The material for the walls of the bathhouse determines the quality, functionality and durability of the future structure. The most environmentally friendly is wood.

The timber walls erected for the bathhouse give the building a solid appearance, it is easy to breathe in, and the steam becomes more intense. Nowadays foam and cinder blocks are becoming more popular for bathhouse walls. The article will tell you what material to choose for construction, what thickness of walls for a bathhouse should be.

What material can be used to build a bathhouse?

What to make walls for a bathhouse from, for her long-term operation and attractive appearance?

The best materials for this are:

• Logs.
• timber(see Do-it-yourself bathhouses made of timber: how the interior decoration is done).
• Different blocks.
• Brick.

Each of these materials has advantages and disadvantages.

When constructing the walls of a bathhouse from logs, which have been used for many centuries, the structure receives such advantages as:

• The walls allow steam and air to pass through perfectly.
• The room retains the light aroma that natural wood emits.
• Low thermal conductivity, which allows you to maintain warmth and comfort in the building for a long time even in winter. As a result, heating costs will be minimal.

But wooden walls They also have certain disadvantages:

• All wooden buildings are subject to shrinkage, which makes it possible to completely finish the bathhouse only six months after its construction.
• To preserve logs for a long time in an attractive form and special properties, the bathhouse must be well looked after or protected from harmful influences harmful effects environment. In this case, the walls can be lined with brick and other materials.

When constructing walls from timber, they have a number of advantages compared to buildings made from logs:

• Lower price.
• It is easier to build from it, especially with your own hands for a person who does not have professional skills.

A beam is a log cut from two sides or all four.

In this case, the cross-section can be:

• Square.
• Rectangular.

Standard material proportions are 2:1.

The walls of the bathhouse give rise to sediment throughout the year:

• From timber - 6 centimeters.
• From logs - 12 centimeters.

The relevance of a healthy lifestyle in modern world increases annually, and against this background, many city dwellers strive to leave polluted cities and settle closer to nature. Low-rise construction increases the volume of houses being built and the quality of structures. During the construction of a fairly comfortable country house with the preservation of all the benefits of civilization, in particular engineering communications.

Commitment to tradition

For a Russian person, the construction of a bathhouse on the site is a mandatory condition. Of course, it’s convenient to wash in the shower or in the bathtub, but nothing can compare with a bathhouse: the resinous smell of wood, the fragrant infusion of a steamed birch or oak broom in the steam room, hot and gentle steam, and then an ice-cold shower and strong herbal tea... This is what it looks like the dream of a bathhouse for most of its lovers and connoisseurs. In order for the bathhouse to bring only positive emotions, it is necessary to build it correctly and use it correctly. The easiest way is to order the construction of a bathhouse from professionals who will take into account all the requirements and wishes of the customer. What size to choose for each of the functional rooms, what is best to build a bathhouse from, how to determine its location and even the depth of the foundation. Most owners of a plot of land outside the city prefer to build a bathhouse themselves, which is much more economical from a financial point of view and much more pleasant for self-esteem. In the future, you can brag about the result and share your experience with the air of an expert on the subject.

Material selection

At the initial stage, every owner of a future bathhouse has a lot of questions: what to build a bathhouse from, what kind of foundation is best, what roofing materials to use, what materials for a bathhouse can be used as interior decoration? The owner of the future bathhouse must answer each of these questions independently, depending on preferences and financial capabilities. Modern technologies provide a wide choice of building materials and construction methods. The following types of materials can be used as a basis:

Each option is pre-calculated to determine the amount of material used and, accordingly, its cost. It is possible to use a combination of materials both for the construction of the main structure and for its finishing.

Preparatory calculations, design

Having decided what is best to build a bathhouse from, we proceed to designing it and planning it on site. On at this stage needs to be given special attention safe operation measures. The bathhouse should be located at a distance of 5-7.5 m from other buildings. If there is a natural source of water supply (well), the distance of the structure from it should be at least 15-18 meters - this will prevent wastewater from getting into the water; the maximum distance from a river or lake is 3-5 meters. must take into account the dimensions and materials for the construction of the bathhouse. The areas of the steam room, dressing room and washing section of the bath are determined depending on the properties of the material used and the number of people who can be in it at the same time. Depending on what materials are used for the bathhouse, the load on the foundation is calculated. Particular attention is paid to drainage and ventilation, which are planned depending on the operating mode and construction materials. The issue of insulating the walls and roof of the bathhouse is carefully considered - the quality of steam, duration and efficiency of use depend on this.

Construction stages

The site for the construction of the structure has been chosen, we begin construction. Before we clear and level the area chosen as the location of the bathhouse.

Foundation - the basis of the structure

We choose the type of foundation - it depends on the weight of the structure and the type of soil. The optimal solution there will be a depth equal to freezing. The least expensive method is to first replace part of the soil (a bed of crushed stone of various fractions and sand). The pillars are located under load-bearing walls and in the corners of the bathhouse. This is how you can install this type foundation around the entire perimeter.

For an area with nearby groundwater The pile option is used. A prerequisite is the presence of a platform for the stove, which has a large mass (especially modifications with a water tank), and, accordingly, needs solid support, and a separate foundation will ensure fire safety.

The foundation must stand for some time and gain strength. It needs to be processed by special means for protection from external influences. During the foundation construction phase, a drainage system and ventilation vents are installed.

Walls

The construction of walls is carried out in parallel with the process of their insulation. The owner, who has decided on the question of what is best to build a bathhouse from, must take into account the need, quality and quantity of the insulating layer used at the design stage. The final stage of wall construction is the construction of internal partitions and the division of the bath space into separate functional rooms. Partitions can be made from basic building material or (which happens most often) made of wooden boards of varying widths. The final stage before finishing is thorough waterproofing of the walls and ceiling of the bathhouse.

Roofing and finishing

The construction of the roof will be the final stage of the construction of the bathhouse. The design of the roof depends on climatic conditions: the simplest and budget option is a gable roof. The attic will perform the function of retaining heat if it is built correctly, i.e. good waterproofing. The choice of material for covering the roof depends on the capabilities of the owner, and the structure of the sheathing also depends on this. Roof with inside sheathed waterproofing material and is additionally insulated. You can start finishing internal work, which will again return the owner to the question of what is best to build a bathhouse from. The cladding of the walls inside each sector of the bathhouse has several functions: protection from moisture, aesthetics of the room and functionality. It is important to remember about such a concept as “bath spirit” or steam; it directly depends on the material of the interior decoration.

We build bathhouses from timber

For many bathhouse lovers, the question “What to build a bathhouse from?” absolutely not relevant - only wood, there can be no other opinion. This material has been used for many centuries: it is used for the construction of Russian baths everywhere. Bathhouses made of timber of any size are found on every second suburban area. Much has been said about the positive characteristics of wood used as a building material, but the conclusion is clear - for a bathhouse it is best option. The only one negative point is a short duration of operation, but with the current level of development of the chemical industry, processing wood from external influences increases the life and quality of service of any structure. The timber must be well dried and processed - only in this case the owner receives not only a magnificent appearance and pleasure from use, but also a great charge of vigor and health. Can be used for interior decoration various types wood, it all depends on the preferences and capabilities of the owner.

Use of frame technologies

When building a bathhouse, the most budget-friendly option is to use frame technology. It is being developed in the vast expanses of our country very quickly, and one of the advantages, in addition to the low cost, is the speed of construction of the bathhouse.

The design is lightweight, does not require a powerful foundation, and the finishing possibilities both inside and outside are unlimited. After the main frame is erected, the walls are lined with insulation and hermetically sealed. The internal microclimate can be created by covering the walls with clapboard of any type of wood. Exterior decoration siding, wood and tiles will give an aesthetic appearance to such a structure as frame bath(the photo will demonstrate this more clearly). One of the disadvantages of its operation is the increased level of humidity, but with proper use ventilation system With good sealed cladding, this drawback can be eliminated.

Construction of a bathhouse from blocks

Many owners of country real estate, due to limited financial resources, have to save on building a bathhouse, but modern development construction market The issue can be solved simply - we build a bathhouse from blocks. This material has relatively low cost, practical, lightweight, due to the cavities it has an additional heat-saving function, does not shrink, construction time is much lower than when using other materials.

At the same time, there is a choice of blocks; they are made of sand, cement, clay. There are several made from expanded clay, cinder blocks, foam blocks, and aerated concrete blocks. It is necessary to settle on one of the options, for example, we build bathhouses from foam blocks. Due to the qualities of this material, cost savings begin at the foundation laying phase, and the lightness of the material reduces the percentage of load on the foundation. Foam blocks are easy to process, which makes it possible to use any finishing materials. TO negative aspects use in construction can be attributed to the costs of additional thermal insulation; when fastening the blocks, a mortar is used; the masonry must be level. The principle of building a bathhouse is the same as when using bricks, but the weight of the structure is much lower and the number of rows of masonry is less. For the steam room, the walls are finished with wood after laying the sealant. Humidity is the main enemy of foam blocks, because due to the porous structure, the block quickly gains moisture, so special attention should be paid to the quality of the foam block and the sealing of the bathhouse.

