Construction of a Russian bathhouse. Construction of a frame bath

Recently, in our country there has been a return to cultural traditions - tea drinking at the samovar and, of course, the Russian bathhouse. Small bathhouses began to appear on personal plots, dachas and the territories of private houses, and in cities the popularity of public bathhouses increased. Since demand generates supply, new technologies in bathhouse construction were not long in coming.

Many nations have bathing traditions, each with its own characteristics. Today, the Internet is erasing borders, and tourism is a relevant form of recreation, so in addition to the Russian steam room, the following are gaining popularity in Russia:

• Finnish sauna;
• Turkish hammam;
• Japanese ofuro and furako.

Despite the architectural and other differences, the technical features of all types have much in common. It's connected with elevated temperature and humidity. The room itself must retain heat well and at the same time be ventilated, as well as withstand temperature changes.

Special requirements were placed on the Russian bath, since the humidity regime was the highest in comparison with other types of steam procedures, and the temperature reached 90°C. A higher temperature is accepted in a sauna, up to 130°C, but the humidity in a Finnish bath is an order of magnitude lower. In addition, the harsh climate of Siberia subjected the building to special tests, so there were no small details in the construction, and every detail played an important role.

The main secret was hidden in the material – wood, which absorbed moisture, thereby helping to regulate the humidity in the steam room. But not every tree was suitable for the construction of a bathhouse. Not only the species was important, but also the age of the tree, part of the trunk and proper preparation. Drainage and proper planning made it possible to prevent condensation from freezing on the threshold and entrance door, as well as to avoid excessive dampness between use and the appearance of fungus.

Traditional Russian bath

Since ancient times in Rus', including the territory of Belarus and Ukraine, baths were built from logs or timber. A log house is a structure made of round logs without additional cladding. It had a more aesthetic appearance, but required thorough joining of elements and careful sealing of seams. Such construction required high levels of knowledge and experience.

Structures made of timber were erected faster, but this did not negate the sealing of seams. At the same time, the timber is more expensive, which in total equalizes the costs of both constructions.

Materials

The raw materials used were pine, cedar or alder, and less commonly oak. The wood of these trees not only had excellent technical characteristics, but also contained phytoncides, which were released when heated and had a healing effect on the human body. In addition, the breeds were distinguished by a pleasant characteristic aroma. In terms of cost, alder was more expensive, but the structure made from it was more durable. Oak, although superior to alder in terms of service life, is even more expensive and was more often used for the construction of log houses for housing.

Selection and preparation

The choice of wood for a bathhouse is more important than for a house, since during operation the material will be subject to extreme climatic loads. In order for the structure to serve for a long time, maintaining the geometry of each element and thereby the tightness of the steam room, the craftsmen chose a smooth tree 70-80 years old. In the northern regions, where summers are short and the tree grows slower - 100 years. To make logs, they took the lower section of the trunk, immediately above the ridge. Such a log did not spin in the future. The thickness should be 40-50 cm so that even in severe frost the wall has sufficient thermal insulation. Moreover, all the logs for one building were selected to have the same cross-section.

For construction, the logs were not dried, since raw wood is easier to machine, which in the old days was done with hand tools. The bark was removed from the trunk and the log was given the most cylindrical shape using a plane. After this, along one side the carpenter removed a certain layer, making a kind of hollow (bowl) for laying on the previous log. Near the ends, cuttings were made for joining with perpendicular elements. Precision processing guaranteed tight fit and stability of the structure without the use of nails.

To achieve maximum accuracy of the joints and minimal gaps in the joints, the master, when building the bathhouse, made them at the construction site with individual adjustment of each joint.

Sealing and sealing

The sealing of all connections was based on natural materials, such as dry moss or tow with fine shavings and clay. Compaction was carried out immediately during installation. The log, under its weight, compressed the moss or squeezed out excess clay and formed a sealed contact.

The bathhouse built in this way shrinks within 1-2 years. The logs dried out, so the height of the building could decrease by 5%. In addition, the log house needed periodic repairs in the form of greasing the cracks that formed.

Room layout

The simplest Russian bathhouse is divided into 2 rooms - a steam room and a canopy. At the same time, there is also a dressing room, which serves as a kind of airlock barrier for steam to escape. The canopy is the first room you enter when entering from the street. It is used as a locker room. The dressing room is large enough so that, upon entering, you can close the door behind you and then open the second door to the steam room. The purpose of the dressing room is to prevent the steam from leaving the steam room along with the person, which is quite motivated, because it is important to keep warm.

Moreover, in the severe Siberian frosts, if you neglect the dressing room, the escaped steam will immediately rush to the exit and, condensing, will freeze. After just 3-5 exits, plunge into an ice hole or dive into the snow, the front door will no longer close due to ice frozen in the doorway.

Richer baths had a separate dressing room with access to the vestibule. Despite the dressing room, the humidity in the hallway was still high, which made it uncomfortable to get dressed after the procedure. The locker room had a door that did not open all the time, and practically no steam got in there. Heat in the room was provided by a common wall with the steam room, and the clothes left hanging on this wall were warm by the time the steam procedure was completed.

Bath house

This is a bathhouse of increased comfort, which also has a relaxation room. Table, benches and a traditional Russian samovar. In addition to comfort, a bathhouse in tandem with medicinal tea gave miraculous results. Often there was another stove in the recreation room. Such an establishment was built by landowners, and in some villages the bath house was public, so on certain days everyone could visit it.

The space in the bath should be divided according to temperature and humidity conditions.

Ventilation and lighting

Although the steam room was sealed as much as possible, there was a small window in it. If glass was not available, a bull bladder was stretched over a wooden frame. The small window had an opening design and was usually opened after use to remove moisture. It could also be used to lower the temperature if the heat was too high. There wasn't much natural light coming through, but it was enough.

Modern baths

New bathhouse construction technologies have made it possible to increase comfort, eliminate the disadvantages of traditional construction and significantly facilitate and speed up construction. Artificial lighting, swimming pools or plunge pools, showers, toilets and many other modifications have become common attributes. Today, many public institutions combine several types of steam rooms. For example, you leave the steam room and find yourself in the hammam area, and in the next room there are ofuro and furako.

Even the relaxation area is divided into a hall with comfortable sun loungers, armchairs and a fireplace, and next to it there is a bar where you can drink tea or juice. Such complexes may house massage and beauty parlors, gyms, etc.

Wooden baths

Today, many who like to take a steam bath in their own bathhouse prefer to stick to traditions. However, given that in modern woodworking production manual labor has long been replaced by CNC machines, for construction you can purchase already dried, perfectly cylindrical logs with ready-made cuts and bowls. It is also not necessary to use tow; there are more effective mineral sealants that are durable and environmentally friendly.

Modern technologies for gluing wood with safe, moisture- and temperature-resistant adhesives offer consumers the opportunity to save money and buy laminated veneer lumber with grooves ready for assembly. The only thing you shouldn’t save on is the thickness of the timber or log, otherwise it will be too expensive to heat.

Considering that wood is a fire hazardous material, and treatment with a fire retardant will reduce useful property wood, many people prefer to replace wood-burning heaters with electric heaters. This is not only fireproof, but also easier to operate.

Alternative materials

Brick baths have not been uncommon for a long time, but in our time, when energy resources are becoming more expensive, brick is becoming an unprofitable material. To warm up a free-standing brick bathhouse in winter, you will need to heat it for at least 5 hours, and external thermal insulation will not help.

Recently, a new technology for building a bathhouse using a monolithic method with permanent formwork has appeared. At first, moisture-resistant OSB was used as formwork, but very soon the technology was improved and greenboard panels began to be used. The filler is polystyrene concrete.

Greenboard panel is an innovative technology for producing environmentally friendly panel materials based on wood chips, cement and liquid glass. It is installed as formwork, fastened with steel ties and concrete is poured inside with a filler of polystyrene foam granules, forming a railing panel. Thus, a composite three-layer wall is obtained. For exterior cladding, you can use siding with imitation logs or a natural block house. Inside, it is possible, but not necessary, to use reflective heat and vapor barrier - aluminum foil. Of course, in order to preserve the very essence of the Russian bath, the steam room must be lined with natural wood. To warm up such a structure even in severe frost it will take no more than 40 minutes.

Perhaps many have heard that infrared saunas have appeared on sale, which are cabins of various sizes that are designed for 1-4 people. This new product appeared thanks to the introduction of IR heating technologies. The model combines ancient wisdom and new achievements, which is expressed in the use of the properties of natural wood and glass-ceramic lamps of soft heat in the range of 3-14 microns. The symbiosis of cultural heritage and high technology has made it possible to create a completely new type of bath, where the maximum temperature is only 60°C, and the effect is similar to a natural sauna.

For small apartments the developers proposed the optimal solution - a new model that can replace an outdated shower stall. Such infrared cabins include several functions at once, including a shower. You can steam in them both in a sauna and in a Turkish hammam. In addition to the IR lamp, the cabins are equipped with steam generators.

Both modifications of the new products are controlled by the controller and support the selected mode automatically. Depending on the capacity, the maximum power of apartment baths is 1.5-2.5 kW, which is quite acceptable for an indoor electrical network.

To set up your own steam room, it is not at all necessary to erect a separate building. A small sauna can be made right in your house or apartment. At its core, a typical home sauna is wooden cabin with improved vapor and heat insulation characteristics. The steam room may have different configurations, but the procedure for constructing the structure and its arrangement remains the same. At the same time, you can handle all the accompanying activities yourself.

The design of a typical home sauna includes the following basic elements:

Place for a sauna at home

Before starting any construction activities, you need to plan everything thoroughly and first of all choose a place for arranging a sauna at home.

The best option is a bathroom, if, of course, its dimensions allow it to accommodate a cubicle. The bathroom already has running water, sewerage, ventilation and, as a rule, a tiled floor.

In general, almost any place is suitable for building a home sauna. The main thing is that the room has the opportunity to provide additional ventilation.

Each visitor to the steam room must have at least 1 m2 of free space. Consider this point when choosing a place to place a sauna at home.

Guide to building a home sauna

Assembling a finished infrared sauna

Setting up a sauna at home is a relatively simple, but extremely important undertaking. Follow each step of the guide step by step and very soon you will be able to enjoy the warmth of your own steam room.

The first step is the floor

Traditional plank flooring is not The best decision for a home sauna. If you still choose wood, under no circumstances should you coat it with paints and varnishes.

