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Paxton, IL | Around here, we have a lot of old clay tile still functioning, but a lot of it is just barely functioning.
What we usually find is that most old clay tile is "quarter cracked" (cracked at the top, both sides, and maybe the bottom as well). It seems to hold together just fine this way unless you get too much water trying to flow through it and it heaves the top up a bit, then when the water decreases, the tile collapses and causes problems.
I wouldn't hesitate to continue to use old clay laterals, but would be reluctant to use any as a main for this reason. The more you tie into it, the more chance you have of it blowing out. Of course, if you've had it exposed, and find that the the clay is still in great shape, you could certainly get by for a while. I'd guess it would just be a matter of time before you run into this situation though, and making connections into the side of an old clay can be a real pain.
If you do end up continuing to use the clay as a main, I'd try to plan and record it so you can come back later and put in a new plastic main parallel to the clay. This new main would cut off all the laterals, then you can go back and hook them up to the new tile and abandon the old clay. Something like that is best done when there is little to no water flowing though. | |
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Clay vs. Corrugated plastic tile
