf.
theother64@reddit
Is it through?
Pretty sure farmers can shoot foxes.
You just can't make a sport of it.
No-Assignment-5287@reddit
It was intended as a joke.
Foxes are classed as vermin and can be shot out of hand. Were there wild wolves in Britain, the government wouldn't really have a choice but to let people shoot them.
Laxly@reddit
Yes, but you can shoo the wolf
Vitaefinis@reddit
reminded me of Settlers of Catan somehow
Shroomsnhoney@reddit (OP)
Yeah, good point! I was in chch for those and I remember all the school's brick walls coming down
HampshireTurtle@reddit
I've read _somewhere_ that in the US they have areas where traditional brick built isn't allowed dues to earthquake risks. This was a thread about how they seem to build flammable houses in wildfire country, when a "traditional" brick house with tiles would seem to be much more resistant to flying embers.
Brick with tiles or slate is solid and long lasting in an area with no earthquakes but is suboptimal where earthquakes are expected.
Tuna_Surprise@reddit
Wildfire areas largely overlap with earthquake areas (like California). Some areas are also not suitable for tile roofs due to snowfall levels (Northern California in particular).
Cosmic_Womble@reddit
There is something to be said for earthquakes and local weather events.. From google:
----
Magnitude 5.0 or higher earthquakes are relatively rare in the UK, occurring on average every 10 to 20 years. While smaller tremors are frequent, a tremor of magnitude 5.0 or higher is considered a significant event for the region.
Magnitude 5.0–5.9 earthquakes are quite common in New Zealand, occurring on average about 29 times per year.
While these are considered "moderate" in magnitude, they are frequently felt by residents and can cause slight damage to buildings and infrastructure, depending on their depth and proximity to populated areas.
----
Magnitude 6 earthquakes are extremely rare in the UK, estimated to occur only once every few hundred years. While the UK experiences 200–300 earthquakes annually, the vast majority are small, with only about 20–30 felt by people.
Magnitude 6 earthquakes are relatively common in New Zealand, occurring on average about once per year.
----
If I were living in New Zealand, think I would rather be living in a house designed for the local conditions.
Lost_Repeat_725@reddit
I live in a 60s house with a 90s extension, brick and block cavity wall for external walls that are plastered on the inside. 60s Internal walls are all breeze blocks that are plastered, newer extension internal walls are plaster boarded, but I will say that I suspect they’re stronger material than some US videos I’ve seen. They’ve taken a few bashes with no marks, I would expect someone to have to be incredibly careless to put a hole in them
Limp-Archer-7872@reddit
In the US in some places they just paint onto the plasterboard without a skim coat of plaster which adds a lot of hardness and a nice finish.
ZestyData@reddit
As far as I know new(er) builds in the UK are also often just boarded and jointed rather than fully plaster skimmed too.
nfoote@reddit
Pretty standard in NZ where OP is from too. Plasterboard (OP uses NZ term/brand gib board) is machine smooth so why plaster over it. They just "gib stop" ie fill the joins and fixing holes.
Intelligent_Prize_12@reddit
Because the plaster provides a much more durable surface than paper and a higher quality finish. We used tape and jointing in he UK as well but more so I'm commercial fit outs, if there was no downsides to taping and jointing it would be used everywhere.
badger906@reddit
My house is fully brick internally and externally. Every wall inside dividing rooms is also brick. It’s a lovely and quiet home. Very well insulated too. my house drops about 1c over night from 19c to 18c while it’s between 1-5c outside.
audigex@reddit
The most common these days are a breezeblock inner layer with a brick or rendered-breezeblock outer layer, or a timber (stud wall) frame and a brick or rendered-breezeblock outer layer
There are others, but the vast majority of UK homes are one of those two
ichippedmytoothh@reddit
Qqqff
theamazingtypo@reddit
Generally for the external; concrete block cavity and then outer skin (stone, brick etc).
Internals are stud work, either 3x2 or 4x2 then plasterboarded.
