<PAGE>   1

                                  EXHIBIT 10.10

                         AMENDMENT TO ZARING HOMES, INC.
                      EXECUTIVE DEFERRED COMPENSATION PLAN


         The Zaring Homes, Inc. Executive Deferred Compensation Plan (the
"Plan") is hereby amended in the following respects:

         1. Effective as of May 8, 1997, the name of the Plan is amended to be
"Zaring National Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan."

         2. Effective as of May 8, 1997, Section 1.1 of the Plan is amended in
its entirety to read as follows:

                  1.1 NAME. The plan set forth herein shall be known as the
         Zaring National Corporation Executive Deferred Compensation Plan (the
         "Plan").

         3. Effective as of May 8, 1997, the reference contained in Section
2.1.12 of the Plan to "Zaring Homes, Inc. Retirement Benefit Plan" shall be
deemed to refer to "Zaring National Corporation Retirement Benefit Plan."

         4. Effective as of May 8, 1997, Section 2.1.13 of the Plan is amended
in its entirety to read as follows:

                  2.1.13 "Zaring National" means Zaring National Corporation, or
         any corporate successor thereto.

         5. Effective as of May 8, 1997, each reference contained in the Plan to
"Zaring Homes" shall be deemed to refer to "Zaring National."

         6. Effective as of the date this Plan amendment is signed below by the
Plan sponsor, a new Section 6.7 reading as follows is added to the Plan
immediately after Plan Section 6.6:

                  6.7        UNFORSEEABLE EMERGENCY.

                             6.7.1 Notwithstanding any other provisions of the
         Plan to the contrary, if a Participant ceases to be an Employee for any
         reason and, pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this Section 6, his
         or her Account is to be paid to the Participant (or his or her
         Beneficiary) in annual installments, the Participant (or, if
         applicable, his or her Beneficiary) and the Committee may agree to
         accelerate the payment to the Participant (or, if applicable, his or
         her Beneficiary) of any portion or all of the Participant's Account to
         an earlier time than such Account or Account portion would otherwise be
         paid pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this Section 6, provided:
         (1) the Participant (or, if applicable, his or her Beneficiary)
         provides a written representation, and evidence satisfactory to the
         Committee, that

<PAGE>   2

         the payment of a portion or all of the Account must be accelerated
         because of an unforeseeable emergency, (2) no payment of the Account is
         made prior to the date the Participant ceases to be an Employee, and
         (3) the portion of the Account that is being accelerated as to its
         payment is limited to the amount reasonably needed to satisfy the
         emergency.

                             6.7.2 For purposes of the Plan, an "unforeseeable
         emergency" of a Participant or Beneficiary means a severe financial
         hardship to the Participant or Beneficiary resulting from a sudden and
         unexpected illness or accident of such person (or a dependent, as
         defined in Section 152(a) of the Code, of such person), loss of such
         person's property due to casualty, or other similar extraordinary and
         unforeseeable circumstances arising as a result of events beyond the
         control of such person. Acceleration of the payment of any portion of
         the Account may not be made to the extent that the emergency may be
         relieved through reimbursement or compensation by insurance or
         otherwise or by liquidation of such person's assets (to the extent such
         liquidation would not itself cause severe financial hardship). Examples
         of what are not considered to be unforeseeable emergencies for purposes
         of the Plan include the need to send a child to college or the desire
         to purchase a home.


         IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the sponsor of the Plan has caused its name to be
subscribed to this Plan amendment.






                                      -2-