Earth Floors

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Background:

• Earth floors of various designs and applications can be found throughout history.

• Locally earth floors were used by early settlers where timber could not be sourced or afforded.

• Local vernacular architectures still use earth floors.

Benefits:

• If well-built can provide viable warmer alternative to concrete using local materials.

• Earth floors provide excellent thermal comfort to building interiors.

• Can be easily repaired.

Technical information:
  Ground Slab construction:

• Adobe bricks or cast clay slabs are laid on a thick bed of gravel.

• Then various layers of earth, straw, dung and sometimes lime is used to screed over.

• Normally sealed by burnishing with mix of beeswax and linseed oil, casein.

• Good perimeter french drains are advised to divert all moisture.

• Vulnerable in floods.

• Easily damaged, but also easily and inexpensively repaired.

 First Floor Construction:

• There are many variations of this construction.

• Typically a slab of clay straw is laid on criss-cross layers of reeds and bamboo or timber ceilings spanning between timber rafters.

• Earth bricks can be used forming mini vaults between rafter supports.

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Company Track record/examples of work:

• House Klipspringer – Wild Rivers Estate, Hoedspruit, Mpumalanga, 2021

• OR Tambo Narrative & Enviro Centre – Leeupan, Johannesburg, 2010 - 2011

• Mamre Info Centre Project, Mamre Western Cape, 2010, first floor construction

• House Davids, Zeekovlei, Cape Town, 2000

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