[Cob] unfired tiles

[Lance Collins]

Charmaine wrote:

>this is a favorite subject of mine, since floors can be so expensive to 
>buy processed wood, lino, etc products. You don't need a Cinva Ram to make 
>tiles, simple sun/air curing can work well.
>
>There are many ways to approach unfired tile making....stabilizing the 
>earth is the first option...I have been making  clay-lime-sawdust slabs, 
>UNDER real slates, 1" thick successfully..no machinery needed.

Having made your tiles you have to lay them.  The obvious thing to do is to 
put mortar on your floor, level it and then place your tiles on top.  A 
better way is to make a frame the size of your tile and mortar with a 
bottom.  Put your tile in face down, apply the mortar, screed the bottom 
then turn over and place on the floor.  The mortar needs to be stiff enough 
to survive the turning over and placing operation.  If you have a smooth 
substrate to start with your tiles will be nice and level even if the 
bottoms are/were a bit rough.

As always, practise somewhere unimportant before the real job.

Lance Collins