homemade tiles

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Greetings from Colorful Colorado! We would like to make our own concrete tiles to go inside our home (strawbale). I looked in the archives but could not find anything on molds for this, etc. Anyone have experience or info on this? Also is there a way to do a search, like type in a key word, in using the archives? Thanks! Pam

-- Pam (harshhaus@earthlink.net), March 13, 2002

Answers

Why not just skip some of the backbreaking labor in making your own tiles and go with an adobe floor? Some of them, especially the ones using two colors of clay, are absolutely lovely. Still lots of backbreaking labor involved, but not as much as making tiles.

Good luck with your strawbale home. We are designing ours now and looking - hard - for the land to build it on.

-- Carol - in Virginia (carollm@rockbridge.net), March 13, 2002.


I guess I should add that we are living in our home and enjoy a warm (in-floor heat)"adobe" concrete floor. We are wanting to do some tiling in the kitchen behind the stove/ovens and would like to make our own tiles. Thanks! God bless your endeavor in getting planted somewhere! Pam

-- Pam (harshhaus@earthlink.net), March 13, 2002.

Oooooo....use cob (adobe), ya know...straw, clay, sand, water, coloring (like blueing)or add sparkles. You can make anything you want. Dry in the sun and then oil (or beeswax) after installing in the house. Or pour a "mud" floor and allow to crack. Fill cracks with "grout". Used brick would be nice too. If you used cob (adobe) you could add psylium to "soften" the tiles so your dishes won't break as easy and it would be nicer on the feet too.

-- Susan in Northern LP Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

You could make some absolutely fabulous ceramic tiles, using a low temp firing process (like over cow patties) like Pueblo pottery or take a trip to Mexico and either have it done or learn to do it. Great excuse for a working vacation, learn a trade.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), March 13, 2002.

Go to www.hollowtop.com and order Tom Elpel's book "Living Homes". In it he has a chapter devoted entirely to making soil cement tiled floors. They are poured in place from a mix of sand, cement, soil and die, then cut with a sort of stamp. Two weeks later you grout and seal them. Dirt cheap (litterally) and eaiser than making large numbers of tiles and setting them or pouring adobe floors in several layers. More durable too.

In fact if you are designing a house, get his book anyway. He covers just about every building issue I have seen here on the forum, introduces a new (eaiser) method of log-building, innovative slip- form processes. All sorts of stuff on energy efficiency. and yes, a SB chapter too. Even includes full plans on building a masonry heater/fireplace.

I am not affiliated with him in any way, I just liked his book.

-- James in ID (jlfinkbeiner@yahoo.com), March 15, 2002.



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