Cob: Earth Floor!

[Darel Henman]

Thanks for the additional input.  I'd like to see your samples sometime.

A wetter mix like you mention would be easier of course to just dump it
on the floor and mush it flat with a trowel.  It should shrink more the
the less wetter ramming mixt and should be less strong.
 
Ramming would use less water and would give a harder floor.  It would be
harder to do, however.  It depends on how hard a floor one needs.

The rammed version would also be more water resistent.  This is good for
outside applications for example.

A lime content of 8% would give a good, supposedly rock hard floor.  The
content would depend on the quality of soil and the sand/clay content. 
One should always experiement with the soils and materials they have
available.  2% as you mention might be fine for a non-intensively used
floor area, like a closet, but it might not be for say the house entry
way which always gets used.  In this case the usage of the floor and the
hardnees required should be considered.

Darel