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Boot house
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<p>Boot houses were houses built in the United Kingdom after <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a> to accommodate the housing boom following the war. They were named after <a href="/facts/Henry_Boot/tuxsAMbw">Henry Boot</a>, whose construction company (<a href="/facts/Henry_Boot_plc/KkpzdHAp">Henry Boot Limited</a>), produced an estimated 50,000 houses between the end of World War I and the start of <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>. Due to a shortage of bricks, boot houses were built using precast reinforced clinker-concrete columns. Structural tests in the 1980s revealed significant deterioration in the concrete as a result of <a href="/facts/Carbonatation/NeLxSF9G">carbonatation</a>. The <a href="/facts/Housing_Act_1985/jr8U6AIY">Housing Act 1985</a> provided government grants for homeowners of such "defective" houses. </p>