Existing technologies for the construction of wooden floors guarantee unhindered water flow and a long service life of the bathhouse. The article provides recommendations for arranging wooden floors at minimal cost.
Types of wooden floors in the bathhouse
Non-leakage floor formed from tightly attached boards. The floor surface is tilted towards the sewer pipe that drains water from the room. The floor can be insulated, waterproofed and vapor barrier.
The technology for making a wooden floor is relatively simple when compared with the technology for pouring a floor with concrete, and therefore is more popular.
The choice of building materials for the floor in the bathhouse
When purchasing lumber, adhere to the following recommendations:
- To make floors, buy larch, alder or oak boards.
- Larch is considered the best option; it is characterized by wear resistance and increased hardness, as well as a high price.
- Elements are made from pine that are installed below the finished floor.
- It is advisable to purchase tongue and groove boards for floors.
- The lumber must be dry, otherwise it will begin to deform in a humid, hot room.
- The minimum board thickness is 25 mm, recommended - 40 mm. A board with a thickness of 25 mm deforms the least, but requires additional supports so that it does not bend under weight.
How to make a floor in a bathhouse on sandy soil
The structure of the floor in the bathhouse depends on the type of soil on which it stands. On soils that do not drain water well (sandy loam, clayey, loamy), it is necessary to provide drainage from under the floor so that the water does not stagnate. In other cases, forced water drainage is not provided.
Underground device
The underground is the space between the floor and the ground. Dig a pit at least 400 mm deep. Determine the exact depth from the condition that there is a gap of 300 mm between the finished base and the lower surface of the floor board.
Make support posts for the joists in the following sequence:
- Mark the positions of the posts on the floor. They should be arranged in rows with a step of 1 m.
- Dig wells 400mm deep and 400x400mm in size.
- Pour crushed stone into the well (150 mm layer) and compact it.
- Pour 150 mm of sand on top and compact it as well.
- Make wooden formworks with internal dimensions of 250x250 mm and a height sufficient to install the joists. Install the products in the wells.
- Prepare concrete from cement, sand and fine gravel using a ratio of 1:3:5.
- Fill the formwork with concrete required height. Level each surface to the horizon. Make sure that the tops of all posts are level.
- After the concrete has hardened (no more than 3 days), waterproof the posts by covering them with molten bitumen.
The next step is to fill the cracks in the soil around the posts with soil. Mix crushed stone with sand, pour it onto the bottom and compact it (layer thickness - 250 mm or more).
Laying lags
For logs, thick beams are used, for example, with a section of 50x180 mm.
When working, adhere to the following sequence:
- Cut logs from blanks to a length equal to the size of the room.
- Lay the logs on the posts, check the location of the upper surfaces in a horizontal plane using a building level. The location of the joists between each other can be checked by placing flat board across the bars. If necessary, level the surfaces by cutting joists or adding pads of the required thickness.
- Measure the distance from the top of the beam to the prepared area on the ground. Acceptable size is 300 mm or more.
- Attach the logs to the posts in any way. Mounting option - use 60x60 mm corners. Attach the corners to the block with self-tapping screws, and to the concrete base - with 5x50 mm screws, screwed into the hole with dowels. Place the corners on both sides of the bar.
- Waterproof the joists and that's it metal elements liquid bitumen.
Floor arrangement
From the blanks, cut boards to the required length. Inspect the surfaces of the samples - there should be no irregularities in which water can accumulate. Lay the boards on the logs, provide gaps between the lumber - at least 5 mm. The gap should not close when the boards swell. The boards are not fastened to the joists with nails, so that they can be dismantled and the area under the floor washed. To fasten the boards, use bars, which are installed near the walls and fixed to the joists with self-tapping screws. They are easy to unscrew, allowing you to dismantle the boards.
Making a floor for a bathhouse on clay soils
The construction of the floor involves draining water behind the building. Make a square pit next to the bathhouse and cover the walls with clay. Pour crushed stone (thickness - 10 cm) onto the ground under the future floor of the bathhouse, clay (15 cm) on top, compact everything. Make a slope of the embankment towards the pit, water will flow down it. Instead of clay, the drain can be made of cement.
