skip to main page content :: Town & Regional Planning Home > Glossary Home > L >
Lime-ash floors
- lime-ash is a composite material, made up of the waste from lime
kilns sifted and combined with gypsum (calcium sulphate),
which was used for flooring. Strong, durable relatively light and with good warmth and sound insulation properties,
lime ash was used in the upper floors of buildings from the 15th through to the last part of the 19th century. The
material was laid on a supporting bed which was attached to
timber
joists. Confined mainly to the limestone belt of
middle England, these floors can be very important to the historic character of a building.