[Greenbuilding] Earthen floor demonstration.

[Speireag Alden]

On 2008, May 27, at 19:20, Corwyn wrote:

> I may possibly be trying to convince clients to use an earthen floor,
> in the near future.  I think it would go over a lot better shown than
> described.  Has anyone made a small (say 1 square foot) earthen floor
> display?  Does anyone have idea about how one might go about making
> such a thing?

     I would take some two-by-six and cut and screw it together in a  
square box about a foot on a side, on the inside.  I might double- 
layer the surround, with long sides alternating, for strength,  
because I'm going to pound the earth.  Then I would cut a 1-foot- 
square of plywood (plus a bit, to account for the thickness of the  
surround) and screw it to the wood box.  Then I would flip it over,  
coat the wood with a bit of oil, and put my earthen mixture in it.   
Once it dried to a bit more moist than the leathery feel, I'd pound  
it hard with a tamper, add more earth on top, pound it hard until it  
was even with the top of the box, abrade the extra material off  
evenly, moisten the surface, trowel it smooth, and put it somewhere  
very, very warm to dry out.  Perhaps inside a car, parked in the sun  
facing south, with the windows just cracked, to let the moisture out.

     When it was bone dry (and then some, to allow for the fact that  
it will look dry on the surface before it's dry down deep), I'd coat  
the surface with a thin mixture of oil and thinner, both selected to  
avoid heavy metals and other nasties.  Then I'd stick it in the car  
again.  Then I'd coat the surface with a thicker mixture of oil, and  
dry it again.  Then the final layer of oil, and dry it again.   
Burnish it, polish it with floor wax, and set it out where people can  
appreciate it.

     Was that clear as mud?  I'm tired.

-Speireag.


--
It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking the thing we have  
to do, that makes life blessed.
--Goethe