huangyhg

structural clay tile
the owner of a building, or soon-to-be-ex-building, is faced with the fact that his structural clay tile building, that's 80+ years old and shows visible signs of deterioration (including a hole smashed through it with a sledge hammer) will have to come down. he is balking at replacing it with a handsome cmu building that's state-of-the-art (and not too expensive). he asks, "why can't you re-use the "terra cotta" blocks and just reinforce and grout them?" i have been tasked with explaining why "we" can't re-use 80-year old clay tiles. the answers are obvious to me (technically, the old tiles will not satisfy astm c 34-96 is a start).
does anyone have experience with successfully building/designing structural clay tile buildings up to seismic code?
most of the older structural clay tiles wouldn't meet today's standards when they were manufactured, much less after many years of wetting/drying and thermal cycling.
structural clay tile is very susceptible to deterioration in the form of exfoliation of the clay in layers. this is a result of wetting/drying and ionic bond changes in the clay. the result is a weak tile.
the simplest answer is the cost of trying to salvage the clay tile. just try to take one out of the wall, clean off the old mortar and stack it for future use without chipping it! then add up the time x the number needed x $40.00/hr for a laborer or mason to do the work. new clay tile are about $3.00 - $4.00 each depending on shape and color.
one other thing to consider in the new building, the old clay tile lasted 80 years, not too many of today's materials can say as much! don't just look at initial cost.
good luck.

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