For the floor of a sauna at home, a heated floor with a tiled finish is best suited. To install the floor, it is enough to get rid of the old floor covering (if any) in the place where the sauna cabin is being built, lay the heated floor elements, pour the screed, let it dry and lay the tiles to your taste.

There are no special requirements for floor tiles. All floor care comes down to regular washing and disinfection.

Second step - vertical frame

Proceed to construct the frame. Before you begin installing the slats, you must perform a vapor barrier on the walls. If the walls of a house or apartment are made of brick, lay glassine on them. In the case of walls made of other materials, glassine need not be laid.

Glassine will act as a vapor barrier material. Instead, you can use bitumen paper - the properties of the materials are similar.

The vapor barrier is attached to the wall with an overlap of 15-20 cm and is fixed using slats and nails or a construction stapler and staples.

After installing the vapor barrier, proceed to the construction of a wooden frame from bars. It is most convenient to use a beam with a cross-section of 5x5 cm. Attach it to the floor and walls. The number of vertical racks depends on the size of your future bathhouse. Racks must be present in the corners of the future cabin. Select the pitch between the supports according to the width of the insulation. It is better that the distance between the bars is a couple of centimeters less than the width of the insulation boards - this way the insulation will fit as tightly as possible.

Mount the ceiling frame. To do this, it is enough to fasten crossbars along the top of the vertical posts in increments of the size of the heat-insulating material.

At the same stage, prepare holes in the frame for installing ventilation and electrical elements. Lay out the so-called dry pipe It needs to be led inside the future cabin along its perimeter.

Also, the pipes can be laid not inside the sauna, but above its ceiling. Typically, the height of the cabin ceiling does not exceed 210 cm, so there will be enough space for wires and pipes even in a simple apartment.

It is strongly recommended to install 3-4 pipes with simple sprinklers and water inside the sauna in case of fire. Also place a fire damper inside the ventilation duct. It will not allow hot air from the steam room to escape into the rest of the rooms of the house or apartment.

Insulation

The third step is insulation

Place the insulation in the cells of the vertical frame. For thermal insulation of a home sauna, it is most convenient to use basalt-based mineral wool. This material is characterized by high performance and thermal insulation properties.

Fourth step - aluminum foil

Thanks to the special foil, the internal properties of the sauna will be significantly improved. Foil will allow you to retain the maximum amount of heat in the room. The sauna will warm up faster and retain the resulting heat longer.

Attach the foil to the frame with the mirror side facing the inside of the steam room. It is better to insulate the ceiling a little later, after the ventilation has been installed. To secure the material, use aluminized tape or simple push pins.

Fifth step - horizontal lathing

Attach horizontal bars with a cross-section of 3x4 cm to the vertical posts in increments of about 40 cm. These bars must be set in strict accordance with the building level.

At the same stage, install transverse frames from 3x6 cm timber for further installation of benches. Thanks to the cross bars, the weight of the benches will be transferred to the frame of the sauna, and not to its casing.

Sixth step - plating

For covering the ceiling and walls of a home sauna, it is best to use lining. Before starting finishing work, install a supply ventilation valve in the ceiling above the location of the electric heater. Attach the previously mentioned foil to the ceiling, leaving the ventilation open.

If you are building a suspended ceiling, then you first need to secure the sheathing, and only then lay the insulation.

Most often, lining made of linden, alder and pine are used to equip home saunas. Linden wood has a wonderful smell and attractive appearance. Among the additional advantages of the material, it is necessary to note its healing properties and beneficial effects on the human body.

Alder has been used for a long time for the construction and finishing of various wooden structures. It has low thermal conductivity and a wide variety of shades. Alder is pleasant to the touch and does not leave burns on the skin. Among the disadvantages of alder, one should highlight its softness, as well as its tendency to deformation, damage and contamination.

Pine is traditionally used for sauna cladding all over the world. Wood smells pleasant and has a beneficial effect on human health.

In general, when choosing a cladding material, be guided by your preferences, available budget and the characteristics of your specific situation.

Seventh step - benches and door

The optimal ceiling height in a regular home sauna is up to 210 cm. With more significant values, the so-called. “pipe effect”, due to which the draft will increase and drafts will appear.

Install the upper benches at the highest possible height - approximately 100-110 cm from the ceiling. If the sauna ceiling height is 210 cm, place the lower bench at a height of 65 cm. For greater convenience, install a step under the lower bench at a height of about 25 cm.

The door, as already noted, is best installed with glass. With such a door, visitors to the steam room will feel more comfortable in an enclosed space. It is desirable that the glass be tinted.

Do not install any “serious” latches or locks on the door. The permissible maximum is simple magnetic or roller latches.

Eighth step - equipment

Finally, install the electric heater and decorative fittings. It is better not to build a wood-burning heater, especially if we are talking about a sauna in an apartment - such a unit will create very high loads on the floor.

There will be no problems installing the electric heater. The device comes with special mounting screws. All you have to do is fix the heater on the wall, about 20 cm away from the floor surface. Build a small fence around the heater using scraps of wood. The fence can have any shape. The main requirement is that the wood must be no closer than 50 mm to the heating element and not rise more than 50 mm above the heating elements.

Install the socket, switch and lamps. Route the wiring through a metal sleeve.

Sand the benches with sandpaper and wash them thoroughly with clean water and a slightly damp sponge.

Ninth step - stones

Place stones between heating elements with minimal gaps. If possible, use round, smooth elements without defects. Place large stones at the bottom, small ones at the top.

Before placing on the heater, wash the stones thoroughly. Every 3-6 months, re-wash the stones and check their integrity. Remove damaged elements and replace them with new ones.

The following stones are usually used for a home sauna:

Thus, there is nothing complicated in arranging a sauna at home with your own hands. Follow the instructions and everything will definitely work out.

Happy work!

Video - Do-it-yourself sauna at home

There is no need to describe for a long time how beneficial the bath is. And not only for physical and mental health. Having a bathhouse on your property means gaining prestige and respect from your neighbors. And the opportunity to invite you to take a steam bath useful person will also bring direct benefits. Let's be realistic, many important issues are resolved in the bathhouse, and a document is signed at the meeting table. There is no need to look for corruption schemes here: after a bath, your head brightens, unnecessary fluff fades away, and the essence of the matter comes out to your eyes. Villains, by the way, are not appointed “shooter” in the bathhouse, there the conscience awakens.

This article is devoted to the question of how to build a bathhouse with your own hands. Who said that only the mighty of the world Why do they have the right to the full bath benefit? But why, one might ask, build it yourself? The building seems to be simple and in demand. Maybe it's better to order turnkey?

It's all about demand. In combination with a small circumstance: the bathhouse is not an essential or vital item. Hence, the contractor’s markup is limited only by the contents of the customer’s pocket, as for luxury goods. What builders use is the market is the market, they also need to live, and they want better.

Take a look at fig. The bathhouse on the left will cost about $8,000 turnkey, and the one on the right will cost $23,000-25,000. Impressive? We will modestly keep silent about the 2-3 storey bathhouses with swimming pools, billiard rooms, banquet halls and massage rooms. What if you build it yourself? Independent construction of a bathhouse for 2 compartments, 3x4 m, made of timber (this is the one on the left) will cost about $1800, and a 4x6 m log bathhouse of 3 compartments will cost somewhere around $4000-5000. It’s impressive, but the difference is not only significant, but also fundamental: if the “turnkey” amounts do not fit into the average budget, then self-construction is already possible without an unaffordable consumer loan, because A mortgage with a lower rate for a bathhouse will not be given now.

The purpose of this article is, first of all, to show: the devil is not as terrible as he is painted. A bathhouse is a serious structure; it must meet certain requirements. And the emphasis in what follows is on how to satisfy them without mastering complex technologies and without spending excessively. If you know how to cut a board evenly, drill a hole straight, drive a nail in without bending it, and, after reading what follows, believe that building a bathhouse is within your capabilities and means, we will consider our task completed. Therefore, the material is built to more fully illuminate the key points, but also the features of the technology for constructing baths from various materials due attention has been given.

Russian or sauna?

The Finns themselves, and doctors too, admit that the Russian bathhouse is superior to the Finnish one. In a Russian bath you can create perfectly dry steam, like in a sauna, but you won’t be able to “burn” the intense steam in the latter. But the sauna has a valuable advantage - it is not very demanding in terms of design bath room with a heat source. A compact electric sauna the size of a wardrobe can be placed in a city apartment, and that’s okay, the steam there is normal. But the Russian one requires a separate bath building and a stove for it. Therefore, further we will talk about the Russian bath, and we will leave the saunas for another occasion.

Ancestress

The original Russian bathhouse consists of 2 sections: a dressing room and a steam room, see fig. on right; sizes - from 2.3x4 to 5x6 m. The fashion for such baths is now being revived, they are called wild baths. Indispensable features of the “wild” Russian bath:

• The foundation is not buried, made of natural (also wild) boulders, without a plinth.
• The structure is a log house made from selectively chopped wild logs, i.e. have not undergone any technical processing other than debarking and drying.
• Construction - without a single nail.
• Caulk - only moss and tow.
• The ceiling is flat (see below).
• Insulation of the floor and ceiling - moss and peat.
• Waterproofing - resin or shoe polish.
• The roof is shingle or turf.
• The stove is brick.

It is not difficult to guess what these archaisms are worth in our time. Turnkey wild sauna for less than 1 million rubles. - a miracle. Moreover, it is a fire hazard; peat, moss and wood not impregnated with fire retardants are combustible materials. But next we’ll see how to build it yourself safe sauna cheaper and simpler, not inferior to the original one. Firstly, modern materials and technologies will help; In addition to traditional wood, unexpected solutions are possible here. Secondly, in the old days, sauna stoves were built of brick only due to the lack of suitable metal ones. In fact, a stainless metal stove with an afterburner, an air convector and a properly constructed sauna heater is better in all respects. So, let's get down to business. The action plan is:

1. Reconnaissance with surveys - see if it is possible to install a bathhouse on the site, where exactly, what size and layout;
2. Selection of material for construction;
3. Design and approval of the project;
4. Construction and equipment, from foundation and drainage to furnace installation.

Project

• Order a turnkey project from local designers, i.e. already approved and tied to the place, this will cost up to 5,000 rubles for a small bathhouse. + state duties and fees;
• It is undesirable to design it yourself; if you are not a builder, you will get confused, and the authorities do not favor arrogant amateurs;
• Download a finished sketch from the Internet, i.e. a project not tied to the area, and tie it to yourself yourself.