Ventilation of the bath is divided into general and preservative. We call preservative ventilation the drying of the bath after water procedures. If in the bathroom and shower the main difficulty is drying towels and floor mats, then in bathhouses it is most difficult to dry wood, especially on floors and in cracks.
Drying of bathhouses, bathtubs and showers is carried out using aerodynamic methods - dry ventilation air enters the zone of moistened materials, evaporating the water. Water vapor enters the air. Through exhaust ventilation Humidified air is removed and fresh air comes in. Thus, process drying involves several stages and is far from simple.

Let us immediately make a reservation that if we consider the problem broadly, we should not talk about drying, but about normalizing wood. The fact is that in dry, high-temperature saunas, wood sometimes does not get wet, but, on the contrary, becomes overdried, and after the end of the bath procedure it is moistened again due to equilibrium hygroscopicity. In steam and wet baths, wet wood must also be dried not to an absolutely dry state, but to a certain level of humidity. That is, preservative ventilation is not just drying wood, but drying taking into account the specific bathing process, the characteristics of wood, its possible morbidity and possible consequences overdrying (warping, cracking) and underdrying (rotting).

Moisturize - dry

For all its advantages, wood also has many disadvantages, which makes it a problematic material for baths. Fire hazard, low hygiene and the ability to rot quickly - these are the main features of

natural wood, which at one time put an end to the prospect of using wood in urban public baths for hygienic purposes.

In individual baths, wood continues to be used in a periodic (episodic) mode with mandatory subsequent drying, despite the possible chemical treatment wood

Wet wood is susceptible to all three types of biological destruction - due to bacteria, fungi and insects, while dry wood is susceptible only to insects. If wood rot is slimy with unpleasant smell- This is most likely bacterial rot. If plaques, stains (spots of foreign color), or mold with an earthy smell form on the wood, these are probably microscopic fungi (fungi, micromycetes). Bacteria and micromycetes are not so dangerous for country individual baths, which will last for many years even with colors. But for executive and apartment baths, micromycetes are the number one scourge, since they spoil the appearance of the finish. But the most dangerous for baths are macromycetes - large, real mushrooms with characteristic fruit caps, living right on the wood (like honey mushrooms, tinder fungi, sponges). Many summer residents, surprised to notice brown fan-shaped mushroom caps sticking out of the floor in their bathhouse, will at best only scrape them off and smear the growing area with vitriol or chromium, not realizing that these caps are only the fruiting bodies of the house wood-destroying fungus. The fungus itself is hidden in the floor, walls, foundation (both in wood and in brick) in the form of a system of branching threads (single GIFs - cords up to 1 cm in diameter), forming a mycelium several meters in size, so the development of the fungus can only be stopped antiseptic treatment of large areas. The normal temperature for the development of house mushrooms is 8 - 37 ° C, the relative humidity of wood is 25 - 70%. IN optimal conditions the fungus destroys the bathhouse in one season, forming brown, fissured rot, which breaks up into large prismatic pieces that are easily ground into powder.

It is believed that the development of house fungus stops when the relative humidity of the wood is about 18% or lower. Considering the wood hygroscopicity curves from this point of view, several conclusions can be drawn. Firstly, to maintain wood moisture content of 18% and below at all temperatures for fungal development (5 -40°C), a relative air humidity of no higher than 80% is required. Otherwise, even completely dry (but not treated with water-repellent compounds) wood will become moistened above this level by itself (without contact with room water) due to the absorption of moisture from the air. So in tropical countries there are more problems with wood than in the north. Secondly, considering the hygroscopicity curves of wood in other coordinates (Fig. 1), it can be noted that wood, no matter how strongly moistened at a temperature of 30 ° C and an absolute air humidity above 0.03 kg/m3 (that is, at the calculated relative humidity air 100% and higher relative to the temperature of the wood), dries at a temperature of 40°C to a humidity of 11% (and only up to 11%!), and at a temperature of 80°C to a humidity of 2.5% (and only up to 2.5%! ). All this is extremely unusual: non-porous materials would dry out completely under these conditions. For marble, metal and plastic, only two states are possible: when there is water on them (and no matter how much) and when there is no water on them at all.

In this regard, let us recall how dry wood is moistened. If you splash water on a wooden board, it will gradually be absorbed deep into the wood: first into the intercellular spaces (vessels, pores between the fibers), then into the thick (dried) cell cavities, then into the cell walls. All these pores are capillaries with wettable walls. Due to the formation of concave menisci of water surfaces, the saturated vapor pressure above the water inside the wood is less than above the water spilled over the surface. Therefore, not only water, moving along wetted surfaces, but also its vapors rush into capillaries (intercellular and cellular), are moistened (and then dry quickly). The water in them is called free; its content in wood can reach 200%. Small capillaries (in the cell walls) are moistened (and then dry out) slowly, the water in them is called bound (hygroscopic), its content in wood reaches up to 30% (this is what is presented in Fig. 1). Thus, a seemingly “dry” board without drops of water can contain 100% or more moisture, and this moisture, during drying, is extracted from the wood in the form of water vapor and can humidify the air. This effect is used not only when drying a bath, it is also used to create a condensation climate in a Russian steam bath, when, due to the high relative humidity of the air near the ceiling (for example, when water is applied to hot stones), the ceiling (preferably a massive log ceiling) is first moistened. Then, during the periods between applications, high absolute humidity is created near the ceiling - above 0.05 kg/m3. Metal ceiling under these conditions, it would not simply “drip” without retaining moisture, it could only create a very specific relative air humidity at its surface, equal to 100%. A wooden ceiling (like any porous one) can, in principle, create only a very specific relative air humidity at its surface, and at a fixed humidity of the wood (due to the massiveness of the walls, for example), the relative air humidity not only at the ceiling, but also in the room can be maintained also practically constant regardless of how the temperature in the room changes. The effect of stabilizing relative air humidity in wooden residential buildings(in brick and plastered ones too) are associated in everyday life with the property of wood to “breathe”, take moisture from the air and release moisture into the air in the form of water vapor. So a plastic bath and a wooden bath, even with the same steam generator, give different climatic conditions. Indeed, let’s imagine that the sauna is completely dry at a temperature of 20°C and at normal relative air humidity of 60% (that is, at an absolute air humidity of 0.01 kg/m3). In accordance with Fig. 1 the relative humidity of wood under these conditions is 12%. Now let’s hypothetically warm up this sauna (without ventilation and without humidification) to a temperature of 70°C. The bold dotted horizontal arrow in Fig. 1 shows that the absolute air humidity in the sauna jumps to 0.14 kg/m3, just right to steam with a broom! Where did the water come from! The wood began to dry and humidified the air. By the way, it is the water vapor escaping from the wood that “draws” with it the “smells of wood” that are so valued in apartment saunas. This phenomenon serves as another additional reason for the need to ventilate even dry apartment saunas so that they do not unexpectedly become steamy. And if the sauna is ventilated during warming up fresh air the same absolute humidity of 0.01 kg/m3, then the air in the bathhouse will remain dry, and the moisture content of the wood in the bathhouse will decrease and sooner or later drop to 1% (see the vertical thick dotted arrow in Fig. 1), that is, as they say in everyday life, the boards will “dry out.” And then, after finishing the bath procedure, they will be moisturized again due to the sorption of air moisture to a humidity of 12%. In meteorological parlance, “wood tries to keep the relative humidity of the air constant.” Indeed, in the above wooden bath the wood “kept” the relative air humidity in the bathhouse at 60%, which can be achieved in conditions of rising temperatures only by humidifying the air with wood. Nothing like this can happen in a plastic bath: when it is heated, the absolute humidity of the air remains constant, and the relative humidity drops. It is glass sheet metal and plastic are ideal materials for dry physiotherapeutic and apartment saunas. And if you use wood, then only thin wood, specially treated to prevent hygroscopic absorption of moisture from the air. Decorative craze wood trim baths (not always justified) leads to the fact that even bath hygrometers are sometimes made in wooden cases (!), “keeping” the relative humidity inside constant, regardless of the temperature and true humidity of the air in the bath. By the way, let us remind you that the measuring thread of the hygrometer, located inside the case, stretches when moistened (like an ordinary woolen thread) and thereby shows how much it has been moistened. And it is moistened hygroscopically (due to its porosity) according to the same laws as wood. That is, the thread is moistened and elongated mainly only when the relative humidity of the air changes. This is the principle of operation of hygrometers with natural filament. By the way, wood fibers stretch and contract only when the relative humidity of the air changes. In rural life, the simplest but very accurate “hygrometers” are well known in the form of a thin, sanded and dried bifurcated wooden branch. A thick mustache (the main branch about 1 cm thick) is cut 10 cm above and below the fork and nailed vertically to the wall (baths, houses, cellars). A thin tendril (a shoot about 0.3 cm thick and 0.5 m long) is directed upward parallel to the wall. In dry weather, the long thin tendril of the branch bends, moves away from the thick one (“protrudes” with an increase in the acute angle of the fork), and if it rains, it approaches the thick one. If you have a certified industrial hygrometer, then this homemade hygrometer can be calibrated with marks on the wall opposite the location of the tip of the thin mustache at different relative air humidity. The principle of operation of such a hygrometer is that when dried, the underlying wood fibers of the main branch are shortened and pull the shoot down (from the trunk of the main branch).

