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<b>Rub-R-Slate Lessons: Stabilized Clay Plaster/ Floors </b>

Rub-R-Slate is a home made surfacing product developed by Jack Bays in 
the 1930s.
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A stabilized clay floor can be made with this material, which can go 
over cement or old wood floors. The FINAL color of dry Rub-R-Slate 
depends on the clay color, and lime addtion to the mix. Rich cocoa and 
coffee colors are normal, with black or dark grey the result of reduced 
clay use in the mix. Tinting is possible with lighter color clays. A 
stamped or smooth Rub-R-Slate floor looks like an earthen floor.
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Visit the "Alternative Uses page" 
<http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com/alusforru.html> on this website to see 
a project of turning a large clothes dryer drum into a tiled mosaic 
planter, using Rub-R-Slate adapted formulas.

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Essentially Jack discovered that using asphalt (hot mix), OR Asphalt 
Emulsion (AE) mixed with clay, shredded cardboard and/or sawdust and 
other dry materials like sand, cement, plus some other additives, gave a 
hard wearing but extremely foot comfortable substance good for floors 
and roofing. It can be poured, troweled, rolled, sprayed, tamped, 
stamped and molded while still drying.

Jack even describes coating sheets of paper/cardboard with it to premake 
panels for laying as floor tiles, or wall surface. It can also be used 
for a damp proof course.

Names Jack gave to his recipes are: "Liquid Marble, MarbleWood, 
Insuldown, Insulrock, Lithocrete, Hornite, and Terralithic".

Mr. Bays had a series of "lessons" numbered 1-10 with recipes and 
formulas for many uses of this product.

Alternative builder Ken Kern wrote about Rub-R-Slate in his book "The 
Owner Built Home" but details on making the product were scarce. And 
John Shuttleworth, founder of /*The Mother Earth News*/, knew Jack and 
worked with some of his formulas back in the 1970s This collection of 
the original lessons are now available.
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*Rub-R-Slate Lesson Plan * is a series of 20+ pages of typwriter typed 
information with details on how to make a wide variety of finished 
products, and a MIXER to blend the recipes. The metal drum type mixer 
directions give a parts list, illustration design detail, and assembly 
directions.

The information in NOT fancy, just typed pages, but can be easily followed.

* What you can do with Rub-R-Slate* Resurfacing old concrete/cement 
floors and old wood floors, baseboards, walls, make roofing tiles and 
panels, making countertops, use a base mastic and grout, plaster, and 
coating surfaces is possible with these formulas.

Asphalt emulsion, a petroleum by product of making gasoline (waste), can 
be purchased at home supply stores, ($7.- 1 gallon can, or builder's 
supplier has 5 gallon cans for ~$20.) and shredded cardboard (or paper 
as in Papercrete), sawdust, sand, cement can be mixed according to his 
directions to produce a comfortable floor surface, or cover broken 
damaged floors and walls cheaply.

[Asphalt Emulsion- AE: is simply asphalt, bentonite clay and water in a 
suspension. It harden by evaporation of the water, no VOCS or chemicals 
are in modern AE formulas. It has a "road tar" smell when the can is 
opened, but this dissapates in the mix immediately.]

No guarantees are made on these formulas, in fact, I would like to hear 
back from anyone who makes Rub-R-Slate independently.
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Photo: Metal dryer drum, coated with straight AE, then Rub-R-Slate then 
lime plastered, and finished with a drizzle of laundry bluing and 
pigments. The drum will be a large planter for flowers.
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FOR COMPETE information on low cost earth lime and cement use, CHOOSE 
the Adobe-Cinva Brick CD- $12.00 or the Dirtcheapbuilder Guide-$7.00

Try Rub-R-Slate on a closet floor, over old linoleum or vinyl flooring 
in a small area like a mud room or porch, and see how you like it!>


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