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Barn Floor
- Thread starter Nigel S
- Start date
biffvernon
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There was an excellent article in Permaculture Magazinea couple of months ago about earth floors.
If that is too simple then a layer of 'limecrete' made from light expanded clay aggregate (LECA) bound in lime is an excellent material. You can then put what you fancy on top.
Just don't do a concrete screed.
If that is too simple then a layer of 'limecrete' made from light expanded clay aggregate (LECA) bound in lime is an excellent material. You can then put what you fancy on top.
Just don't do a concrete screed.
Gervase
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There is now a cheaper alternative to LECA but which also meets the insulation requirements of Part L of Building Regs. Made from glass which has been aerated, it looks and feels like pumice.
tumbledown
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What's this new glass alternative called, Gervase? I've been thinking about a limecrete floor, but the word "cheaper" grapped my attention!!
Gervase
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I can't remember!
Nigel Jervis at Ty Mawr now supplies it in place of LECA (because the makers of LECA insisted on selling the stuff to him at retail and refused to give a wholesale price - beggars belief, I know) and says it's actually better. It looks like those rough skin removers you get from girly shops - grey in colour, porous and almost like pumice.
I've got as limecrete floor to lay on Monday using the stuff, so I'll let you know what it's like.
Nigel Jervis at Ty Mawr now supplies it in place of LECA (because the makers of LECA insisted on selling the stuff to him at retail and refused to give a wholesale price - beggars belief, I know) and says it's actually better. It looks like those rough skin removers you get from girly shops - grey in colour, porous and almost like pumice.
I've got as limecrete floor to lay on Monday using the stuff, so I'll let you know what it's like.
Penners
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Gervase - do you know anything about the breathability of this "foamed glass" (for want of a better expression). I've always assumed that - being essentially clay puffed wheat - Leca must have good breathability credentials. To a layman like me, glass doesn't sound as though it would have.Gervase said:There is now a cheaper alternative to LECA but which also meets the insulation requirements of Part L of Building Regs. Made from glass which has been aerated, it looks and feels like pumice.
tumbledown
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Gervase, is it this stuff http://www.foamglas.co.uk ?
Well, it will be interesting to here how you get on on Monday.
Well, it will be interesting to here how you get on on Monday.
Gervase
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I'm not sure who makes the stuff, but it's certainly breathable (in that I put a lump of it in my mouth and was able to suck air through it!). It's slightly lumpier than the Malteser-like LECA; each lump is about the size of a piece of house coal and of a similar irregular shape. It's lighter than LECA, however, and is less work to get into the floor area.
So far I'm impressed by the stuff.
So far I'm impressed by the stuff.
tumbledown
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Gervase, I'd be very interested to here how exactly you laid the floor using this stuff. I've been told that anyone who can lay a concrete floor can lay a limecrete floor, but since I'm a total novice and there doesn't seem to be many people people in Suffolk with experience, I was thinking of trying to find a 'concrete' builder I felt I could trust and givng him precise intructions! We have been toying with the idea of underfloor heating too, but have been getting mixed advise concerning its suitability and effectiveness in a timber framed building.
Gervase
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Sorry not to have been in touch sooner, but what with the weather, the Royal Welsh Show and umpteen other things, we were a bit late getting the floor down.
Anyway, 'tis now in hand and yes, anyone who can pour a concrete slab can do a limecrete floor. It ain't rocket science.
The expanded glass aggregate isn't as easy to level as LECA, as the lumps are an irregular shape (and the dust is also a bit irritating - one chap doing the shovelling complained that his throat was raw afterwards). It does eventually compact pretty well, however, and with a geotex cloth over the top is pretty well idential to LECA in its density and 'feel'.
As for the limecrete, it is very similar to mixing concrete, although as lime is 'stickier' it takes slightly longer in the mixer to achieve a uniform consistency. We're using a 3:1 mix of 8mm and lower aggregate with NHL5 lime. You don't want it quite as sloppy as concrete - the ideal mix is pourable but quite a bit stiffer than concrete, and you definitely do not want puddling on top.
It will level and tamp just like concrete - and for a four-inch slab, some carefully-levelled parallel rows of 2x4 on top of the geotex make an ideal form, over which you can pull another piece of 2x4 or a tamper to get the stuff nicely levelled and compacted.
Now fingers crossed that it goes off nicely over the weekend...
Anyway, 'tis now in hand and yes, anyone who can pour a concrete slab can do a limecrete floor. It ain't rocket science.
The expanded glass aggregate isn't as easy to level as LECA, as the lumps are an irregular shape (and the dust is also a bit irritating - one chap doing the shovelling complained that his throat was raw afterwards). It does eventually compact pretty well, however, and with a geotex cloth over the top is pretty well idential to LECA in its density and 'feel'.
As for the limecrete, it is very similar to mixing concrete, although as lime is 'stickier' it takes slightly longer in the mixer to achieve a uniform consistency. We're using a 3:1 mix of 8mm and lower aggregate with NHL5 lime. You don't want it quite as sloppy as concrete - the ideal mix is pourable but quite a bit stiffer than concrete, and you definitely do not want puddling on top.
It will level and tamp just like concrete - and for a four-inch slab, some carefully-levelled parallel rows of 2x4 on top of the geotex make an ideal form, over which you can pull another piece of 2x4 or a tamper to get the stuff nicely levelled and compacted.
Now fingers crossed that it goes off nicely over the weekend...