Thus, the processes of moistening and drying wood occur in the bath not only on the floors due to compact water and are associated not only with bath procedures. If wood can be moistened with both compact water and water vapor, then it can be dried only by removing water vapor from it. The drying process occurs in several stages. First, water evaporates on the surface of the wood, then free water in the large capillaries of the intercellular and intracellular spaces, then water in the small capillaries of the cell walls. The latter, as we established above, determines the hygroscopic moisture content of wood, which exists and changes even in a dry, unheated bath. Therefore, the drying of cell walls can actually be controlled in the greenhouse conditions of dry built-in saunas, although bound water, in principle, can support the processes of wood decay, especially, as we noted, in warm and humid climatic conditions.

The step-by-step drying process is also typical for other porous materials, including brick, plaster and soil (earth). Drying them is also important for the bath, if they are part of it. In this regard, let us recall the fundamental, although only indirectly related to the topic of the article, question of mechanical deformation of porous bodies during the initial removal of bound water from them. It is known that warping and cracking of freshly cut wood occurs during the drying process, mainly in the last final stage when removing hygroscopic moisture from cell walls. If during initial drying the board is nailed or clamped in a vice, it will retain the shape given to it (for example, arcs), and the better the wood is dried, the better. Under conditions of primary natural atmospheric drying at 20 - 30°C, wood is dried only to a moisture content of 10 -15% (after 2-3 years of drying), and with high-temperature stone drying at 100 - 150°C (including in a bathhouse ) can be dried to a moisture content of 1 - 2 96. With such significant dehydration, especially in conditions high temperatures, irreversible changes occur in the cell walls, and the wood actually ceases to be wood and begins to exhibit the properties of a non-living material. Similarly, clay soaked in water, when dried and heat treated, first loses its plasticity, then cracks, and then becomes a brick, which subsequently does not change its shape and properties when in contact with water, especially good results are achieved by primary drying of wood with superheated water steam, as well as by immersion in a hot anhydrous coolant (paraffin, petroleum products).

The mechanism of primary drying of freshly cut wood is distinguished by the fact that the walls of its cells have not yet been destroyed, the vapor and water permeability of the membranes is low and the wood dries for a long time, deforming during the destruction of the integrity of the membranes of the cell walls (and they, in fact, are wood - a combination of cellulose, lignin and hemicelluloses). During subsequent drying, the wood dries faster and behaves as if it were “lifeless”, since the cell walls have already been torn. At the same time, dry wood, as a porous material, has specific features, distinguishing it from other materials, in particular, anisotropy of properties, secondary warping, etc.

Drying dynamics

Water spilled on the surface of wood evaporates in the same way as water poured into a bathtub or swimming pool. Let us recall that there are two opposite modes of evaporation - kinetic and diffusion. In the kinetic mode, the fastest molecules, overcoming the energy barrier equal to the latent heat of evaporation (condensation) 539 cal/g, fly out from the surface of compact (liquid) water and are irrevocably removed. The kinetic regime is realized during evaporation in a vacuum. In view of high speed primary act of vaporization (emission of water molecules from the surface of compact water), component at bath temperatures thousands of kilograms of water per hour per 1 m2, the water is strongly cooled (since only slow molecules remain in it) until it turns into ice, which is used in freeze-drying in industry. In the diffusion mode, the primary act of vaporization remains the same and depends just as strongly on temperature. But the escaping water molecules enter the air (a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen molecules) and, as a result of frequent collisions, only very slowly move away (diffuse) from the surface of the water, experiencing strong resistance from the air environment. As a result, the overwhelming number of emitted molecules “fly” back into the water (condenses). Thus, in the diffusion mode, tons of water turn into steam and immediately condense (which we do not feel at all), and only a very small amount of water (kilograms) completely evaporates. It is this diffusion mode of evaporation that takes place in the bathhouse: both during the evaporation of sweat from the human body, and during the evaporation of water from the shelf. It becomes clear that if the concentration of water vapor molecules is equal everywhere in the bath (including at the surface of the human body), then no evaporation processes are possible (homeothermal regime). But at the same time, it becomes clear that if tons of water per hour simultaneously evaporate and condense in a bathhouse, then we can assume that this should manifest itself at some point. Indeed, if the air in the bathhouse is dried, the rate of water evaporation will increase. If the surface of the water is blown with dried air, the evaporation rate will increase even more, since the air flow removes those water vapor molecules that previously condensed. For orientation, we point out that at a relative air humidity of 5096, the rate of water evaporation at a temperature of 30°C is approximately 0.1 kg/m2/hour. When air moves at a speed of 1 m/s, the evaporation rate approximately doubles, however, it should be noted that the air speed in the room is always much greater than directly above the surface of the water, and any quantitative indicators are extremely approximate. For assessments, you can use experimental formulas for swimming pools. In any case, the characteristic drying rate of floors in bathhouses is 0.1-1 mm/hour (0.1-1 kg/m2/hour) and increases with increasing floor temperature and with decreasing air temperature (that is, with decreasing absolute air humidity). So, for example, in open pools at a constant water temperature, evaporation is maximum not during the day, but at night in cold air, as well as in winter. During the day in hot weather evaporation may stop, and condensation of water vapor from the air may even be observed on the surface of the pool, just as water condenses on human skin in a condensation-type steam bath in a mode higher than homeothermal. For any pool with a certain water temperature, any floor, wall and ceiling, each bathhouse has its own “homo-thermal” curve, separating the modes of water evaporation and condensation of water vapor, summing up the above-mentioned processes of evaporation and condensation on the surface of the water. Let's call it conditionally condensation. In terms of condensation curves, drying looks like this. In Fig. Figure 2 shows condensation curves for the floor with a temperature of 20°C (curve 1) and for the ceiling of a steam bath with a temperature of 40°C (curve 2). Modes below the curve correspond to the evaporation of water, regimes above the curve correspond to the condensation of water vapor on the surface set temperature. Thus, if the air in the bathhouse has a temperature of 40°C and a relative humidity of 6096 (and it does not matter whether the air in the bathhouse is stationary, circulates or comes from outside in the form of ventilation), then in this mode (point 3) the ceiling is dried and the floor is moistened . In other words, air with such parameters transfers water from the ceiling to the floor, but even if the ceiling were dry, the floor would still take moisture from the air, that is, dry it (in this case to a relative humidity of 40%). The floor can be dried only if you reduce either the air temperature or its relative humidity, or better yet both, so that the air characteristics are located below curve 1, for example, if the mode corresponding to point 4 is implemented. The fact of possible air movement (blowing the floor) does not change the qualitative picture, but only affects the rate of evaporation or condensation. By the way, it is this mechanism that works in case of catastrophic moisture in the underground of a residential building, to which a bathhouse with leaking floors is attached. Warm humid air from being poured onto the ground hot water spreads over long distances and releases condensation on cold subfloors and the foundation of the entire residential building.

The main conclusion is that preservative ventilation is not just changing the air in a damp bathhouse. It is necessary to supply air with as low a temperature and relative humidity as possible, or rather with as little absolute humidity as possible. In addition, it is necessary to keep the surfaces to be dried as warm as possible, and the higher the absolute humidity, the higher the temperature of the surface to be dried. This means that it is necessary to heat not the air, but the floor of the bathhouse, for example, with infrared radiation. And if you still manage to warm up only the air, then it must be dried, as is done in washing machines and dishwashers. Note that the sometimes recommended methods of drying a bathhouse with the release of hot moist air through the floor into the underground only lead to additional moistening of the cold (and therefore the most problematic) elements of the bathhouse. It is better to release hot, humid air through overhead vents where condensation is impossible. In fact, almost all baths use general ventilation for conservative interior drying.

When water has completely evaporated from the surface of non-porous materials, drying can be considered complete. But when we are dealing with wood, it is also necessary to remove internal water. If wood is treated with water-repellent compounds, then the pore walls are not wetted by water, which means that the water vapor pressure in the pores is greater than on the surface of the wood. This leads to the “evaporation” of water from the pores onto the surface of the wood in the form of droplets, which then evaporate a second time as described above.

