page_title: Byelaw terraced house
section_title: Comparative features
hierarchical_section_title: Byelaw terraced house / Design / Comparative features
caption_attribution_description: Byelaw terraced houses in Kent. Handed houses separated by a passage/ginnel/alley. The right has been renovated and has a new roof over the bay window and a smaller window inserted when the bedroom was converted to a bathroom- both have lost their original windows and guttering.
context_page_description: A byelaw terraced house is a type of dwelling built to comply with the Public Health Act 1875. It is a type of British terraced house at the opposite end of the social scale from the aristocratic townhouse, but a marked improvement on the pre-regulation house built as cheap accommodation for the urban poor of the Industrial Revolution. The term usually refers to houses built between 1875 and 1918.
  The 1875 Act imposed a duty on local authorities to regulate housing by the use of byelaws, and subsequently all byelaw terraced housing was required to have its own toilet. At first a "privy" or outhouse was built in the yard behind the house, relying on a pail closet system, with access for the municipal collection of the night soil. As universal town sewerage advanced, flush toilets were built, but often still outside the house. The houses had to meet minimum standards of build quality, ventilation, sanitation and population density.
  Despite a century of slum clearances, byelaw terraced houses made up over 15% of the United Kingdom's housing stock in 2011.
context_section_description: Ventilation: It was no longer acceptable to have the ground-floor flooring laid directly on the earth. The timbers had to be at least 4 inches (10 cm) above the earth, and on rising ground this would be more.
  Walls: In areas where brick was used, walls were built using a simple Flemish bond, meaning a single skin 9-inch wall. They all had to have a damp course and foundations. The damp course could be a layer of asphalt in bricks at least 9 inches (23 cm) below the wooden floor beams; later it would be salt-glazed bricks or slate. The act required a double course of bricks, later concrete would be placed beneath, though the quality was poor, and the requirements changed to two layers of double-width brick. Higher specification concrete had replaced this by 1919.
  The ground floor was of simple single planks, nailed with brads into 8-by-2 in softwood joists. The joists ends were treated with bitumen, and sunk half a brick deep into the walls. Later with wider spans, the joist would be supported by stub walls. The floor planks later were tongue and grooved (T&G) to reduce draughts. The scullery was a wet area with a flagstone floor slightly lower than the rest of the house.
  Oversailing eaves with ogee-shaped cast iron guttering
  Elaborate street façades
  Patterned salt-glazed moulded bricks, tiles, chimney pots, ridge tiles and finials
  Richly patterned joinery: Sash windows.
  Windows: The earliest windows were set into opening topped by a low brick arch. Later these were replaced by cast stone lintels that were balanced in the same way as the bricks. The next generation of lintels had square ends and were wider than the window opening, changing the thrust from horizontally to vertically. Cast stone was used for lintels, door and window surrounds, arch sets, bay window sets, cills and quoins with sharp moulds and decoration. Windows lintels often displayed a false keystone.
caption: Two larger 1886 houses in Kent, separated by a ginnel, they have cellars. They have cast stone lintels but have lost the sash windows and the ogee guttering
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