To make the floor in the bathhouse leak-proof, it is necessary to make two floors - rough and finishing. Backing beams are used in the floor construction. The outer bars are installed on strip foundation, central - on opposite surfaces of the foundation and on two support pillars. Water flows along such a floor to a drainage pipe, which must be laid at the stage of foundation construction.
Manufacturing of support pillars
Work on making a leak-proof floor begins with the manufacture of support pillars and is carried out in the following order:
- Mark the positions of the support posts on the floor.
- Dig wells with a depth of 400 mm and horizontal dimensions of 400x400 mm.
- Pour sand into a 100 mm layer at the bottom and compact it. Pour crushed stone (150 mm) on top and compact it as well.
- Make formwork 250x250 mm, the height should ensure the height of the column at the level of the strip foundation. Install formwork in the wells and pave the inside with roofing felt.
- Make a frame from a rod with a diameter of 10 mm; the dimensions should allow it to be installed in a well.
- Prepare concrete from cement, sand and fine gravel in a ratio of 1:3:5.
- Pour concrete into the wells with a layer of 50 mm, compact it. Install in wells metal carcass. Fill the wells with concrete to the specified height and compact it with a vibrator.
- Level the top surfaces to the horizon. Make sure that the surfaces of the strip foundation and pillars are located at the same level. Perform inspections using a building level. Let the concrete harden (a couple of days).
- Waterproof the sides, top areas of the pillars and strip foundations with two layers of roofing material and liquid tar.
Installation of support beams
Before starting work, saturate all wooden elements with an antiseptic, and then:
- Install the support beams on the strip foundation and on the support posts. Install beams adjacent to the wall with gaps of 10 mm in the longitudinal direction and 20 mm at the ends.
- Check the horizontality of the beams with a level. Provide them with modifications to the beams or with pads.
- Check the position of the upper surfaces of the beams with a construction hydrostatic level; all surfaces of the beams should be located at the same level.
- Drill holes in the beams with a diameter of 12 mm for anchor bolts. Through the holes, mark the position of the mounting holes on the strip foundation.
- Attach 60x60 corners to the beam, which is located on the pillars, on both sides, mark the centers of the mounting holes on the surface of the pillars.
- Dismantle the beams and make holes according to the markings. Install dowels into the holes.
- Install the bars in their original places and secure with standard fasteners. Make sure the top surfaces of the beams are positioned correctly.
Installation of logs
Install the logs as follows. Water on a non-leaking floor should flow towards the drain, so trim the joists to create a 10-degree angle to one side. Apply marks relative position log on the floor. Attach the cranial blocks to the joists, which will hold the subfloor boards. Install the outer joists on the support beams. The gaps between the joists and the walls should be 50 mm.
Align the surfaces of the beams to the horizon. Place the remaining beams between them. Pull the cords between the outer joists and align the surfaces of the internal elements along them. The cords should be positioned at an angle of 10 degrees to the horizontal. Secure the logs to the beams with corners and self-tapping screws.
Laying rough and finishing floors
Slabs or other boards are used for the subfloor. You can use roughly processed lumber with irregularities up to 5 mm. Then do the following: clean the boards from bark, treat them with an antiseptic, lay the boards on the skull blocks and nail them, check for a guaranteed gap of at least 150 mm between the subfloor and the ground.
Lay a waterproofing membrane on the subfloor with an overlap of 20-30 cm on the walls. The membrane has a special design; it will not let moisture in from the outside, but will allow it to escape from the insulation. Secure the membrane to the side surfaces of the logs with a stapler every 100-150 mm. Place basalt mats tightly onto the membrane to insulate the floor. Gaps and gaps are not allowed. Cover the top of the basalt mats with a waterproofing membrane and secure it. Make sure that there is a gap of 20-30 mm between the floor and the membrane.