Water filling pores with wetted walls, including unimpregnated wood, evaporates in a diffusion mode, and steam removal is extremely difficult. Although wood contains 50 - 90% voids, the tortuosity of the pores means that the actual path of removal of water molecules can be several times greater than the characteristic dimensions (thickness) of the wood product. In this case, possible air flows, even very small ones, can greatly influence the drying speed. The “blowability” of materials is characterized by a parameter called vapor permeability, equal, for example, to mineral wool 8 - 17, for pine along the grain - 10, pine across the grain - 2, brick - 2, concrete - 1 in units of 10"6 kg/m/sec/atm. So, with characteristic differences in static pressure due to wind 104 atm. actual drying rates for porous materials 10 cm thick at 20°C are less than 1 g/m2/day for vapor-insulating materials (hydraulic concrete, asbestos cement, extruded polystyrene foam), 1-20 g/m2/day for vapor-permeable materials (wood , brick, plaster), more than 20 g/m2/day for vapor-permeable materials (mineral wool), more than 1000 g/m2 per day for super-diffusive materials (perforated membranes) the drying rate increases with increasing wood temperature and with decreasing temperature and humidity of the blown material. air in the same way as in the case of water evaporation from the surface. ventilation air is selected experimentally depending on the degree of moisture and time of year, but temperature has a much greater influence internal elements baths It would be possible to continue analyzing the issues of wood drying and consider the most reasonable solutions for preservative ventilation. But there is no point in deceiving: centuries-old operating experience wooden baths shows that no matter how dry wooden floors are, there are still no guarantees of drying quality, they still rot. Indeed, if 1 m2 wooden floor absorbs approximately 1 kg of water, then drying it at a speed of 20 g/m2 will last 50 days. Therefore, wood is covered with roofs and canopies wherever possible (and not only in bathhouses), but even in this case it is capable of moisturizing. condensate from the air (for example, under iron roofs) and rot (turn brown, darken, crumble), especially in poorly ventilated places. The presence of vents, that is, holes and cracks larger than 3-5 mm in size, is an indispensable condition for the safety of unheated areas wooden structures. Vents less than 1-3 mm in size, on the contrary, are stagnant, poorly ventilated zones; moisture from them evaporates slowly, which creates conditions for rapid rotting, especially when in contact with vapor-proof materials, and even more so with constantly moistened ones. The question is not about how to properly dry the wood, but about how to eliminate it from the bathhouse altogether or reduce its wetting and reduce the rate of decay. This is typical not only for wood, but also for all porous mineral materials(brick, foam concrete, gypsum) and rusting steel. Nobody makes floors out of foam concrete and then makes incredible efforts to dry it. This is how they paint rusting steel, and don’t try to quickly dry it after every rain. IN modern baths all wood that may come into contact with water must be impregnated with water-repellent compounds (preferably under pressure, as is done in the case of railway sleepers and ship masts), and protect the top with waterproof paint and varnish coatings, as well as shelters, not to mention antiseptic and fireproofing treatment. Wood in a bathhouse is a problematic material, and the prevailing opinion that the only good thing about a bathhouse is that it is wooden and there should be no “chemistry” in it is absolutely groundless. Of course, in the conditions of a built-in fun sauna, operated in the greenhouse environment of an apartment corridor, unimpregnated wood is permissible even on the floors, but even there only in the form of a removable grate that can be dried.

CEILING VAPOR PROOF

Methodologically more complex is the issue of wood ventilation upper parts walls and ceiling. The task of preservative ventilation here is to supply dry air to humidified areas to dry them. Therefore, in each specific case it is necessary to clarify what and how can be humidified, and only then decide where and how to supply ventilation air.

The ceiling (or rather, the ceiling) can be moistened by precipitation during emergency roof leaks and during steam condensation. Previously, humidification due to trivial leaks was predominant, since until the 19th century in cities and until the 20th century in villages there were no bathhouse roofs except wooden ones (board, shingles), thatch and reed roofs. Log walls and the ceilings, if the roof was faulty, could absorb hundreds of liters of water in the rain. Therefore, there was no need to talk about any possibility of periodically drying them after constant leaks, although wooden roof it worked precisely in this mode of constant moistening and drying (as a result of which the wooden roof was made thinner so that it would get wet less). The task was simple: to prevent leaks, but if they happened accidentally, then the walls and ceiling had to be dried sooner or later. This was achieved by constantly ventilating the attic space, organizing where possible vents, gaps and cracks in log and plank structures, that is, the same techniques were used as in natural drying firewood in woodpiles, but, of course, maintaining the heat-insulating ability of the walls and ceiling.

Currently, individual developers do not take leaks seriously, relying on the reliability of steel and slate roofs, although the issue remains serious, and the consequences are the most dangerous. So what happened, as a result of which everyone around began to talk about the indispensable need for vapor barrier of the walls and ceilings of the bathhouse as the most important thing? After all, previously, for centuries, in log black, and then in white steam baths, no vapor barrier was known, and steam humidification is so insignificant compared to leaks that they cannot create a dangerous level of wood moisture content above 18 percent for a long time (especially in dry built-in saunas ).

Let us immediately note that the question of vapor protection of wood and insulation first arose in bathhouses in connection with the appearance of soft waterproofing materials in everyday life. roofing materials(which are also often used for other than their intended purpose), and dangerous levels of wood moisture have acquired an exclusively local, long-lasting nature. However, before moving on to this issue, we will consider the general features of moistening wood with condensing steam.

Usually in the literature the humidification process is described briefly and simply: moist air is filtered through porous wood from the inside out, and where the temperature of the wood drops to the level of the dew point of moist bath air of 40 ° C, local steam condensation occurs and the wood is humidified only at this point. In fact, the process is more complex. Firstly, wood is a wettable porous material, so the released condensate is absorbed by the wood and distributed along the wettable pore walls throughout a large volume of wood (blotter effect). By the way, then l<е самое происходит и в других смачивающихся пористых материалах: кирпичных, гипсовых, пенобетонных. Во-вторых, древесина является непросто смачивающимся пористым материалом, она имеет и мелкопористую составляющую, обуславливающую гигроскопичность материала (способность впитывать пары воды из воздуха). Для таких материалов характерно отсутствие четкой точки конденсации. На рисунке 3 изображена еще раз перестроенная в иных координатах кривая равновесной гигроскопичности древесины в зависимости от температуры. Это фактически график влажности древесины по срезу стены бани, имеющей температуру внутренней поверхности стены - 100°С (справа) и температуру наружной поверхности стены - 0°С (слева), при условии движения влажного воздуха изнутри наружу (справа налево). Мы видим, что при влажности воздуха, например, 0,05 кг/м3 (точка росы 40°С) равновесная влажность древесины на внутренней стороне стены равна 2 процента, затем по мере углубления в стену влажность древесины плавно, но быстро повышается и по мере приближения к точке росы 40°С резко возрастает до бесконечности. Это означает начало конденсации в крупных порах, но вся вода из воздуха в этой точке росы отнюдь не выделяется. Несколько осушившись, воздух продолжает перемещаться влево, непрерывно и постепенно отдавая воду уже при новых пониженных точках росы (например при влажности 0,017 кг/м3. Таким образом, увлажняется довольно протяженная зона, причем находящаяся у внешней стороны стены, которая впоследствии высыхает с выделением водяных паров наружу, но которая отнюдь не прогревается горячим воздухом при сушке интерьера бани. Так что очень большое значение имеет не столько температура воздуха в бане при ее сушке, сколько сухость этого воздуха, а также направление движения воздуха, фильтрующегося через стенку.

If the wall material is not finely porous (for example, like mineral wool, which has practically no capillaries) or if the material is treated inside with a water-repellent preparation and is not wetted, then the wood moisture curve will transform into a vertical dotted line at a dew point of 40 ° C, that is, at temperatures above dew point, such a non-hygroscopic material does not absorb moisture from the air at all, and at temperatures equal to the dew point and below, constant condensation of moisture from the air occurs in the same way as described above. However, if the internal surfaces of the porous material are not wetted, the released condensate cannot be distributed over large volumes of walls (that is, it cannot be absorbed) and inevitably accumulates in certain zones, including forming drops. When using mineral wool, drops of condensation flow in streams onto the lower elements of building structures, for example, onto wooden beams, joists, crowns, greatly moistening them. In any case, in vapor-permeable (air-permeable) walls it is advisable to make ventilation ducts (vents) in areas near the dew point, as well as near load-bearing wooden elements. In particular, a good solution is to upholster the log house of a bathhouse with planks (boards, clapboard, siding) inside and outside so that the gap between the boards and logs plays the role of steam ducts (ventilating facade).

Needless to say, there was always a desire to keep water out of the walls altogether.

