A
Anonymous
Guest
Hi, I'm re-introducing this, following a really good response to my last question on the subject - see 5/9/04 - thanks ... which I failed to follow up, partly because I didn't realise how active this discussion forum is, and partly because I then went away, and didn't check the site until yesterday ... Sorry and thank you so much.
I was asking if anyone knew how to make or repair a packed earth floor and how it fares in winter.
Clay and cow dung sounds about right, NT ... make it nice and solid and ... well packed, gluey too! Does lime not make the floor crumbly eventually when it's hardened and dried? Don't know what I'm talking about here - is this slaked lime or ?? And is is not caustic?
I'd heard a story that the whole village used to have a celebratory/ritual dance to complete a new floor - stamping it down. Sounds as though this was rather a romantic version of the truth if NT is right!
Biff - how has your floor turned out? Let me know what happens to it in the winter. Does it crumble at all, or dent? And did you put some sort of finish on it?
Thanks so much,
Caroline
I was asking if anyone knew how to make or repair a packed earth floor and how it fares in winter.
Clay and cow dung sounds about right, NT ... make it nice and solid and ... well packed, gluey too! Does lime not make the floor crumbly eventually when it's hardened and dried? Don't know what I'm talking about here - is this slaked lime or ?? And is is not caustic?
I'd heard a story that the whole village used to have a celebratory/ritual dance to complete a new floor - stamping it down. Sounds as though this was rather a romantic version of the truth if NT is right!
Biff - how has your floor turned out? Let me know what happens to it in the winter. Does it crumble at all, or dent? And did you put some sort of finish on it?
Thanks so much,
Caroline