Go Back

Page Count:288
Images:Full Color Throughout
Dimensions: 7.5 × 9 × 0.73 in
Publication Date:October 07, 2025
ISBN:9781774060087

Earthen Floors, Second Edition

A Modern Approach to an Ancient Practice

The essential guide to making, installing and living with beautiful, all-natural earthen floors – now fully revised and updated This full-color guide includes complete step-by-step instructions for installing your own…

Earn up to 50 Points.

The essential guide to making, installing and living with beautiful, all-natural earthen floors – now fully revised and updated

This full-color guide includes complete step-by-step instructions for installing your own earthen floors as well as the history, use, and maintenance of this beautiful, durable, non-toxic flooring material. Updated to reflect current best practices, it is the only resource of its kind, widely recognized as an essential tool for anyone wanting to work with this beautiful and environmentally friendly construction method.

From sourcing and processing raw materials to applying the final finish, each stage of this exciting technique is demystified. Topics include:

  • The story of earthen floors through the ages and their role in modern green building
  • Tips and tools for site preparation, mixing, pouring, burnishing, sanding, oiling, sealing, and more
  • Recipes and ratios for the ideal earthen floor mix, subfloor insulation and vapor barrier options, and how to achieve the perfect pour
  • Beyond the basics – inlays, color washes, prints, patterns, alternative fibers, and other creative options
  • Radiant heat, electric wire heated floors, and other improvements for cooler climates
  • Updated resources section with suggestions for tool and material suppliers.

Packed with new in-depth case studies and inspirational photographs, and drawing on the collective knowledge of the most qualified and experienced practitioners, Earthen Floors, Second Edition is a must-read for natural builders, homeowners, architects, contractors, and DIY enthusiasts.

Table of Contents

Coming Soon

Accessibility Information

Product Page Accessibility Display

Conformance Status: EPUB Accessibility Compliant | WCAG 2.2 AAA Compliant
Screen Reader Compatibility: Designed for an optimal screen reader experience and fully accessible to persons with disabilities.

Content Enhancements

Alternative Text for Images: Descriptive text is provided for all images, ensuring visual content is fully accessible.
Table of Contents: Easy, direct navigation through a clean, structured table of contents.
Reading Order: Enforces a logical and consistent reading order for sequential, uninterrupted content consumption.
Page List: Includes an accurate page list for physical book page referencing and exact academic citation synchronization.
Structural Navigation: Built with a clear hierarchical layout for easy content traversal and section hopping.
Semantic Structure: Employs appropriate semantic markup to ensure absolute text clarity, meaning, and text-to-speech accuracy.

Reading Optimization

Unrestricted Formatting Preferences: User-configured assistive tools, custom typography scaling, line-spacing modifications, and native reading application options are never locked or disabled.
Color Independence: Textual layouts, data states, and links use distinct styles or symbols so that color changes are never the sole method of conveying critical information.
High-Contrast Design: Typography contrast levels comfortably exceed standard baseline parameters to reduce eye strain under any lighting environment.
Non-Visual Accessibility Support: All non-decorative editorial text and data visualizations are optimized to support reading entirely without sight.
Language Tagging: Embedded text attributes direct text-to-speech engines to use correct pronunciation defaults automatically.
Blank Page Removal: Unnecessary blank pages are completely eliminated to ensure a streamlined, smooth reading flow.

Book Extras and Resources

Meet the Author

author Sukita Crimmel

Sukita Reay Crimmel has installed over 20,000 sq ft of earthen flooring in the past decade. As well as presenting extensively on this exciting technique, she founded From These Hands, a green and natural building company located in Portland Oregon which specializes in earthen construction. Sukita is also the developer of Claylin – the first commercially available ready-made earthen floor product in North America. She holds a Bachelor of Science in environmental studies and architecture from the University of Oregon. She is considered one of the preeminent experts in the emerging field of earthen floors.

author James Thomson

James Thomson is a workshop facilitator with House Alive, one of the leading natural building training organizations in the country. His early experiences with alternative, mainly owner-built natural building projects grew into his current interest in integrating these practices into more conventional, urban homes. Since beginning to include earthen features, including floors, in sustainable renovations, James has become passionate about this satisfying, practical technique. He has lived on (or near) earthen floors for most of the past 10 years.

Articles from the book

You Might Also Like

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “Earthen Floors, Second Edition”

Related Categories

About the Publisher

New Society Publishers has been a leader in sustainable living books since 1980. Our books are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper to support the health of the planet.

B Corporation, SDG, and FSC Mixed Paper.
Select your currency