Adobe floor heat

Practice on a small project such as a sink or small countertop with a right angle grinder. Where in Quintano Roo are you building?

We are moving to Quintano Roo also. Looking into building Tulum, or Holbox! We are very excited to get started next mos in June! Will be nice to create a community of Earthbag homes. Feel free to write me druannajohnston aol. The floor I mentioned on my webpage was done with the native soil as it was on the ground. That soil was Mancos shale, a blackish very contractive type of earth. It really pulls when it dries and opens up wide cracks. Dries very hard. The owner got her blood from a slaughter house in barrels.

She did seal it later with linseed oil. No odor or anything bad. The absence of clay soils here in Baja California and the need for quicker drying suggests the use of some cement in the floor. Floors get pretty tortured at times. Imagine the scraping force exerted when someone pulls a heavy table around to move it, for example. My fear is always that damage will occur.

The soil there was a type of shale. The builder just loosened the topsoil, poured on blood and water and mixed it in.

The clay soil while drying, pulled open leaving a web of wide cracks. When completely dry, she filled the cracks with a contrasting light colored mortar and the floor came out looking like an amazing perfectly laid floor of natural random stones, tightly fit together. But the idea of doing one layer and allowing it to crack, then filling in the rest for the effect described there is pretty appealing!

Just one layer, nifty looking results. I wonder what part does blood play in this process? Could one achieve similar results without it? Lots of good points here. Blood is not required. It is a traditional additive in earth plaster and floors. But much like baking cookies or something, there are lots of ways to build things. Blood probably works fine, just like fresh steaming manure works fine, but for me… no thanks! There are other less messy ways to achieve satisfactory results as you can see from all the floor building methods presented here.

Filling the cracks with different colored material is common practice. You say they used white to accentuate the cracks. The end result is extremely beautiful and very natural looking — similar to what you might find on plants or rocks or even animal fur. So without the blood its just clayey soil with water? And i wonder if they sealed it somehow. Clay is a good binder.

You could add some fiber for reinforcing. Adding sand would reduce cracking. Most floors are sealed with boiled linseed oil. Also keep in mind that tamped earth is way stronger and harder than what one might think. Tamped earth floors can last hundreds of years with only minor repairs. Millionaires and movie stars are using earth floors in custom homes in Santa Fe, etc.

Certainly beautiful and some interesting methods, but I really wonder how many people are willing to wait weeks for their floor to dry and be finished? Some methods have almost no additional drying time if you tamp the base near the beginning of the project and let it dry as you build the house.

Then you can add CEBs, pavers, etc. Any Ideas what would be the best earthern floor for an area with lots of underground critters? We are about to start an earthbag house in Quintana Roo Mexico where there is no top soil, lots of loos rocks and water underground everywhere. I may be worrying for nothing but there is a lot of movement down there. Raise the building site with tamped road base. Add 6 mil plastic sheeting. Make a durable floor such as soil cement that will prevent pests from entering through the floor.

Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This works particularly well if you live in an area where drying the bricks outside may be a problem. I poured an adobe floor two years ago. The floor was finished with many coats of lime plaster and has been worked well with no problems in the last two years. Poured adobe works fine in dry and moderate climates, but can take months to dry in colder humid areas.

This can greatly slow construction on the rest of the home. One option is to fire up a stove or heater if necessary to hasten drying. Also note, you can dry adobes and CEBs outside under cover open-air shed, etc. Now use that same thinking to build a complete dirt cheap home.

Yes, but like I said they take a long time to dry. It seems easier and more convenient to make adobes or CEBs as time permits, let them dry and then use as flooring. The adobe block method described above is very similar to the CEB method described by VelaCreations very popular.

Poured adobe floors look great — super beautiful — but can take months to dry in humid climates. Setting CEBs or adobes in sand is way faster. What would be the effect on the overall system? You would have a lot of thermal mass but would it take more energy to heat it or would the heat be very slow to bubble thru the floor?

