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  • From: David Muhl <dmuhl65@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Simple earth floor?
  • Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:04:52 -0700 (PDT)

Cory,

You mentioned your outdoor kitchen has a shade structure component. I was
wondering what this consisted of, and how permeable it is to the rain(?). Is
most of the wetness that occurs caused by rain coming through the overhead
shading material, by overland flow (ground level higher on one side), or is
it fairly level and just soaks in horizontally due to the high clay content?
If it is from overland flow, you could solve a lot of the problem just by
adding diversion swales on the uphill side. Otherwise, for a nice walking
surface, you should bring in some crushed aggregate. Use graded material,
not sand (sand can't be compacted and will move around under your feet).

Would you be getting the materials you mentioned from offsite? If you are
sourcing it from a sand and gravel company, the easiest "good" surfacing job
would be to do a compacted base course of whatever your state DOT uses for
road base. Lay down 3 to 4", wet, then compact (use a hand tamper if this is
all you have access to). Next, overlay it with another layer of finer graded
material. Most people use what's known as decomposed granite (or DG), but
any crushed rock that has a similar gradation will work. A standard spec for
DG gradation would be:

U.S. Sieve No. / percent passing by weight

#3/8" / 100
#4 / 90-100
#8 / 75-80
#16 / 55-65
#30 / 40-50
#50 / 25-35
#100 / 15-20
#200 / 10-15

Ask for this sieve ratio. Most companies will have something that is
similar, but slightly different, which is fine. This "finer" material (for
simplicity) could be laid down thin, like a 1/2" or 3/4" surfacing layer.
This should work fine, but if you want to go thicker, you should add a
product like "Stabilizer," which is actually psyllium husk powder (in case
you can find it cheaper than the name brand).

Any way you go, you'll need to excavate that same thickness of clay from your
work area first, but this could be saved for other projects in the future
(earth plasters, pond lining, etc). And when you excavate, it would also be
a good idea to shape the bottom with a place for water to escape at the low
end, so your new kitchen floor doesn't just fill up with water (clay doesn't
drain very fast as you know).

Dave



--- On Sat, 7/24/10, Cory Brennan <cory8570@yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Cory Brennan <cory8570@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [permaculture] Simple earth floor?
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Saturday, July 24, 2010, 2:47 PM
> We are looking for a very simple way
> to do an earthen floor at Pine Ridge for an outdoor
> kitchen/shade building we have.  The soil is very heavy
> clay (85%), with silt and not much else. We're looking for
> the easiest and fastest way to do this with local materials
> (we have access to gravel, some sand, milk, etc). We've
> researched a number of approaches, such as 6" of gravel,
> topped with slurry mixture, sealed with various items. And
> methods from Central America such as mixing blood with
> soil.  We'd like the floor to be stable, not get muddy
> if it gets wet.  The clay is generally pretty hard
> packed, but has recently been tilled. Any suggestions?
>
> Cory
>
>
>      
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