This floor was in sad shape.
It’s an earthship floor that seemed to be placed on the earth itself. Some of the earth / and adobe floor was really fluffy so we removed and patched the those spots with some pea gravel and new cob. Then we created a pretty straight forward mix of 2 : 1 sand to clay with chopped straw plus 1 cup of El Rey 200.
This greenhouse had been used as a painting studio. Painters don’t always get paint directly on the canvas…
We removed the gesso, paint and wax with a wire-cup-brush and putty knife. Gave the floor a scrub and mop and repaired the small holes with new adobe mud.
Carole Crews prescribed a burnt umber and casein wash. Casein is the main protein present in milk and (in coagulated form) in cheese. It is used in processed foods and in adhesives, paints, and other industrial products. It harded nicely and kept the pigment down.
Then we used a product that I had never used before. Howard Feed-N-Wax. It’s made with a blend of besswax, carnauba wax and orange oil. It’s a alternative to linseed oil and it doesn’t stink as bad… it smells like oranges. It left the floor waxed, polished and protected.
Recently we gave Gina’s cob hogan a new layer of plaster. We started off by poking at the existing earthen plaster; raking off the loose stuff. It was worn out, but what do you expect after 15 years? All around the base of the walls the earthen plaster had touched the ground. Moisture worked it’s way in. We had to remove about 3 inches in and 1 to 2 feet up in some spots. The wall underneath was still in good shape. We filled in with a stiffer cob mix, rich with sand. We under cut the new cob, rather than plopping it on the ground again. Continue…
This adobe wall suffered a water leak. I inspected the adobe bricks beneath and filled with an earthen plaster. Local materials were sourced for the plaster. Some of the mud came from a near by ditch and some came from the wall itself.
In the end the 10 foot walls received a lot of mud!
Kelly, the owner, sculpted a very nice relief on the finish plaster.
