*
I have a client who just purchased a two story house built in the 20’s with a material referred to as “terry cotta tiles”. These are hollow blocks similar in size to typical concrete blocks, but made from red fired terry cotta. The house has a stucco finish on the exterior. The clients don’t settle for 2 months, but when they do we were intending to commence with demolition of the first floor exterior wall of the kitchen, removing 15-17 linear feet of the wall, and expanding to create a simple kitchen-family room and mud room entry. It seems the product would be lighter than typical concrete, and the inspector seemed to feel it was a good product, but we have already had questions from prospective contractors. We haven’t found anyone so far who has worked with the product. Does this material behave differently than concrete block? Has anyone out there had experience working with this material? We’d like to have a heads up as to any problems or difficulties we might come across, so we can try to work toward a move-in date of September 1.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Learn more about the pros and cons of single-room ERVs.
Featured Video
Highlights
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Fine Home Building
Follow
-
Fine Homebuilding
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial Now -
GBA Prime
Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
- Home Group
- Antique Trader
- Arts & Crafts Homes
- Bank Note Reporter
- Cabin Life
- Cuisine at Home
- Fine Gardening
- Fine Woodworking
- Green Building Advisor
- Garden Gate
- Horticulture
- Keep Craft Alive
- Log Home Living
- Military Trader/Vehicles
- Numismatic News
- Numismaster
- Old Cars Weekly
- Old House Journal
- Period Homes
- Popular Woodworking
- Script
- ShopNotes
- Sports Collectors Digest
- Threads
- Timber Home Living
- Traditional Building
- Woodsmith
- World Coin News
- Writer's Digest
Replies
*
I have a client who just purchased a two story house built in the 20's with a material referred to as "terry cotta tiles". These are hollow blocks similar in size to typical concrete blocks, but made from red fired terry cotta. The house has a stucco finish on the exterior. The clients don't settle for 2 months, but when they do we were intending to commence with demolition of the first floor exterior wall of the kitchen, removing 15-17 linear feet of the wall, and expanding to create a simple kitchen-family room and mud room entry. It seems the product would be lighter than typical concrete, and the inspector seemed to feel it was a good product, but we have already had questions from prospective contractors. We haven't found anyone so far who has worked with the product. Does this material behave differently than concrete block? Has anyone out there had experience working with this material? We'd like to have a heads up as to any problems or difficulties we might come across, so we can try to work toward a move-in date of September 1.
I have these in my house. Not sure what I can do with them as far as penetrations through them, etc.
Around here (western pa) we call them speed tile. I think they are called structural clay tile officially. I have run into them in a lot of brick houses in the Pittsburgh area and lots of older commercial buildings. They sorta act like cement block but they are a lot more fragile. I assume that’s why they fell out of favor. Penetrations are tough because they are very crumbly. Just play it safe and hire a structural engineer to design a beam.
i am interested in this subject because i have them in my 1924 brick and stucco bungalow--in both the walls and the foundation of the porch/coal cellar.
google found this article: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/structural-terra-cotta.shtml