Earthen floor

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An earthen floor is a floor made of dirt, raw earth, or other unworked ground materials. It is usually constructed, in modern times, with a mixture of sand,finely chopped straw and clay, mixed to a thickened consistency and spread with a trowel on a sub-surface such as concrete. Once dry, it is then usually saturated with several treatments of linseed oil.

1 History
2 Construction
3 References
4 External Links

[edit] History

Earthen floors were predominant in most houses until the mid 1300's in Europe, and persist to this day in many parts of the world.^[1]. In medivial times, almost all peasant housing had earthen floors, usually of hardpacked dirt topped off with a thin layer of straw for warmth and comfort.

In China, most cottages and smaller houses also had earthen floors, made of rammed earth and sealed with olive oil or raw linseed.^[2]

[edit] Construction

In modern times, most earthen floors are often laid over the top of a subfloor of tamped gravel and then a mixture of clay, sand and fiber are mixed and leveled onto the tamped subfloor. These layers can be 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick. The thinner layers will dry faster but require a better subfloor for strength or more layers. Earthen floors can be laid over the top of previously installed wood floors but, as always, weight can become an issue.