"Earthen floors" part of natural building trend

[Islander]

nytimes.com
By DAVID GELLES
Published: February 8, 2007

Down and Dirty

EARLY one Saturday morning in January, Kevin Rowell dumped a bucket of dark mud on the floor of his big south-facing bedroom. It landed with a plop, spreading out and merging with a blanket of wet earth that already extended across much of the room. On his knees, Mr. Rowell took a trowel to the pile, nudging it this way and that until the mud was roughly level and about an inch and a half deep.

As Mr. Rowell finished smoothing that section, his wife, Marisha Farnsworth, appeared at the door and handed him another bucket of mud. A moment later, another plop, and the process continued. The mud was expanding, and would soon cover the entire floor .
“It’s beautiful,” said Mr. Rowell, 28, as he stood back to take in the whole room. “It’s just what we wanted.

Mr. Rowell and Ms. Farnsworth, 26, were working with a dozen friends to install a dirt floor — an “earthen floor,” as it is known — in their newly purchased 50-year-old home in this Oakland suburb.

The floor — which, in addition to the basic ingredient, included lime and sand, two classic components of concrete — would take a few weeks to dry, a period when the couple would camp out in their living room. But once sealed with a mixture of linseed oil and beeswax, it would theoretically be firm and water-repellent. Fans of such floors say that soapy water will clean them without turning them to mud, and that another coat of oil can renew the shine.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/g...l?pagewanted=1

[Jane Chitty]

So basically, it is like pouring a concrete floor (sealed) with no particular benefits?

[Islander]

But Jane, it's all natural.

[mellowsong]

Interesting but certainly not practical at this time. I guess if you're rich and willing to continuously fix or replace it to have a novelty...go for it! The last thing I'd want in the south is a floor that soaks up and retains heat, lol. I can see this evolving though....but by the time they were able to harden it and protect it enough to be practical and safe from damage from sharps and water, there's wouldn't be a whole lot of "natural" left in it I'm sure!

[Maurya]

Sort of like concrete, which is just cement mixed with aggregate (gravel). Has anyone spent some time in a cement quarry, including its kiln and concrete manufacturing? Pretty natural stuff, dug right out of Mother Nature.

[LabDoc]

Agree Maurya, concrete seems to me an 'all natural' product, Limestone, sand, gravel and water, just because it's delivered in a truck doesn't mean it is not natural.

[Islander]

But if you want to be all green and sustainable and shit, you don't want a concrete floor, you want a DIRT floor.


"Honey, can you mix that mud a little faster, you're slowing me down!"

[Julieanne]

What litle I know about concrete/cement is that an awful lot of energy is used in production. Plus the transportation. So, while it might be 'natural', it's not exactly 'green'.

But I would definitely have a concrete floor if I were building a new house. With the right solar orientation it will hold heat in winter but it will be cool in summer. At one time (before the collapse of the project) I was planning on building a house, so I have gone into this a lot.

Mellow, it soaks up and retains heat if it is exposed to the sun - south in your neck of the woods, north for me. The idea is to build in such a way that the floor gets sun in winter but none in summer.

[Islander]

Mellow, it soaks up and retains heat if it is exposed to the sun - south in your neck of the woods, north for me. The idea is to build in such a way that the floor gets sun in winter but none in summer.

You're describing the floor in my passive solar room. First a layer of insulation, then a concrete slab, then a layer of slate. Southern orientation. Cool in summer, catches the winter sun.

[Julieanne]

That's exactly what I meant!

[Aaltrude]

I am attending a "Living Sustainably" course at the moment and housing was the discussion of the latest session. Building in this manner for solar gain in winter but not in summer was one of the main topics. Of course in this part of the world, the orientation is north for solar gain.
Our house is a 1920's house, a time when such issues were never considered. The original house doesn't really "face" any direction as far as windows go but the previous owners did try to rectify that a little with renovations they did. There is now a room with a wall of windows facing north. When we added the solar hot water, there was no north facing slant on the roof for the solar panels and we built a pergola out from this room to mount the panels in such a way that we now get the winter sun coming into the room but not the summer sun. Although the room is built on a concrete slab though, it is not unfortunately a slab made with heat retention in mind.

[highlander]

But if you want to be all green and sustainable and shit, you don't want a concrete floor, you want a DIRT floor.

LOL...my mom would have a frickin' cow! She'd probably tell me I already have a dirt floor.

[Islander]

During the busy spring greenhouse season you could have grown marigolds on my filthy slate floor!

[highlander]

During the busy spring greenhouse season you could have grown marigolds on my filthy slate floor!

Ooooh, I <3 marigolds. They're one of my favorite flowers. For some reason my mom thinks they stink and I love the smell. Go figure.