How old is your house?

tijuana taxi

tijuana taxi

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Rich
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Been trying (in vain) to drill and plug a wall for some shelves, not a fun job in lath and lime plaster.
Got me thinking what do they use in more modern dwellings and how the only houses I have had date from the 19th century

Last one was 1899 and this one is 1890, so how old is your abode?
 
Mid-1950s. Semi-detached. Small rooms. Dinky kitchen. Plaster over brickwork as far as I can tell from drilling holes. No plasterboard anywhere except for the toilet that was made under the stairs at a later date.

The parents' one was early-1930s. Again, all brickwork + plaster. No plasterboard anywhere except for the master bedroom which was partitioned at a later date (late 70s we think) into the smallest bedroom and an upstairs shower/toilet bathroom.
 
1880s. Solid brick - no cavity, no effective damp-proof course. No lath walls - but if you have them, search for the studs and fix in them. Wall makes a different noise if you knock on it on the studs or between them.
 
Just bought a house built in 1929. A few years back we lived in a cottage dating back to 1871 according to the date above the door, although some people in the village claimed that date stone was added when two cottages were converted to one so it actually went back further than that.
 
1930 Halls adjoining semi. Cavity walls, although not sure what the inner walls are made of, sometimes as hard as reinforced concrete, other times like putty. Sometimes it's very difficult to get a fixing at the location I need, for curtain poles etc so I often put up a wooden batten and fix where I can leaving me wood to get the fixings for the pole(s) where I want them. Ceiling and floors not parallel so it makes hanging full length curtains "interesting".
Matt
 
Trying to fix to old lath & plaster is a pain! You can buy stud-locator devices which make things easier.


The house we're in at present was built in 1994 & `dry-lined` on external walls, so have to fix anything using the metal self drill fixings (tried the plastic ones but they twist & deform)

We should be moving in about 6 weeks into a 1900 stone built house, so hopefully a good hammer drill & normal plugs will suffice.
 
Late 1950's for the current one, last house was 1920's bungalow and before that an 1888 flat in Edinburgh.
No problems with any of them wall wise :)

You may be able to use hollow wall anchors:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/rawlplug-hollow-wall-anchors-m6-x-52mm-20-pack/68410

with lathe and plaster. You need a setting tool to fit them.
I use these to hang kitchen wall cabinets on plaster board where I can't use a batten.
 
1750s wall built of river stone (yes it is what you think, stones taken from the river) stripped all back to stone work battened and plaster boarded, just to give you an idea what it's like to work with try building a 2 story drystone wall with rounded stone. When installing central heating it took over 5hrs to drill 2 holes 1x4.5 inch and 1x1 inch for the flue and gas pipe.
 
The building (now flats) was built in 1897. Although to look at you wouldn't know as all the house/flat have been heavily modernised. I'll say one thing none of the new build houses are going to be standing in over 100 years.
 
Built in the mid to late 70's

Plasterboard walls

Free underfloor heating when my downstairs neighbor decides to set his kitchen alight
 
Mid 1700s for the main part of the house, two wings added on in 1830s. Great place to live in but only been here since the summer. Not sure what draughts we will find in the winter
 
about 120 ish. I was given the original paperwork from back then. It makes quite interesting reading.
 
My house was built in the late 1960's and the upper half is clad in Marley tiles which have a habit of dropping off from time to time and being almost impossible to replace satisfactorily :(
 
2010 plasterboard ..........everything
 
Quite a wide variety, my only other abode was growing up in a 1930's built block of flats.
Didn't realise at the time, but they were very art deco or more accurately streamline moderne.

Crittall windows, parquet floors, fitted kitchen with drop down table, tiled fireplace and built in gas fires in the bedrooms.
Bathroom and kitchen were all black and white tiles, must be where my love of that period comes from.

Do modern houses still have floorboards nailed to joists, thinking about getting ours sanded and polished.
 
tijuana taxi said:
Do modern houses still have floorboards nailed to joists,
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Late 60's here and floorboards.
But at some point, as I understand it, they switched over to T&G chip board.
My extension build late 80's and that has T&G chipboard.
 
1939 mine was built.

