Perhaps your clay and lime floor has its basis in local tradition, but there
also seems to have been a great deal of experimentation with 'alternative
building' around the mid-nineteenth century (pise & rammed earth from the
1830s+, Fowler's 'gravel wall' [concrete] octagon plan houses of 1848+,
stacked plank houses of ca. 1850, the 'discovery' of log houses by
architects, etc.).
One example of a 'poured' floor from Charles Dwyer, _The Immigrant Builder_,
(Philadelphia, PA: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, 1872):
"If no flooring-boards, or rough boards of any description, can be had, the
platform [essentially a raft of logs laid parallel and tamped into the earth]
should be covered over, from two to three inches deep, with --
Three parts of washed sand;
Two parts of wood ashes; and
One part of clay;
the mass well worked together and wet sufficiently to make a plaster. The
can be levelled off on top with a smooth, flat board of twelve or fourteen
inches square, to which a long, oblique handle is secured by a cleat.
Previous to finishing the surface, however, it will be advisable to roll the
whole floor; and for this purpose a large, heavy log of bass-wood, about two
feet long, and perfectly clean and even on the surface, should be procured.
Into the centres of its ends should be inserted pivots of hard wood, and a
square frame two by three inches should be then nailed together, having
projecting cheeks with holes to allow the pivot to turn in. With this roller
the whole floor should be gone over, until a firm bed is formed for the
finishing coat, or smoothing operation, which is then commenced." p.48
FYI, Dwyer also described how to build a rammed earth chimney with a
mud-and-stick flue plastered on the inside with "fresh cow-manure" which
"grows very hard, and is not liable to crack when dry. It also makes a
smooth surface to the interior of the flue, and prevents the accumulation of
soot and the consequent interruption of the ascent of the smoke." pp.27-28
:)
Marty Perdue
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