Cob: Earthen floors?

Sun Feb 2 13:34:15 CST 2003

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<P>Cat here, clay is heavy  and it has to be pounded down to get the density needed to make a good floor surface.  I suppose if you are on a slab it may work but if you have a basement It may be more than the structure could handle without more support beneath. Did a job where the client wanted a marble floor, had to put in an I beam to carry the weight of the stone.</P></DIV>
<P> Clay goes on wet and takes some time to dry the only ply that wouldn't suck up the moisture and buckle would be nautical ply.  Kitchens are normally high traffic areas with lots of need for clean up.  I haven't experimented with this yet but I was going to do granite tile cobbed in and see how it holds up for ease of  matinence with my cat shelter.  That should be the acid test!</P></DIV>
<P>My house is about 2-3ft off the ground and if I were going to retro-fit a cob floor I would be thinking tear up the floor, put in a stone or block retaining wall around the perimeter, maybe those terracotta pipes for heat on a bed of gravel sand and cob with a slate, glazed tile, granite surface.  Of course a big ???  would be removing the floor joists, since building them into the floor would make the floor higher, or removing them completely, which could seriously damage the structural integrity of the whole frame of the house.   Think Leaning tower of Pisa.   I'm not the expert here on this one but, the idea of skinning my house and cobbing it all back in has, crossed my mind!!  I'd love to here some feed back on the theroy from someone who has a better handle on engineering?  </P>
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<P><EM>for the good of all </EM>Cat<BR><BR></P>
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<DIV></DIV>>From: "loving mama" <LOVINGMAMAJOY at MSN.COM>
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<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: "loving mama" <LOVINGMAMAJOY at MSN.COM>
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<DIV></DIV>>To: <COBLIST at DEATECH.COM>
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<DIV></DIV>>Subject: Cob: Earthen floors? 
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<DIV></DIV>>Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 08:06:09 -0800 
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<DIV></DIV>>Hi again, this time I'm asking about floors! In our "conventional" home, 
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<DIV></DIV>>the kitchen floor really needs replacing. Is there any precedent for 
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<DIV></DIV>>putting an earthen floor over a plywood sub floor? How would one do such a 
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<DIV></DIV>>thing? 
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<DIV></DIV>>Thanks! 
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