Internal structural would be concrete block
pw66@reddit
Depends on what the plans say about supporting walls. If the internal wall is not supporting then a stud wall is fine. (This could also work as supporting depending on weight supported.) Here is an example from recent work (garage). Internal wall (at back) is double skin with insulation in between.
ZaphodG@reddit
How thick is that closed cell foam insulation? I guess it’s polyiso. Where I live in the US, you’d need 140mm for new construction.
pw66@reddit
150mm
ThereAndFapAgain2@reddit
I live in an old house and literally every single wall is brick except from the ones I had put in to make an extra stairway leading up to the loft conversion.
gse2026@reddit
Mostly these days they're shit. Brick/block outside and plasterboard walls inside. We used to build in all brick but rarely happens these days
VOOLUL@reddit
Plasterboard is so much easier as a home owner. Easy to repair and easy to modify. What more could you want?
gse2026@reddit
I dunno maybe better soundproofing? A more solid home?
VOOLUL@reddit
I've never had a problem with soundproofing.
And plasterboard is solid enough. It doesn't just fall down lol. Neither will the house. Would rather have plasterboard that I can easily modify.
dopefish_lives@reddit
Weird, the extension my parents put in was required to be almost a foot thick when all said and done. With the air tight windows the soundproofing is amazing
Shroomsnhoney@reddit (OP)
What’s the benefit to a brick/block internal wall?
I can’t see how you get any insulation in your internal walls if they’re brick?
Mammoth-Ad-3957@reddit
Lateral stability.
bluesam3@reddit
You can hang shit on it anywhere you like without having to worry about hitting studs.
Kudosnotkang@reddit
Why do you need insulation in internal walls? Do you mean for sound ? Not much gets through the brick .
Shroomsnhoney@reddit (OP)
In NZ all our internal walls get insulated. I've always assumed this was standard, though maybe it's to make up for the lack of sound insulation from wooden framing
Kudosnotkang@reddit
Yeah we have some timber internal walls which will be packed with acoustic insulation - structural internal walls are often brick and I find less sound transfer in those walls.
The externals walls have thermal insulation between two skins
68_namfloW@reddit
I live in 100 year old terrace, you could scream bloody murder in the living room and not hear *much* in the kitchen/dining area.
Odd-Quail01@reddit
I live in a 1913 terrace. I can hear my neighbours burp.
Kudosnotkang@reddit
Miss my terrace for that! It’s nice to be able to belt out weird songs you’ve just concocted and not worry about the neighbours knowing how weird you are (or indeed murder someone while they scream bloody)
Broccoli--Enthusiast@reddit
Heat in/cold out
Kudosnotkang@reddit
That’s what external walls handle
Broccoli--Enthusiast@reddit
And having more is better.
It also lets you more effectively control the temperature of each room
Like we have valves on our radiators My parents liked it hot, but I could turn my down/off and not worry too much about the rest of the house making my room an oven.
Kudosnotkang@reddit
So when you constructed your house you opted for thermal insulation rather than acoustic in the stud walls ?
ldn-ldn@reddit
You should have both.
Kudosnotkang@reddit
Side by side or one slab then another alternating ? How do you normally layer them in the cavity ?
Can’t say I’ve ever seen both used
Broccoli--Enthusiast@reddit
They can be the same thing , still like rockwool is noise and thermal insulating
Anything that provides massive is noise insulation anyway I don't need every internal room to be soundproof anyway
Kudosnotkang@reddit
Is this your first hand experience? In my experience you pick the insulation in the design of the wall and rockwool comes with a lead characteristic - for most internal walls this would be acoustic and any thermal compensation is a secondary benefit. If the room divides from an unheated area (like an external wall but internally between a garage etc) you would opt for thermal over acoustic .
AudioLlama@reddit
Since the 1920s homes have been built with a cavity between two layers of brick which can be filled with insulation.