In terms of energy efficiency, radiant heating in a thermal mass floor is ideal. The Solar Haven floor is one of the lowest cost, most natural, fastest, easiest, most energy efficient floors I can think of.

The thought was to use scoria. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Rain that stays on the surface has more time to penetrate the top surface of the adobes. Some people sweep sand into the spaces between the bricks. It will go faster if you can level large areas of the sand and then just drop the adobes into place without having to level each one. If the adobes have much difference in thickness, this shortcut is not that helpful. Does it sound right as well?

A: I am not so sure that this is appropriate outdoors. I have definitely had this happen on a treated vertical wall surface. C: I've laid some 3x8x16 fired adobe on a patio. Those little suckers were so sway-backed that it was barely thick enough. A couple of brick have cracked as I tamped them. But boy do they look pretty. I think one inch is the minimum thickness I'd use again. A: I agree.

Swaybacks are hard to deal with. I have taken a vibrating plate tamper and run it over a brick on sand floor with a strip of half-inch plywood between the plate and the bricks. Once the machine gets up to speed it is as if it liquefies the sand and the low bricks float up and the high bricks are pressed down.

It might work on the adobes and fill any voids under the swaybacks. A: It is hard to know for sure. There are so many levels of stabilization. Adobe stabilized with cement and also asphalt has definitely been used successfully but each soil has its own characteristics and without good local experience or a testing lab, you are in an experimental mode.

Q: I'm thinking of constructing a small outdoor patio, sq. I live in Portland, Or. Is this feasible and do any of the books on your website address this type of project? A: We would certainly like to see more adobe activity in Portland, Gary. The Oregon Historical Society has a photo of the concrete foundation of an adobe home in the Portland area. Pioneers coming in on the Oregon Trail used adobe along the trail until they got to the mountains. About 7 years ago adobe structures were put up in several neighborhoods mostly as places to sit near bus stops.

Using adobe bricks flat on the ground will take extra efforts. They should be stabilized waterproofed with emulsified asphalt which can be obtained from asphalt paving suppliers. For your application, I would think about 20 ounces per wheelbarrow would be a starting point. You might want to make a few test bricks and see how they hold up. If you don't like the idea of asphalt in the adobes there might be some other chemicals but my memory sags at the moment.

Emulsified asphalt is the most common stabilizer used in the Southwest. Additionally it would be good to lay the adobes on a bed of coarse sand or pea gravel to provide drainage below the bricks. In general people don't use adobe bricks as outside pavers but is has been done a few times. I can't think of any books that address outdoor patios.

Most stick with interior floors where the weather is not a consideration. Some of the best information on floors comes from Bill and Athena Steen bundled into their strawbale construction books. I want to use as little concrete as possible but want a floor with good thermal mass. I would love a poured adobe floor but the labor, time, and timing involved are not practical for us.

Is it a good idea to add a little cement for strength if they are being used as flooring? Do adobe bricks underfoot feel like concrete anyway? A: Kelly From my own experience, I would suggest stabilizing the adobe bricks with some Portland cement or emulsified asphalt for a floor, although this is not necessary. Earthen floors do not feel like concrete; they have much more earthy give to them. You can use linseed oil to finish them. Q: I recently sealed our poured adobe floor with linseed oil and thinner multiple coats begging with pure oil and progressing to higher percentages of thinner.

The floor is now very well sealed, however, it is also a dust magnet. The slightest bit of dust from footprints of even slightly dusty feet or indoor shoes sticks to it and won't sweep off but needs to be mopped up. Is this effect common? Is there anything that can be done to help this, such as a final top coat of wax? A: Kelly I lived for several years with an adobe floor that I poured in my house in Colorado, and I had the same experience that you describe. It was especially noticeable after I had re-oiled the floor which I did about once a year.

I found that after about week, when the oil had thoroughly hardened, the effect was much less noticeable. I did make sure to wipe away any excess oil that didn't sink into the floor after about half an hour, so that there was no build-up of oil "scum" on the surface.

