Floor options replacing poured mud floor

Just bought a passive solar, strawbale home near Taos, NM and I am told the floor was poured mud. It has had water damage and must be repaired. I am looking into floor options. Lots of windows spilling light onto the floor from the south.

I am interested in sealed brick flooring inside and have been thinking about how to insulate underneath the brick if advised. If I chip out the existing floor to give a few extra inches, I would like to put down 2" rigid foam, then 1/2 ply before sand and bricks. If going this route, I am not sure if what I would need between the earth and the foam board.

I am open to opinions on this method and other options. Thanks for any help.

I'm not an authority on this by any means, but I would think a vapor barrier under the foam board would be enough if you were able to level the surface well enough.

mostly, though, I'm posting to say that looks like a real nice place.

Research erathen floor repair I am confident a good solution will come up.

Hi Wade, nice new place!
I have a question:

Do you need to isolate the floor from the underlaying earth for any reason? ie: Is the floor always cold in the Winter?
A cool floor in the Summer can be a good thing, but I'm sure you want that thermal mass working for you in the Summer. Lots of Summer sun shining on an insulated floor will make your whole house super hot, so be prepared to use shutters or low overhangs to mitigate the solar gain.

If you are not using the floor as thermal mass you may want to look laying another insulating and long wearing material on top. Check out this laborious but stunningly beautiful floor Mr Chickadee put in this blacksmithy...

A vapor barrier is something I have thought of also. I like the idea of just leveling the soil underneath. Soil, vapor barrier, foam, ply, sand, brick, sealant. Seems like a lot though.

Since I have not lived in the house a full year yet, I do not know the solar load that the floor has. I will do the math and find the angles this fall and extend the eaves if necessary. I need to do major roof overhaul as well.

I really like that wood floor by Mr. Chickadee.

With the right amount of sunshine in winter, do earthen floors need to be insulated at all from the earth below? I am hoping to moderate the temperature by having the floor be a lot of mass. It would be nice to just repair and reseal the existing floor.

Can I ask a few questions about your home?
- what location is it in?
- Not all floors need insulating, it depends on your location and frost situations.
- Whats wrong with the roof?
- have you thought of a metal roof and capturing the rainwater for household use?

Congrats on your new home. It looks like a round structure.  I've never lived in a round home and often wondered how it would feel. I worked on a couple and it seemed like it might be "different".

If  you can learn the "story" of the place it may help in deciding what directions to proceed. Ie. was all well until the roof leaked and trashed the floor? What were the design goals and does/did the house meet them?

I'm prejudiced toward repairing things before I rebuild or replace. But decisions like that really need some knowledge of the house and its history.


Best luck.
Rufus

Hi Wade,   There may already be insulation and vapour barrier under the mud. Have you dug down deeper in a test hole to see? From there, you can decide what to do.

I agree with Rufus in doing a repair first and also you saying earlier "It would be nice to just repair and reseal the existing floor."
The only thing with a repair is matching the colour to the existing floor. From my experience, it has always been difficult to do, even with using the exact same sources of materials. If that doesn't matter, then its a fairly easy fix or you could make it a design so it looks like it was done on purpose....or of course rugs!