How to make clay floors. How to make a clay floor. Option #1

Clay means Made from tightly knit clay mixed with chopped straw, small stones, sand, etc.

Cob construction is used extremely rarely today. But in vain, because soil and clay are the cheapest and most durable construction material, which has been known since ancient times.

An adobe floor is a strong foundation for any type of building, especially on suburban areas. Nowadays, adobe floors are made in utility rooms, for example, for keeping pets and birds, in various courtyard areas and even in garages.

How to build an adobe floor

A pit is first dug. Select soil to a depth of 50-60 cm, line the bottom with a layer of clean sand, washed to remove loam and fine sandy loam, 10-12 cm thick. The sand is compacted manual tamper, made from a meter-long log. A board with an area approximately twice the size of the cut of the log is nailed to the bottom, and a handle to the top.

Then a layer of crushed stone or pebbles is laid on the compacted sand. The size of the crushed stone fraction depends on the future load on the adobe floor in the garage; the heavier the car, the larger the crushed stone. On top of rubble even layer lay large stones, for example pellets with a diameter of up to 150 mm.

After this, thickly, with a minimum of sand, mix the fatty clay, place it on top in a layer of 10-15 cm, level it and compact it until individual stones appear. If there is not enough clay, then it must be added and compacted until the stones are completely hidden. Then the entire area of the adobe floor of the garage is covered with coarse-grained washed river sand and thoroughly compacted again. Sand that is not included in the clay is swept away with a broom.

The adobe floor made in the garage is dried for 10-30 days. This period depends on the consistency of the clay and the air temperature. To check, try walking on it. If the soles do not leave marks on the floor, then it is dry.

In order for such a floor to serve for a long time, arrange good drainage around its perimeter, for example from crushed stone. You can easily make an adobe floor for your garage yourself and it will be cheap.

Laying an adobe floor (one of the methods). Wood planks act as beacons for alignment.

Paint the laid floor after drying oil paint or cover with drying oil.

Floors on the ground

It is more profitable to make floors on the ground in non-residential premises, basements, outbuildings. In this case, almost any material that you have is used. The simplest option is an adobe floor, which is quite suitable for outbuildings. It does not even require a mandatory device in other cases concrete preparation. It all comes down to sequential laying of two layers of clay with crushed stone and compacting them tightly.

If you are going to build a house taking into account the use of passive solar heating, then the easiest way for you to accumulate solar energy is to use a clay floor in a private house, especially since its price is not high.

In the climatic zones in which it is used winter heating, the majority of the building mass should be placed in a place that can absorb solar energy followed by its radiation. In our case, this is the floor.

This is due to the fact that you can place different masses into the base of the floor without reducing usable area. In addition, the level of comfort in the house can be increased with the help of heated floors, rather than warm walls, since our feet are very sensitive to temperature changes.

A well-laid adobe floor will not leave any stains or scratches, is fairly easy to keep clean (compared to wood floors), and will not lose its properties over the years.

To lay a clay floor you will need:

take off upper layer about a spade's worth of soil (fertile layer);
compact the resulting base;
fill the resulting depression with infertile soil with the addition of crushed stones and stones;
pour about 20 cm of expanded clay or gravel on top of everything.

Earthen floors can be divided into 2 types:

cast;
rammed.

Cast floor installation

The advantage of earthen floors is that they do not require additional waterproofing, since the accumulation of moisture under or above the surface of the floor will certainly lead to a decrease in its service life. Instead of a waterproofing layer, gravel is used, which will not allow moisture to rise and saturate the adobe floor with it.

Cast floors dry rather slowly, since only one side of them interacts with air, and they are located in the coldest part of the room.

Note!
You should not lay an earthen floor in conditions high humidity or waiting for rain.

The mixture for a cast floor should be slightly different from ordinary adobe with a higher content of sand, gravel and water. Moreover, if you take a handful of this mixture and squeeze it in your fist, it should definitely crunch. Before pouring the entire floor, try to check the mixture for hardness by pouring a test sample (about 1 m2).

The most difficult part of mixing clay is getting the correct proportion. If there is a lot of it, the floor may crack; if there is not enough, it will be crumbly.

Advice!
Make sure that all layers are laid in the same plane to avoid cracks during the drying process.

