Housing “on Stilts”

Last week I told you about the advantages John Tucker found of building a dwelling in timber frame in the 1950’s. However, since then light steel framing has been brought to Britain and this has considerable advantages over timber. The cold rolled steel sections are made from galvanised steel strip either 1.5 or 2mm thick. They are formed into a C-section with the flanges folded over so that their strength is equal to solid timber but they are only half the weight. This means a panel twelve feet long by eight feet high can be carried by two men.

Steel doesn’t have the problems of timber. There is no warping, twisting, splitting, knot-holes and it is rot and fire resistant. The sections can be strongly fixed together with self-drilling screws. Diagonal bracing can be applied to the panels to prevent lateral movement under side loads. I have practical knowledge of this type of construction because, before my retirement, I owned a company which built roof extensions on existing flat-roofed buildings which were light enough and strong enough to not need the supporting structure to be strengthened to carry them. I can provide photos of some of the contracts.

So my proposed solution to providing low-cost housing is to build lightweight apartments on supporting columns above car parks, which can be carried out in prefabricated panels with only minor disruption to the car park users. I will give you details next week of how the work would be carried out.

If you wish to get in touch with me about any of the matters I raise in my blogs, you can contact me through my website.

Mike.