So, in particular, in stone (brick) city baths the walls remained moist for years, despite ventilation. Therefore, the internal surfaces of the walls, where possible, were protected with ceramic tiles, paint and varnish coatings, and natural stone. Of great importance was the introduction into everyday life of cheap soft roll waterproofing vapor-proof materials, including roofing (first - roofing felt based on wood or coal tar, then - roofing felt and glassine based on bitumen-rubber mastics, synthetic polymer films and metal sheet foil). They began to be widely used in individual rural bathhouses, first for their intended purpose - as roof coverings, and then to protect the outer sides of ceilings and walls from rain and wind, especially frame ones insulated with non-waterproof materials (moss, paper, shavings, wood fiber boards, wood concrete, sectioned wood). straw wetted with glass wool). It is quite natural to want to cover, for example, a layer of shavings lying on top of the ceiling with something non-leakable, or to cover the wooden walls of a bathhouse outside with roofing felt to protect from wind and rain. As a result of this, the shavings, which previously were moistened only during rare leaks, and when moistened under the influence of steam penetrating from the bath, immediately dried out, under a layer of roofing material lost the ability to dry out after any moistening. More precisely, the shavings under the roofing felt can dry only when the moisture is removed back into the bath, which is very difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to make a ventilated gap (vent) between the chips and the roofing felt or make punctures in the roofing felt for ventilation. Instead of roofing felt, special roll materials called windproof materials were developed for these purposes. They do not allow compact water (raindrops) to pass through due to non-wetting, and at the same time they slightly allow air and water vapor to pass through due to porosity or perforation, but protect from gusts of wind. It should be noted that gusts of wind create pressure drops of up to 10 "atm., exceeding pressure drops due to heating the air in the bathhouse of 10 5 atm., so wind pressure certainly plays a major role in drying the walls. It is these pressures that are saved by windproof materials, although the air is passed in a very limited amount. The fact is that the gas-dynamic resistance of the windproof material is much less than the gas-dynamic resistance of the protected wall made of logs. Therefore, the logs practically do not “feel” the windproof material. At the same time, if the wall is not made of logs, but of easily blown insulation. , then wind protection plays a decisive role, limiting the speed of air flow through the wall. The simplest windproof method is traditional wall upholstery with clapboards (boards), so upholstery can play not only a purely decorative and hygienic role.

At the same time, windproof materials cannot completely solve the problem of moisture. Indeed, by covering the chips on the ceiling with windproof material, we can only be sure that an accidental roof leak will not wet the chips, and if they do get wet (in any way), they will dry out sooner or later. But if the temperature of the windproof layer is below the dew point, then moisture will condense on this layer, which in a liquid state cannot pass through the windbreak. Since moisture enters the windproof material in the form of steam in the air flow from the inside to the outside, it is advisable to protect the ceiling from the inside with a vapor-insulating layer (air-tight film). This sandwich-type structure with three layers (wind protection - insulation - vapor barrier) is the basis of modern enclosing structures. A common technical requirement is to install a vapor barrier in areas with temperatures above the dew point. If the vapor barrier is carried out in the form of wall cladding (plastic, steel, ceramic), then questions about its installation usually do not arise. But what if the vapor-proof film is placed inside the walls? For example, is it necessary to create a gap between the aluminum foil and the decorative paneling? The answer is simple: if there may be compact water there, then a ventilated gap is necessary. For example, it is very difficult to create a gap on the ceiling. And if you open the ceiling of a steam bath after several years of operation, you will see that where there was no water (in the center of the ceiling), the reverse (upper) side of the lining is absolutely fresh. And closer to the walls, where there could be water, there are dark spots of damaged wood.

Vapor barrier prevents steam from penetrating into the wall, but at the same time stops the through blowing of the walls and, thereby, makes it difficult to dry them if the roof leaks. Therefore, having prevented the penetration of steam, it is still desirable to restore the possibility of blowing through the wall by organizing vents along the outside, and better yet, along the inside of the vapor barrier, although the role of preservative ventilation on the inside can be taken on by the general ventilation of the room. In this case, the supply and exhaust openings of the vents should go out onto the street or into the rooms adjacent to the bathhouse (dressing room, vestibule). To estimate the required dimensions of the vents, consider a log bathhouse with a volume of 10 m3 and an area of ​​enclosing structures of 25 m2. Let us take the degree of emergency moisture equal to 20 kg of water. Based on the characteristic vapor permeability of log walls at the level of 20 g/m2-day, the duration of natural drying in diffusion mode at wall temperatures of 10 - 20 ° C will not exceed 40 days (the value is quite large). If there is a vapor barrier on the logs, this duration of wall drying can be achieved at a wall ventilation rate of 1 m3/hour, which is significantly lower than the ventilation rate of the bathhouse premises - 10 m3/hour or more. This speed can be ensured by the supply and exhaust openings of the vents between the logs and the vapor barrier, with a total cross-sectional area of ​​10-50 cm2, that is, in fact, cracks (along the entire perimeter of the bathhouse), less than 1 mm wide, which is ensured by inaccuracies in the mechanical processing of wood and the assembly of structures .

In log walls, wood plays the role of windproof, heat-insulating, and load-bearing material. Modern construction design, including multi-storey buildings, involves the development of insulating materials with highly specialized functions and only sometimes combined functions. So, for example, waterproofing, windproofing, vapor barrier, heat insulating materials are, as a rule, completely different materials. At the same time, specialized film (roll) and tubular (cord) moisture-removing materials that can be placed inside walls and which, playing the role of vents, could remove moisture from hard-to-reach, most critical places in any form (in the form of compact water or in the form of steam). It is these drainage materials that will apparently become the basis for progressive solutions for preservative wall ventilation in the future. Indeed, how to dry (or keep dry) massive brick walls that have been in a damp state for years, the walls of city public baths, laundries, and swimming pools? Neither elevated bath temperatures nor maintaining relative air humidity at 40 to 60 percent in laundries and swimming pools can completely ensure dry walls, even those protected by ceramic tiles. Recently, hollow building materials have become widely used (slit bricks and concrete blocks with cavities, foam materials), but these voids in the walls must somehow be connected to each other and connected to centralized supply and exhaust devices that regulate the speed of preservative ventilation within the required limits. This role will be taken on by new ventilating materials, primarily in ventilated facades and roofs.

One way or another, using ultra-modern or traditional materials and structures, it is necessary to provide vents (ventilation ducts) in all places on the walls and ceilings where compact water may appear. The transverse size of the vents (slots - 1 mm or holes with a diameter of 3 - 10 mm) is not so important, the main thing is that the vents cover all problematic parts of the walls (especially load-bearing structures) and are ventilated exclusively with external air under the influence of wind pressure. If the vents are large, it is advisable to close the ventilation ducts to local supply and exhaust openings, the flow sections of which can be adjusted if necessary. It is not advisable to combine the supply and exhaust ventilation of a bathhouse with a wall ventilation system due to the possible increased humidification of the walls with moist bath air.

Many people have thought about creating a small, cozy bathhouse on their own summer cottage. With its help, you can take quality water treatments and recharge your batteries, as well as relieve stress.

But at the stage of design and installation of structures, most face serious problems. One of the most common ones is choosing the right material for construction.

To help you understand, we will consider this issue in detail, and also determine the main advantages and disadvantages of various construction solutions when constructing a bathhouse.

Basic requirements for a country bath

The arrangement of a bathhouse, like other structures, requires compliance with general architectural standards and building regulations. However, our case is complicated by the need to comply with general fire safety rules during construction.

Did you know?The bathhouse's roots go back to the 6th millennium BC. e. During this period, special steam rooms appeared everywhere in Ancient Egypt, accessible to all segments of the population.

So, in order to arrange a bathhouse at your summer cottage correctly, you must comply with the following requirements:

• Compliance with architectural standards: The best place for a bathhouse is the area that is as far away from all kinds of structures as possible. However, in modern conditions, achieving a complete absence of building structures near the bathhouse will not be easy. Therefore, such a structure must be at a distance of no less than 8 meters from a residential building, no closer than 8 meters to the neighboring plot and no less than 12 meters from the well. In addition, the site for construction must be leveled relative to the entire site, since on a hill the bathhouse will have too much visibility, and in the lowlands it will suffer from spring flooding every year.
• Compliance with sanitary standards: the structure must be equipped with ventilation and also be equipped with a water drainage system. Otherwise, this will lead to stagnation of air and moisture, and with this, to the development of fungus and other pathogens.
• Compliance with fire safety standards: all parts of the structure that are subject to heating must be made of non-combustible materials. The part of the building in which the heating furnace is installed must be additionally protected with insulating materials that prevent the structure from igniting.
• Environmental friendliness of the building material: A bathhouse is a place with high temperature and humidity, so the materials for its construction should be made from natural and non-toxic components to the maximum, without adding any synthetic compounds.

