[papercreters] Re: Flooring.

Road scalpings. A year or 2 ago they cost $22 a tonne here. Heat it up, lay it down, roll it flat with a concrete roller.

In extremis I've also come across a 3rd world build where they simply skipped the floor slab and had a rubble floor. Lay down coarse hardcore, fill the gaps with medium, then fill with fine to get a level floor. Concrete can be done another year when the money comes around. It does mean no slab to tie the walls together, I forget what their walls were but probably concrete block.


If you're going with rammed earthblock, I can't see any reason to pay 25k for a machine that's only a powered press. Its not hard to make such a thing from a small engine. Or you could make a simple weight powered press just using a $150 electric hoist.

Depending how determined you are to save money, its possible to use crap to act as some of the cement in the blocks. Once fully dry there's no more smell - until then, its grim.


--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "Rusty S" <slaytonfarms@...> wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
> First time poster. I am so frustrated with my build and need some guidance. We live in West Central Texas. We are at a stand still on our build because of the floors. Here is what we have done so far.
>
> I have buried 4 layers of tires rammed full of caliche and have 2 layers above ground making the foundation done.
> I put in all of the below ground blackwater plumbing. This includes the septic tank and leach field.
> I put in 6 inches of caliche, leveled, and packed as a subfloor.
> This was all finished 18 months ago. Then we started trying to save the 8k needed to pour a concrete slab inside the Tire Foundation. But life keeps throwing us curve balls and we can never quite raise the money to the full 8k. We even got it to 7k in December and life happened taking the lot of it. On a Paramedics wage that was a chore.
> (You getting the whole story to get a full appreciation of my frustration.)
> The Dang Slab is just not going to happen so we are looking for something I can do myself and as money comes in. Because we are not going to take out a loan, this is the only absolute in the build.
>
> Now with the questions. I have seen alot of people doing adobe floors and they always involve saying that the will Groove and or pit depending on what kind of furniture you put on it. That sounds horrible to me. I found CEBs (Compressed Earth Bricks) stabilized with concrete done by a family and was excited about that. But to buy a machine to make the bricks is 25k, DANG.
>
> The floor plan is huge and a bit embarrassing as we homeschool and have incorporated a classroom and office into the home, 2600 sq ft.
>
> I can build almost anything, but this floor thing is driving a wedge into the effort and I need help. My wife has all but given up on it and I need a solution or I will be forced to mortgage my 6th generation homestead to go the loan route and I hate that with all I am. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.
>
> Rusty
>




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