Although many materials used in building are plastic at some stage in their manufacture or use, e.g. clay in green bricks, unset mortar and concrete, these are not plastic in the current sense of the word. This term has been adopted by custom and usage to describe a group of organic and largely man-made products, which have in common the property of being plastic at some stage in the manufacture, in which state they are shaped into the required form.

This digest covers various possible uses of plastics in building:

load-bearing members, roofing, external cladding, internal linings, thermal insulation, vapour barriers, water supply pipes, mouldings.

Replaced by Digest 69 (2nd series).