Video: fire requirements for a bathhouse

Important!If the proximity to the neighboring plot does not allow the construction of a bathhouse, the distance of the structure to it can be reduced to 1 meter, but this must be agreed upon with the neighbors, and their permission must be certified in writing by lawyers.

Advantages and disadvantages of a wooden bath

Most often, a bathhouse is constructed of wood. Wood is quite easy to process, so you can use it to create almost any part of the structure, both load-bearing elements and cladding.

Such structures are characterized by strength, and their shrinkage on the ground occurs evenly, without the occurrence of cracks and breaks. In addition, wood is resistant to fluctuations in moisture and temperature, and also has high thermal insulation qualities, which makes this material almost ideal.

However, it also has many disadvantages, first of all these:

• fragility;
• wooden baths require particularly careful compliance with fire safety standards;
• shrinkage continues for a long time and can be more than 10 cm;
• A wooden bathhouse needs at least 2 years to dry thoroughly;
• After drying, wooden structures must be caulked.

Did you know?Finland is the leader in the number of steam rooms per capita. In a country with a population of about 5 million, there are more than 2 million of them.

This is the most common wood in construction, so it is not surprising that bathhouses are often built from this material.

Pine has many advantages:

• wood grows in almost any conditions, so it is one of the cheapest and most common materials;
• pine has a smooth and even trunk, which makes it easier to process;
• this wood is light but durable and rarely cracks, so such structures are reliable and shrink slightly;
• Pine contains a huge amount of aromatic resins, so water procedures in such baths are especially beneficial for general human health.

Pine has few disadvantages, but they still exist. First of all, this is an increased release of resin from the wood, so often in such baths the resin from the walls will have to be cleaned over the next few years.

Also, pine is not resistant to all kinds of atmospheric conditions, fungi and insects, so such a tree requires additional costs for treatment with protective agents.

Spruce

Baths made of no less quality than those made of pine, however, are less common. Like the conifer described above, spruce is also quite easy to process, practical and has a low price.

In addition, this material, like pine, is enriched with many resinous compounds that can saturate the bathhouse with aromas beneficial to the respiratory system.

However, structures made of spruce are rarely found in our open spaces, since, in addition to the disadvantages described above, this coniferous species is less resistant to various atmospheric manifestations and fungi, and also shrinks more than pine. Therefore, such structures not only require constant treatment with protective agents, but are also short-lived.

Cedar

They are not found in every region, so bathhouses from this wood are built exclusively in Siberia and the Urals. This material has the same positive qualities as the conifers described above, but has a number of advantages.

First of all, this is a more aesthetic appearance of the structure. Cedar wood - with a pinkish-red middle and a golden-pink tint of the outer layers, this gives the bathhouse a more interesting look.

In addition, cedar is highly resistant to all kinds of fungi and other microorganisms, as well as to conditions of high humidity, so such structures are more durable and less expensive to maintain than pine or spruce.

The main disadvantages of this wood are:

• excessive release of resin during the first few years after construction;
• high cost of material.

Larch

It is a rather rare species, so this tree is rarely found as a building material. But, despite this, relative to its coniferous counterparts, this wood has a number of advantages:

The main disadvantage of larch is its high price, so bathhouses made of this tree can only be found in areas of massive tree plantings. In addition, this wood has an excessively dense structure and is not easy to process.

Oak

It is rightfully considered a unique material. This wood has a noble shade and cut pattern, is highly durable, resistant to moisture, temperature, fungus and rot for decades.

However, this material is not considered the easiest to process, as it has an overly dense structure. In addition, oak is a rather weighty material, so such structures experience serious shrinkage. We should not forget about the high cost of oak, so such a bathhouse is only possible if there is an unlimited budget for its construction.

Aspen

A less popular material for construction, since the price-quality ratio of this wood is inferior to the above varieties of wood. It is not easy to create a building from aspen; each individual tree has its own size and shape, so structures made from this wood are possible only after careful processing.

We should not forget that aspen is not resistant to various atmospheric conditions and pests, so the tree will darken in a few years, and the building itself will become unusable within a few decades. But aspen also has its advantages: the tree perfectly absorbs varnishes and paints, so such a building can be given external aesthetics without even having special skills.

Did you know?In Ancient Rus', aspen was the most common material for building baths, since only the nobility could afford coniferous wood as a building material.

Blocks for building a bathhouse

Block buildings are an excellent and inexpensive alternative to wood for arranging a steam room on your own site. This material makes it possible to quickly create a durable structure that will last for many years. In addition, all kinds of structures made from blocks are particularly easy to create, as well as maintain, which is why they are gaining more and more popularity every year.

The main advantages of blocks:

• cheapness. Structures made from even the most expensive types of blocks are much cheaper than structures made from any other material;
• low weight of structures, which contributes to minimal shrinkage of the entire structure;
• ease and speed of installation, so steam rooms from blocks can be created with your own hands, without specialized knowledge.

But this material also has its drawbacks. First of all, this:

• insufficient resistance to high humidity and sudden temperature changes, which reduces the durability of the blocks significantly;
• the material does not have low thermal conductivity, so such structures must be insulated;
• buildings made of blocks require a solid foundation, at least 70 cm deep (in the northern regions - at least 1 meter);
• both internal and external walls of such a room require mandatory finishing.

Aerated concrete is a cellular concrete material made from cement, quartz sand and special foaming agents. The dry components of aerated concrete are thoroughly mixed, and then poured into special molds and water is added.

Under its influence, an active chemical reaction occurs, as a result of which the necessary structure of the material is created. To improve strength, some brands of aerated blocks are treated with steam in special autoclave machines.

Today there are a large number of types of aerated concrete on the market, differing both in their quality and conditions of use. The best option for a bathhouse would be D500 brand blocks. They have the necessary strength to create durable one-story structures.
This material has many advantages: ease of installation, light weight, strength, high fire safety. But there are also no less disadvantages: significant hygroscopicity, a fairly high price (relative to other types of building blocks), the need for a special expensive glue for laying blocks.

Important!When choosing aerated concrete, preference should be given to material that has been pre-treated with high steam in autoclaves, since only in this case will the blocks have the necessary strength and moisture resistance.

Main technical characteristics of aerated concrete:

• strength, kg/cm2 - 5-20;
• thermal conductivity, W/(m K) - 0.15-0.3;
• volumetric weight, kg/m3 - 200-600;
• frost resistance (number of cycles) - 50-75;
• shrinkage, mm/m - 1.5;
• water absorption,% - 45.

Video: aerated concrete bathhouse

Gas silicate

Gas silicate can be called a more profitable analogue of aerated concrete. This material is made according to the same principle as the previous one, but it contains quartz sand and a small amount of lime as a binder.

Unlike aerated concrete, in order to obtain high-quality gas silicate, the blocks must be treated with high-pressure steam. The material has the same advantages and disadvantages as aerated concrete, but from a technical point of view it is inferior to it.

Since gas silicate contains lime, this block quickly absorbs moisture and quickly collapses under its influence. Therefore, such surfaces require careful waterproofing and all the associated additional costs.

Main technical characteristics of gas silicate:

• strength, kg/cm2 - 28-40;
• thermal conductivity, W/(m K) - 0.1-0.2;
• volumetric weight, kg/m3 - 480-720;
• shrinkage, mm/m - 0.3;
• water absorption,% - 47.

A fairly inexpensive option for cellular concrete are foam blocks. They are made from a mixture of sand, cement and water, which are additionally enriched with foam from a special generator.

To build a steam room, it is best to choose material grade D 600 or higher, since less durable foam concrete is used exclusively as insulation. Foam concrete is quite seriously inferior to the aerated concrete or gas silicate described above in terms of technical characteristics, but their main advantage will be the price.

Main technical characteristics of foam concrete:

• strength, kg/cm2 - 10-50;
• thermal conductivity, W/(m K) - 0.2-0.4;
• volumetric weight, kg/m3 - 450-900;
• frost resistance (number of cycles) - up to 25;
• shrinkage, mm/m - 0.6-1.2;
• water absorption,% - 52.

Cinder block is a building material made from cement mortars, as well as slag - waste from coal production and other industries. This is a fairly cheap material, since its production often has one goal - to utilize slag formations to the maximum.

However, cinder block is not the best choice for building a bathhouse. Such blocks absorb moisture quickly and for a long time, and are also not very durable, especially in conditions of high humidity.
Even with high-quality insulation, such a bathhouse will function for no more than 15-20 years, after which it will require serious repairs.

Important!It is strictly forbidden to use cinder blocks as a building material immediately after production, since the slag releases various toxic substances for quite a long time. Therefore, before use, it must be left in the open air for at least 1 year.

Sawdust can also be used as the main component in the production of cinder blocks, in which case it is possible to obtain not only a cheap, but also environmentally friendly material. To create one-story structures, you will need a material grade of at least M 75, since less durable options are used exclusively as facade insulation.

