Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

Birmingham was full of them. They tore them all down in the noughties and built new-build mock edwardian matchboxes. I'm sure there are some still around.

Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

I lived in postwar housing for a time in Hawai'i. When I installed a towel bar, I noticed later that the screws were visible on the exterior of the house. Good thing Hawai'i isn't prone to typhoons.

Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

Not necessarily, Ray.

Quote:

" In the immediate post war period, a severe housing shortage lead to a building programme, which planned to construct some half a million temporary dwellings, expected to last for around ten years. The dwellings were to be “system built”, a term commonly used for buildings, especially schools which were constructed using parts prefabricated in a factory and assembled rapidly on site. The four main types of temporary bungalows were made from either steel or timber frame, or aluminium alloy, and many used ‘PRC’ (Pre-cast Reinforced Concrete) panels.

However, some firms used asbestos cement to construct wall-panels, ceilings, and cladding around key structural components, as well as lagging and firebreaks. It was not unusual during the build for asbestos debris and off-cuts to be left in the ceiling, wall or column voids. The absence of asbestos awareness to the potential deadly risks was widespread throughout UK industry at this time and until at least the mid 1970s/early 80s."

Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

Asbestos is safe if sealed until you try to remove it. It was an excellent building material until it wasn't. I'm sure as a child we had an ironing board with an asbestos composite panel to put the iron on.

I also think some of our school "huts" had asbestos in the walls. There's a lot of it still around.

Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

The prefab my parents lived in, during the early- to mid-1950s, was constructed from asbestos sheets. As far as I am aware not very much was known in those days about the dangers of asbestos, unlike today when I doubt that could be used due to the health risks of asbestosis. Possibly the only good thing about asbestos used in that way was very little fire risk. Asbestos was used later than those years though, within brick-built houses, for areas such as under the stairs to prevent any fire spreading upstairs.

Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

I remember the low loaders arriving, each with a half a prefab on them, and dropping them off onto ready made foundations.

A great idea, at the time, and still a great idea as long as unsafe materials are not used.

I cannot understand why councils, who have ready owned land, do not do this.

It seems a no brainer compared with building and managing brick built council houses.

As an aside, I always wonder where those who sold off their council houses, when they were able to buy them at a knock down price, went to live after they sold them.

Were they, as low income families, given new support somewhere else?

Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

We had a shed made of asbestos in our back garden & I turned the roof into a camp & played on it for hours. I seem OK.

Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

Yes Tiffany, asbestos sheets were widely used in that era, even
hospitals had roofs covered in the stuff?
However the new generation ' asbestos' does not contain the
mineral asbestos at all, but is now made with finely chopped straw
mixed with a type of cement, and is used for corrugated roof
sheets and guttering and also flower pots and other gardening
products! Of course now it is in competition with plastic which has
big advantages in the manufacturing process but has other less
obvious disadvantages?
This new 'asbestos' would be ideal for cladding tower blocks etc
instead of the highly flammable shyte they have been using to
date! As it accepts colouring very easily and so is easily
maintained!!
Regards Donkeyman!

Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

Not just the people that lived in them either; I remember a row of derelict ones where I lived as a child and they were always getting smashed up, pulled apart and set alight by the local kids.

I can just about remember one or two people actually living in them.

Re: Post-war prefabs, does anyone remember them?

I used to go into quite a few prefabs during the early years of my work. They are all gone now. I think it would be a good idea to bring them back in some modern form with better insulation and fittings. They could be erected in a fraction of the time it takes to build houses out of bricks and mortar.