Recovering the Slate Tile

In a series of planned work trips, the first of the 2026 season for me and Brice was to finish up projects from the 2025 season with the walls and the floors.

As Brice did lime wash touch-ups around the interior of the Earthship, I focused on finishing the U room floors (Part One & Part Two) and cleaning and sealing the slate on the top of the planters.

Like many other surfaces, those slate tiles suffered in the lime washing process. After cleaning the slate with a wire brush of lime wash edges, I found that the spaces between the slate tiles were dull with wash and decided to do fine lime wash touch-ups before sealing.

Then I washed the slate tiles and applied the same Behr low-lustre seal. A fairly quick and straightforward job! Most of my downtime was spent waiting for the slate to dry after washing.

Floor Finishings - Part Two

May 2026

On the first of four scheduled trips for the 2026 season, finishing off 2025 season tasks was on the top of my list. 

First job was to put a final coat of concrete sealer on the kitchen U room to complete the floor treatment. I vacuumed and mopped the floor and then got to that final sealer coat. Done!

Looks a bit patchy here because it's still wet.

The living room U required mopping and vacuuming and then another application of the stain/poly finish (totalling 4) and then a final coat of concrete sealer. Done!

Finally, the U room floors are complete (not pictured here). We’ll see how well the floors hold up with wear and tear. Overall, I’m happy with the treatment and the colour that complements the outside colour of the ‘ship. But it’s a bit bittersweet that we aimed for this leather-look to only land with a solid painted look. In the end, we could have chosen a product that gave us an opaque finish from the get-go. Nothing ventured nothing gained!

Finishing the utility room and bathroom floors are on hold as more work with fixtures and installations, etc is happening in those locations. I’ll come back to finish those floors once that work is complete. They both require more coats of stain/poly mix* and a final seal.