The Laing Easiform The Laing Easiform These were constructed by John Laing builders with the first house being built in 1919. They are a fairly common form of construction – they were built by Councils in large estates as they were fairly cheap and quick to build. We have surveyed many Laing Easiforms in […]
PRCs, Cornish Type 2 The Cornish Type 2 Unlike the Cornish Type 1 PRC houses that are found all over Bristol, the Type 2 does not have the distinctive mansard hipped roof, clad with vertically hung tiles on the upper floor. It has ‘normal’ vertical walls! Type 2 houses can be found in and around […]
PRCs, Cornish Type 1 What’s a PRC? PRC stands for ‘PreCast Reinforced Concrete’. The drive for more cost-effective ways of building house began before WWll. So a number of ‘system built’ homes were constructed in the Thirties. However, the war caused huge skilled labour shortages along with was a surplus of steel and aluminium production. […]
Asbestos Boarding Asbestos boarding is one of the harder materials to ascertain visually what type of asbestos may be present. Cement boards, (normally white) are often harder and more brittle. This type of intrusive testing must ONLY be carried out by a competent person as this can be very dangerous. Asbestos boards tend to […]
Asbestos Pipework Asbestos was often used to strengthen cement based pipework. This pipework performs fairly well as long as it has been regularly decorated throughout its life span. However, where paint has failed the cement based pipework will be exposed and can spall or become porous. Gutters and downpipes were very often constructed from asbestos […]
Thermoplastic floor tiles Thermoplastic floor tiles are still very commonly found in 1930’s and later properties. These are often in multi-coloured combinations. They may be red, green, blue, yellow or black; one manufacturer Marley in the 1940’s and 1950’s offered over 20 different colours. These used to be advertised with the wonderful slogan “ Marleytile™ […]
Corrugated Cement Sheets The word ‘Asbestos’ strikes terror to many clients’ hearts – and the separate garage roof is often a principal culprit. Roofs covered with corrugated cement sheets are very likely to contain white asbestos. The corrugations may be “Big 6” or “Little 3”, which refers to the size of the gap between the […]
Artex Ceilings When we are carrying out surveys, one of the most common things we note as a ‘potentially asbestos containing material’ is Artex™. The brand name Artex comes from combining the words artistic and textured. This textured coating was applied to many a ceiling or wall in both residential and commercial properties the […]
The A word What is Asbestos? When you are in the process of buying a house, the A word is one of the scariest you can hear. This is due to the culture of fear that surrounds the subject. There are still a large number of deaths that occur as a result of historic exposure […]
What is lurking under those floorboards ? Ask a robot – All sorts of nasty surprises may lurk beneath the floor boarding! Wood boring insects, dry rot, wet rot and vermin infestations for example. The spaces underneath the ground floor of properties are rarely accessible. However, some houses we visit will have loose floorboards which […]