Main technical characteristics of cinder block:

• strength, kg/cm2 - 25-75;
• thermal conductivity, W/(m K) - 0.3-0.5;
• volumetric weight, kg/m3 - 500-1000;
• frost resistance (number of cycles) - up to 20;
• shrinkage, mm/m - 0;
• water absorption,% - 55.

Video: cinder block bathhouse

Expanded clay concrete blocks are an almost complete, but higher quality analogue of cinder blocks. This material is made from a cement mixture, as well as expanded clay - fine clay fired under special conditions. Expanded clay blocks have a lot of advantages over other cellular blocks.

First of all, it is environmentally friendly, light weight, which almost completely eliminates the risk of shrinkage. In addition, this material has a low percentage of water absorption, as well as low thermal conductivity, which makes it an almost ideal option for creating a high-quality but inexpensive steam room.

However, to equip a bathhouse you will need blocks of the M100-M150 brand, since the less durable expanded clay concrete is used exclusively as facade insulation. Main technical characteristics of expanded clay concrete:

• strength, kg/cm2 - 50-150;
• thermal conductivity, W/(m K) - 0.15-0.45;
• volumetric weight, kg/m3 - 700-1500;
• frost resistance (number of cycles) - up to 50;
• shrinkage, mm/m - 0;
• vapor absorption,% - 12.

Ceramic block is a less common material in modern construction than the ones listed above, but you can often see a budget bathhouse made from it. Ceramic blocks are quite environmentally friendly, since they contain only cement, sand, ceramic powder and water.

Like the materials described above, such blocks are characterized by their low cost, ease of installation, low weight, and durability. The main disadvantage of the material is its higher thermal conductivity.
In addition, you should not forget about the fragility of the material, so when installing a bathhouse made of ceramic blocks, be sure that the calculated amount of material will have to be increased by at least 5%. That is why you should not skimp on the quality of this product; the brand should be no lower than M100.

Main technical characteristics of ceramic block:

• strength, kg/cm2 - 25-175;
• thermal conductivity, W/(m K) - 0.08-0.18;
• volumetric weight, kg/m3 - 650-1000;
• frost resistance (number of cycles) - more than 50;
• shrinkage, mm/m - 0.3;
• water absorption,% - 10-15.

Important!Block structures require additional reinforcement of the masonry with metal mesh every 2-3 rows, otherwise the durability of the structure is reduced significantly. This feature must be taken into account when creating an estimate.

A brick sauna is one of the best alternatives to arranging a steam room at home.
Using brick, you can create a reliable and high-quality structure that will delight its owners for many decades. That is why an increasing number of lovers of life-giving steam prefer this material.

The main advantages of a brick steam room are:

• reliability and durability;
• low water absorption coefficient. This not only contributes to the durability of the structure, but also helps to resist the development of fungi and dangerous bacteria on the surface of the walls;
• versatility. Brick makes it possible to use it for almost any purpose: from erecting walls to arranging a stove;
• exclusivity. With the help of brickwork it is possible to create a structure of any architectural shape and size;
• simplicity. Brick is easy to use and maintain; in addition, it is quite aesthetic and does not require mandatory interior and exterior finishing;
• high fire safety. Even at critical temperatures, brick is not flammable, which makes it an ideal (from a fire safety point of view) material;
• environmental friendliness. The brick contains the maximum amount of natural ingredients.

Video: brick bathhouse However, a brick bathhouse is not without serious drawbacks:

• high cost. Even the simplest brick structure will be noticeably more expensive than any wooden or block building;
• high thermal conductivity. This negatively affects fuel consumption, as well as the overall speed of heating the bath and achieving optimal temperatures.

Traditionally, red brick is used to build a bathhouse in modern construction practice. To build a steam room, several types are used: although they have a common task, they must be used exclusively for highly specialized purposes.

These are the so-called pipe, ceramic and refractory types. Next, we will consider in more detail the need and tasks of each of these materials. .

Important! A high-quality fired brick has a uniform shade throughout its entire volume, and when struck with a hammer, it characteristically “rings.” If these signs are absent, the material must be rejected.

Pipe (solid)

The purpose of the pipe brick is to remove gaseous waste resulting from the combustion of fuel when lighting a sauna stove. This is perhaps one of the few building materials that can cope with such a task without being negatively affected by sudden temperature changes.

It is made from a special clay mixture subjected to semi-dry pressing. As a result, it is possible to obtain a product with high hygroscopicity, a smooth surface and strict dimensions. This helps create an ideal tightness for removing combustion derivatives.

Today there are many varieties of such bricks on the market, but the most suitable are exclusively solid pipe bricks. Despite the higher price relative to hollow ones, it is not recommended to use excessively porous materials at elevated temperatures, as this may cause its destruction.
However, the completeness of the material is not the key to a reliable chimney. In conditions of elevated temperatures, strength plays a decisive role in preserving the integrity of the structure, so the optimal choice would be a brick of at least grade M200.

Main technical characteristics of bricks for pipes:

• thermal conductivity, W/(m K) - 0.3-0.8;
• volumetric weight, kg/m3 - 1500 – 1900;
• heat resistance, °C - up to 1000;
• shrinkage,% - 5;
• water absorption,% - 10.

Ceramic (tube)

Ceramic pipe brick is a type of hollow brick that is used to construct buildings no higher than 2-3 floors. It is made from special clay solutions subjected to high-temperature heating in ovens at a temperature of about 1000 °C.

This building material is practically no different in composition from solid ceramic bricks and has the same advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage of such bricks is their low cost. Each of the molds for the production of the material has small convexities, which creates artificial cavities in each brick, as a result of which a reduction in the amount of raw materials for production is achieved, and with this the final unit price.

In addition, the presence of cavities improves the thermal insulation capabilities of the product, so steam rooms made of hollow bricks heat up much faster than those made of solid bricks. This type of brick also has many disadvantages.

Did you know?The largest steam room is located in the German town of Sinsheim, its area is 160 square meters. meters.

First of all, it is low strength, as well as the ability to collapse under the influence of high moisture. This leads to increased costs for high-quality finishing and vapor barrier of the material, otherwise the durability of the structure is reduced significantly. The optimal type of hollow ceramic brick for building a bathhouse will be a grade of at least M200.
Main technical characteristics of ceramic hollow bricks:

• strength, kg/cm2 - 75-300;
• thermal conductivity, W/(m K) - 0.2-0.5;
• volumetric weight, kg/m3 - 1300 – 1500;
• frost resistance (number of cycles) - more than 75;
• heat resistance, °C - up to 1000;
• shrinkage,% - 5;
• water absorption,% - 10.

Did you know?In the old days, in order to determine the quality of a brick, 600 bricks were placed on a wooden pallet, after which the pallet was raised to a height of about 2 meters, and then abruptly dropped to the ground. If even one broke, the whole batch was rejected.

Fireproof (fireclay)

Refractory or fireclay brick is used for both stone and wooden baths as the basis for making a stove. This is the only building material that can withstand direct exposure to fire.
It is made from a mixture of special refractory clay and various additives (coke, graphite powders, large quartz grains, etc.), fired at a temperature of 1300...1500 °C. This makes it possible to obtain a material that is resistant to sudden temperature changes and durable.

On the modern market there are a lot of different types of fireclay bricks (Sha, ShB, ShAK, ShUS, ShV, PV and PB). For the construction of a home steam room, the most profitable materials will be ShB-5 and ShB-8. This is the so-called class B fireclay brick, capable of withstanding a maximum temperature of 1400 °C.

These are one of the cheapest types of refractory bricks, but despite this, this choice will be an ideal option in terms of price and quality.

Main technical characteristics of refractory bricks:

• strength, kg/cm2 - 100-150;
• thermal conductivity, W/(m K) - 0.6-0.9;
• volumetric weight, kg/m3 - 1800-2000;
• frost resistance (number of cycles) - up to 50;
• heat resistance, °C - up to 1500;
• shrinkage,% - 5;
• water absorption,% - 5-8.

Important!For laying fireclay bricks, heat-resistant mixtures or refractory clay are used. Simple cement mortars instantly crack and collapse when exposed to high temperatures.

Stone bath: pros and cons

Stone in construction is the best option for those regions where acquiring wood is not so easy. In addition, a stone bath looks impressive and unusual, which will definitely help to create a truly unique steam room.

The stone has a lot of advantages, first of all, these are:

• low price;
• general availability;
• high fire safety;
• durability;
• low shrinkage rate.

However, despite its advantages, stone also has many disadvantages, which are the main reason for the low prevalence of stone baths.

