J-School student David Gelles writes for the New York Times about green homeowners deploying mud, rather than wood, bamboo, or carpeting for their home flooring.
It is hardly a new or chic movement: millions of poor people around the globe use natural materials like dirt for their homes whether they want to or not. But with the growing environmental awareness in this country, Mr. Kahn said, there is greater interest in natural building materials like dirt.
Not without their problems, but can be made moisture resistant with beeswax and linseed oil, and more crack-resistant by adding paper pulp or fiber. They do sound gorgeous and comforting.
Music: Smog :: I Was A Stranger
***The floor — which, in addition to the basic ingredient, included lime and sand, two classic components of concrete ***
doesn’t seem all that unique when you look at it that way…
I like Degrazia: Gallery in the Sun’s floor, which is made out of cactus.
Note: not environmenally friendly.
And the walls are made of grass and mud.
Very neat.
Gilbert, what happens when the cactus gets old and rots? Doesn’t it decay and get mushy?
I believe the cactus is dried out before use and then it is preserved in some sort of mud-based cement and organic varnish. Whatever the process it looks like it is petrified… no rotting here. It si the coolest floor I’ve ever seen. If you’re ever in the Tucson, AZ area def. check the gallery out.