Update from Mauk

[Shannon Dealy]

On Thu, 19 Sep 1996, patrick newberry wrote:

[SNIP]
> 2. When I finally get around to building my cob walls in what ever shape or
> form happens upon me, what about the floor inside. I mean if the floor
> inside was going to be adobe or cement I guess you just pour the stuff,
> float it and it's level. But what other floor options are available or are
> used for adobe/cob houses. (by the way I heard Julia Robert's is buying an
> adobe house in Taos) If I put a wood floor in how to the floor joists
> connect the adobe walls? Could I put a ledge on the inside of the cob wall
> and have the floor joist sit on that? (might be pain to keep level). I guess
> other options might be some kind of ceramic tile on a bed of sand but this
> is a low budget operation. Any thoughts or experiences on floors for cob houses.
[SNIP]
I suppose you could create cob ledges if you like for floor joists, I wouldn't 
worry to much about problems leveling it, cob is quite easy to trim.

Cob houses tend to use cob floors, it's done in layers starting with a gravel
base to prevent moisture wicking up from the ground.  Then a fairly thick
layer of regular cob is applied, followed by a couple of layers of a finer
cob mix used for finishing.  Finally the top is sealed with linseed oil and
bees wax.  I'm doing this from memory, so I may have missed something, I'll
dig up my notes and address this in a little more detail later.


Shannon Dealy
dealy at deatech.com