The last option is the best if you are not afraid to sit under cabinets for 5,000 savings. He has, so to speak, a sub-option - to give the downloaded sketch to the designers for linking and design. In this case, the savings are cut by half or three times, but walking is on their soul, and it’s like a duck to water there. All you have to do is choose a suitable building, estimate its location, make a copy of the house plan and show the designer where the bathhouse will be. However, you should not download the first beautiful 3D picture with some diagrams that you like; you need to check that the bathhouse project contains at least the following sheets:

1. Floor plan with the necessary sections and explication (technical description) of the premises, like the one in Fig. below;
2. A summary list of the required materials, and then keep receipts for them, so that if something happens, you can show that it was not built from stolen materials;
3. Recommended foundation type and plan.

An important point in a building permit is the consent of the neighbors. This is not a promissory note; other laws apply here. A simple piece of paper with a signature will not pass as an argument, but if there is an “Approved” stamp and a visa on it and other sheets, then the conversation with that same neighbor will be short: “Do you see the stamp on your squiggle? Yes? So you went to your garden to pick carrots.”

And one more small remark. It is not necessary to count nails individually and measure according to the project where to hit. Builders know very well that deviation from the project is far from the same as unauthorized construction. Therefore, having an approved project, more or less experienced developers build, as long as it looks like it, and then suddenly something will work out. The number of floors, dimensions in plan, location must match load-bearing walls(in a small bathhouse there are already 4 of them), the material from which it is built - wood is wood, brick is brick - and the foundation, its type and material. Anything else, if we are talking about a ban, will no longer be a violation, but a deviation from the project, which can be solved. Any foreman will tell such stories on this topic - you will marvel and laugh.

Note: The question may arise - what kind of liberalism is this for deviations? It’s about mother earth, they build on it, and it’s still impossible to predict exactly how it will behave. That’s why seasoned builders are given free rein so that, at their own risk, they can decide on the spot, depending on the circumstances, how to build it so that it will stand.

Location, dimensions, layout

The requirements for the location of the bathhouse on the site are shown in Fig. on right. Of these, when approving, they look especially strictly at the distances to the source of water supply, home, and drainage from the borders with neighbors. They should be adhered to with reserve, with water supply having the highest priority. If, for example, according to local conditions it is necessary to take a distance from a well or borehole of 30 m to the nearest sources of pollution (and the bathhouse is one of these), then we take this or another larger value. The same applies to distances to neighbors; carrots can indeed stink from the sauna drain.

Other requirements are quite flexible based on local conditions. For example, the distance to the house is taken so that seepage from the bathhouse drain does not undermine the foundation. If the bathhouse is lower on the slope, and the underground drain is directed from the house to it, then it is possible to keep within 5-7 m, then only according to the results of on-site surveys.

A lot of “creaking” when approving bathhouse projects is caused by the orientation of the entrance not to the south. There is already a medical reason: suddenly the steamed one comes out into the cutting north wind, not long before he gets pneumonia. But, let’s say, in the Ciscaucasia the worst wind in winter is precisely the southern one, the so-called. similar to the mountains, and in the wind rose in the north there is a gap, so in this case the orientation of the entrance to the bathhouse may be the opposite of the typical one. Well, it doesn’t matter where the window looks. If you want to admire the drain hatch while washing, that’s your business.

On normal personal plot The very possibility of building a bathhouse can be decided by a meter or one and a half of its size. In such a case, we give informal norms for the area per 1 washable person: 1.5 square meters. m dressing room and 1 sq. m washing room (shower). That is, a fairly comfortable home bath can be as small as 3x4 m. Examples of the layout of such baths are shown in Fig. below, with a separate steam room and combined with a washing room. Their peculiarity is that the entrance door can be on any of the walls of the dressing room, which facilitates the location of the bathhouse on the site.

You should linger especially in the steam room. The fact is that the general health of modern city dwellers often simply does not allow them to take a steam bath. In this case, you need a bathhouse of 3 compartments with a separate steam room. Such a layout can be laid in 3x4 m, on the right in Fig. with plans, but then the problem arises of heating the shower in cold weather. Letting the shower warm up is a waste of time hot water It’s irrational, there’s already not enough of it in the stove’s water heater, and there’s no room for a separate stove in the shower.

A way out can be found by deviating from bathhouse-planning traditions, especially if the area available for construction allows you to increase its size. For example, in Fig. – a bathhouse layout from 3x5 to 4x6 m with a small dressing room, actually a locker room.

A large washing room is heated either by a separate stove (marked?; a simple homemade potbelly stove or something like that will do) or by an air flow from the convector part of a modern sauna stove in a steam room. In the latter case, 2 solutions are possible: either non-flammable partitions and part of the air convector goes into the washing room, as in the figure, or taking in cold air above the floor of the washing room and supplying it with heated air under the ceiling using tin boxes or metal ducts. Thanks to the presence of a vestibule, the general entrance can be oriented in any way, and for those who like to get hot and splash into fresh snow or a pool in the steam room, a separate exit is provided.

Note: about the second sign? in Fig. and drain with drain, see below.

Materials

The choice of material for building a bathhouse is determined primarily by the physical processes in it. More precisely, our ancestors, based on what was available and the medical and hygienic requirements, understood intuitively but correctly at that time, came up with the design of the bathhouse building. Therefore, it turned out to be quite conservative and tightly tied to the tree. Wooden buildings require very high skill and long technological breaks for drying and shrinkage if inexpensive timber is used. It is possible to find a replacement for wood for a bathhouse, for example. foam blocks or wood concrete, or sawdust concrete, considered below. Therefore, before choosing a material, let’s see what kind of physics operates in a bathhouse.

Bath physics

First, the bathhouse is not constantly heated; when it is heated, it gets very hot, and when washed, it becomes damp. Secondly, during heating, the sauna stove must first produce a powerful flow of thermal (IR, infrared) radiation, which will warm up the walls and be absorbed by them, and a little later - a strong flow of heated air, giving a uniform temperature in the steam room. During washing, the furnace firebox is weakened so that those washing are not burned by its directed IR. People in the bathhouse should be gently and evenly enveloped by infrared from the heated walls and the heat of the air; This, in addition to the air being far from being saturated with moisture, is an indispensable condition for light steam.

The lightness or severity of a bath is not so closely related to temperature. Steam at 45 degrees can be heavy, but at 70 degrees it can be light. The tolerance and benefits of a bath for people of different, as they say, constitutions are expressed by a parameter that can be called the intensity of steam exposure; it has long been known among the people as the “vigor” of the bathhouse. Also, a classification of baths on this basis has long been established:

• Lightweight, for women and children- made of linden wood, the heat capacity of the walls is low, the IR from them quickly “exhales” and washable ones are heated more by air.
• Regular or Condo- traditionally from coniferous forest. Infrared heating from walls and air is approximately equal, depending on the firebox mode, and is suitable for almost everyone. Can be built from any materials suitable for a bath.
• Vigorous- made of thick oak logs. Thanks to the long and powerful IR from the walls with a high heat capacity at only 50 in the steam room, one anointing with a broom gets through, as they say, even the bones are playing. But you can withstand vigorous steam only with iron health. In general, a vigorous bath is heroic, after which, figuratively speaking, it’s time to throw trucks, grabbing the car by the towbar.

Light baths were built by the rich more for their wives, daughters and other women dear to them: a light bath has a beneficial effect on women's health and allows them to preserve beauty for a long time; adds sexual activity to both sexes. Dear Russian cocottes of the past, before receiving them, certainly let their visitors go through a light bathhouse, long before Russian word, denoting their profession, has become obscene.

However, linden timber was expensive even in the old days. Now all the centuries-old linden forests are under protection; linden commercial timber is not harvested. However, the properties of a light linden bath made of foam blocks and a frame bath are similar in properties, which will be described in more detail below. They are the cheapest and easiest to build. But riding in the snow after a light bath or splashing around in an ice hole is strictly contraindicated. Even before leaving it on the street, you need to cool down in a warm dressing room, and then, having dressed warmly, quickly sneak into the house.

A vigorous bath, on the contrary, is very expensive and complicated, because... it can only be built from logs of the highest quality. The longitudinal hollows between the crowns of the frame act as traps of the initial IR of the furnace, driving heat into the walls; timber walls absorb IR not nearly as voraciously. The same applies to any log baths, therefore, an “almost vigorous” bathhouse can be built from pine logs with a diameter of 200 mm. We will further focus mainly on “normal” hot tub baths, as they are the most versatile and accessible.

Selection and rejection

The best material for a bathhouse is wood, because... It was created for him. We’ll talk about foam blocks and other suitable materials later when describing bathhouses made from them, because... they go straight into action without rejection. This cannot be said about wood: wood that is quite suitable for a home may not last long in a bathhouse due to the specific conditions described above.

Note: a brick bathhouse is inferior to a wooden one in all respects, except one - large, from 70-100 sq. m in plan, a brick bathhouse will be cheaper than a wooden one, and its bathing qualities with such a large volume of the building will become acceptable. Therefore, brick baths were built and are being built mainly in large public ones.

The best tree for a bathhouse is larch, and for a vigorous one – bog oak, but both are expensive. Most often, bathhouses are built from pine or spruce wood after preliminary rejection of lumber. The first thing you should pay attention to is the complete absence of cracks (pos. 1 in the figure), then wormholes, pos. 2 and blue, black and other signs of rotting, pp. 2 and 3. Blueness usually accompanies wormholes (pos. 2), but can also appear as separate spots, pos. 3. The third sign of unconditional rejection of this piece is falling out knots. If the forest is conditioned, the selection criteria come into force.

Tar and dry wood chips

Coniferous timber, especially pine, has 2 varieties - tar and dry chips. The second is ordinary timber, cut down in blocks. The first one is impregnated with resin, it smells strongly, if you run your finger over the cut, it sticks and gets dirty. Tar is expensive because trees are cut down selectively during sap flow, which is not at all beneficial for the forest as a whole. However, when building a bathhouse from logs or timber, it is worth spending money on tar for 2-3 lower crowns: it does not rot at all, but under the influence of moisture it petrifies, turning into something like bog oak. For frame bath It is also advisable to take a resin beam for the bottom trim (bearing belt). And one more thing: for the subfloor of any bathhouse, it is very, very advisable to purchase much less expensive semi-finished products and waste from sawing tar with wane, first of all, the cheapest slab, see fig. You will have to work harder, debarking and adjusting, but the floor will be durable and inexpensive.

