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An earthen floor. 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.
Earth may be "stabilized" to make it more weather resistant. The practice of stabilizing earth by adding burnt lime is centuries old. [ 18 ] Portland cement or bitumen may also be added to earth intended for construction which adds strength, although the stabilized earth is not as strong as fired clay or concrete. [ 18 ]
If walls are 'raw' earth, an infill plaster of earth with straw is used to fill the nooks between bags or courses. A finish plaster is applied on top. Roof overhangs are helpful to reduce plaster waterproofing requirements, although plaster on lower walls may be stronger and more water-resistant than plaster on upper walls.
A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load. The levels of a building are often referred to as floors, although sometimes referred to as storeys.
A compressed earth block (CEB), also known as a pressed earth block or a compressed soil block, is a building material made primarily from an appropriate mix of fairly dry inorganic subsoil, non-expansive clay, sand, and aggregate. Forming compressed earth blocks requires dampening, mechanically pressing at high pressure, and then drying the ...
Rammed earth is a technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as earth, chalk, lime, or gravel. [1] It is an ancient method that has been revived recently as a sustainable building method .
An earth sheltered house in Switzerland (Peter Vetsch) An earth shelter, also called an earth house, earth-bermed house, earth-sheltered house, [1] earth-covered house, or underground house, is a structure (usually a house) with earth against the walls and/or on the roof, or that is entirely buried underground.
Earthen plasters consist of various clay minerals that can influence the properties and performance of the plaster in numerous ways. Those minerals include kaolinite, halloysite, montmorillonite, bentonite, saponite, vermiculite, illite, sepiolite and palygorskite, zeolites (more used as an additive), chlorite and smectite.