Early houses are often solid brick construction. My house is from the 1890s and the external walls for 3 layers of brick. It's extremely solid! Internal walls are stud walls which were lathe and plaster originally. They're now plasterboard.
With it being solid wall, you can insulate using insulated plasterboard. I've used insulated plasterboard in our bedrooms, seems to work!
Shroomsnhoney@reddit (OP)
Yeah wow, I didn't realise the walls were so thick! I assume the cavity is also used to run wiring and pipes then?
dwair@reddit
My house in the UK is older again and the external walls are over a meter thick and made of very large rocks. Internal walls are half as thick and made of slightly smaller rocks. Wires and pipes are run under the floor or on the surface of the walls.
Insulation wise, acoustically it's like living in a crypt it's so quiet. I have no idea what's going on outside or in other rooms.
Thermally it's like a heat store that stays at about 17C whatever the season with minimal effort. So much heat is stored in the walls it takes about 3 weeks to 'warm up' then it just ticks over. With the heating off during the recent heatwaves it got up to about 20C for a few days. In the coldest winters it gets down to about 15C and we 'warm the air' with a big old wood stove if it feels chilly.
In terms of structural integrity, it's like a military bunker. A major earth quake or close nuclear detonation might wobble the roof or something but that's about it. It's not going anywhere.
cbehopkins@reddit
Nope, cables and pipes usually run on the inside. If they were in the cavity then they'd be liable to freeze and much harder to access for service and repair.
gse2026@reddit
Our exterior walls are around 11inches thick with the cavity
cardinalb@reddit
500mm here on a self build timber frame with breezeblock skin, cavity and a ton of insulation - Scotland though so sometimes a bit cold 🙂
AudioLlama@reddit
I don't think it is actually. The gap is meant to be a barrier to moisture and cabling or pipes can bridge it. Cables and piping will usually be ran under the floor and up to plug sockets though I'm not 100% in modern homes!
lostandfawnd@reddit
Like, cavity walls?
I don't understand this
nfoote@reddit
NZ walls don't have cavity as the insulation is directly inserted into the wood/steel frame.
lostandfawnd@reddit
Traditional brick walls in the UK dont have steel, they built 2 walls to create the cavity.
nfoote@reddit
Yup I know, I think we're talking two different points in agreement.
UK two brick or block walls with a cavity either left open or filled with insulation.
NZ wooden or steel frame with insulation inserted into the gaps.
lostandfawnd@reddit
Probably.
I can't understand how this person doesn't understand cavity insulation, when the principle is the same.
Shroomsnhoney@reddit (OP)
Nah I just didn’t realise that there were two walls with a cavity. I thought it was just one layer of bricks clad with plaster.
Lordaucklandx@reddit
Goes like this brick wall > captivity with insulation > concrete blocks > plasterboard/gib
Shroomsnhoney@reddit (OP)
This seems like such a thick wall hahaha. God I can't picture it
nivlark@reddit
Mine are about 30cm thick. Banana for scale.
Lordaucklandx@reddit
As someone who’s lied between nz and the uk my entire life it sounds like we have very thick walls because they are compared to the nz timber houses they are lol. When I was growing up in beachlands my house didn’t have central heating and we’d run out of water in the summer, which would bobble the uk mind haha.
jools4you@reddit
Brick walls inside support the roof, nowadays most walls that are not support walls are plasterboard. My house only has two internal walls which are solid, built 2004.
Altruistic_Cress_700@reddit
On older houses the bricks go top to bottom on load bearing walls.
Internal walls used to be block work on the floorboards (breezeblocks). So they can be moved.
Clad in plaster.
The big advantage is load taking.
You can hang anything anywhere on them. None of this messing around trying to find the woodwork.
Electric comes up from the floor a few inches, chased in to the block work.
Because only the load bearing walls are actually fully solid form the foundations up, it's a fast build too.
The outer walls are brick on the outside and either brick or breezeblock on the inside of the cavity.
Makea all the outer walls heavily loadbearing and able to take fixings absolutely anywhere.
