How To Make Cobb Flooring

How to make cob the tarp method.

How to make cobb flooring.

I m pretty sure we can t use cobb for the grade beams but the slab may. Cob floor surface. This will fill any areas that might be uneven and provide a nice flat surface. These materials are mixed together by hands and feet to form a mud that when dry is nearly as.

For a big floor start in the morning so you ll have the whole day to put it down if you need it. The base then needs to be dampened. After finishing the first layer of earthen floor we need to wait for it to dry before starting on the finishing layer. We will have a highly insulated slab on grade main floor with no basement.

Make sure the base for your cob floor is as clean as possible. Otherwise the dry material under the floor will suck the moisture out of the floor quickly and it will be more likely to crack. Once the building site is compressed cover the area with a layer of sand. I m researching options for our house build and am interested in the idea of cobb vs concrete.

After removing the timber you fill in the gab with earthen floor mix which is exactly the same mix as cob minus the straw. Cob is an ancient building material that is composed of sand earth high in clay straw and water. You can make a floor with one 3 4 inch layer or two 1 2 to 3 4 inch layers of your cob floor mix with optional additives thinned down to a consistency that can be troweled on. The floor surface sits on top of whatever you ve decided to use for the base layer.

Compress the land using a roller device and make sure you don t have soft areas that can sink in later. One of the most common and regularly practiced techniques in north america is called the tarp method of cob mixing. You can also use pieces of wood for this for example the end of an old broom. You do this by sticking your thumbs into the mixture all over it.

You will need a large tarp and 4 or 5 five gallon buckets. Earthen floors are muddy work. The timber acts as a guide to keep the floor level as you go. A one piece cob floor is the longest lasting type of earth floor.

Concrete slab vs cobb floor. There are many ways to make cob. Of course with cob you can make uneven floors but walking on them may be difficult.