Finished Home with Earthen Floor and Clay Plaster

A white clay plaster finish meets the earthen floor made with site soil

This winter, I had the chance to revisit a home that I worked on last spring. The homeowners have moved in and it was very sweet to see the house in a finished state. It’s a great feeling to contribute work and then see everything tied together in the end. The finished look is great — the earthen floor looks smooth and feels soft on the feet and the clay plastered walls add brightness and texture. Look ahead to see more pictures.

It’s hard to appreciate the effect in photos, but the plaster has a subtle sparkle

Subtle window reveals add some extra light

The earthen floor runs through the living room, kitchen, and dining area

I’m particularly happy with how the earthen floor turned out. Very little cracking, and you can see how flat it turned out in key spots, like under the kitchen cabinets. The earthen floor has radiant heat (which isn’t hooked up yet), so it will serve as a big ol’ warm thermal battery in the winter months.

Very pleased with how flat & even the earthen floor turned out

Plaster in the kitchen…

Aspects of the exterior were very challenging, particularly the staging on the gable ends. We did our fair share of monkeying around on scaffolding for this project…

You might be noticing how flat (in terms of color) the exterior lime plaster is. That’s because it’s finished with Keim paint, which is a type of potassium silicate paint. This stuff is actually pretty magical — it’s completely colorfast (it will never fade), it shouldn’t have to be recoated for a long long time, and it preserves the high permeability of lime plaster. I recommend potassium silicate paint as an alternative to lime wash, especially in situations where it would be difficult to reapply lime wash on a every-few-years schedule. (This house is a prime example — two stories, difficult staging, etc.)

Exterior lime plaster with potassium silicate paint finish

Lime plaster on the faswall exterior

Well, there you have it. This house was another excellent learning opportunity for me personally.