SensitivePotato44@reddit
Layer of insulation in between wood battens with plasterboard over the top. Works like a charm.
gse2026@reddit
Stronger houses, better sound insulation. I'm not a builder though so there's probably lost more. Brick internal walls aren't insulated.
Whoisthehypocrite@reddit
All brick would have been hundreds of years ago. My previous house was over 109 years old and only had one brick wall internally
69AssociatedDetail25@reddit
Which period? My Victorian house has plenty of stud walls (originally lath and plaster) as have most of the others I've seen.
Low_Stress_9180@reddit
British housing is overpriced garbage. I like places like Malaysia , buy a "house" first thing.is bulldoze it down and build a new one. Land has the value. Who wants a mouldy old house anyway?
Anyway with Brit housing new ones-and I saw building sites put garbage in cavity walls - are crap and won't last. Old ones have many issues so need a really good surveyor. Caveat emptor
Mammoth-Ad-3957@reddit
The outside shell and some interior walls for lateral stability are block or block and brick cavity walls for exterior walls. If you want to change the layout, most interior walls can be removed but those that can’t you normally use structural reinforcement such as lintels or UJ’s.
Our house is concrete with block and cladding though so it’s not completely uniform.
Whoisthehypocrite@reddit
Every house I have lived in has had mostly plaster board or lathe and plaster interior walls and wooden floors. Generally pretty poor build quality internally.
No_Doughnut_3315@reddit
One big difference between American and UK homes, is that the latter builds cavity walls; an internal wall of maybe timber stud or concrete, then a gap filled with insulation, and then an outer 'skin', maybe of brickwork. Homes in the USA are usually just 2x6 stud, covered in tyvek and then clad. The lack of an adequate buffer against the elements blows my mind. They compensate by using air conditioning. Plasterboard on the inside is often not actually finished with plaster like in UK homes, but joints and screws are covered with jointing compound and sanded smooth. This is why you see people able to just punch easily through an American wall, because it is essentially just some plasterboard. Its weird, but nobody in America agrees. Oh, also attics are weird. USA generally doesnt insualte the roof and treat the space as part of the house, but rather blow insulation in for the ceiling and then allow air to flow through. So much wasted space that I find it insane, but generally Americans just think its fine.
Limp-Archer-7872@reddit
The jibes at USA houses are because of the wooden structural framing even for the exterior and the felt "shed" roof they use instead of proper time (because the wood frame can't support a full concrete tile roof).
Shroomsnhoney@reddit (OP)
Yeah you guys wouldn't like kiwi houses either then, our roofs are mostly corrugated iron...
Limp-Archer-7872@reddit
How is that in the rain?
ImmediatePiano6690@reddit
1 brick at a time.
Tzunamitom@reddit
And it didn’t cost me a dime
PartTimeLegend@reddit
Well, It's a '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56
'57, '58' 59' mid terrace
It's a '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '67
'68, '69, '70 semidetached with integrated garage
Force-Grand-2@reddit
Visions of a frankenhouse of the various 20th century building phases
deadlygaming11@reddit
So you have an external wall, then an air gap or insulation and then another wall there. That does the main insulation. Then you have your internal brick walls and on those you have a timber frame, plasterboard, then plaster. If you want to renovation, you just knock down that extra wall as long as it isnt a load bearing one.
77756777@reddit
With insufficient frequency
Altruistic_Cress_700@reddit
The biggest difference is roofs.
You have felt tiles. Europe uses stone, cement it ceramic tiles.
Yours last 20 years.
Ours anywhere between 60 and 100 years minimum
nfoote@reddit
Most roofs in NZ are steel
Altruistic_Cress_700@reddit
Interesting. But I assume they are galvanised and therefore have a 50+ year lifespan at least.
nfoote@reddit
Yes definitely. Pressed steel, corrugated iron, that kind of thing.