When laying boards, adhere to the following recommendations:
- The water should flow across the boards.
- Place the first board at a distance of 20 mm from the wall and secure it temporarily with self-tapping screws. The gap is necessary for ventilation of the space under the floor.
- Press the next board tightly against the first and temporarily secure it in a pressed position with self-tapping screws. The last board should also be attached at a distance of 20 mm from the wall. To make it possible to dismantle the boards, for example, for drying, they are secured with bars, which are installed near the walls and fixed to the joists with self-tapping screws. Remove temporary fasteners.
- The finished floor is not painted so that the boards dry faster. It is enough to cover with two layers of drying oil.
Installation of the floor in the bathhouse is carried out using various technologies And Supplies. But all construction options are aimed at solving one problem - ensuring the free outflow of water and preventing the development of putrefactive forms in wooden elements designs.
A bathhouse is a specific structure, the construction of which has special requirements. When constructing a Russian bathhouse, it is important to take into account two main features of this building: high humidity and high temperature. The floor in the bathhouse is the coldest place, and the materials for it should only be of natural origin. If they contain synthetic components, then when heated they will release toxic substances. The floor in the steam room has its own characteristics, since this part of the bathhouse is characterized by the highest temperatures. How to make a floor in a steam room?
Primary requirements
The floors in the bathhouse must match certain requirements security. It is necessary to choose a coating for bath pilafs taking into account injury safety indicators. It is better to avoid tiled flooring, as a slippery floor surface can lead to unwanted injuries. The floor design is formed taking into account high humidity premises. If you prefer to see a boardwalk in your steam room, then it should be made only from coniferous wood, resistant to both moisture and rotting processes.
It is preferable to make the floor in the steam room solid. There is no need to create a leaking structure in this section of the bathhouse. The coating may not have cracks, but it must slope down towards the drain, which is located above the drainage pit. Experts recommend covering the edges of the floor with a waterproof baseboard. This skirting board will act as a protective barrier and protect the wooden floorboards from rotting. The bottom edge of the walls under the baseboard will be covered, so moisture will not be able to penetrate under the wall sheathing.
Removable lattice panels are often used as an additional covering in Russian baths. Such panels can also be placed in a steam room. Before use, wooden gratings are impregnated with antiseptic agents and dried well after each procedure. Removable panels, if necessary, can be easily replaced with new ones, as they are inexpensive.
A tiled floor in the steam room of a Russian bath is not entirely appropriate, not only because of the slippery surface. This coating gets very hot, so you can get your feet burned from the tiled floor in the steam room. Using wooden gratings easily solves this problem.
If you want to make a concrete floor in the bathhouse, then you first need to think about its insulation. Mineral or basalt wool is most often used as insulation. A base of crushed stone and sand is poured as an insulation cushion, after which hydro- and vapor barriers are applied.
For long-term operation floors in the steam bath during construction should be provided ventilation holes in the foundation. They will provide an influx fresh air necessary for drying the floor, preventing rotting processes and eliminating unpleasant odors.
For flooring in the steam room, choose natural materials, the use of linoleum, laminate or other similar coating in the bathhouse is not permitted: when heating their surface, you can be poisoned by the released toxic elements. Chemical compounds for wood processing should also be used with great care. The best option would be to completely abandon them; if this cannot be done, then pay attention to products produced specifically for such purposes.
You can make the floor in the steam room of the bath with your own hands, the main thing is to choose not only good Construction Materials for the floor, but also choose high-quality fasteners. All parts must be resistant to moisture and high temperature. Ordinary nails will quickly become rusty and leave dirty streaks on the wood, and hot fastenings can even cause burns.
Subfloor
The floor of the bathhouse should consist of rough and finishing coatings. Modern designs The floors of bathhouses require a combination of a concrete base and an upper plank flooring. Old ways including wooden base, become a thing of the past. This method of arranging the floors of a bathhouse is not effective due to the rapid deterioration of the rough covering from moisture and rotting.
