Cob: Re: Earth Floor!

[Vicki Wicker]

At 12:59 AM 11/2/01 -0800, dtebb wrote:
>Hi Patricia,
>
>Just a short note of caution. It is important to have a much higher
>porportion of sand in your floor mix. Sand is what make floors and cob
>hard. I have heard of some people who have had problems with their floors
>being too soft. I suspect their mix has too much clay. I put just enough
>clay in to stick the sand together, but no more. You would be surprised at
>how little clay you need. My floor is rock hard but I haven't dropped
>anything yet to really test it out.

Also less cracks. My first floor had quite a few largish cracks. I pushed 
up the sand content and my second room had only one or two small hair line 
cracks. I'll probably try to add even a little more. Also slowing down the 
drying time will help minimize cracks, but shouldn't be a problem this time 
of year unless you're running a wood heater in the room.

>Ian
>
> >I've done several earth floors using screened road base as the medium.  I
> >don't do any mixing of materials at all, haven't tried putting in anything
> >to harden the material...  So it is just earth and clay, with a pretty high
> >proportion of clay.  My oldest floor is about three years old.  I don't have
> >a good basis for saying what chairs moving around on it would be, because I
> >have all immovable furniture in my place.  However, I did drop a heavy
> >wrench on it while standing up on a ladder once.  It put a little gouge in
> >the floor.  It was relatively easy to fix, and the patch I put in there
> >hasn't come out since then, but it is noticeable.  I attribute this more to
> >my low level of skill in troweling than anything else.  The floor is very
> >nice to walk on, in socks or bare feet.  I have several coats of linseed oil
> >on it, and it doesn't dust at all.  Most people who look at it can't believe
> >its an earth floor - the most common guess is that it's cement.  However,
> >it's much softer and nicer to walk on than a cement floor.
> >
> >Patricia
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> To those of you who have or have been on a adobe type floor:
> >>
> >> What kind of performance are you earth floor people getting?
> >>
> >> Can you walk on it in socks.
> >>
> >> Does it chuck off easily when you drop something semi-heavy like a large
> >> can of coffee?
> >>
> >> If so is it easily repairable.
> >>