Adventurous_Quit_794@reddit
Is this because the walls wouldn't be strong enough to support a tile roof? Always been baffled by a house having a roof like I have on my shed.
Pure-Dead-Brilliant@reddit
UK houses aren’t solid brick all the way through. Most post‑1920s builds are cavity masonry: external brick, cavity/insulation, internal blockwork, then plaster or plasterboard.
From the inside they often look similar to Aus/NZ houses because you’re seeing a finish, not the structure. Older places are solid stone/brick, but even then internal partitions are often stud.
Knocking through walls can be done, even structural walls, it just needs steels rather than a bigger hammer.
Also, genuine question: what do Aussie houses have against double glazing? Half the “solid vs cardboard” debate seems to disappear once the windows stop leaking heat and noise.
For context, I own a granite house in Aberdeen built in the 19th century and a 1980’s house in WA. Winters are colder in the Perth house.
Joystic@reddit
> Half the “solid vs cardboard” debate seems to disappear once the windows stop leaking heat and noise
I live in Ontario and when I have friends/family visit from the UK they're always surprised at how "solid" my house feels compared to back home, despite being wood.
It's because they triple glaze windows and use multiple layers of insulation in the walls. These things are incredibly airtight and efficient.
Shroomsnhoney@reddit (OP)
Double glazing & central heating aye. NZ is having a real problem with cold, damp homes cause no one wanted to insulate them properly in the 90s.
It must be a cost thing? I only ever hear people talk about how expensive double glazing is.
Pure-Dead-Brilliant@reddit
It does seem expensive in Australia, even with new builds it’s an optional upgrade. It’s make such a difference though.
bluesam3@reddit
To answer this bit: you get a sledgehammer and go at it. Bonus stress reduction.
ButterscotchTop194@reddit
It varies wildly. Timber, Block, metal, concrete etc.
I'm in the industry so if there's something specific you're concerned with, I'd be happy to help.
Morton_1874@reddit
My home is 2 layers of bricks with poured concrete in between. It's absolutely solid.
One negative is drilling into a wall is often a challenge and WiFi doesn't like the solid interior walls.
Far_Leg6463@reddit
We had Americans over to visit a long time ago, long lost cousins or something. Anyway they commented on how solid our brick built houses were in comparison to American houses.
I live in a fully block built new build house. All downstairs walls are solid block. Upstairs some walls are block and others are stud, just depended on how the builder wanted to create the rooms.
Old brick built houses tend to be cold and hard to heat, they often have drafts and little insulation. Government are offering subsidies to add more insulation to these homes, typically involves filling the block cavities with blown insulation beads and adding extra layers of rockwool ceiling insulation.
Before block our houses were made from stone and lime mortar in many cases so building from solid materials is just traditional.
Nowadays it’s common to get timber frame houses with a block/rendered external structure.
Vitaefinis@reddit
you know how we'd make random squiggles in MS Paint when we were kids and fill the blanks with random colours? that's the process give-or-take.
MaxMouseOCX@reddit
If I punch a wall in my house (anywhere inside or outside) it'll break my hand, it's all brick.
The walls are covered in a layer of plaster and then painted.
How do we remove walls/change things... Generally we don't, but if we do it's as big a deal as you'd imagine it to be.
VernonPresident@reddit
From the ground up
gxb20@reddit
When people talk about the solid houses theyre usully talking about houses from the late 1800s. I live in one and its 350mm thick of pure masonary, Just red brick with lym and charcoal mortar. Not on any footing and just solid as fuck
Contact_Patch@reddit
1970 UK build, outer brick skin, cavity, inner breeze block, then plastered.
Water and electrics run in the floor/ceiling through the joists.
Acts like a massive thermal mass, once warm, will hold temperature if you can stop your draughts, to the point where it struggles to cool in the summer.
Mine has blown foam in the cavity and fibreglass in the loft.
UK housing is built for wet -10c to +20c but copes with colder temperatures better than hot ones.
Lots of British homes do struggle with Damp due to trying to keep the hot air in.