Base layer

In a concrete mixer or other suitable container, mix the mixture to a consistency similar to pie dough. It will subsequently become the structural basis of your floor. For strength, add a significant amount of whole straw.

If you intend to use a mixture with the addition of gravel to fill the main layer, then try to select (weed out) broken stones 1.5 - 2 cm in diameter for this, leave smaller stones for the second layer.

Advice!
If you still have to use stones when laying the drainage layer large sizes, then the mixture can clog all air channels.
To avoid this, use any airtight material (sheets, newspapers, gravel bags, etc.) as insulation.

The work order is as follows:

using two straight boards (5x10 cm) installed on the floor at a distance of 60 cm from the walls, make yourself guides;
pour the mixture and carefully level it with an aluminum wedge or a straight stick;

then carefully remove the boards (guides) and move them to a new location;
repeat such manipulations until the entire space (from the far wall to the doors).

When you get to the end, the surface should look horizontal and flat, but a little rough. If there is coarse gravel in the mixture, there may be small voids that are not recommended to be removed. In the future, they will serve as additional adhesion to the top layer.

The base layer will take several days or weeks to harden (depending on weather conditions). Refrain from walking on it until it has completely hardened.

Advice!
Use a fan heater to speed up the drying process of the floor.
It would be correct if you lay the gravel and base layer before laying the walls, since level base very convenient for construction.

Second layer

As we noted above, for the second layer mixture it is necessary to use gravel no more than 2 cm in diameter, since it should be smoother.

Advice!
If the first layer still cracks, then the amount of straw and sand should be increased.
Also, the straw for the second layer should be thoroughly chopped.

Laying the second layer is not much different from the first:

Install the guides in the same way, only their thickness in this case should be 2.5 - 4 cm;
to improve the adhesion of the mixture to the surface, moisten the latter with water;
if the main layer is not completely even, then by placing stones under the guides.

Third, top layer

The last layer is made 1-2 cm thick; it serves to finalize the surface and adjust it to the required level. It can be made different color range, selecting the soil of the required shade. The mixture should be made smoother to make the finished floor look attractive.

This is done by sifting the soil through a mesh in 3 mm increments. As before, before laying a new layer, moisten the already dried layer with water for better adhesion.

The mixture should be carefully smoothed as it is laid. This is best done with a construction trowel designed specifically for this purpose. After complete drying, the surface.

Rammed floors

Compacted adobe floors are a little awkward to install and require more effort than cast floors, but they dry faster.

They are most often used if:

there is excess moisture in the base;
there is no clay in the soil or very little of it;
installation occurs in the wet season;
There is always high humidity in the installation area.

The instructions for laying a compacted adobe floor are very similar to a cast one, but with some differences:

3 layers are made, and all of them are compacted with a special machine, as a rule, it is rented or with a wooden manual tamper. The first of them should be compacted thoroughly, the second a little more gently, the third should be left as is;
the main layer should contain a large amount of crushed stone chips with a diameter of up to 4 cm;
There should not be excess water in the mixture. It should be possible to walk on it immediately after installation;
much less straw should be put into the mixture; it should provide only tensile-compressive strength;

The adobe floor is ready.

Finishing adobe floors with oil and wax

For durability and water resistance, a completely dry clay floor should be treated with oil and wax.

The operating procedure is as follows:

Using a roller, a regular rag or a brush, treat the clay floors four times with boiled hot water. linseed oil. It should be applied in such a way that “puddles” form on the surface, which should subsequently be removed;
the first layer is applied with pure oil, the second - with the addition of 25% alcohol or turpentine, the third - the oil is diluted with a solvent 1 to 1, the final, fourth - the oil is diluted with a solvent one to three;
all these layers help fill the pores, making it moisture-proof and harder.

Conclusion

Now you have an idea of how to make a clay floor in your home with your own hands. If something is still unclear, the video in this article will help you understand everything.

Is it possible to install a concrete floor on clay and what is the best way to insulate it?