The concrete screed for the floor in the steam room is made at an angle towards the drain. The baths do not provide for drainage of water from this room, since it is already in the washing compartment: there is no point in organizing another drain. Work begins with laying boards on the load-bearing beams and laying a waterproofing layer of polyethylene film. The film is covered in several layers, the walls of the steam room are covered with damper tape around the perimeter.
Concrete floor in a steam room under the influence high temperatures will expand damper tape, acting as a shock absorber, will protect the walls from mechanical stress. All work can be done with your own hands; the concrete base is poured according to the principle of a standard screed. The solution is poured onto the prepared base to a height of 10 cm; to ensure the strength of such a screed, a reinforcing mesh should be laid before pouring.
After the concrete has dried, it is necessary to lay a layer thermal insulation materials. The floor in the steam room does not participate in heating the bath, and the concrete base has a low temperature. Experts advise installing a layer of polystyrene on top of the concrete base, which will reflect heat back into the steam room.
When the insulation is fixed, you can proceed to installing the beacons and pouring the finishing screed. Beacons are installed taking into account the slope of the surface to the hole for water drainage. Finishing fill made with standard cement mortar with the addition liquid glass: this substance will become an additional binding element and protection against moisture.
Wood flooring
Final flooring may be different in the bathhouse, you can leave it concrete screed or cover it with tiles or porcelain stoneware. In these conditions, when operating the structure, for a comfortable visit to the bathhouse you will have to use wooden gratings. The most the best option finishing can be considered a wooden floor; such a covering is appropriate to use both in the steam room of a bathhouse and in the washing department. Plank floors are the most The best decision for a bath. They are made from environmentally friendly material, are pleasant to look at and retain the very spirit of the Russian bathhouse.
Before laying, the boards are pre-treated with special compounds for baths. Impregnation will protect the wood from water and the spread of fungus and mold. Then logs are installed on the rough coating. Usually they are attached to the walls of the log house using corners or brackets. Experts install them into the masonry while the walls are being erected. To understand how the junctions of the joists with the walls should look, it is recommended to look at a photo of the process of arranging a wooden floor in a bathhouse.
The logs must be installed strictly horizontally, and during work it is necessary to constantly check using a level. There is no need to slope the final finished floor; the final coating will be installed on even joists. The floor in the steam room is exposed to moisture. To allow water to drain onto the concrete base, the boards should be installed with some gaps. The optimal distance can be considered a value of 0.5-1 cm - such gaps will not create inconvenience when visiting the bathhouse, and the water will flow down freely. When leaving gaps, it is necessary to take into account that after several visits, the steam boards will expand slightly under the influence of humidity and temperature, and the distance between them will noticeably decrease.
The boards are fixed to the joists using self-tapping screws. The heads of the screws should not protrude on top of the board, so they should be recessed deeper into the wood and then sealed with a special heat-resistant compound.
You can make a wooden floor in a steam room with your own hands in a few days, but making a concrete base takes much longer. If you comply with all the requirements for arranging the floor in a steam bath, you will receive a high-quality coating that is resistant to the effects of specific room conditions and is ready for long-term use.
In order for the floor in the steam room to last as long as possible, you need to know a few important points. Any work requires an action plan, so before starting work it is strongly recommended to start drawing up a drawing of the future bathhouse. In the process, it is necessary to determine the parameters of the structure and its premises, the location and dimensions of the main internal structures. Wood flooring with concrete base takes up quite a lot of space and reaches at least 20 cm in height.
How to make a reliable floor in a steam room? In order for the floor to serve you as long as possible, the wood used to make it must be as dry as possible. If the humidity of the boards is high, then the entire flooring will deteriorate after the first use of the steam room for its intended purpose. The wood must be thoroughly impregnated with special protective substances; sometimes the procedure can be repeated more than once. The better the material is protected, the longer it will last.
During installation wooden flooring Gaps should remain not only between the boards, but also between the flooring itself and the wall. The reason for this arrangement of the boards is the same: the wood will swell over time and rest against the wall. To avoid distortions of the walls and floor, experts advise leaving a distance of a couple of centimeters around the perimeter of the steam room.
