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Nope thats not it. Many houses built in the UK now have a timber structure with a (mostly) non load bearing brick or blockwork skin on the outside. Most people
by willyt 9y ago
Nope thats not it. Many houses built in the UK now have a timber structure with a (mostly) non load bearing brick or blockwork skin on the outside. Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a new build house that is timber or masonry structure, once it has been sheeted out inside. Timber cladding externally is less common.
- iguy 9y agoI believe exterior timber was banned in London after the fire of 1666, and in many other towns not so long after that. A brick skin just gives you much more time to stop a fire from spreading. Even when the exterior walls are load-bearing brick, a lot of internal structure may still be in wood.
- willyt 9y agoThat's not strictly true, the rules [0] on what fire tests a cladding material must conform to are quite complicated and depend on how close adjoining buildings are and whether there are any windows in them. [0] http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Building/Building-standards/techbooks/techhandbooks/th2017domcomp?_ga=2.30893238.802805727.1524226325-1469535673.1426161565 http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Building/Buildi...
- iguy 9y agoRight, I'm sure the modern rules are very detailed. But at some rough level of walking around & looking at buildings, there's a step change right after the great fire.