Theoretically, clay can be used instead of concrete. Well compacted, it is strong enough, it can even serve as a basis for ceramic tiles. In the old days, clay was carefully kneaded and compacted using iron chains and beaters. During the work, the floors were poured with animal blood in layers; it makes the clay stronger. The floors were insulated by mixing the middle layers with cut reed and dry cow dung. IN peasant huts the floor was left adobe. In rich houses, churches and cathedrals they laid on top of clay-lime mortar tiles, ceramic or stone. This technology is very reliable. Until now, in Europe, and even in Russia, restorers are amazed to find perfectly preserved clay floors hundreds of years old.

Traditional adobe floor in a Ukrainian hut, quite comfortable and hygienic

However, traditional technology creating clay floors is very labor-intensive and you are unlikely to use it. In addition, it is now fashionable to make heated floors and it is unknown how clay will behave if it is present in the floor. warm pipes. Therefore, we recommend using clay only as a base. Standard design insulated concrete floor on the ground - sandwich. The insulation is located between two layers of concrete. The lower one, about 10 cm thick and preferably reinforced, serves as the base. First, a waterproofing layer is placed on it, then insulation, which will not get wet. You can use extruded polystyrene foam, dense foam plastic, foam glass. The top layer is concrete 5-6 cm thick, in which heating pipes are laid. And finishing: tiles, linoleum, etc.

Followers of ecological housing from the USA are finishing the installation of a clay floor in a straw house, smoothing the surface. After drying, the floor is covered with special paint. You will need to level and compact the base under the insulation approximately as their American colleagues do

In your case, you can save money by replacing the bottom concrete layer with clay. That is, the floor sandwich will look like this: clay, insulation, concrete. It is necessary that the clay be oily, with a low sand content. The layer thickness is 20-40 cm. The material should be compacted very well, layer by layer. In the middle, between the layers of clay, you can lay a dense plastic film, then you won't need a rather expensive one roll waterproofing. If you pour on top thin layer crushed stone and tamp it into the clay, it will only get better. When you are sure that you have really compacted and leveled the base, and it has dried, you can lay the insulation (at least 10 cm thick is recommended) and then follow the steps the usual scheme warm floors.

Note: another traditional North American clay floor design, albeit without insulation

One of the options for creating a clay floor

Ecology of consumption. Estate: Health, environmental friendliness, waterproof, huge mechanical strength, low cost and simple restoration, making it yourself are the main advantages of a clay floor.

Health, environmental friendliness, water resistance, enormous mechanical strength, low cost and easy restoration, DIY production are the main advantages of a clay floor.
Using the example of American eco-builders, let's look at exactly how a clay floor is created, to which some experts give a lifetime guarantee! Thanks to deep penetrating impregnation with linseed oil, the clay turns into the well-known peasant pot from which people ate for thousands of years before the advent of porcelain.

And a layer of wax gives the durability of the front surface of the floor and the aesthetics of a natural covering material! Today, adobe flooring is gaining momentum in popularity in America and Europe. Many families decided to build natural houses want to get rid of the toxic chemical components of modern floor coverings poisoning our families with fumes for many years.

Considering the high price of modern industrial floors, savings become another reason for choosing a natural clay-oil floor. There is a lot of varied information in foreign and domestic blogs. The experience described is the experiment of our American colleague and is not the only way. The entire recipe must be selected independently experimentally.

Clay flooring is a manufacturing process from start to finish.

1. Compacting the soil layer in place of the future floor.

2. A layer of polypropylene is laid to protect against soil moisture being sucked into the floor.

3. Heat-insulating load-bearing layer of insulation.

4.Pipes engineering communications if it is needed.

5.Moisture barrier

6. A mixture of clay/fine crushed stone or sand/chaffed straw - as the main rough layer of 7 cm.

7.In this layer we install underfloor heating pipes where planned.

8. Smooth out the finishing layer of clay/sand to a completely flat surface.

9. Cover 4 layers with clay/fine sand/20% flour impregnation to increase wear resistance. You can use red clay to add color to the floor. Remove excess impregnation with a cloth. Dry it.

10.Coat with warm but not hot linseed oil in 4-7 layers as desired. The first layer is 100% oil, the second is 20-45% mineral solvent, the third is 50-60% solvent. Consumption of 19 liters of linseed oil per 30 square meters with 4 layers. The first two layers are actively consumed by the floor. Then the oil begins to dry harder and you need to open the windows.