From any synthetic materials and chemicals containing toxic substances, it is better to refuse. Harmful elements released during heating can ruin your health, and the bathhouse is a place where both soul and body are healed.
To ensure proper rest in country house or at the dacha they build baths or saunas. The most important element When constructing a bathhouse, the floor is used. The best material Wood is traditionally considered to be used to construct the floor in a bathhouse. This is an environmentally friendly material, easy to process, and has low thermal conductivity. When heated, the tree emits healthy phytoncides and a pleasant aroma.
Bathroom flooring is exposed to moisture and large temperature changes. The quality and proper installation of a wooden floor in a bathhouse determines its service life and the comfort of bathing procedures.
There are 2 types of wooden floors in bathhouses: leaking and solid (not leaking). Sometimes concrete floors are also installed with wooden gratings.
Preparation stage
Diagram of a leaking floor in a bathhouse.
- wood hacksaw;
- carpenter's axe;
- construction level;
- hammer;
- galvanized nails;
- timber 50x150 mm (for logs) or logs with a diameter of at least 15 cm;
- edged boards 40x150 mm (for floors)
- unedged boards for subfloors;
- tongue and groove floorboards (for solid floors);
- expanded clay;
- waterproofing film;
- pipe sewer diameter about 110 mm;
- crushed stone;
- clay;
- antiseptic solution.
Having prepared the required material and tools, and chosen the type of floor, we begin its construction.
Floor leaking
This is the simplest type of floor; water from its surface between the cracks of the boards flows directly into the ground under the bathhouse. Installing such a floor is cheaper and less labor-intensive. Its main disadvantage is that its surface is cold. To build such a floor, you need:
- Level and clean the soil surface inside the foundation.
- Select the soil before the sand, if this is not possible, pour and compact a layer of sand about 15 cm high.
- Mark the installation locations for the joists.
- Made of brick or concrete mortar install supports under the logs, at the height of the foundation.
- Place and compact a layer of crushed stone about 10 cm thick on the surface.
- Prepare joists across the width of the floor and lay them on supports; put roofing felt waterproofing under the joists. The height of the logs should be at the level of the mortgage crown of the bathhouse frame. Between the ends of the log and the wall it is necessary to leave ventilation gap at least 3 cm. The horizontal installation of the logs is checked by a level.
- Planed boards are cut along the width of the room for laying on logs (they should not reach the walls by about 2 cm on each side, for ventilation of the underground).
- Prepared boards, galvanized with nails, are attached to the joists with a gap between their ends of about 10 mm (for water drainage and ventilation).
- All wood products are pre-impregnated with an antiseptic.
Leak-proof wooden floor
a, b – leaky floors, c – non-leaky floors, d – inclined tray.
1 – filter trench, 2 – foundation, 3 – logs covered with ruderoid, 4 – leaking floor, 5 – solid floor, 6 – waterproofing, 7 – concrete catch basin,
8 – waterproofing, 9 – stainless steel tray, 10 – wooden grate, 11 – wooden frame for the pallet, 12 – gutter, water conduit.
Water that gets onto the surface of this type of floor flows into a special hole (ladder) and into a drainage tank, and then through a drain pipe it is discharged outside the bathhouse. Its design provides for a black, insulated floor. Installing a solid wooden floor is more difficult and more expensive.
The procedure for creating a floor in a bathhouse is as follows:
- A layer of soil is removed from inside the foundation. A layer (about 20 cm) of sand is poured and compacted.
- The locations for installing the logs are marked. Support columns are installed under the logs (to the height of the bathhouse foundation).
- A layer of gravel about 10 cm thick is laid on the sand.
- Logs are installed on the supports (should be slightly higher than the embedded crown) with a slope of approximately 10° to the outer wall.
- At the foundation outer wall a drain chute is created from concrete or from a plastic pipe, cut in half, with a diameter of at least 250 mm. The gutter is installed flush with the backfill surface.