DogtasticLife@reddit
My Dad’s grew up in a house built in the 14th century of wattle and daub (mud & straw) and it’s still standing (England)
Tancred1099@reddit
Cheaply
eatlego@reddit
We generally start at the bottom then work up from there.
krona2k@reddit
Older houses are plaster coated brick throughout. It’s great for internal noise reduction and mounting shelves etc. sadly a vast majority of new builds are going to be wood and plasterboard internally.
Neither_Process_7847@reddit
Mostly brick- and remember a lot of our housing is old, old, old - single layer of 150 year old bricks isn't uncommon. Newbuild will be double layers of bricks with insulation. There'll be plaster on the inside.
gustinnian@reddit
After the Great Fire of London in 1666, there were a lot of changes, one being the switch to bricks and stone, the other being the introduction of Building Inspectors to enforce this. Stone was a status symbol. In more rural parts, house building depended on local material availability - clay area = bricks, suitable quarries = stone, flint = rubble walls, forest = oak framed etc. Modern houses use cement blocks and a brick/reconstituted stone skin for exterior and load bearing interior spine walls (with wet plaster finish). Non structural partitions are studs and plasterboard (drywall) with a plaster skim.
CicadaSlight7603@reddit
It varies. I grew up in a 300+ yr old house with solid stone about 30cm thick between some of the inner walls. Though others had timber and some kind of plaster (and board/wood I imagine). Others have brick or concrete breezeblocks between supporting walls. Modern houses often have thinner walls which are I think plasterboard on non supporting walls.
When renovating you often have to knock through brickwork and stick in an RSJ to provide the support. As soon as you start talking renovation or visit a possible house in the UK you start knocking on the internal walls to see what they are.
Current house is 70s and most of the inner walls are breezeblocks.
PipBin@reddit
Yep. My parent’s house is the same. Solid big lumps of stone. Some internal walls are 75cm thick.
My house at the moment is a 1930s brick built house. Solid concrete floors too.
Arbdew@reddit
Parents house had been built in stages from stone. First "room" was built around 1730- a stone hovel (currently the dining room), all the walls in that room were 3ft thick. As the owner/farming family got richer they added bits on. You could track the order in which rooms were added by the width of the walls.
parsl@reddit
ironic that UK houses are bulletproof but US houses aren't
ActionBirbie@reddit
Ummm, you know bricks are not indestructible?
thescouselander@reddit
My 2020 build house is concrete brick with render on the outside. The internal walls are also concrete brick with plasterboard dot and dabbed to it.
GooseyDuckDuck@reddit
In Scotland, for the last 3 decades, it’s been timber frame with brick or block (rendered) outer skin.
Internally walls are timber stud with plasterboard finish.
Useful-Risk-4340@reddit
Where I am, houses are stone or concrete. The new builds are brick.
GhostRiders@reddit
The issue isn't with the methodology, cavity masonry with an inner leaf of lightweight concrete blocks for strength and an outer skin of brick or stone, timber roof.
The primary problem is like many things, it is a race to the bottom.
So many Developers will use the absolute cheapest option at every opportunity, jobs are rushed, the standard of finish is non-existent, mistakes are covered up instead of being fixed etc etc.
Some developers are worse than others such as Persimmon who can used as a yard stick of utter shit.
You have local builders which to fair can be quite good but they are few and far between which means they are stack with work.
There is a local builder firm where I live who are highly regarded however as they are one of the few it means that if you have a major job you are looking at waiting over a year.
PetersMapProject@reddit
My house was built in the 1930s - as a great many houses were - and it is indeed all brick internally. Sometimes the bricks are so sturdy that you need a masonry drill bit and a hammer drill just to put up a picture, and even then it's a mission.
The brick is clad internally with plaster - the type that's mixed in a bucket and applied with a trowel.
The ceilings were made of lath and plaster, but one failed recently and was replaced with plasterboard with a skim of real plaster. But ceilings are more decorative than structural; the structural element is thick wooden joists.