I did not wax my floor, partly because I didn't like the way the wax left uneven whitish marks on the surface. I don't know whether wax would have improved the situation with dust. Every once in awhile I would take a damp mop to the floor to brighten the luster, but there was usually a dull, dusty appearance that I just got used to. A : Kelly I love our adobe floors. They do take some maintenance, especially around the inset flagstone, but the good news is that they can be repaired, unlike most flooring material.

As you know we have two rambunctious dogs, one of whom is prone to scratch the floor with his nails. At first I thought this might be a problem, leaving permanent scratches. As it has turned out, a light mopping or wipe with an oiled rag will remove the marks. We would like an earthen floor, and wondered if there is any problem with applying it to the wooden subfloor?

We have already run our hydronic heating attached below the subfloor, so that is done. We were considering wood, but it's expensive, and there is something about the earthen floor that really appeals to us. Someone described it as feeling like leather. A: Kelly Putting an earthen floor over an existing wooden subfloor could perhaps be done, but there would be some concerns.

First of all, an earthen floor requires an absolutely solid, non-flexing base, or else it will likely crack in many places; this is hard to accomplish with a wooden floor, even if it is 2" thick. Second, an earthen floor is typically at least 3" to 4" thick, which means both a lot of weight which must be born by the subfloor and foundation and it will raise the level of the floor in the house by that much, likely interfering with doors and such. My third concern is that with hydronic heating you rely on the heat radiating upward.

You have already compromised the efficiency of this type of heating system by placing the tubes beneath the wooden deck, since wood is an insulating material and will not readily pass the heat through. Earth is a much better thermal mass material than wood, but several inches of it may not pass enough of your heat into the room. Earthen floors with the tubes placed within work well, but I am not sure how well your situation would work. If it were me I would consider placing tiles over the subfloor, since these are a good conductor of heat, but are not too thick to have the other problems mentioned above.

Q: I was concerned that putting the radiant pipes under the floor was not efficient. This is the problem with working with people who want to move faster than I can fully research things. So, if I put, say, flagstone over the subfloor, that would still be a better conductor of heat, and storage of heat, than using a wood floor over the subfloor, even with the hydronics below the subfloor?

This would keep the level of the floor closer to where it should be, too. A: Yes, I would say that stone or tile over your subfloor would perform better than more wood. It will gather and hold the heat that rises through the wood and provide a more even temperature throughout the floor. I am unable to find a precise formula indicating an appropriate ratio of sand, clay, dirt, and water.

I am planning on doing 6" of gravel, 6" of pumice, 3" of silty sand and soil mix, and then for floor layers--two layers of one inch each, clay soil, sand, chopped straw, water. It is just not clear for both the silty sand soil mix layer and the clay soil, sand, chopped straw, water layer, how much of each item to put in the mix? Lots of soils work as they are or with a bit of clay or sand added. We have to experiment at each location. I would skip the pumice. It is very hygroscopic and will get damp and stay damp if it is in contact with surrounding soil.

Any insulating value it has will be lost in a below grade situation. We used it as an under floor insulation at the Ghost Ranch Sundwellings in The buildings were heavily instrumented by Q-Dot at Los Alamos and they found the loss of insulative value in the pumice. Editor's Note: If the pumice is kept dry with layers of plastic sheeting, it does fine as an insulating layer.

As for the various layers, silt never contributes any value to a brick, mortar, plaster or floor. If it is there, use it, but if soil is available without it that will be the better choice. The straw is then not necessary but some like the texture and color it gives a floor.

It does help control cracking if the clay content is over 30 percent. As for water, just keep adding it till you get the consistency you like. Some folks like very stiff mud to spread and trowel out, some like it almost pourable.

Since all soils are different, whether you are in Bali, Ethiopia or Berlin you just start out and experiment until it works. Two million Central Germans figured it out.