Plaster over brick except the kitchen which was painted brick but now dry lined. All the plaster is knackerdd it's got a hard shell and it's like sandy crap underneath. I have to drill everything past the plaster and into the bricks and use oversize fasteners for everything. All the ceilings are lath and plaster except the kitchen and landing that I ripped down and redid.
 
tijuana taxi said:
Do modern houses still have floorboards nailed to joists,
Click to expand...

Not many these days.

Cobra said:
they switched over to T&G chip board
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Yep, much cheaper & quicker to put down, BUT, if they're nailed rather than screwed, they are a PITA eventually lifting just enough to creak & bang everytime you walk on em! :mad:
As we've gone round & replaced carpets in each room, I made sure the boards were screwed well down first. (y)
 
Coming up on 100 years, brick built with plaster on the hard except where it was renovated in the eighties.
 
1939, double brick, excellent for drilling. All original plaster upstairs removed and boarded and skimmed with north facing walls done with insulated plaster board. Large rear extension built a couple of years ago so more care is needed with the lightweight blocks when hanging heavy objects.
 
DG Phototraining said:
2003 - no idea what its built of but putting up curtain rails, shelves, etc. is a nightmare - it involves LOTS of swearing LOTS of trying to bodge it up again and LOTS of 'Oh f*** it'

Dave
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Think what it's like for me!
I have to deal with every type of house/ wall/ floor/ ceiling- fitting kitchens and bathrooms. Every day is an adventure. :)
 
OldCarlos said:
As we've gone round & replaced carpets in each room, I made sure the boards were screwed well down first. (y)
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I'm going to have to do this. A lot of creaking of floorboards in the master bedroom and in the upstairs landing. The whole place was newly carpeted by the previous owners a couple of years before we moved in so I'm loathe to rip up the carpet.
 
1951, built from concrete block, which is so hard it seems to have extra granite added! Two courses with a cavity (now insulated). I have no problems fixing stuff to the walls.
 
Ours was probably built some time in the 1700s - we've seen a map dated 1769 with the house here then, but have no further data than that. It was thatched (and 2 separate houses) until the 70's, and we moved in in 1990.
 
1895. When I stripped some of the original plaster from a small, internal, non supporting wall I found that some builders then were just at good as cutting corners as some are now - the wall was a mess made up of any odd bit of brick.

Dave
 
1840's stone built manager's cottage, 2 ft thick walls that are impossible to drill thorough, I think the stone was nicked from our local castle to build it
 
onomatopoeia said:
1951, built from concrete block, which is so hard it seems to have extra granite added! Two courses with a cavity (now insulated). I have no problems fixing stuff to the walls.
Click to expand...

My last house had a kitchen extension that had been built with engineering bricks, devils own job to drill and nigh on impossible to chase out for cables.
 
tijuana taxi said:
kitchen extension that had been built with engineering bricks,
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The load baring walls here must be built of those, its a nightmare trying to drill in, beyond the plaster :(
other walls are plasterboard, and I find those 2 part plasterboard fixings bloody brilliant!

neil_g said:
Had air raid bunkers in the garden before we moved in.
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Ooo that reminds me, my old uncles place in North London had one too, but he turned it into a fish pond.
 
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My old house was built in the 50s, when we had double glazing and french doors installed, it seems that the interior layer was industrial bricks
and to knock them out for the doors was a long process.
Explains why trying to drill holes for pictures, curtains rails etc. was a nightmare.
My present place was built late 80s you can push a tack in with your thumbs :( and don't mention the plumbing :banghead::banghead::banghead:
 
omens said:
I'm going to have to do this. A lot of creaking of floorboards in the master bedroom and in the upstairs landing. The whole place was newly carpeted by the previous owners a couple of years before we moved in so I'm loathe to rip up the carpet.
Click to expand...
Make sure you know where pipes and cables are before any work!

I had to go to a customer's house to fix a radiator feed, He was merrily banging in nails to stop squeaks.
 
kendo1 said:
He was merrily banging in nails to stop squeaks.
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That "clink" sound is not a nice sound is it? :(
Thankfully I only did it once ...
Once was enough !
 
Cobra said:
That "clink" sound is not a nice sound is it? :(
Thankfully I only did it once ...
Once was enough !
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I've never heard it, I just fix it :)
 
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