Re: SB: Re:Smelly earthen floor and some other off topic drivel

[Katey <newtribe@directvinternet.com>]

Rene Dalmeijer wrote:

> Animal manure is an excellent fixative for an earthen floor. Nearly all earthen
> floors in
> Africa are bound with manure (some even with blood) and this is not only for
> huts. Many colonial farmhouses had or still have these floors. Some have
> been "upgraded" in the meantime. BTW once dry the floor doesn't smell. And
> they are beautiful
>

Manure also makes a nice plaster.  A few years back we helped plaster a cob
building.  We brought the materials needed for a lime plaster mix including gloves,
others came with a manure based earthen plaster.  The group spent the day plastering
the walls and ceiling.  The two plasters both worked well, but the manure plaster
was easily applied with bare hands, unlike the lime plaster.  And there was no
cracking at all in the manure plaster's first coat, again unlike the lime plaster.
The smell took a little while to acclimate to but once it was dry there was no odor
at all.  And it was a beautiful plaster.
katey
--
Katey Culver
newtribe@directvinternet.com
www.ecoarchitech.net



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