In June, I finished installing the earthen floor in my cob house. In October, I built the base layer of the earthen floor, a 2.5″ thick mix of sand, clay, and straw. It dried over fall and winter (very slooowly), and once I finished plastering my walls, I moved onto completing the floor this spring. [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Earthen floor’
Living earthen floor?
I have been away from Dancing Rabbit for the past week, and friends have been monitoring the drying of my earthen floor, which I completed about a week before I left for New Jersey. My friend Liat just sent me some images of what the floor looks like… it isn’t dry, and there is now [...]
All that remains…
At this point, all that remains before I move into my new house is finishing and sealing the earthen floor, doing the interior final plaster work, and installing a skylight.
The plaster work will probably take the longest length of time among these three things, since I want to do a bunch of tile mosaics inside [...]
Gearing up for building season
It feels like building season is almost upon us. There’s a hint of spring warmth in the air, and I get antsier with each passing day as I think about the prospect of finishing my humble abode. I have a building sequence of events that I’ve been thinking about today.
Other than finishing the living roof [...]
How to build an earthen floor
Recently, I wrote an article about building earthen floors for Green Building Elements. Earthen floors are commonplace in straw bale and cob buildings, but they can also be installed in more typical suburban homes.
Check out the full article here: Natural Building 101: How to build an earthen or adobe floor.
Starting to build the earthen mass floor
And now… how to build an earthen floor:
When I began building, I decided to leave the topsoil in my house instead of hauling it out. I guess mostly to avoid the extra labor, really.
Over the months, it has become quite tamped and solid from continually walking on it. I decided to leave it as is, [...]
Getting in the last building work before winter
I will be headed out of Dancing Rabbit in three short weeks to go back to New Jersey for the holidays. Within the past couple of weeks, I have accepted the fact that I will not absolutely “finish” the house before that time. By “finish”, I mean complete the roof, finish the floor, make my [...]
Cob walls complete, windows and door installed, and more!
The past week or so has been quite eventful. There’s been mostly positive progress, but some negative, too.
Cobbing complete!
With Karen’s and my dad’s help, I completed cobbing. The walls are finally done! In just a few days, the gap between the walls and the roof was closed. It was very satisfying to see the final [...]
