Every now and then I’m showing or selling a house in the historic districts of West Palm Beach and the walls are not Concrete Block. Nor are the walls wood framed. They’re something different. They look like the color of unglazed “Mexican” floor tiles or clay roof tiles. What are these?
These homes were constructed with structural terra cotta blocks used for the exterior walls and sometimes interior load bearing walls. Some Realtors or property owners will refer to them as hollow structural tile, hollow tile block, hollow building tile, structural clay tile and structural clay load-bearing wall tile. The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser notes it as ‘ADOBE/HOLLOW CLAY BLK‘ and in the local MLS it is simply noted as Hollow Tile.
What is the history of Terra Cotta Wall Construction? In the 1920’s through about 1950 in Florida some local houses were constructed with what was considered to be a superior building material to wood frame walls. These were hollow building blocks (similar to masonry block) but made from terra cotta. Yes, that’s terra cotta like the old school pots for plants. These were stacked and mortared in place to create exterior walls and sometimes interior walls (typically the bearing wall) which were then covered with stucco on the exterior, wood lath and plaster on the interior. Although they are not as ‘strong’ as a Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU as in CBS) they are certainly superior to wood and were more expensive at the time of construction which is why they are found in more affluent older communities. They did not have steel reinforcing which is why they do not perform as well as modern concrete masonry in things like earthquakes but in Florida who cares. In a wind storm (hurricane) they would be superior to wood fame but inferior to later era concrete block (CBS) houses. In every day life they would be better at resisting termites, and don’t rot or retain moisture like wood frame. BUT fastening things like hurricane panels to them can be difficult as they tend to ‘blow out’ the back of the clay tile when hammer drilling in the anchors.
Bottom line – Clay structural tiles are better than wood frame but not as good as concrete block and stucco (CBS).
CLICK HERE to read my blog post about the definitions of some other items you may see in the Property Appraisers page.
