[GSBN] earthen floor sealer in Haiti

Thu Mar 17 13:42:56 UTC 2011

There is a quite detailled chapter about earther floors in this book:
Building with Cob, by Adam Weismann & Kathy Brice.
I sugest you get this book, a great step-by-step guide.

Concerning the sealant: (in page 172):

«(...) In the past, animal urine and blood were used to acieve the sealant.
These days it is more common to use boiled (NOT RAW) linseed oil mixed with
a solvent such as turpentine, or citrus oils for a more enviromentally
friendly option.
The solvent acts to assist penetration of the oil deep into the pore spaces
of the floor. Without it the oil will simply form a shell on the surface of
the floor, wich will be easly broken and damage. Another option is to boil
the boiled linseed oil, wich assists penetration of the oil into the floor
and thus eliminates the need to add a thinner.

The formula is as follows:

1st coat: 100% boiled linseed oil
2nd coat: 75% boiled linseed oil/25% thinner
3rd coat: 50% boiled linseed oil/50% thinner
4th coat: 25% boiled linseed oil/75% thinner

Mix the oil and the solvent together in a bucket and apply evenly using a
paintbrush
Aloow each coat to dry between each aplication, and when the floor no longer
feels tacky to the touch.

Apply final beeswax polish.»

Good  floors!

Jorge Van Krieken

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 1:07 PM, tina therrien <strawbus at auracom.com> wrote:

> Hi guys. I am leaning towards trying some blood for the sealer of the earth
> floor in our straw house, at least for part of it- does anyone have an
> actual old-time recipe? I don't have any of my old school plaster books
> here- if you can help me along, I'd appreciate it!
>
> thx,
> tina
>
> On 16-Mar-11, at 10:10 AM, MARK SCHUENEMAN wrote:
>
> Greetings All,
>
> Has anyone noticed any adverse or positive effects of oils applied to
> floors with additives in the mix...such as casein, dung, blood, wheat paste,
> whatever? And, I would guess that warming the oil, whatever oil, would help
> the penetration. Heating it to too high of a temp may not be recommended. I
> have some cob window sills that look beautiful but they need a sealer to be
> most effective. All of this chatter (I say with all due respect) has helped
> me with my future experimentation with finishing these sills. I look forward
> to hearing how the Haiti project turns out. Thanks all.
>
> Gratefully,
> Mark Schueneman
> Colorado Straw Bale Association
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> From: graeme at ecodesign.co.nz
> Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:11:58 +1300
> To: GSBN at greenbuilder.com
> Subject: Re: [GSBN] earthen floor sealer in Haiti
>
>
>
> Hi there Tina
>
> My painting  genius friend has offered to carry out some trials with
> various oils on unfired clay tiles to help with sorting this out - so any
> pointers to readily available oils over there  would be very welcome I am
> sure
>
>
>
> cheers
>
>
> Graeme
> Graeme North Architects
> 49 Matthew Road
> RD1
> Warkworth
> tel/fax +64 (0)9 4259305
>
> graeme at ecodesign.co.nz
> www.ecodesign.co.nz
>
>
> On 15/03/2011, at 11:43 AM, tina therrien wrote:
>
> Thanks for all of your suggestions & input for the sealer- Jean Louis, one
> of our Haitian builders, is going to try to procure coconut oil from the
> market, which we'll test, although he just arrived, and as with many
> materials here, the coconut oil is proving more difficult and expensive to
> find than originally anticipated.  If we do the finish floor today or
> tomorrow, there should be enough time for it to cure by Saturday. Apparently
> they slaughter a cow just down the laneway every Saturday, so we may even be
> able to use some cow blood to seal the floor.
>
> I have found reference to molasses before in terms of finishes, and am now
> even more curious about it, but don't think we'll have time to try it out
> here, at least not for this project.
>
> Any other tips for earthen floors, either finish coat or for sealing, are
> welcome. I'll stay in close touch with Andy Mueller regarding the floor- I
> know he wishes he was here to work on it! Pics to come.
>
> In reply to André (and hi, André, by the by!), the BWB website has a page
> about this project- both a blog and a photo gallery (
> http://www.builderswithoutborders.org/) Apart from that, both Andy Mueller
> & I have blogs. My personal blog is about various natural building projects
> I'm involved with here, and personal impressions of being in
> Haiti...certainly not all about building, but there are a few segments
> dedicated to building (including compressed earth block, earth bag, and soon
> to be light clay/straw if all goes well). http://strawhomes.blogspot.com/ (you'll
> have to skim through to find building photos & stories).
>
> tina
>
>
>
> Camel's Back Construction
> Quality, handcrafted homes
> www.strawhomes.ca
>
>
>
>
>
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>  Camel's Back Construction
> Quality, handcrafted homes
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>
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