It is advisable to use organic raw oil without chemical additives. If the proportions are not correct, the floor may remain sticky. Oil can be removed with turpentine or, in extreme cases, a demixide solution. Always check proportions experimentally before use as materials may differ in their properties.

11.After drying, the floor is covered with beeswax.

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Talking about earthen field or clay field, one can imagine the Middle Ages, a gray and dirty surface underfoot and unwashed people living in the house. However, a dirt floor can be quite neat. At the right approach Such a floor can be made very elegant, durable, inexpensive, etc. Clay flooring techniques vary, but the basic idea and ingredients remain the same for the most part. An earthen floor (or clay floor) is poured or compressed from clay, sand, straw, and sometimes crushed stone and other additives, resulting in a pleasant smooth surface, wear-resistant.

Clay is a natural, affordable, easy-to-use building material that does not require any hazardous materials to work with. chemical substances(e.g. adhesives, varnishes or solvents). Clay floors have antiseptic and antistatic properties, they maintain an optimal moisture balance, neutralize odors and have an excellent ability to retain heat. IN daytime Thanks to the sun, the floor can heat up and then gradually release the accumulated heat at night. Since clay is a good conductor of heat, such a floor is excellent for heating. The floor surface does not require special maintenance and can be easily repaired if necessary. Moreover, thanks various methods finishes, clay floors can become a key element of interior design.

How to make a clay floor

Materials that are usually needed to make a floor:
gravel, clay, sand, straw, water, linseed oil, turpentine, beeswax.

1. Floor base

It should be borne in mind that when installing a floor in a humid climate, to improve drainage, you must first lay a layer of gravel (for example, you can make a layer of about 30 cm). For areas with cold climates, additional thermal insulation may be needed, for example, 10-15 cm of perlite (a light mineral with low thermal conductivity), mineral wool (use mineral wool formaldehyde-free) or other suitable ones. If there is a possibility of radon release, a plastic barrier is also required. It should also be taken into account that when laying floors in areas with a humid climate, it is better to do the work during the dry period.

2. Subfloor

5-7 cm of subfloor is laid on the base. This layer will provide insulation and level the base of the floor. A typical clay floor mix is 70% sand, 30% clay, with plenty of chopped straw for tensile strength. The subfloor can be slightly compacted using a vibrating plate.

3. Finish floor

Image flickr.com/The Year of Mud/CC BY-NC 2.0

The layer thickness is 2.5 cm. The mixture for the finishing floor is made from the same ratio of sand and clay, but with an admixture of shorter straw. The quality of the components is different everywhere and to get the right combination, you need to experiment on small area(for example, 1 m2). The mixture should be dense enough not to crumble after drying, there should be enough straw in it so that cracks do not form after drying. Apply the mixture with a spatula in a layer of 1.5-2 cm. The material should come off cleanly and easily, remaining on the rough layer. If the mixture sticks, there is either too much clay or not enough moisture; If it doesn't stick to the spatula, there is either too much moisture or not enough clay. This layer is applied when the rough coat has dried (this may take several days, depending on the climate). For the finishing floor, it is necessary to sift the sand and clay to avoid the formation of unnecessary lumps. To create the final floor, the mixture is applied about three times. Each time you need to wait for the previous layer to dry. This layer must be carefully leveled.

4. Impregnation of the floor

Image flickr.com/The Year of Mud/CC BY-NC 2.0

When the floor is COMPLETELY dry, it can be coated with impregnation. Typically, the floor is impregnated with heated linseed oil; it protects the floor from wear and tear, resulting in a smooth and hard surface.

The second ingredient for impregnation and improving the penetration of oil into the floor is natural turpentine (you can also use ordinary mineral solvents, but natural turpentine is a more environmentally friendly solution). Just because turpentine is a natural product does not make it completely safe. When working with it, you need sufficient air flow and skin protection.

For 30 m2 of floor surface, 8 liters of linseed oil may be needed. Impregnation is performed several times, and the composition of the impregnation changes from 100% linseed oil to 100% turpentine. Each subsequent layer of impregnation is applied after the previous layer has been absorbed.
The impregnation can be of the following composition:

1st layer - 100% linseed oil;
2nd layer - 80% linseed oil, 20% turpentine;
3rd layer - 60% linseed oil, 40% turpentine;
4th layer - 40% linseed oil, 60% turpentine;
5th layer - 20% linseed oil, 80% turpentine;
6th layer - 100% turpentine;

Also, to make the floor more pleasant and smooth, its surface can be finished with beeswax. To do this, the wax must be heated and applied in 1-3 thin layers, but this is not a mandatory procedure.

