[GSBN] earthen floors

[Frank Tettemer]

I have a True Confession ...
Over the years, I have designed and built way too many concrete floors.
They've had trowelled-in pigmentation, been sealed and waxed with Eco 
House products, (or Bioshields products), and they've looked beautiful.

But I would much prefer the touch and leather-like feel of a well-built 
earthen floor.  And I truly believe that the embodied energy in a 
concrete floor will make them less affordable, maybe even impossible to 
build, in a couple generations.  Or sooner?

There's one thing that gets in my way:

I don't know how to insulate to an R-25 or R-30 level under an earthen 
floor.  Which I truly believe to be the Minimum R-value for our northern 
climate, for a slab-on-grade.  Anything less, feels cold. And seems 
energy-lax.  Every earthen floor in our climate that I know of, has had 
something which has caused the owners to rip them up, and change 'em, in 
less than just a few years.  Every one!
(Is this a Canuck Conundrum?)
Surely there's a way to do it?

Eagerly awaiting the possibilities,
Frank Tettemer

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John "Rebar Baron" Swearingen wrote:
Every time I'm feeling a bit ill, the first thing I'll do is lay out on 
a concrete slab. It seems to have mystical healing qualities, because no 
matter how bad I feel, I get right up almost as soon as I've laid down!

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Bob Theiswrote:
It's equivalent to the point of the work and complexity of a parquet 
floor; the wood patterns delight the eye, and an earthen floor delights 
the feet.

we like the stuff beneath our feet to be resilient. Concrete is not. 
Earth floors are that, but something more. What could feel more natural 
than earth beneath your feet? Simple as that.