I used to live in one. Rapping on an external wall from the
inside the house produced the same hollow sound & feel as
knocking an internal plasterboard/stud partition.

Knocking an outside wall in a normally constructed house produces
the more resilient feel and sound of solid masonry. If a house
had plasterboard stuck to studs mounted on a masonry wall you
would get the wrong answer of course.

You could also ask the owner what fixings he uses in external
walls, e.g. for shelving - special plasterboard fixings as would
be used in a stud wall, or normal plugs.

Removing a light switch or electrical socket would show you.

Those were the only tell-tales in mine apart from drilling a hole
from inside. Oh, and the bottom-head at work who nearly every day
used to come up to my desk and ask if it hard rotted away yet,
this being at the time when Barrats screwed up by putting plastic
sheeting inside the cavity and promoting rot very quickly. Mine
was by another builder, didn't have the plastic, and is still
standing, as is the rest of the estate AFAIK.

W.




"Tony Bryer" wrote in message
...
In article , Mike
Mitchell
wrote:
If I inspect houses/bungalows built in the last 20-odd years,
how
might I ensure that the external walls are brick/block
construction,
and not an outer skin of brick and inner "layer" of timber?

Unless it's a hip roof detached house look in the loft

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk
Free SEDBUK boiler database browser
http://www.sda.co.uk/qsedbuk.htm