Breeze blocks

The good thing about remodeling a house built in 1937 is that you get to learn a lot about 1937. The bad thing is that you then have to throw it all out and rebuild it.

In 1937, Edward VIII had just abdicated--after less than a year in office--and George VI had ascended the throne. (See The King's Speech. No really, see it.) Central London had just over 4 million people, with greater London over 8 million. Battersea power station had just been completed, but only had two stacks (the other stacks were built in the 1950s). London had escaped the Great Depression and had 37,000 factories, all powered by coal. And a major by-product of burning coal is ash.

Ash is gernerally considered to be carcinogenic, and disposing of it in a landfill causes the toxins to leach into the groundwater. In the US, ash is mixed with cement and used in dams. In London, some bright spark had the idea of doing the same in houses.

As we stripped the wallpaper, large chunks of plaster came away as well, exposing a black-grey gritty substance. I had no idea what it was until the electrician explained it. But I had no idea what it meant until the builder started moving the walls. And I do mean moving--as he pushed with one hand, the whole wall flexed, and looked as it would topple over.

The fact that it was toxic wasn't enough to remove it. The fact that the wall was in danger of collapse wasn't enough to remove it. The fact that the new plaster was likely to crack within months wasn't enought to remove it. The fact that the beam supporting the wall wasn't strong enough finally did the trick. The wall came down and was replaced with a timber stud wall, which is much lighter.

Once that wall fell, the rest followed. The wall on the stairway came down after the electrician tried to channel in a switch, and the wall practically disintegrated as he went. The wall in the bathroom came down after we removed the tiles and found the bottom half was made of bricks on their sides (a definite no-no) and the top half was ash. The only ash wall remaining is downstairs, and even that we removed half of it to open up the living room.

Of course, removing the walls has significantly impacted the electrician, who has left and will come back when the stud walls are up. It also will impact the plasterer, as we no longer need a specialist who can reconstitute the cracked walls, but someone who can plaster over drywall. However, I can't fire the plasterer because his brother-in-law is the plumber, and I don't want to upset him.