Note: Predatory logging is still practiced in some places, when trees are cut quarterly all year round. This is beneficial for the surrounding bathhouse builders - tar can be taken directly from the lumber market cheaper than dry wood chips from the distributor's warehouse. But for nature, this approach is worse than ever, and you need to be able to evaluate raw wood by eye for warping during drying, see below, about timber.

Impregnation

All lumber for building a bathhouse must be impregnated with antiseptics, biocides and fire retardants. Apart from tar, it does not rot, it will not accept any impregnation, and having hardened, it will become very poorly flammable. Wood impregnations are also sold separately, i.e., if it works out cheaper, you can buy inexpensive unimpregnated wood and process it yourself.

Impregnating materials for timber are made on the basis of purified mineral oils and/or silicone. You can come across recommendations to replace them with waste or fresh motor oil, but don't. Engine oils contain additives useful mechanisms, not people. In the bathhouse, they will inevitably get into the air and permeate you through the steamed skin.

Logs

Raw, i.e. wild logs are rarely sold now - it’s more profitable to cut them down for measuring material, and the waste will go into business, for cellulose, etc. There are companies that sell wild wood, but it’s selected and the prices are my respect. Therefore, if, after reading what follows, you decide to build a log bathhouse, you will have to purchase rounded logs.

The first selection criterion is that the log must be solid, chamber-drying; this is a very expensive material. Glued imitations, pos. 1 in Fig., would be perfect for a residential building, but not for a bathhouse, because... Due to various warping of the lamellas (fragments from which the log is glued together) under sauna operating conditions, they will soon split and rot with any impregnation.

The second point is cracks. T. called. healthy radial cracks, pos. 2, in log houses of residential buildings they are quite acceptable, but in a bathhouse they will become collectors of condensate with all that it implies; There are no natural air-dried logs without them, therefore, as stated above, only chamber logs are suitable. For the same reason, the log profile should not have recesses facing upwards, pos. 3. From logs Finnish profile and any modifications thereof are obtained great houses, but bathhouses are not built from them.

The construction log for the bathhouse should be with the usual so-called. lunar groove, pos. 4 facing down. To do this, during construction you need to select suitable scheme cuttings, see below. The best standard sizes for a bath are 190 or 210, noted in Fig. If you are building a “more core” sauna from pine logs, then, in addition to the increased diameter, you need to choose logs with a dark core and light sapwood, on the right in Fig. Logs with dark and light belts of growth rings will be randomly used in a regular bathhouse.

Note: if the “vigor” of the bath of great importance does not have it, then logs can be taken with slightly different diameters. When cutting into a cloud (this is the best way for a small bathhouse, see below) from different-sized logs a quite suitable log house is obtained, see fig. left.

timber

A timber bathhouse will cost much less than a log bathhouse and in appearance it fits perfectly into a country house residential development, see fig. The cheapest and easiest way to build it is from ordinary clean-edged timber (rectangular in cross section). The criteria for its rejection are the same as for logs, but a check for evenness is added.

Nowadays, it seems, simple chamber-drying timber is not on sale at all - it is unprofitable. And the air-dried timber is all warped to one degree or another. In general, this is not scary; in the construction of a log house, a technological break is always provided for drying and the wood’s own shrinkage. During it, the beams will lie against each other and become cemented; as they say, they will become fused with the caulk into an almost solid mass.

However, the shrinkage of wood is not unlimited, and if the timber is dried incorrectly, it may become excessively warped, and the frame made from it will remain with cracks. There are 2 purchasing options available here: either from a trusted supplier based on live recommendations from reliable people, or with an inspection of the stack in the warehouse by an invited specialist - a carpenter, furniture maker, forestry technician, etc. Learn to assess the degree of warping of lumber and their further shrinkage in the structure according to descriptions with instructions, unfortunately not possible.

Timber for building a bathhouse “under a log”

Very attractive, but requires particularly careful rejection of the wood, the construction of a timber bathhouse from a three-edged beam with a wane (pos. 1 in the figure on the right) or a 2-edged one, also known as a semi-edged sleeper, pos. 2.

These are semi-finished products, i.e. are inexpensive. Cutting them is not much more difficult than simple timber and may well not have been done by a carpenter. But it is possible to build a bathhouse from such timber that looks very similar to a “steep” log one, and in terms of properties - with intensive fires, it is close to vigorous.

As for profiled timber, firstly, it is expensive. Then, glued laminated timber should not be allowed into the bathhouse, for the same reasons as imitation logs, pos. 2 in Fig. And a solid chamber timber is even more expensive, and only the one selected entirely from the core (item 1) or sapwood will be used for the bathhouse. If both are visible at once on the cut of the timber, it will split in the bathhouse building. Finally, in the profile of the beam, as in the logs for the bathhouse, there should be no upward facing recesses, pos. 4. All this turns the choice into a living hell, especially since the sellers, knowing that their product is quite good for home use, do not understand such fastidiousness.

More about brick

If you suddenly want to build a brick bathhouse, keep in mind that the brick for it is also subject to rejection. For the bath you need heavy and dark, low-porous, or moderately, without warping and swelling, burnt iron ore, or clinker. Beautiful face bricks of dry or semi-dry molding are definitely not suitable.

Construction

Well, we will assume that we have passed the difficult and important stage of selecting and rejecting material. In the end, it only costs time, knowledge and attention. Now - let's build a bathhouse! There is also something to pay attention to here, in addition to the usual construction work operations. In general, the sequence of building a bathhouse is as follows:

1. Foundation;
2. Underfloor insulation and drainage equipment;
3. For frame baths - frame;
4. For them - a technological break for 2-6 months. for frame shrinkage;
5. Walls;
6. For log and timber baths - caulking of the log house;
7. For them, from air-drying materials (non-profiled timber, wild and debarked non-cylindered logs) - a technical break for 6-18 months. for shrinkage of the log house;
8. Openings, doors, windows;
9. Ceiling;
10. Roof;
11. Internal arrangement and, mainly, installation of the stove.

Foundation

In the old days, bathhouses were placed on a shallow foundation made of boulders (item 1 in the figure), this made it possible to reduce the processing of the lower crown logs to a minimum. To do this, they made something like a lodgement or centers from wild stones, in which round logs did not roll. At the corners, large boulders with intersecting natural hollows were especially prized; these are the very cornerstones. The original meaning of this term is now forgotten. A boulder foundation for a bathhouse can still be laid today, but, alas, wild stone is now far from being a waste material.

Note: do not be surprised by the mention of cornerstones in the Bible and Gospel. The now almost treeless Levant was then rich in excellent cedar wood. There was enough for both buildings and fleets. What was King Solomon's palace built of? "Thanks to" high value There is almost no Lebanese cedar left now.

A complete replacement for boulders - not buried or shallow, pos. 2. The first one is suitable for any wooden bathhouse, and the second one is suitable for a foam block bathhouse. In terms of complexity and labor intensity, the installation of both is affordable for novice builders, and the price is below average for a family budget. There is only one drawback: it is not suitable on unreliable soils. These include:

• Medium heaving is closer to highly heaving and highly heaving (heaving over 6-7% by volume) - fine silty sandy loam, dense loam, plump clay, etc.
• Subsidence category II, over 5% by volume - loose loess-like and clayey.
• Weak, with bearing capacity less than 1.7 kg/sq. cm – humus, silty, peaty, loose sandy loam.

In places with consistently positive winters and a low probability of drainage freezing, an excellent, simple and cheap option for a foundation for a wooden bathhouse is a columnar, non-buried foundation made from ready-made blocks 200x200x400, pos. 3. A conscientious and attentive office dweller, having undertaken to build, can lay it in place over the weekend.

On a slope, which is very good for drainage, and on unreliable soils, a bathhouse can be placed on a columnar foundation made of asbestos-cement pipes, pos. 4. Under wooden building In terms of cost and labor intensity, it is approximately equal to tape. Insulating the subfloor in places with frosty winters increases both slightly. Under a bathhouse made of foam blocks or bricks, the heads of the pillars will have to be tied together with rand beams or a grillage, pos. 5, this is already a rather complex and expensive process, especially the application of a grillage. However, for baths you can most often get by with rand beams.

Finally, the pile-grillage foundation, pos. 6. It can be welded metal, as in the figure, or concrete on bored piles. Both are quite complex and expensive, but high-quality metal pile foundation It also requires special equipment.

Pile foundations are laid for buildings on, as they say, no soil: silty, peaty, weak, heavily watered; in general, “in the swamp.” They don’t build a bathhouse on rotten mud, but laying a pile foundation for it is justified in special cases.

For example, the author had the opportunity to take a steam bath in a vigorous bath on a steep slope above the river. A platform protruded above the pool, with a staircase leading straight into the water. There were springs from the bottom - in the summer the water was icy, and in the winter there was a hole in the water. The sensations are indescribable; if you are floating in paradise, then this is exactly how it is and no other way. But you can only build in such a place on stilts, otherwise in a year or two the ground will creep and the bathhouse will only gurgle or float, swaying. It is for such exclusives that the pile foundation for a bathhouse is intended.

Insulation and lathing for walls

Before building any bathhouse, on any foundation, except for boulders, you need to apply double waterproofing made of bitumen and roofing felt, see fig. It is applied after the foundation has gained strength, except for welded metal.

If a wooden bathhouse is being built on a strip foundation, then before laying the first crown of the frame or the lower chord of the frame, 30x30 mm or 40x40 mm slats are laid out on the insulation strip, as shown in Fig. left; With high-quality lumber, you can get by with thick, from 10 mm, shingles. The purpose of this sheathing is to prevent the wood from rotting from underneath due to capillary damming. The remaining gap is then caulked along with the walls.

Note: in any case, no anchor bolts, etc. It is not necessary to attach walls to the foundation. With thermal shocks experienced by the structure of the bathhouse, there will be no benefit from them, except harm.

Floor and drain

The floor and drain of the bathhouse are inextricably linked and are therefore considered together. Together they make up the most complex and important structural unit of a bathhouse, which largely determines its operational, sanitary and hygienic qualities.

In the old baths, the drain went directly to the ground through the cracked floor. Nowadays it is prohibited to dump any waste water onto the ground surface, but a cracked steam room/washing room floor is quite appropriate, see below.

