Terra cotta

[DWcontractor]

I have a question for you all. I looked at a 150year old building yesterday. I has 4 layers of flooring and it looks to be terra cotta sub-floor is nthis accurate or is there wood joist and the terra cotta is just fire barrier?

 

[Ron]

Do a search in the forums....this has been discussed before. It is likely a special flooring system.

 

[dik]

Terracotta was often used to encapsulate the structure, and mechanically fastened to it. I've not encountered terracotta used as a 'form' for early concrete... 150 years ago is too early for concrete... so likely just encapsulating other structure.

Dik

 

[ishvaaag]

This is not a thing you may get along without finding. Make a hole and discover what the structure is. The customary construction in Spain for floors was wood logs for joists, then either terracotta taken with hydraulic mortar in several layers, maybe gypsum for the first layer was vaulted between logs. Mortars and rubble then made for the horizontal plate where to put the finish.

The layers you may be seeing can be the ones forming the vaults. The first one in "cerámica a la catalana" used to be taken with gypsum because its shorter time of setting. Some kind of quickly prepared "lost" formwork. Then the others were taken either with lime or mortars for better strength and superior behaviour under water presence. Normally these further layers may be omitted in interior vaults between logs for floors, because the small size of the structure, and simplifications of such system may be found.

 

[shobroco]

Clay tile were commonly used in concrete floor systems as a form & to reduce weight by creating voids, and they could be the finish underneath or a substrate for plaster. This system isn't 150 years old though, more like 75-80 regardless of what the building's age is. If you can determine the concrete dimensions and the reinforcing with a small amount of destructive investigation, it is a straightforward concrete analysis for capacity.