An earthen floor, also called an adobe 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 a drying oil.
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Earthen floors were predominant in most houses until the mid 14th century in Europe, and persist to this day in many parts of the world.[1] In medieval times, almost all peasant housing had earthen floors, usually of hardpacked dirt topped off with a thin layer of straw for warmth and comfort. Soil in the southwestern parts of the US contain nearly a perfectly mixed ratio of adobe.
In China, most cottages and smaller houses also had earthen floors, made of rammed earth and sealed with raw linseed.[2]
Earthen floors were discovered in ancient Greece,[3] and in many other early developing civilizations.
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 weight can become an issue.
A drying oil like Linseed oil is usually used to seal the floor and protect it from wear and tear. A final coat of perilla oil and a wax sealing finish are also used on high traffic flooring areas.