The drainage from the bath can be dispersed, through the entire surface of the floor, or point (concentrated) through a grate (ladder) in the floor. The first, as we will see below, is more complicated, but much more hygienic. Point drainage is most often done if the drainage hole is located under the floor. This saves space and volume earthworks, but sanitation and hygiene are 3 minus. In addition, there are no drain holes that do not require cleaning and pumping at all, and in this case, for plumbing repairs, you will need to break the floor. An additional disadvantage is that due to the infiltration of wastewater directly under the building, the bathhouse will sooner or later “lead.”

An argument in favor of a hole under the floor is often given - they say, it won’t freeze. Oh, sorry, do you heat your bathhouse all winter? If you can afford it, then why build it yourself? Order a turnkey bathhouse and take a steam bath. Unfortunately, there is no reason to add “for health”, since there is a hole under the floor. The way to protect any waste pit from freezing has been known for a long time: this is a wooden cover 30-40 cm under inspection hatch. The drainage from the bathhouse is warm and, under the double lid, will have time to soak into the soil before the most severe frost reaches it.

Note: sometimes they also say that you need to put a gas-tight lid on the pit under the bathhouse. Clean water a curiosity in the spirit of black humor - any sealed sewage pit eventually explodes, like a poorly sterilized jar of homemade preserves. In the bath - mainly during washing, because... the thermal shock during heating will play the role of initiator.

The device for diffused flow from the bathhouse is clear from pos. 1 pic. It is highly advisable to equip the concrete drain with a homemade water seal, pos. 2, this will ensure that the bathhouse meets the most stringent sanitary requirements. The concrete used for the screed is waterproof; When mixing independently, a water-polymer emulsion is added to the water at the rate of 200 ml per 10 liters, and the hardened and strengthened screed is treated with bitumen mastic. This should be done in the warm season, and before laying the floor, give a maintenance break for 5-7 days.

The bathhouse must have a separate drainage hole. The drain from the bathhouse is large for a house sewer and is large, but it is much cleaner than kitchen gray, not to mention fecal waste, and contains a little fat. If you run a bath drain into a common one that is properly designed and constructed, it will choke and the active bacteria in it will die. If you build a large and expensive septic tank with the expectation of a volley discharge, then the bacteria will not have enough ordinary flow to feed them, the activated sludge will sour, and the sewage system will stop working again. A drainage hole is dug at the rate of 50-100 liters per 1 washable person to a depth of at least 30 cm below the calculated (normative) freezing depth, provided that it is buried at least 1.2 m into the mainland (under the fertile layer) soil. In most regions RF, these conditions are maintained when the drain is deepened to 1.6-1.8 m.

The simplest and cheapest drain hole is made from car tires in a clay castle, pos. 3. But waste water will inevitably stagnate in its side pockets, and such a pit will have to be disinfected much more often. Keeping in mind the future costs of antiseptics, cleaning and pumping, it turns out to be more profitable to buy a pair of (60-70) cm concrete or plastic rings for wells. These are the smallest and cheapest well rings. Their height is standard - 90 cm; 2 pieces is just enough. With an internal diameter of 0.7 m, the volume of the pit is sufficient for 5-6 washers.

What if the pit is still under the floor (maybe there is simply no room on the site for an external one), then the bathhouse can be used no more than once a week. In this case, the point drain will be cheaper, and its complex and expensive concrete catcher under the floor can be replaced with an overturned low wooden tent. Then, around the mouth of the pit, you need to apply high-quality waterproofing with a distance of at least 0.5 m beyond the contour of the drain grate, pos. 4. However, this is also a bad solution: water will still seep under the insulation, and it’s better not to think about what kind of biocenosis will develop there. At least before eating.

Floor

The floor of the bathhouse must ensure, firstly, rapid and complete drainage of water without rotting itself. Secondly, to provide sufficient insulation and guarantee against drafts from below, provided that it is impossible to fill the subfloor with thermal insulation, you will have to limit yourself to filling it with expanded clay. To do this, the floor of the bathhouse is made floating, pos. 1 in Fig., i.e. not strictly connected to the structure of the building. Lay the floor along the joists; their ends in the log wall are inserted into the cutouts of the lower crown, pos. 2. In a timber bathhouse, the ends of the logs are connected with cross members to form a solid lattice, and in a frame bath, as in a frame house, the floor logs together in the lower chord form the main supporting frame.

The lag pitch is 40-60 cm. Their height is 100-120 mm for a span of up to 4 m and 150 mm for a span of 4-5 m. For larger spans, intermediate pillars or internal sections of the tape must be provided in the foundation. The thickness of the lags is taken approximately 1/50 of the span length, i.e. 60 mm for 3 m, 80 mm for 4 m, etc.

In the spaces between the lags, lay the slab with the convex side up. Because The slab boards taper towards one end; they are laid alternately with the narrow end in one direction or the other. Gaps of 5 mm are left between the boards, the same pos. 2 in Fig. This design does not impede drainage, improves thermal insulation to some extent, and together with finished floor boards laid crosswise to the slabs, it protects against drafts.

It is very, very advisable to use pitch pine for logs and rough flooring from slabs. To reduce the cost of floor joists, you can make them from 3-edged timber or from a half-edged sleeper split in two lengthwise, see above. But then they will have to be trimmed from the wane side so that the base under the finished floor is level and horizontal.

The finished floor with diffused drainage is laid from ordinary planed, clean-edged boards, preferably tar, with a thickness of 40 mm. Reducing the cost, again, will cost extra work: you can take an unplaned and unedged tar board, “bring it to mind” yourself using a saw and jointer(the old Soviet desktop UBDS-1 and the like are very convenient for this), and lay it on the flooring with the remains of the wane facing down. The clean floor is laid with gaps between the boards of about 5 mm to allow water to drain.

To lay a floor with a point drain, first place a larch or tar board with a drain grate between the joists above the pit or water seal. Lay the floor without cracks, with a cutout above the grate, pos. 3 and 4. The board should not be taken tongue-and-groove, but with a locking quarter, pos. 5. After a maintenance break for shrinkage of the structure, the joints of the boards are filled with liquid nails or rubbed with waterproof wood putty.

Despite all the high cost, complexity and labor intensity, this is far from best option. At pos. 4 it is clear that, judging by the general condition of the floor and grate, the bathhouse is still new, but the floor under the bench is already slimy. Apparently, the builders’ dislike for diffuse drainage through the cracked floor is explained by prejudices and incomplete knowledge of the history of the Russian bathhouse.

Walls and log house

The log bathhouse certainly looks gorgeous, see fig. But we won’t dwell on them for long: these buildings are generally not for beginners. In any case, in order to build a simple bathhouse, you will need to master 2 difficult technologies - cutting logs with a burl with the remainder, pos. And in Fig., and with a paw without a trace, pos. B-D. The latter, by the way, is technologically simpler, but requires calibrated logs, because the proportions of the marking template (pos. D) are tied to the side of the square inscribed in the diameter of the log, pos. D. In any case, the bottom of the logs of the first crown must be trimmed very precisely and evenly, because a boulder foundation that can fit under logs is now unrealistic.

Note: cutting into a crow and into a simple bowl (see figure on the right) is often considered the same work operation, because The configuration of logs ready for laying in a log house is the same. In fact, when cutting into the bowl, the recesses and grooves turn out to be facing upward, which is unacceptable for a bathhouse. When cutting into a log, the fitted logs are transferred into the log house with a revolution, this complicates and slows down the assembly of the log house on the foundation.

From timber

It is already quite possible for a beginner to build a bathhouse from timber: there is no need to select curved grooves and holes in the wood. It is enough to be able to handle a saw, hammer, chisel and axe. To build a small, up to 4x5 m, bathhouse, you need to master only 3, or only one, simple operation: cutting into half a tree or into an okhryap with a remainder, or cutting without a residue into a paw (at the end); marked in Fig. "!"

The sauna will use timber from 100x100 to 250x250 mm. The thicker, the better and more expensive, naturally. In general, “one hundred” will be enough south of Voronezh, 150x150 for the Moscow region, and 200x200 north of St. Pereburg. For 1-3 lower crowns, you need to take a timber one size larger, and again, it is highly desirable, tar.

Actually, the process of assembling a timber frame without any residue from non-profile clean-cut timber (the simplest and cheapest) by cutting into the end is shown in the following. rice. First, the ends of the beams cut to size are prepared according to the template, pos. 1. If instead of a beam there is a semi-edged sleeper suitable for a bathhouse (see above) (item 1a), then you can get an almost complete imitation of a log house.

When assembling a log house, it is necessary to prevent lateral displacement of the beams. A frame made of logs is held in place by lunar grooves, but for smooth beams the connections at the corners are not enough. There are 2 options here. First, pos. 2 – simple, but not the best, because the nails in the log house will rust. The log house is immediately knocked down tightly, and caulking tape (see below) is applied immediately. The location and length of the nails are the same as the dowels in the trail. option. Nails need to be countersunk, with a completely recessed head, or with a hammer special tool– doboynik; it looks like a mechanic's punch with a ground end.

According to the 2nd method, pos. 3, the beams are fastened with round blind dowels - dowels. Calibrated dowels are available for sale; it is better to take oak ones. The connection of the crowns with dowels is done as follows:

• The next one is placed on the previous crown.
• Drill holes exactly along the diameter of the dowels through the upper beam to half the height of the lower one.
• Remove the top crown.
• Lay caulk tape.
• Insert dowels by piercing the caulk above the nests under them.
• Again, now for good, the upper crown is laid, putting it on the dowels.
• The procedure is repeated until the frame is completely assembled; the dowels are staggered, see again pos. 3.

Note: when spanning up to 6 m, it is sufficient to fasten the beams at the corners, as shown in Fig.

What if the timber is profiled?

One of the reasons why profile beams were invented was the desire to get rid of the rather labor-intensive and costly fastening with dowels. However, this consideration is not applicable to a bathhouse: profiles that hold each other tightly are not suitable for a bathhouse. And for those that will not “catch” condensation, bath temperature deformations will soon break the ridges. Therefore, the frame of a bathhouse made of profiled timber still needs to be fastened.

Caulk

Log and lumber buildings are caulked upon assembly. For a log you will need thorough caulking skills and a full set of caulking tools, see fig.

It is easier to caulk timber: you will need a curved steel caulk - a lebeza, a straight narrow wooden caulk and a mallet, see fig. below. The sauna log house is caulked using both methods shown there: when assembling the log house, caulk is laid between the crowns for the caulk stretched, and after it is finished, the caulk is finally added to the set.