Q: I am designing a passive solar house in upstate NY. I need to top my concrete monolithic slab floor with another product that will effectively conduct heat and be softer on my husbands hips - he has had 2 hip surgeries. Can you suggest a product that will not compromise the efficiency of the concrete and be softer on some old hips? A Kelly : The first thing that comes to my mind is good old adobe. It is natural, holds and passes heat very nicely, and definitely is easier on the body.

I lived with an adobe floor for several years, so I can personally attest to this. You can read an article that talks about this.

Finding someone in your area who might be able to help install this might be the most difficult, but there are some directories of green professional listed partway down my home page. Most products that are thermal mass that might be used for floor are not very resilient. Cork is nice, but it is also insulating. Q: I live in India and would like to know which product in India is available to make an adobe surface waterproof.

The floor is created with mud, straw, adobe clay, tile, cow dung, cake emulsion and cement grouting. Could suggest to guide? A: I am not very familiar with the availability of materials in India.

If you can find a fish oil emulsion, that might work. They use it in Chile with good results. It can be painted on but works better mixed into the adobe surfacing material before it is applied.

Linseed oil and several other seed oils make adobe stronger and waterproof. They are painted on after the adobe material has thoroughly dried. Polyvinyl Acrylic the clear liquid used in many water based paints also works. Usually there is an elder person in most every village who has a recipe for something that works.

Q: I have read all I can get on earthen floors. Some say " of gravel "IF capillary rise of moisture is a problem". They don't say what to do if capillary rise is NOT a problem. Our soil is VERY well drained, it's rained into our foundation trenches several time and it drains fast.

Rohan Roy in Back Home magazine says their subfloor is "earth and gravel. In my situation would 3" of gravel suffice? I did no subfloor preparation. We have done others on 12" of gravel in very wet conditions of El Rito NM but the 12" was primarily to get the final floor up to the desired finish floor level.

We have done adobe floors on 2" of sand followed by 2" of rigid polystyrene insulation followed by 2" more of sand. In your case 3" or no gravel at all should work just fine.

Trust your excavator. Q: I am considering making my woodshop floor a natural earthen floor. Do you have any experience with these floors and can you recommend a recipe or advice in such a choice? A: Kelly I did make an earthen floor in part of the earthbag dome house I built about a decade ago. It held up pretty well, but it is vulnerable to scratches and gouges. For a workshop floor, I wouldn't advise this; there is just too much chance of abrasion.

Many people who go to the trouble to make a nice adobe floor will have a shoes-off policy. You can see some of these floors at here. There is a recipe in this article if you want to try Either would give you a decently insulated wall.

I am partial to the scoria since there is no chance of rot over time. Q: I'm planning on building an adobe or rammed earth radiant floor.

Is there a good book I can buy on this? Is rammed earth or Adobe more durable? I live in Kansas, near Kansas City; do you think the humidity will be a problem? A: For a floor, humidity will not be a problem. An adobe floor will take longer to dry out especially if the walls and roof are already up. Rammed earth uses far less moisture and will be ready to walk on once the tamping is done. Adobe will cure to psi compressive strength and rammed earth walls easily get to or even psi.

That might translate to greater scuff resistance but it is actually the finish on the top of the floor that determines that. We almost always used linseed oil.

If you proceed with one of these floors, let me know and I can give you the detailed protocol for the use of linseed oil. We have done several radiant heated adobe floors and they turn out fine. For either adobe or rammed earth it is essential to insulate underneath the floor especially where there might be more dampness in the earth than in the arid southwest states.

Damp earth will move the heat right out of the floor and down never to return. For adobe floors we pour over 2-inch extruded polystyrene rigid insulation. It should have a crush strength of at least psi or better, psi.

Dow brand has that and at 2-inches is rated at R The polystyrene should be placed on a flat, level bed of sand and that might be on top of a moisture barrier. The trick would be to follow whatever guidelines there might be for a concrete pour in the KC area in terms of type and placement of a moisture barrier and then do that with the adobe or RE floor.