DETAIL:
The Plan - [top]
You’re building a house and you want adobe floors. Analyze your house plans, and how to accommodate your utilities, interior walls and furnishings. The preparation involved in an adobe floor is serious business. Numerous things including expansion and contraction have to be factored.
Think about the house in relation to the sun and it's relation to your floor.
To efficiently utilize solar gain, you've got to put something in front of the sun to absorb the radiant heat - whether it's an adobe floor or an adobe wall. Southern exposure onto open space makes sense, and this is excellent solar thermal mass storage. Heat is absorbed faster than it is released in adobe, so no matter what, you're better off.
The Process - [top]
The first step is setting up a good site to work. Mixing the ingredients is essential, so we must have all materials close by. This includes water available with hoses and buckets. You will need a clay screening table and a large clay supply. Straw should already be chopped and bagged. You'll also need a sand pile or crusher fines or adobe dirt.
Pouring all these materials once they're mixed will involve wheelbarrows ready - preferably two. When dumping - I'd advise small piles for ease of movement.
The second step is to mask walls, doors and other things susceptible to mud splatter including up to 16” above the floor.
The third step is pouring the actual floor - which is hard to explain without visual representation.
Fourthly, we must screet and level. Use bench marks, snapped lines and place sills to
grade finish height, in addition to using long levels and big trowels.
The fifth step is using clay slips, elises and burnishing. The wide range of natural clay is used as a thin glaze to provide the desired color. The first coat of elise is applied after the floor is dry on the surface, usually one week after the last press. The first coat is burnished and left until floor is completely dry.
Then all extras are added to the surface and burnished, which means to smooth and tighten the surface.
Colors, effects and extras:
All colors come from either pure natural clay, a mix of several clays, or
the use of natural oxides and pigments to customize your color.
For affect, you can use more than one color and for as an extra, you can add mica for
sparkle and modeling.
Materials - [top]
Sand, silt and rock -
For the basepour we use a larger aggregate material for strength and add mass. Road base has a good percentage of sand, silt, rock, and some clay. The mix is wetted and tamped to provide a hard surface when dry, which is a good platform to work on during the rest of construction. The base at 3-4” also gives a nice balance for heat mass and heat transfer with radiant heat tubing is embedded.
Clay, colors and oils -
There is a variety of clay found in nearly every climate. Clay also can vary in color, smoothness, hardness, and strength. Some of the colors found locally in the San Luis Valley are yellow, red brown, gray, blue, and green. Other colors can be customized using natural oxide dyes. Finally, oils are used to seal and harden the finish. Oils darken the floor significantly, so remember to factor the oils when applying the clay coloring. In addition to color, the shine of the floor increases. You can use several mixes of oils to finish. Drying times can vary upon climate conditions.
Maintenance, Care, and Violations of Warranty- [top]
Earthen floors give warmth, softness, comfort, and color, but care and consciousness must be given in return.
MAINTENANCE / CARE:
Cleaning floors involves simple sweeping of dust and dirt. Try damp moping, using only Murphy’s Oil Soap, or Mop and Glow when needed.
Over time, the floors may need re-oiling. To do this, wash and scrub floor with water two to three times to remove most dust and dirt. Lightly sand the floor with fine sand pads (available at Home Depot and Sherwin Williams) to open pores of oil. Do not sand too hard unless you drastically want to change surface finish. The finish can be damaged by sanding enough oil off to reach Elise. If lightly sanded, just reapply Hard Oil Wax impregnation, made and sold by BioshieldPaint.com. If sanded extra, or too much, reapply Hard Oil Wax. To apply both, use white canvas by dipping, spreading, wiping, and rubbing to remove excess. Remember to protect walls, and use gloves. Note: when finished, dry out the rags, as they can become a fire hazard.
Repairs of scratches: just rub on little amounts of Hard Wax Impregnation Oil. By blending the existing oil with the impregnation oil, the scratches can be filled in and eliminated.
Repairs of holes: if small fill with wax to match color, you can use crayons melted with a small lighter. Then drip this into hole or dent. Fill above the floor surface and shave off access with razor blade then apply wax impregnation. If larger, consult with MudCrafters for repair.
CONSCIOUSNESS:
It is important to be aware of your floor, and there are certain habits that can strengthen and lengthen the life of the floor. Try to keep a shoes-off policy in your home. As with any type of floor, the dirt particles, when walked on scratch the floor. Or, sweep more often. By dragging large, heavy objects across the floor, trenches and scratches can be made, so avoid this. Dropping objects will create holes, that can pool water, increasing damage two-fold. See the above ‘care’ section to correct these if this happens.
Use products that have none of these additives: citrus, pine, or ammonia, or chlorine, as they will damage the floor.
VIOLATIONS OF WARRANTY:
MudCrafters wants the client to be satisfied, and to have a floor to be proud of. In creating many other homes, it has been noted what works and what doesn’t. If any of the following occur, the warranty of the abode floor is voided.
DURING FLOOR PROCESS:
A. No traffic –foot or otherwise- on floor by unauthorized personnel (ie. Sub-contractors, homeowners, pets, chemical spills).
B. No alteration to any atmospheric conditions on or near the floor (ventilation, fans, windows, air flow, power, temperature of in-floor heat tubing or thermostats) at any time. Furthermore, no other contractor’s fans or other ventilation devices are to be anywhere near the floor. If any of the above mentioned interventions occur on the job, our floor by our methods is compromised, therefore our one-year warrantee on our work is void.
If there is any damage, Mudcrafters Construction will be contacted immediately. Any damage done to floor during the flooring process by acts of people, animals, God, or Nature are not the responsibility of MudCrafters Construction. Any repairs due to such damage will be performed only by MudCrafters, and will be fairly negotiated and added to the final bill.
DURING THE LIFE OF THE FLOOR:
Abuse of floor is not warranted. By following the CONSCIOUSNESS section, the amount of abuse of your floor can be decreased. Yet if any damages are accrued, contact MudCrafters to repair damages at regular fee.
OTHER:
- Water damages – Only the surface of the floor is water-proof. So, if plumbing breaks, or large amount of water is spilled near edges, the seal of the floor is compromised. If this happens, contact MudCrafters to repair damages at regular fee.
- Toxic chemicals – Using natural building techniques requires a more conscious lifestyle. Chemicals such as laundry-detergent, bleach-based cleaning materials and cleaners containing citrus, with prolonged contact on the floor will alter the color and integrity of the floor. If repairs are needed, contact MudCrafters to get quote repair damages at regular fee.
- Color stains - If discoloration occurs due to chemicals, uneven exposure to sunlight (tar paper, plastic, canvas, craft paper, plastic), or foot traffic (though the latter is rare if care is given), colors cannot always be matched, therefore contact MudCrafters to discuss possible solutions at regular fee.