Note: The lebeza is designed for pushing caulk between logs. From its name comes “fawning” in the sense of ingratiating oneself, groveling with ulterior motives on one’s mind, in general, getting under one’s skin. If the caulking is made of jute (see below) and the frame is made of timber, there is no need for a lebeza.

It is impossible to do without caulk for waterproofing, even the most modern one: caulk not only seals the seams, but “grows together” with the wood into a single mass and finally holds the frame together. There are no synthetics that can replace it yet.

In the old days, the stretch was caulked with moss, and the set was caulked with an oiled or resinous strand of flax tow. Nowadays, most caulking is done with jute fiber; it is almost wood in composition and lignin content. It is better to take jute caulk in the form of a set of tape and cord, see fig. The tape is loose, it is easy to push it under the dowel with your finger. The tape is laid when assembling the log house, and then there is no need to fawn on it; after assembly, the log house is immediately caulked with cord into the set.

To prevent the log house from leaking, they caulk strictly in the following sequence: the blank long side of the lower crown inside, then outside, then also opposite it. Then - the short sides of the lower crown, starting with the one where there are no openings, also first from the inside, then from the outside. In the same sequence, the remaining crowns are caulked strictly in turn from bottom to top.

Summary of timber and logs

A chamber-dried galvanized log can be considered a type of profiled timber. A bathhouse made from it and corrugated timber, also chamber-dried, can be used immediately after construction, because These materials underwent shrinkage and shrinkage during processing; This is the undoubted advantage of “chamber” wood. Cost of 1 sq. m of bath space made of these materials in most regions of the Russian Federation exceeds the cost of a square of living space in new middle-class buildings.

The most expensive, complex and time-consuming, but also the most prestigious, will be a log bathhouse. Its bathing qualities exactly correspond to those of a traditional Russian bath. In terms of “steepness” and cost, a timber sauna is almost equivalent to a log bathhouse, but technologically it is much simpler and can be installed by an amateur builder of average qualification. In terms of the quality of steam, a timber bathhouse can be made almost indistinguishable from a log bathhouse.

The use of chamber corrugated timber for the construction of a bathhouse can be justified if it is not possible to reject air-dried or raw material individually, for example, in regions where there are no own logging operations and traders flatly refuse to sell ordinary lumber selectively. Otherwise, it is possible, using semi-finished industrial wood, to install a timber bathhouse, which in appearance is almost indistinguishable from a log bathhouse.

In general a log or timber bathhouse can be recommended for those who are sufficiently wealthy, takes care of his health, stays physically fit, and has already built at least country house or a barn. If you are not sure that a steam bath, and even more so a vigorous steam room, will benefit you, then it is better to build one of the light baths described below. The same option is indicated if there is a lack of funds and construction experience: light baths are simple and inexpensive, and their steam will not harm anyone.

Technical break

After assembling and caulking the log house, its top is temporarily covered with boards, plywood, cardboard, etc., and covered with film. The film is secured in any way to prevent it from being torn off by the wind. The log house is left to dry and shrink for at least six months; best from spring or early summer until the fall of next year. During this time, the tree will not only dry out and shrink, but will also become accustomed to the caulk.

Openings, doors, windows

Methods for constructing door and window openings in timber baths are mainly used 2. 1st, pos. 1 and 2 in Fig., “for the lazy and uneconomical”: only 1 of its upper beams is selected to fit the width of the opening, and after a maintenance break the opening is simply cut out. However, this method is not so wasteful: the trimmings can be used for the panel ceiling (see below) and certainly for the internal equipment of the bathhouse, flooring, etc. And you won’t be particularly lazy with this method: in order to avoid a sudden “game” when cutting out a tense After the log house shrinks, the edges of the future opening must be reinforced with dowels, like corners, when assembling the log house.

According to the 2nd method, pos. 3, the beams are cut to size in advance, and a tenon is selected at their ends extending into the opening. The disadvantage of this method is that you need special frames for doors and windows, whereas the first method will use simple frames made of boards. In general, it is better to make openings “in the first way” when the appearance of the bathhouse is not of great importance, and “in the second way” - when you want something “more cool”.

Note: among mid-budget baths, timber baths are certainly the best. Therefore, we provide in addition a video about the details of arranging a timber bath:

Video: building a bathhouse from timber, proper design

Frame

A frame bathhouse is built the same way. Immediately after assembling the frame, rafter beams are installed, and the frame dries/shrinks under its own roof, in the center in Fig. Since the openwork structure is blown by all winds, the technical break for drying/shrinkage is minimal. Usually the frame is assembled in the spring, the bathhouse is completed in the same fall and they are already steaming before the cold weather.

The second feature is that the finished floor is laid together with the wall cladding on the outside, on the right in the figure, in the usual sequence from bottom to top, i.e. starting from the floor. There is no need to insulate the walls from the outside, as is sometimes advised. IN decorative purposes Something like siding is enough, without laying polystyrene foam in the sheathing cells. So it is necessary that the walls are better ventilated. But it is necessary to thoroughly insulate from the inside, as in the foam block bath described below, excluding the underlying plaster.

A frame bathhouse turns out to be the simplest and cheapest, even cheaper than a foam block bathhouse. In terms of the “vigorousness” of the steam, this bathhouse is only light. However, taking a steam bath in it in the winter north of Moscow is very problematic: it gives off heat well, and the insulation measures used in frame houses, make the steam heavy. In general frame sauna - a typical summer weekend sauna; serves especially well as country bathhouse, combined with a utility block.

Note: on outer skin There are no restrictions on a frame bath, so imitations like timber, logs, etc. are possible.

Foam block

A bathhouse made of foam blocks is the only type of bathhouse structure in our time that allows you to install a light bathhouse in any climate due to the high heat-insulating properties of the wall material. Aerated concrete baths can also be considered the cheapest and simplest technologically: their cost is lower than that of timber ones by 25-30%, and even up to 50%, see below. The number of measurement operations and precise adjustments during construction for a foam block bath is several times less than for a frame bath, and there is no need to form curved surfaces in the material.

It is also important that, in general significant costs Little working time and physical effort are required when building a bathhouse from foam blocks. There is no need to swing a saw and an ax all the time; in general, the construction technique is set, attached, nailed. For city dwellers unaccustomed to physical labor, this circumstance can be decisive. And for summer residents, the technical interruption during construction is minimal, for curing the mortars. In a normal summer, a week is enough for this, and construction can continue the following weekend. Which, working on weekends with two or three of us, you can, starting in April, finish by July and still have a good steam bath before winter.

Foam concrete, from which foam blocks are made, is a lightweight material, it floats in water. Therefore, on stable and well-bearing soils, the construction of a foam block bath can be further simplified and cheaper. In general, for a bathhouse made of foam blocks, a strip foundation is recommended, pos. 1 in Fig. But on reliable soils it can be replaced with a non-buried columnar one made of ready-made concrete blocks, as for a frame bathhouse, and the walls can be erected on a frame made of timber from 200x200 to 300x300, impregnated with an antiseptic, a water repellent and covered with waterproofing, like a concrete strip.

However, the lightness and, especially, the porosity of aerated concrete still require labor during construction; True, not heavy and uncomplicated. It is especially necessary to protect the walls from getting wet inside and out: aerated concrete dampens not only easily, but downright with pleasure, but it dries very hard and takes a long time. Therefore, looking ahead, we will immediately say that, having covered the roof, the bathhouse must be surrounded by a ventilated facade with a gap of about 5 cm. With any other method of external insulation/insulation, the dew point getting into the porous wall that greedily absorbs moisture is inevitable.

Further, when constructing walls, pos. 2, only the first 2-3 rows are laid on a regular cement-sand mortar, and then they switch to a special adhesive for aerated concrete; it looks similar to a regular masonry mortar. The lightness of the material already plays a role here: the cement masonry joint, being lightly loaded, does not resist shear loads well, and the wind can simply collapse the structure.

The most special features concern internal insulation. It is produced in this order:

1. Walls with waterproof plaster (lime; a water-polymer emulsion is added to the water for the solution);
2. When the plaster is completely dry, it is painted with water-repellent paint, preferably polymer façade paint, or, in extreme cases, red lead, zinc or titanium white;
3. Lay waterproofing over the dried paint with an overlap of 15 cm, securing it with horizontal slats;
4. Mats made of long-fiber mineral wool are placed between the slats, pos. 3;
5. The mineral insulation is sheathed with rolled glass wool foiled on both sides, also long-fiber, pos. 4 and 4a, with an overlap of 25 cm;
6. Vertical slats are filled over the foil insulation and the internal lining is laid along them;
7. Upon completion of finishing and installation of doors/windows, all cracks are thoroughly foamed, pos. 5: foam concrete does not care where it is soaked from; moisture spreads in it instantly. A cloud escaping from the steam room into the dressing room can destroy the bathhouse.

And once again, looking ahead, but not by much: due to the peculiarities of the construction, visible in pos. 1, the ceiling in the bathhouse is made of foam blocks only as a hemming.

Ceiling

The ceiling of the bathhouse is made of flooring, hemming or panel. The first is the original ceiling of a Russian bathhouse small size. To install it, a well-established log house is covered with boards on top, the cracks are caulked with moss in a set from the attic side and filled with resin. Then the rafter beams are laid (see below, about the roof) and the spaces between them are filled with peat; sometimes the entire ceiling is tarred before backfilling. The floor of the attic is either covered or not. Now, of course, it is better to caulk it with jute, cover the flooring with waterproofing before installing the beams, and insulate it with long-fiber mineral wool.

A false ceiling, see figure, is suitable for any bathhouse, because... it is stronger - ceiling beams at the same time they are rafters, and are also mechanically connected to the log house/building. A panel ceiling is a combination of a deck ceiling with a hemmed one: a panel with insulation and insulation is assembled on the ground, and then, with the whole crowd, using a crane or a mini-excavator manipulator, they lay it on the frame. The good thing about a panel ceiling is that it can be “molded” from scraps, but it is only suitable for a timber bathhouse measuring up to 4x5 m.

Roof

Roof for any of the described banya will do gable. Roof trusses– simple triangles with one gusset crossbar, in the center in the figure:

The gables are covered with boards; We definitely need dormer windows that can be opened in the summer and for the duration of use + an hour and a half after that in the winter. Suitable for timber baths hanging rafters, on the left in the figure, for the rest - a complete truss with a screed beam, on the right in the same place. The sheathing under the roof deck is sparse, with slots of 30 mm or more, for ventilation. The flooring itself is anything other than iron; it doesn’t hold heat well and quickly rusts in the bathhouse.