The result is homes that are older than my grandparents and will outlive my grandkids. Americans seem to think "century homes" are notable; they're bog standard to us.
Cosmic_Womble@reddit
My experience with lathe and plaster... If that fell, I bet it made a bloody mess that was still being cleaned out weeks later 😔
PetersMapProject@reddit
All lath and plaster falls eventually, we just had it fall in a controlled fashion at the hands of our plasterer.
I don't think it would have lasted too much longer - it moved several centimetres when prodded.
But we did have to decamp for a couple of days while it came down (hall, stairs and landing so unavoidable). Our plasterer sent us a video and he was covered in the black filth of the last century that had rained down upon his head. Fair play to him though, I think it ended up cleaner than it started.
Different_Bridge_983@reddit
Traditional construction was mostly solid brick with no insulation. In some parts of the UK stone is used instead of brick. Floors and roof were framed with wood, roofing material is typically slate or terracotta tile or some other ceramic. Interior walls and ceilings are finished with plaster. Quality of construction was generally good.
Newer construction (post ~1970) is still masonry based, but commonly uses concrete masonry for the structural portion of the wall, and has a layer of insulation in the walls - normally between the structural wall and the brick veneer, but sometimes behind it, between the structural wall and interior space. Interior walls are still commonly finished with plaster. Floors and roofs are still usually framed in timber, same as the U.S. roofing material is still usually slate, terracotta or some other ceramic. Quality of construction is… erm… variable.
Marzipan_civil@reddit
My parents house is 1960s built. Exterior is two leafs brickwork/clockwork with a cavity, and internal walls are all single block, plastered.
This makes is annoying to re wire as the wires are in the plaster - they'd need to basically re plaster most of the walls.
My house is 1970s built. Exterior is two leafs brickwork/clockwork, but internal walls are wood frame with plasterboard. Re wiring was a lot easier as they could just use the holes where the sockets/switches are and pull cables through.
nivlark@reddit
Brick and block is the standard, but interior walls might still be studwork and plasterboard.
As I see it the more striking difference is the material quality rather than the construction method. Our plasterboard is pretty solid, I can't imagine anyone punching through it. And likewise I've never seen interior doors made out of honeycomb cardboard here, they'll be veneered MDF or solid wood.
Cosmic_Womble@reddit
Mine is a ~1910 semi in South Wales. External sandstone walls approximately 4ft thick at ground level tapering to ~2.5ft where the roof beams join into the walls.
Roof is Welsh slate, limestone render over the sandstone walls. Internal ground walls are brick, second floor walls are a mixture of brick if load bearing or drywall made of lathe and plaster.
Due to the wall thickness the house stays reasonably warm in the winter and reasonably cool in the summer. When it gets hot though it's a bastard to cool down and has resulted in me buying modern mobile air-conditioning units for the summer.
Good-Gur-7742@reddit
I have only ever lived in very old houses, and all of them have been made of brick. The last house I owned in the uk had walls over 3ft thick and was always beautifully cool in the height of summer.
I now live in Australia and am always shocked by how flimsy the houses are here. I have never had a wall dented in the uk - scuff marks on the paint sure, plaster crumbling a bit if ive used the wrong drill bit for picture hanging, but never dented. The walls here just dent like shit cardboard. The idea that someone could fall through a wall in their home blows my mind but I can absolutely see it happening now I live in aus.
Shroomsnhoney@reddit (OP)
It’s actually shit if you’re renting too. It’s so easy to put a hole in the wall moving furniture in/out and then you’ve got to pay for a patch job
True-Register-9403@reddit
Ground up - usually out of brick.
UnrivalledPG@reddit
From cardboard.
