[Cob] linseed oil

[Simon Matthews]

We have used raw Linseed oil on two earth floors with no stickiness and
are very happy with the results.

The mud mixture we used for the floor was 3 parts river sand to one part
earth. One factor with the mud mixture that i think was important was
that when it dried it was quite porous so the Linseed oil soaked in
well.

We applied the Linseed oil in three applications with at least a week
between each application.

With each application we would pour a puddle of oil on a small section
of the the floor and work it in with a paint brush. The amount of oil we
applied was as much as the floor would easily absorb. We were very
careful that no "wet" patches of oil were left anywhere on the floor.

The first application used about three times the amount of oil as the
final coat. Overall for a floor of around 24sq metres (~260sq ft) we
used ~35 litres (~9 US Gallons) of raw oil.

I think it is important to make sure that the previous layer of oil has
has time to polymerise before the application of the next layer. From
the research i did on this i think that one of the main differences
between raw and boiled oil is the time it takes to polymerise, so if you
wanted to get the floor finished in a hurry using boiled oil may be a
better choice.

One thing we did before we did the whole floor was to make some test
samples of floor and try raw and boiled linseed oil to see how deep it
penetrated the mud mixture and how well it "set". 

These tests and availability and cost of the oil lead us to use the raw
oil. I would suggest you also do some tests with the brands and types of
oil you intend using before buying in bulk and and maybe making a big
sticky mess.

Simon   


On Thu, 2010-07-22 at 10:14 -0700, Tys Sniffen wrote:
> Anyone have brand/store recommendations for linseed oil for floors?
> 
>  
> 
> I know about the additives that create the 'boiled' vs raw, but I can't
> really find good comparisons between the 'truly boiled' and 'chemically
> boiled' oils. has anyone actually found the additives to be a problem? Or is
> that just philosophical? 
> 
>  
> 
> And, I see different brands out there: Crown, Klean-strip, etc.  anyone ever
> find any differences?
> 
>  
> 
> Finally, anyone have estimates on how much oil one needs to do 3 or 4 coats
> for floors by sq foot? 
> 
> Tys
> 
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