These include:

• technological complexity. Due to the uneven size of the stones, it is much more difficult to create a building of the correct shape than from brick or wood;
• high cost. Even the most expensive wooden bath will be much cheaper than a stone one, since such a steam room requires a large amount of related materials;
• high thermal conductivity. Stone is difficult to retain heat, so for high-quality ignition of a bath, an order of magnitude more fuel is required than for steam rooms made of other materials;
• low gas permeability. A stone bath requires a high-quality ventilation system to avoid air stagnation;
• excessive design dimensions. The walls of a stone bath are constructed with a thickness of at least 75 cm, which negatively affects the amount of space required for construction.

Video: which sauna is better, wooden or stone?

Optimal choice

Today, in modern market conditions, choosing the optimal type of material for a home bath is not so simple, since for most domestic consumers the issue of the expediency of the money spent is not only acute, but is also the dominant factor in budget planning.

Let's analyze all of the above and find out what is the best way to build a bathhouse, and what materials are best to abandon. The highest quality structure is a wooden steam room (pine, spruce).

A wooden bathhouse will perfectly cope with all the responsibilities assigned to it and will give a lot of positive emotions, as well as pleasant sensations. In addition, such a steam room looks very colorful and will last for several decades.

Video: how to choose materials for building a bathhouse

If you don’t have extra funds, you can build a bathhouse from building blocks - you should turn your attention to expanded clay concrete. This material not only has low thermal conductivity and durability, but also makes it possible to quickly and inexpensively create a full-fledged steam room of any size and number of floors.

However, in pursuit of cheapness, you should not choose the cheapest materials, since such structures will not only last only a couple of decades, but will also cause a lot of trouble in maintenance. Therefore, you should not build a bathhouse made of aspen, foam blocks or cinder blocks on your site.

In this case, even with a gentle regime, after 10-15 years your steam room may become completely unusable. A properly equipped bathhouse is the best thing that can please you during the cold winter season in your own summer cottage.

Today there are many materials with which you can create a full-fledged steam room in just a few months, even with your own hands. However, if you don’t have extra funds in reserve, it is best to postpone the construction of a bathhouse until a later time, since a cheap steam room will soon become a serious headache.

From time immemorial, a real Russian bathhouse was built from logs. Wood is a traditional material for construction; fortunately, there were always enough forests in Rus'. In a wooden bathhouse you can breathe easily and freely.

The atmosphere of a real steam bath allows you to get complete and incomparable pleasure. Today's builders also keep up with their ancestors, offering various options for wooden baths. Along with traditional log bathhouses, bathhouses are built from rounded logs, timber of various types: profiled, glued, as well as frame bathhouses.

Some people prefer bathhouses made of bricks or concrete blocks, some build combined structures: first a wooden frame, which is then lined with brick. The choice of materials for building a bathhouse depends on the financial capabilities of the owner, his wishes and requests, and the climatic conditions of the region.

Bathhouse lining is an indispensable building material

It is always important to take into account the characteristics of the site, the desired layout, size and decoration of the bathhouse. If you are making a bathhouse for a family, then you should not get carried away with pompous and huge structures: they will be expensive and not always good. Often, compact, cozy bathhouses are much preferable, and the comfort and steam in them is the best.

For lovers of noisy companies, large baths are needed, which require a thorough design, careful compliance with all construction standards, and then the same careful care and operation.

And it doesn’t matter what you build the bathhouse from, the main thing is that the building materials for the bathhouse are of high quality.

How to choose materials for building a bathhouse

So, how to choose building materials for a bathhouse? For a chopped bath you will need logs, and you must ensure that the fibers in them are straight. If the fibers in the logs are curved and twisted, then with settlement such a log house may crack.

Saunas made from rounded logs are distinguished by their special beauty and strength of joints, because such logs are processed using special equipment. During construction, it is important to wait almost a year for the frame to shrink, and only then begin all the finishing work.

Many consider profiled timber to be the best material for building a bathhouse. Beautiful surface, clear, precise lines, low thermal conductivity - all this makes such timber very popular in the construction of baths. Important:

• wait time after the walls are erected (shrinkage occurs);
• Carefully caulk all cracks.

Another option for building a bathhouse is a bathhouse made of laminated veneer lumber. This building material came to Russia from Scandinavia and already has many fans. Among the advantages of laminated timber:

1. Smooth and smooth surface, eliminating the need for finishing;
2. Installation of baths from it is carried out year-round, assembly follows the principle of a designer.
3. There are no deformations or shrinkages, after construction in such baths you can immediately begin all procedures.
4. Glued laminated timber retains heat perfectly, does not rot, and is not affected by fungi and insects.

Glued laminated timber

True, it should be borne in mind that such material is not cheap, but a bathhouse built from laminated veneer lumber will last for ages.

Frame buildings are not so well known, but they also have their admirers. Baths built using frame technology are light in weight, which allows saving on the foundation, are easy to construct and are not subject to deformation. The main thing here is to wisely choose materials for insulating the bathhouse in order to save more heat. The timing of their installation is very fast and you won’t even notice how a neat and beautiful building will appear on your site.

For brick baths, use ordinary white or red brick, but in no case silicate brick. The interior decoration of the bathhouse requires special attention and selection of materials.

Bath roof material

The material for the roof of the bathhouse is selected taking into account the style of the building itself, the materials used for the walls, climatic conditions and, of course, financial capabilities. The shape is usually saddle or gable roofs, in some cases - sloping. In the huge variety of modern roofing materials, you can choose any option: slate, roofing felt, metal tiles, ondulin, bitumen shingles and others

Sometimes the roof on the bathhouse is matched to the same color as the roof of the house, thus creating a harmonious ensemble of the suburban area. An important element of any roof is the rafters, which must be free of cracks and have no knots. They are usually made of wood, most often spruce or pine.

Material for bath walls

As mentioned above, the best material for a bathhouse is wood.

If you are building a log bathhouse, then the logs should be the same in thickness, without burrs or cracks. The log house is placed in a “lapa” or “oblo”, it all depends on your choice and the work system of the master builder. All gaps are caulked to ensure warmth inside the room.

Bathhouses made of timber are built much faster; the technology is usually developed down to the smallest detail. Special tape materials are used as insulation.

Fireproof materials for a bathhouse are brick or stone. The walls are laid in the usual manner; such baths are durable and fireproof, but require careful finishing and insulation.

Choosing materials for finishing the bath

What materials for saunas and baths should I choose as finishing? The choice is wide: from traditional planed boards to modern eurolining, block house and ceramic tiles.

Wood has no competition here either, because what could be better and more beautiful than wooden surfaces that emit the aroma of nature itself.

Finishing materials for baths are most often made from linden or aspen, less often from pine or spruce. Linden is considered an expensive but very high-quality material; its finish has an attractive appearance, does not cause burns when heated and does not darken over time. Also a popular material for the interior decoration of a bathhouse is aspen, its only drawback is that it quickly becomes dark.

It is linden, aspen, as well as exotic abashi wood that are recommended as finishing for steam rooms and washing rooms. It is also preferable to make shelves for a bathhouse from them.

Coniferous wood releases sticky resin when heated, so pine and spruce are best used in rest rooms, dressing rooms or vestibules.

Any finishing material must be free of knots, otherwise it will very easily get burned. And, of course, all the finishing should be beautiful, smooth, without roughness or nicks.

Vapor barrier materials for baths

Insulating materials for bathhouses are designed to conserve heat, reduce the impact of humidity and temperature changes on the walls and ceiling, and also extend the life of the building. These include vapor barrier materials for baths and thermal insulation materials for baths.

We choose foil as a vapor barrier for the steam room, but in no case roofing felt. It can be used for dressing rooms and rest rooms; kraft paper is also suitable in these rooms.

Polyethylene is also used, but less often; nevertheless, there are now better vapor barrier materials for baths.

Foil materials for baths are very popular, combining both insulation and vapor barrier. For example, polypropylene with foil allows you to maintain a very high temperature in the steam room for a long time. Fiberglass boards coated with the same foil are also of good quality.

Calculation of materials for the construction of a bathhouse

You can’t build a bathhouse from scrap materials; it requires approach, careful preparation, and only then will it reward you for your care with heat and an excellent park.

How to calculate materials for building a bathhouse? The best advice is to contact specialists who will make all the calculations and tell you the approximate cost of construction. But even by doing your own calculations, you can buy the required amount of materials. So what we have:

• material for the walls and roof of the bathhouse,
• edged floor boards,
• boards for ceilings and interior decoration,
• waterproofing,
• vapor barrier,
• materials for bath insulation,
• roofing materials.

This list can be supplemented with a number of other materials, it all depends on your desires. The amount of materials for purchase is calculated in each specific case, because this is directly related to the size of your bathhouse, its area and your budget. There are special tables that show detailed costs of lumber depending on the method of finishing and arrangement of interior spaces.

In any case, a competent approach and carefully calculated calculation of materials for a bathhouse will help you avoid unnecessary expenses and at the same time build a high-quality and durable bathhouse.