ObsydianGinx@reddit
All brick. You don’t knock down walls. You live with whatever layout you’re stuck with
dbxp@reddit
Exterior walls are a layer of concrete blocks, then insulation, then an external layer of brick. Internal walls vary depending on whether they're supporting walls or not, if they are then a single layer of brick is normal. Knocking through a supporting wall is possible but you need to put steel beams in between the supporting pillars.
djjudas21@reddit
My house was built in 1980. Exterior walls are brick-cavity-block with external render. Ground floor interior walls are brick with plaster. Upstairs walls are brick where they are directly above a ground floor brick wall, otherwise wood framing with plasterboard and insulation.
The insulation is needed on exterior walls because we need far more heating in winter than cooling in summer. Internal brick walls are nice to have because they work like storage heaters and help the house keep warm in winter. They also keep the sound down inside. I don’t think many modern houses have internal brick walls though.
Derfel60@reddit
Generally houses are built with a layer of concrete blocks, then a cavity (for wiring, plumbing and insulation), then an outer wall of brick or stone. Internal walls not part of the outer shell may be brick or may use plasterboard depending on the age of the house and/or how cheap the builder is being. All houses will use tiles, slate or thatch for roofing, the bitumen stuff you guys tend to use is reserved for garden sheds here.
manic47@reddit
Mines 230 years old - with stone exterior & brick interior walls.
The interior ones are battened and have plasterboard over, I guess as it’s quicker, easier and cheaper than traditional layers of plaster.
UK houses now are pretty much blocks & brick exterior and plasterboard walls inside.
My boss built a few homes the other year which were more traditional but these were all £2M plus.
Secure-Property4926@reddit
An enormous proportion of our housing stock was built by the Victorians. This is load bearing brick, typically. Many of these follow are similar layout with some variation, but usually a main room front and rear, and the first floor bedrooms similarly laid out with a dividing wall (spine wall) but on top of the dividing wall below. That would be loadbearing, upon which floor joists rest front to back across the house. A wall creating an entrance hallway would serve a similar function, built upon at the first floor to create a small smaller upstairs room. So these ground floor walls couldn’t originally be timber studs as they support masonry, and ultimately the roof above.
These houses are enormously adaptable, and many will have had many alterations over the last century and a half. My own house for example has been opened up between various rooms, with concealed steels inserted to provide a new load bearing function. New walls would be built in timber studs.
nsfwthrowaway5969@reddit
It depends on the house, but generally on newbuilds external walls are cavity walls with brick and blockwork, and the cavity used for insulation. Internally will mostly be timber stud with plasterboard, but it isn't that rare to find some blockwork used as well, generally for structural reasons I think. They will be plastered over so you likely wouldn't know unless you investigated it.
Older houses will have a lot more internal brickwork.
RiskItForAChocHobnob@reddit
External walls are generally masonry. For older houses it will be a solid brickwork wall then it went to cavity walls. These days the outer leaf is masonry and the inner leaf is block work with cavity insulation.
Internal walls generally depend on whether they're load bearing or not. Load bearing walls are typically masonry (brickwork in older houses, blockwork in more modern houses.) Non load bearing walls are typically stud walls (timber frame with plasterboard.)
Familiar_Swan_662@reddit
Brick and concrete, at least where I live
ApprehensiveDare2649@reddit
Varies but new builds typically | Brick | air gap | insulation | block | plasterboard | skim coat of plaster |
Internal walls are often timber stud work with plasterboard in newer homes.
Older may be built from brick and block as will require an RSJ if structural and you want to knock it down.
SomeHSomeE@reddit
Most houses in UK are brick/ brick and block. Larger blocks are often used for the internal structure. Timber is often used for roof frames and some other parts.
Plaster or plasterboard often used as an internal layer.
Sometimes plasterboard walls with simple wood frames are used internally.
You can knock down bricks... if it was load bearing then usually a supporting beam is added in its place.
MBay96GeoPhys@reddit
For older buildings it’s Usually brick or breeze block with regular plaster over the top. Though newer build houses tend to have plasterboard internal walls
If you want to expand a room you get a sledgehammer or a pneumatic hammer. Done a few myself and it’s not too hard
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