Arrangement

TO finishing materials for a bath, the requirements, in addition to decorative ones, are moisture resistance, hygiene, complete chemical neutrality. Based on their combination, solid wood lining is often used. MDF and laminate are not suitable, they will swell and become limp! The lining profile for any orientation of the boards must meet the requirements described above: no upward-facing pockets, for example, as in Fig. on right.

In the steam room, of course, you need bedding. They are made in 2-3 tiers, with a vertical step of 50-60 cm, even if only one person is steaming all the time. The reason is that you need to be able to choose the height of the location when vaping, depending on the general condition, so that the bathhouse does not go sideways.

The width of the beds is 60-80 cm; flooring - always with gaps of 10-20 mm, on the left in Fig. Do not lay the finished floor under the sheets, it will get slimy! The length of the poles is 180-200 cm for prone soaring or 80-100 cm for sitting soaring. “Economy” flights of 150 cm for hovering with your knees up are not the best option. Sometimes you want and need to raise your knees when hovering in a prone position, but if you hover like this all the time, your health will not be good due to the constant outflow of blood from your legs to your heart and head.

It is better to make the finishing of the shower/washing room from upright boards, on the right in the figure, this way there is less chance of rotting - it is easier for water to drain from the grooves. Also, in the washing room, whether there is a meal there or a group of people getting wet, you need benches - for children to sit, steam, and exercise their feet without the risk of slipping.

About partitions

Capital partitions in the bathhouse are not needed. On the contrary, they need to be made lighter so that the heat of the stove spreads throughout the entire bathhouse more quickly. Partitions are placed before internal insulation, insulation and finishing. Material – boards or wooden lining on a wooden frame; total thickness – 50-70 mm. Moisture-resistant drywall, plywood, etc. They are not suitable, they will not last long in the bathhouse.

Bake

A requirement common to all sauna stoves is an extended firebox channel so that the firebox door can be opened into the dressing room. Tradition is tradition, but in the old days people most often got burned in baths: a person’s susceptibility to carbon monoxide increases sharply with increasing air temperature.

For a bathhouse with a shared steam room and washing area, an inexpensive sauna stove without an air convector, like the “Heat” and its homemade copies, is most suitable. A potbelly stove for a bathhouse with a water heater will also work - in the smallest steam room you can provide a length of the horizontal part of the chimney of 2 m, which will make the potbelly stove quite economical.

It is unrealistic to maintain the 60 cm distance of the stove from the walls required by fire regulations in a small bathhouse, but special fireproof ones, like in the steam room before. Fig. are very expensive. Therefore, the nook for the stove in the bathhouse must, firstly, be covered with a mat of vermiculite or mineral cardboard, pos. 1 in Fig. on right. An ordinary fireproof bedding made of asbestos and steel sheet is not suitable for a bathhouse - you can get seriously burned on iron heated to 60-70 degrees if you step on it, because the severity of the burn depends on the amount of thermal energy transferred into the body, and metal gives off heat well and quickly. That’s why, by the way, steam burns are so dangerous – they release a very large amount of latent heat water condensation.

Secondly, the walls near the furnace need to be covered with fireproof sheathing. At the same pos. 1 The builders did not skimp on fireclay brick for her. According to physics, this is excellent, but, constantly moistened, the fireclay will soon crumble, and the lining will have to be changed. The same high-burnt (dark) ceramic working brick that went to the top of the skin would work all the way down to the bottom.

A little more about the shape of the sauna stove. In a collective steam room, it is best to install a round stove, pos. 2 in the same figure, or a basket stove with a combustion part hidden in the heater. Then everyone steaming will receive equal shares of health.

Unusual differences

The most vigorous of Russian baths is the dugout bathhouse, see fig. To build it, you need a dry sandy (better), sandy loam or loamy hillock. The walls, stove, chimney are made of boulders or large rubble; the roof is covered with turf. A wooden lattice-frame is placed on the earthen floor, which is then folded back against the wall so that it does not rot. Drain into the ground, which in our time is only possible by stealth, but steam - Ilya Muromets would only groan and hoot.

And here’s something else – a camp mini-sauna, see next. rice.

The design on the same principle is repeated by many, both in mobile and stationary versions, see at least the video:

Video: mini sauna

But let's take a closer look at Fig. Doesn't this building look like...? What if you use a milky, non-translucent one for the lining? Unless the owners are prone to exhibitionism, and even then the neighbors will complain. In general, it’s worth a try at the dacha.

Unusual technologies are bursting into our lives faster than a tornado: today those who have not yet figured out a smartphone consider themselves residents of the last century. And the same story in construction: no matter how proven and good the bricks and logs turn out to be, tomorrow the bathhouses will already begin to “spit out” huge printers, and ordinary people are already building their steam rooms from scrap materials, competing to see whose architectural invention will last longer . Have you always dreamed of building a stunning steam room on your property? Adopt new technology!

Baths in style 2999

Build a bathhouse with ideal geometric shapes according to a standard drawing? Boring! So, at least modern architects think, and distort forms as much as they can:

Do you want to build such a miracle? Here are a couple more photo instructions:

Volume-modular construction: time of transformers

This interesting construction method appeared not so long ago in North America, and already today there are entrepreneurs in Russia who have taken note of the idea. It all looks like this: in the morning on land plot a truck with a container arrives, the cargo is removed from the trailer and placed on a foundation (concrete slab or piles, for example). Just four people unfold the house with their bare hands and connect the devices with communications. It was day one.

On the second day, furniture is delivered and the space is minimally decorated. On the third day, the whole family can move in and live. More such containers mean a more spacious house. The minimum area of ​​one such house is as much as 70 sq.m.

Moreover, it is not at all difficult to equip a Finnish sauna in such a house as a built-in one. And if you want to move somewhere, such a bath house can just as quickly be disassembled and transported in the same container. The second contains furniture, a sauna and household appliances. Amazing, isn't it?

Of course, this is an economical option. One such container in Russia costs from 15 to 30 thousand rubles per square meter. True, at this stage the issue of expensive transportation of such a house has not yet been resolved. So, for now, prefabricated Canadian bath houses are not very interesting for the ordinary Russian person, although marketers are actively working on this problem.

In the meantime, mini-saunas without a foundation are gaining popularity:

Transparent concrete: steam rooms in the form of ice sculptures

A sensational novelty among construction technologies is transparent concrete. This innovative composite material has the ability to truly transmit light, but it truly has all the properties of regular concrete. The same strength, water resistance, heat and sound insulation. But from now on, in such a bathhouse it will be possible to see not only what kind of stove is used and how many shelves are in the steam room, but also the vacationers themselves.

This miracle of technology came to us from the USA. For the first time, fences for government buildings began to be built from it, but several transparent objects have already been built in Sweden and Japan. For example, the main building of BMW was erected using this particular technology, for which it received the German Architecture Prize in 2005.

Lamps are also made from transparent concrete, the creator of which, architect A. Loshontsi, now gives lectures all over the world about the possibilities of construction from such a material.

Transparent concrete consists of a fine-grained matrix and fiber - dispersedly reinforced sections of glass fibers. This material has excellent compressive, bending and tensile strength, good impact strength and frost resistance. But the weight, unlike conventional concrete, is 40-60% less.

But in Russia, transparent concrete is considered more thermal insulation materials than to a monolith - there is even such a term as PTI, transparent thermal insulation. This also includes polycarbonate, by the way. Another transparent concrete that is actively used abroad is concrete, which is made by crushing broken glass using special equipment and gluing them together. But you won’t be able to see anything completely through such walls—in the same bathhouse, only silhouettes will be visible. Read more about new construction technologies on the website remvizor.ru - there are a lot of worthy articles there.

We also note separately the Frozen Smoke airgel, which is also called “frozen smoke”. It consists of 1% silicon anhydride and 99% air. A bathhouse built using such material is simply breathtaking: it seems as if the bricks are simply hanging in the air! But this gel is also fireproof, which is of particular value for a steam room.

Being very light, airgel is capable of holding enormous weights. And it is even used in space - to catch dust from the tail of comets. But it seems that a cosmic miracle will soon be in every home - all leading architects are sure of this. Shelves, a stove and even stones in the air - why not? There will be something to surprise your friends!

3D printers – the future has already arrived!

Already in several countries, special construction printers are being prepared for release at the same time, which are capable of printing entire buildings. These are the same 3D printers, only huge, and they print not with paint, but with concrete.

In appearance, the 3D printer looks like a designer set come to life: an overhead crane with a lifting capacity of 300 kg and a working area of ​​up to 20 m. Special rails have also been thought out for the design itself.

So, literally in a day, just one of the printers is capable of “printing” a house with an area of ​​200 sq.m. Instead of reinforced foundation, to which we are accustomed, fiber cement is used, or rather, pseudo-reinforcement from it in the form of a W-bond. Concrete is supplied from a device similar to a construction gun, and the hardening time of concrete in different places is strictly calculated. But the first step towards such a revolution was machine plastering, which saves a lot of time and provides excellent quality of work.

But for now, a 3D printer raises a lot of questions for many: will fiber cement replace a real foundation, how quickly does the mixture used harden in order to hold a new layer on itself, and why then does it not harden in the hose itself? How expensive will it be to rent such a colossus and how to move it? These are the questions that the creators of the 3D printer are working on. Let us remember that at one time faxing was also something of a fantasy, and 3D images were considered completely unrealizable. Therefore, it is quite possible that the scenario in the near future will develop like this: in the morning they wanted a bathhouse on the site - in the afternoon the 3D printer arrived - in the evening they already began the first decoration of the walls!

So, in Southern California, Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis has already built something similar - his creation builds a house by producing separate ready-made blocks, the dimensions of which are strictly calculated. This 3D printer model is equipped with a special nozzle through which concrete is poured. Everything is controlled via a computer. This technology is called “Contour Crafting”, and thanks to it, a completely finished frame of a house or bathhouse appears in the white light. But windows, doors and communications are all done by hand.

You will be surprised, but in fact, 3D printers have existed for a long time and are actively used. Using such technologies, wood, iron and polymers are already printed. So why not build entire houses the way wasps and bees do?

Construction of a bathhouse with permanent formwork

Yes, we are talking about that very convenient permanent formwork that is increasingly used today for foundations - convenient and thermally efficient. But recently they began to build walls from such material. Moreover, today the main material used is foam plastic - such houses are warm and inexpensive, and with properly organized ventilation, the microclimate in such a building will be absolutely healthy. But when building a bathhouse using such an unusual technology, it is customary to remove the foam from inside the building - after the concrete itself has hardened. And use more natural materials as insulation.