- A 50x50 mm block is nailed to the bottom of the log (on both sides).
- The subfloor is laid on unedged boards.
- The surface of the subfloor is covered with a waterproofing film, onto which insulation (expanded clay) is poured to the height of the log.
- The surface of the expanded clay is covered with waterproofing material.
- A drainage pipe is attached to one edge of the gutter, through which water will be discharged outside the bathhouse. The second end of the gutter is closed with a plate.
- The boards are laid with tongue and groove inside the room and secured (with galvanized nails) with a slope towards the receiving chute. To organize ventilation of the subfloor, a gap of about 10 mm is left from the walls to the end of the boards, along which water will flow into the gutter and then out.
- A plinth is installed on 3 sides of the walls, covering the gap between the boards and the wall of the log house. The slot for draining water is left open.
- All wood products are treated with an antiseptic before installation.
Leaky floors mean a structure in which water freely flows into the cracks between the boards and is absorbed into the ground under the bathhouse.
Benefits of leaky floors
What are the benefits of leaky floors:
- in financial terms, installing such floors is much cheaper,
- low level of labor intensity of their device.
However, leaking floors, unlike non-leaking floors, are cold. It is advisable to create leaky floors in the southern regions Russian Federation and CIS.
Non-leaking floor design
The design of non-leaking floors implies the presence of a special hole into which water flows along the floor. From the hole, water enters the drainage tank and flows out through the drainage pipe outside the bathhouse. Such floors have a so-called “subfloor”. Currently, non-leaking floors are more common than leaking floors.
Floors that do not leak are warm, but their installation requires more labor (it is necessary to perform a slope, a “subfloor”, drainage, etc.)
Preparing the base of wooden floors
To install a wooden floor, you need to prepare the base. First, floor joists are laid from solid larch or pine. Boards will already be attached to them (it is better to choose them from the same wood as the logs).
It is necessary that the floors in the bathhouse be located on a slope - this will ensure the flow of waste water in the right direction. For this purpose, the logs are not laid at the same level, but with a difference, due to which the angle of inclination of the floors will be created.
Note: when installing leaking floors, it is not necessary to slope.
The logs are laid at the shortest distance from wall to wall. If the walls of the bathhouse are equilateral (for example, 4 m x 4 m), then the logs are laid without taking into account the distance between the walls, the main thing is that they end up lying across the water flow.
So that the logs have sufficient rigidity and subsequently do not bend under the influence of loads, support chairs are created in the center of each of them. Such support chairs can be made of concrete (monolith), brick or wood.
When the support chairs are made of wood or brick, then a reinforced concrete support platform must be made under them (its thickness must exceed 20 cm). On each side of the support the platform should protrude 5 cm.
If the foundation in the bathhouse is strip, then the level of the top of the support should coincide with the level of the top of the foundation.
If the foundation is columnar, and the ends of the logs rest on the beams of the embedded crown, then the level of the top of the support should coincide with the level of the top of the embedded beam.
Preparing the soil surface underground
After installing the supports, you can begin preparing the underground, i.e. underground soil surface.
Let's say the floors in the bathhouse should be leaky and the soil is sandy (i.e., it allows water to pass through well). Then you need to fill it with crushed stone about 25 cm thick. Water, flowing through the cracks in the floor, will easily pass through the crushed stone and be absorbed into the sand. In this case, the crushed stone will act as a filter, due to which the surface of the soil in the underground will not silt, and the humidity will be moderate. This way the underground will dry out quite well.
Well, if the soil under the bathhouse does not absorb water well, then it is necessary to make a tray for the water to flow into the drainage pit. From the pit the water will flow outside the bathhouse. To create a tray under leaking floors, a clay castle is created, equipped with a slope towards the pit. The castle can also be made of concrete, but in order to avoid unnecessary costs, it is quite possible to get by with a clay castle.