Repair and service

Over time, the floors will most likely need to be re-impregnated. To do this, the floors must be cleaned of dust and dirt by rinsing them with water. Then they need to be sanded a little in order to open the pores. Do not over-process unless you want to significantly change the surface quality. The floors can then be oiled. To remove small cracks, they can be rubbed with hard wax and soaked in oil.

Is it possible to install a concrete floor on clay and what is the best way to insulate it?

Theoretically, clay can be used instead of concrete. Well compacted, it is quite durable and can even serve as a base for ceramic tiles. In the old days, clay was carefully kneaded and compacted using iron chains and beaters. During the work, the floors were poured with animal blood in layers; it makes the clay stronger. The floors were insulated by mixing the middle layers with cut reed and dry cow dung. In peasant huts the floor was left adobe. In rich houses, churches and cathedrals, tiles, ceramic or stone, were laid on top of the clay-lime mortar. This technology is very reliable. Until now, in Europe, and even in Russia, restorers are amazed to find perfectly preserved clay floors hundreds of years old.

Traditional adobe floor in a Ukrainian hut, quite comfortable and hygienic

However, the traditional technology for creating clay floors is very labor-intensive and you are unlikely to use it. In addition, it is now fashionable to make heated floors and it is unknown how clay will behave if there are warm pipes in the floor. Therefore, we recommend using clay only as a base. The standard design of an insulated concrete floor on the ground is a sandwich. The insulation is located between two layers of concrete. The lower one, about 10 cm thick and preferably reinforced, serves as the base. First, a waterproofing layer is placed on it, then insulation, which will not get wet. You can use extruded polystyrene foam, dense foam plastic, foam glass. The top layer is concrete 5-6 cm thick, in which heating pipes are laid. And finishing: tiles, linoleum, etc.

In your case, you can save money by replacing the bottom concrete layer with clay. That is, the floor sandwich will look like this: clay, insulation, concrete. It is necessary that the clay be oily, with a low sand content. The layer thickness is 20-40 cm. The material should be compacted very well, layer by layer. In the middle, between the layers of clay, you can lay a dense polyethylene film, then you will not need quite expensive roll waterproofing. If you pour a thin layer of crushed stone on top and tamp it into the clay, it will only be better. When you are sure that you have compacted and leveled the base really well, and it has dried, you can lay the insulation (at least 10 cm thick is recommended) and then follow the usual scheme for warm floors.

Note: another traditional North American clay floor design, albeit without insulation

One of the options for creating a clay floor

If you are going to build a house taking into account the use of passive solar heating, then the easiest way to store solar energy is to use a clay floor in a private house, especially since its price is not high.

In climates where winter heating is used, the majority of the building mass should be placed in a location that can absorb and then radiate solar energy. In our case, this is the floor.

This is due to the fact that you can place different masses into the base of the floor without reducing the usable area. In addition, the level of comfort in the home can be increased by using warm floors rather than warm walls, since our feet are very sensitive to temperature changes.

A well-laid adobe floor will not leave any stains or scratches, is fairly easy to keep clean (compared to wood floors), and will not lose its properties over the years.

To lay a clay floor you will need:

remove the top layer of soil about the size of a spade (fertile layer);
compact the resulting base;
fill the resulting depression with infertile soil with the addition of crushed stones and stones;
pour about 20 cm of expanded clay or gravel on top of everything.

Earthen floors can be divided into 2 types:

cast;
rammed.

Cast floor installation

Cast floors dry rather slowly, since only one side of them interacts with air, and they are located in the coldest part of the room.

Note!
You should not lay a dirt floor in conditions of high humidity or in anticipation of rain.

The most difficult part of mixing clay is getting the correct proportion. If there is a lot of it, the floor may crack; if there is not enough, it will be crumbly.

Advice!
Make sure that all layers are laid in the same plane to avoid cracks during the drying process.