But in the near future, scientists are going to use more environmentally friendly alternatives to foam using the same technology. So warm and light bathhouses will be built in just a week!

The only thing that the owners of such houses worry about is that any polystyrene foam contained in laminate, plastic windows, polystyrene foam, rubber mats and linoleum releases a harmful volatile substance called phenol. Therefore, ventilation in modern house really needed not only because of the walls.

Dome baths: unique technology in a new way

You have already heard that unique greenhouses, houses and bathhouses are being built in the form of geodesic domes: here is an example of this amazing technology:

And this architectural miracle is truly economical and looks amazing on any site, which is why work on this method continues to this day. And now, another know-how: now such houses and baths will not be built, and not even printed, but... inflated.

This method was proposed by the architect Nicolo Bini. In just a couple of hours, with little expense, you get a wonderful building, without seams or any interpanel joints. This dome is called Binishell, and the forefather of this technology was Dante Bini, who built similar house right next to the active volcano Etna. Moreover, the domed house was able to withstand both hurricanes and earthquakes. And here's how binichell is built today:

• Step 1. The foundation is being built.
• Step 2. A ball and a durable membrane are placed on the foundation.
• Step 3. Temporary formwork is installed around the ball.
• Step 4. All this is filled with a good layer of concrete.
• Step 5. Now, using a powerful pump, the balloon is inflated to required sizes. The concrete, which has not yet hardened, takes on the shape of a dome.
• Step 6: The balloon is deflated and packed away for construction of the next house.

Inexpensive, effective and cute. Such houses are even often given a “green” roof, and then the result is absolutely amazing.

Cordwood baths: a DIY masterpiece!

This construction material is called “clay mortar”. The basis is ordinary wooden firewood and clay with straw (Translated, cordwood means “woodpile”). And even if right now you imagine that this is how you can only build a decrepit rural house, you are mistaken:

Here are the main advantages of such eco-houses:

1. Building materials are free.
2. Excellent thermal insulation.
3. 100% environmentally friendly.
4. Original appearance.
5. Durability and amazing ease of repair.

Clay and wood have a similar ability to absorb and release moisture. In summer, such a bathhouse will even be cool until the stove is lit, and in winter it will be warm. The walls instantly absorb and release moisture, and therefore there is no point in worrying about some kind of insulation and expensive foil material.

So, you still don't have a sauna because you're on a budget? Adopt this unusual technology and all your neighbors will be amazed!

• Step 1. Prepare good firewood and clay. It is better not to take whole firewood for such buildings - they can, unfortunately, crack. But chopped ones, especially aspen, are perfect. A good length of firewood is from 40 to 60 cm. Now make a canopy over the finished walls and keep them like that for 1.5-2 months.
• Step 2. We make a rubble base as the foundation of the bathhouse. It should go no more than a meter deep into the ground. Fill the stone layer by layer with clay or cement mortar.
• Step 3: Get colored glass bottles for wall decorations.
• Step 4. Chop the hay with an ax so that it is not long. The amount of clay should be 20% of the total volume of firewood. And the amount of straw is 10-15% of the volume of clay. It is this composition that will prevent the clay from cracking later. Here's how to mix: in a trough with water, mix sand with clay and add hay directly there. Place this mixture on the firewood.
• Step 5. Place supports if the bathhouse has a standard rectangular shape.
• Step 6. Lay out the walls: in a continuous manner, with an air gap or with some kind of insulation. For example, the void space can be filled with sawdust - it will be much warmer.
• Step 7. We make the roof: regular or just straw.
• Step 8. Install the stove and shelves - the sauna is ready! But if you are going to finish such a bathhouse, then let it settle for at least a year.

Moreover, steam rooms with such walls turn out to be very warm and absolutely environmentally friendly.

Interestingly, in Canada you can still find houses built using exactly this technology 100 years ago - and they are in excellent condition! And historical documents indicate that such buildings existed even in Greece and Siberia.For example, the St. Petersburg “House of Lovers” is made from ordinary birch firewood and is already several hundred years old!

Despite the thickness of the walls, the structure itself is surprisingly light, and a strip rubble foundation is really enough for it.By the way, there are baths that are built from bottles alone:

But if you are building such a bathhouse with corners, then tie the rows in these places as with brickwork.

Great ideas and inspiring progress, isn't it?

Washing in a country bath is a pleasure available to everyone. It does not require large cash investments. IN minimal layout such a structure is erected in a few days.

In this article we will look at the topic of how to build the simplest bathhouse in your country house quickly and inexpensively.

Let's start by studying ready-made options, and discuss the designs of walls, floors, stoves and sewers that are popular among craftsmen.

Design Features

The main conditions for the comfort of any bath are:

• Walls, floor and ceiling well protected from heat loss.
• Reliable insulation of structures from water and steam.
• Compact, quick heating oven.
• Effective sewerage and ventilation.

Examples of country baths

In photo No. 1 we see a simple bathhouse, reminiscent of Diogenes’ barrel. You can only take a steam bath in it. You won't be able to wash yourself here because there is no sewage system in the building. However, if desired, it is not difficult to do. To do this, you need to install a standard shower tray in the corner of the bathhouse and lead the drain pipe into the septic tank.

Photo No. 1 Build such a “barrel sauna” at your dacha and steam to your heart’s content

An important advantage of this design is its low weight, allowing it to be placed on a plank terrace.

The construction of the simplest bathhouse from the container category is shown in photo No. 2.

Photo No. 2 Option for a container country bath

It consists of one steam room. For washing, the owner needs to attach a canopy with summer shower or supplement the room with sewerage, and the stove with a tank for heating water.

Improvising on the theme of a barrel-shaped bath, let’s pay attention to cellular polycarbonate. It can be quickly and easily assembled original design. In order for it to retain heat well, you will need two large sheets of this material and a frame made of metal or wooden blocks. A mineral wool insulation 10 cm thick is laid between them.

The ends of the building can be made from boards, stuffed onto an insulated wooden frame. Place such a bathhouse anywhere: at your dacha, on a polar ice floe or on the top of Everest and you will always be comfortable in its steam room (photo No. 5).

Photo No. 5 Simple barrel-shaped bathhouse

A small Russian bathhouse, made from scraps of timber, can be installed on oak posts. We see an example of such a structure in photograph No. 6.

Photo No. 6 Oak posts are an excellent support for a small wooden bathhouse

Larger structures require their own foundation. There are three possible options here:

1. Rubble concrete tape.
2. Brick columns.
3. Piles made of asbestos-cement pipes.

Do not forget that the type of foundation affects the choice of material and wall design. Pile and columnar foundations are used to install a wooden frame, as well as for bathhouses made of timber or logs (photos No. 7 and No. 8).

Photo No. 7 Bathhouse made of SIP panels on screw piles

Photo No. 8 Brick columns - the best option for timber, log and frame structure

The “tape” of rubble concrete is suitable for any walls (made of gas silicate blocks, logs and frames).

A cheap, reliable and simple version of a bathhouse is obtained using technology. For such a structure you will need little: a truck of firewood, a cart of straw and a dump truck of clay (photo No. 10).

The best shape for a wood burning structure is round. It eliminates the need to reinforce masonry corners and looks aesthetically pleasing and original.

By borrowing from birds the technology of building nests from branches and clay, you can build such a simple and warm bathhouse (photo No. 11).

Photo No. 11 Wicker frame coated with clay - “know-how” of an inexpensive bathhouse design

Recommendations for choosing finishing, insulation, sewerage installation, flooring, roofing and stove

For the exterior finishing of a frame bath, we can recommend the following materials:

• Wooden blockhouse.
• Metal tiles or corrugated sheets.
• Plastic siding.
• Cement particle board (CSB).
• OSB board.
• Flat slate.

Photo No. 12 Simple, but at the same time very nice option exterior decoration of the bathhouse using unedged boards

It is best to use ecowool as insulation. It does not accumulate moisture, does not rot and does not burn. If ecowool is not available in your region, then you can buy regular mineral insulation in the form of a semi-rigid slab. It is easily and simply placed in the spaces between the frame posts.

To protect mineral wool from water vapor and reduce heat loss, the walls are lined with sheets of foil polyethylene. After this, a frame of slats is attached to them and trimmed with wood: alder, linden or pine clapboard (photo No. 13).

Photo No. 13 Steam and heat insulation of the walls of a country bathhouse built from any material

We do not recommend installing OSB board indoors. This material releases toxic gases when exposed to high temperatures.

Options for steam and thermal insulation of walls of a frame structure, as well as a bathhouse built from blocks or logs, are presented in Figure No. 1.

Building a simple bathhouse with your own hands includes sewerage. It can be made from standard plastic pipes discharged into a cesspool or drainage well.

The water intake funnel is placed in the center or in the corner of the room, and the floor is made in the form expanded clay concrete screed with a slope towards the drain. Before concreting, you need to compact the soil and cover it with several layers of waterproofing. Wooden floor - great option, but in the bathhouse it quickly rots and requires replacement. Instead, we recommend making gratings from wooden slats and laying them on concrete screed. After washing, they can be removed, taken outside and dried.

The design of the bath ceiling is standard. First, a vapor barrier film is “attached” to the rafters and counter-battens (3x4 cm) are stuffed. A clapboard cladding is attached to them. The gaps between the rafters are filled with insulation and covered with under-roofing film. It protects it from weathering and atmospheric moisture (Fig. No. 2).

Fig No. 2 Ceiling structure of a country bathhouse

A counter-lattice is placed on the film, creating a ventilated gap between the roof and the insulation. The work on installing the ceiling and roof is completed by installing the main sheathing and laying the roofing material (slate or metal tiles).

The main “detail” of any country bathhouse is the stove. It should provide rapid heating of the air and maintain a high temperature. A metal stove heats up the fastest.

To accumulate heat and create steam, it must be equipped with a compartment for stones. Options for stoves for simple baths A lot has been created, so we will not dwell on them in detail. Let's just say that the easiest way to make a heat generator is from steel pipe large diameter, old gas cylinder or barrel (photo No. 15). Another easy-to-use material is a steel sheet 3-5 mm thick (photo No. 16).

Photo No. 15-16 A simple stove made of a pipe and a heater made of ferrous metal

Knowing the simplest welding techniques, you can outside help you can assemble such a structure.