Victorian single skin two storey addition

[chuckey]

My Son is trying to buy a Victorian property with a single brick skin, double storey rear addition. The mortgage company is waffling on about the stability of said addition. I can see that there are heat losses associated with it, which we could cure with dry lining, but as the rear addition has been up for 130 years and the whole street is full of them, I reckon they are stable enough.
Any one with experience in this area? , has your rear addition fallen down?
Frank

 

[Penners]

When you describe the structure as a "single skin", do you mean that it's a solid brick wall (ie: with no cavity) or that it's literally one brick thick?

Our Georgian cottage is constructed with solid brick walls, in Flemish bond. They have managed to survive well over 200 years in extremely good condition. But I have to confess that I have no experience of single-brick-thick walls.

 

[chuckey]

Its one brick thick!!
Frank

 

[stuart45]

In the trade one brick means 9 inch thick. Half brick walls are around 4 inches thick.

 

[middi]

AS you say, just tell the mortgage company that there is a shed load of extensions in the street that are 130 yrs old and none of those have fallen down .

Middi

 

[MdB]

AS you say, just tell the mortgage company that there is a shed load of extensions in the street that are 130 yrs old and none of those have fallen down .

Middi

and they will write back asking why the extensions are in the shed... :wink:

 

[Penners]

:lol:

 

[middi]

AS you say, just tell the mortgage company that there is a shed load of extensions in the street that are 130 yrs old and none of those have fallen down .

Middi

and they will write back asking why the extensions are in the shed... :wink:

Then you tell them the shed is to protect their investment from decay and collapse :wink:

Middi

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Jut buy the shed and don't tell the mortgage comapny what is inside.

 

[Lime]

In the trade one brick means 9 inch thick. Half brick walls are around 4 inches thick.

This reminds me of the argument i had decades ago with my wife regarding how many slices of bread were in a round.
I understand that "one brick thick may mean 9", 4" or 3" so it would make sense to give measurements when there is some doubt expressed.
However to extend the 9" thick = one brick thick argument, how thick is a two or three brick thick wall?
Using that criteria a two brick thick wall would be 18" and a three brick thick wall 27" thick !!!!!!

 

[middi]

A structural wall constructed out of bricks can be 2", 4", 6", 9", 12" thick and so on ( in old money), it all depends on how the bricks are arranged in the construction.

It is not unusual to find 2" thick partition walls build from a standard 9x4x2 brick

A " one brick" or "half brick" wall could be anything someone want it to be , it all depends from which viewing angle the assessment is made.

( You all knew this. Surely the question is " how thick is your wall,mate", in a good old cockney accent, and as long as the questioned does not confuse thickness with brain you should get a good answer :wink: )
Middi

 

[skier-hughes]

So how many slices are in your round, mine is one.

 

[Lime]

So how many slices are in your round, mine is one.

A round of sandwiches is made from two slices on my side of the kitchen.

 

[skier-hughes]

A round of sandwiches may be two slices, I agree, but the question was how many slices of bread make a round of bread, and here it's one slice of bread = one round, which is where the confusion comes in, as to whether you are talking about slices of bread or rounds of sandwiches............

 

[MatthewC]

Back on topic:

Any one with experience in this area? , has your rear addition fallen down?

I think it depends on maintenance. The single storey Victorian brick extension at the back of my place was about to fall down, until we demolished it last September. It was single brick thickness (i.e. 4 and a bit inches) and was suffering from neglect and some pretty iffy modifications. The neglect included poor chimney flashing which allowed water under the slates causing a rotten purlin and window frame, and roof slates which were loose/leaking causing rotten battens etc, not to mention the plants growing on them and useless rain water goods. The modifications included high concrete around the base causing damp walls, and a window added beside a door without a lintel over both; the vertical window frame was taking the load of the door lintel, and as a result the wall was cracked with loose bricks. And I forgot the waste through the wall from the sink, where the bricks were gently collapsing due to no foundations around the water main.

If your extension is missing all these mod cons then it's possibly OK!

 

[stuart45]

Using that criteria a two brick thick wall would be 18" and a three brick thick wall 27" thick !!!!!!

A 2 brick wall is indeed an 18 inch wall and 3 brick is 27 inch. I don't think that you will see many 3 brick walls around, although 2 brick ones were often used in basements, or on the first storey of some of the older multi storey buildings.

 

[Penners]

I feel that this thread could do with a musical interlude: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7ts-n87f0Y