Cob earthen floors

[Anne McMahon]

hi everyone,

I need to find out some stuff about earthen floors, if you have the time
I'll appreciate hearing about your experiences and knowledge on the subject.

There is a community garden group who wish to put an earthen floor down in
the strawbale shed (8 X 10 metres) they are building. They are laying a
100mm / 4" concrete raft floor first and want to lay the earthen floor over
the top. After a costing (economic only) was done it is cost effective to
lay the concrete raft as the base and at this stage that is the only
arguement for doing it. 

I need information to help make an assessment as to whether this is a good
thing or not and aslo some information about earthen floors.
What are you thoughts about laying the concrete first?
Will an earthen floor sit comfortably over the concrete?
If so what finish would you recommend on the concrete?
How thick should the earthen floor be?
What's a good recipe / are their different layers?
Is the mix prepared like cob and compacted or wetter and layed like concrete?
What's been used as a stabiliser/hardener?

Thankyou
Anne
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