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https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl DIY Forum >> Building Questions >> Steel supports in Cellar https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1471870871 Message started by teamcarrot on Aug 22^nd, 2016, 2:01pm

Title: Steel supports in Cellar
Post by teamcarrot on Aug 22^nd, 2016, 2:01pm

I am looking at buying a terraced house in Stockport, but when we went down to the cellar it seemed like nothing I'd seen before. There was corrugated iron clad to the underside of the beams overhead, with steel supports spaced out throughout the cellar, seeming to prop up the flooring above. I have photos that I can share if needed.

The seller has suggested that this is because the cellar was the designated air-raid shelter for that street during the war, and that these supports are from that. Apparently this is common among terraced houses of this period where there is no room for a separate shelter out the back.

Does anybody know whether this is indeed commonplace? Obviously survey will tell me whether there is an issue, but I don't want to fork out for a survey if there is obviously an issue.

Hoping somebody has come across this before!

Cheers

Title: Re: Steel supports in Cellar
Post by woodsmith on Aug 22^nd, 2016, 11:52pm

It is true that some houses had their cellars converted to bomb shelters when they didn't have a garden for an Anderson shelter and it seems that you have found one that still remains intact.

Title: Re: Steel supports in Cellar
Post by Lectrician on Aug 23^rd, 2016, 7:19am

Photos would be nice either way :)

Title: Re: Steel supports in Cellar
Post by CWatters on Aug 26^th, 2016, 3:51pm

What condition is the steel in? I suspect the steel isn't structural to the original house but perhaps check if it has become structural at some point if/when the house has been modified.