UNIDENTIFIED MATERIAL IN CEILING

[alwd000]

Hello

Please help!

I live in the first floor flat of a Victorian conversion. My freeholder and neighbour lives below on the ground floor. The freeholder started to do some renovations and discovered that my kitchen floor/his ceiling had had a material substance poured between the joists. The slab is approx 2mx3m and looks like some sort of rouble like cement. He then got a structural engineer to do drawing for a steel to be erected to support the ceiling. With out any tests he claims the material is concrete.

I found a neighbour on my street who lives on the first floor like myself and has exactly the same material in exactly the same area of his flat.
He believes the material is generations old, it looks like concrete but is light in weight and breaks up very easily. He thought it was an old fashioned material to stop infestations/rodents etc.

My question is does anyone no what the material is called or what it could be for? Would it have needed to have an RSJ installed?

It's a shame the structural engineer didn't do a proper report on the substance.

I would greatly appreciate any help
Many thanks

Untitled

• alwd000
• 11 May 2014
• 1

CEILING MATERIAL

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Picture does not really help, would be nice to have a close up and a description on it's structure.
But looks like a cellulose type of insulation to me.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I'm not quite sure what bit we're supposed to be looking at.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Looks like tanalised timber to me.



Andy

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

Looks like cinder block to me. It is nothing to do with infestation. It more likely to be a cast in hearth stone, for a fire or a washing copper. What was the original purpose of the room?
Frank

 

[alwd000]

When I bought the flat it was a kitchen but I'm presuming when it was built in 1900 it was an upstairs bedroom. The house was converted in to 2 flats in the late 80's. I wonder if it had anything to do with building regs of the the time to do with converting flats and the need to have a fire resistant material between the two floors.