House construction question....

[KingboyD]

Why are houses built with say the ground floor front room cavity floor with floor boards & the back ground floor room solid/concrete floor?

Thanks

 

[catlad]

Its to stop the rats living under your kitchen floor.

 

[tony1851]

In Cheshire, they habitually slop water all over the kitchen floor, particularly when emptying the tin bath of a Sunday night, therefore it has to be concrete.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

In days of old what we call a kitchen was a scullery with built in stone water heating coppers, wood would not take the weight. At least up to 1920.
Frank

 

[KingboyD]

Ah right to support the Aga

 

[Justin Passing]

In Cheshire, they habitually slop water all over the kitchen floor, particularly when emptying the tin bath of a Sunday night, therefore it has to be concrete.

I thought the bath was where the coal went. So the floor had to take the weight of that?

In London/south it's quite common to see what looks like a kitchen extension with a solid floor which turns out to be original. 20's-30's houses. In one estate like that there's often a "rising damp" problem. If you belt the floor with a lump hammer the one inch screed breaks through revealing the damp sand fill underneath. You can just shovel the sand out.

 

[tony1851]

The solid kitchen floor harked back to the sanitary legislation of the 19th century; housing reformers had advised that kitchens in working-class housing should have solid floors because of the risk of water spillage.

And of course the old scullery would also have a solid floor for the same reason.

This habit persisited at least up until the war, particularly in council housing.