If we are talking about non-leaky bathhouse floors, then it is recommended to insulate the underground surface with expanded clay. In this case, it is necessary to pay attention that there is a distance of 15 cm between the logs and the expanded clay layer - this space will allow ventilation of the underground.
In the washing room near the wall, it is necessary to create a pit, compact its walls, securing them with clay. A pipe is brought outside from the pit - through it the water will flow outside the bathhouse. It is necessary that the diameter of the pipe is at least 15 cm.
Laying lags
For floors that do not leak, laying the joists begins from the walls to the pit. The outermost joists have the highest point relative to other floor joists. Cuttings in the outer joists are not performed. In subsequent lags, cuts are made with a small bevel (about 2 mm - 3 mm).
The same notch is made in the joist where it comes into contact with the support (the size of the notch is equal to the width of the support). The slope of the floor should be 10 degrees. If we are talking about leaky floors, then the lags can be laid without a slope and from any of the walls.
The beams for the logs must first be cut according to the size of the bathhouse. In this case, it is necessary to take into account that the logs at both ends do not reach the walls by approximately 3 cm - 4 cm. This gap will allow for ventilation between the logs and the bath walls. Logs can be laid on support pillars and embedded beams only through waterproofing (roofing felt, glassine, etc.). In addition, each lag must be pre-treated with an antiseptic.
Please also take into account the fact that near the foundation, the logs should be located along its edges at a distance of approximately 12 cm from each edge.
After laying the logs, they begin to lay the floorboards. It is also necessary to bring the furnace foundation to the level of the flooring. For this purpose, it is recommended to lay out a stove foundation made of baked red brick or concrete (monolithic) on a pre-made site.
Laying a leaking floor
To lay a leaking floor, unedged boards are used, which must first be planed. It is very important that the ends of the boards have a smooth surface. First of all, the boards are cut to the size of the bathhouse (taking into account that it is necessary to leave a ventilation gap between the walls and the boards). Laying the floor can begin from any of the walls located parallel to the laying of the boards.
After the boards are cut, begin laying the first board. In this case, they retreat about two centimeters from the wall and nail the board (for example, the thickness of the board is 40 mm, then you will need nails no less than 80 mm long). Nails must be driven in at an angle of about 40 degrees from the middle of the board. The boards are secured to each joist with two or more nails.
When you nail the first board, lay the next one. At the same time, leave a gap between the boards of 3 cm - 4 cm. For ease of installation, you can use a piece of fiberboard sheet as a template for the gaps.
Note: the floor in the dressing room can be laid without gaps.
When the floors are laid, the boards are processed protective composition. There is no need to paint them - then they will dry out better.
Laying non-leaking floors
For flooring that does not leak, tongue-and-groove boards of coniferous wood are used. Please note that the boards should be laid with a groove inside the bathhouse.
Before you begin laying the floor, you need to complete the subfloor. For this purpose, bars with a cross section of 50 mm x 50 mm are attached to the bottom edges of the logs. Between the joists, a “subfloor” is laid on these bars. For this use:
- cutting boards,
- unedged board,
- third or second grade board,
- croaker
After laying the “sub” floor, a layer of waterproofing is laid on top:
- glassine,
- roofing felt,
- waterproofing film.
Then lay out a layer of insulation. Expanded clay is well suited for this - it is poured between the joists.
Then waterproofing is done on top again.
And now, the “rough” floor is completely ready, you can begin laying the tongue and groove boards of the finished floor. The boards in the steam room and sink do not need to be secured with nails. Thanks to this, you can easily remove the boards and dry them. Such floors are secured at the edges using a block with a cross-section of 20 mm x 30 mm. The bars are secured to the joists using screws. When the floor needs to be removed, the bars are very easy to dismantle.
In the washing room (in the corners), during flooring, it is necessary to leave holes into which pipes will then be installed (asbestos-cement, galvanized steel, or PVC). The diameter of the pipes can range from 50 mm to 100 mm. This way you will ensure good ventilation in the room.
The installation of floors in a bathhouse is a very important process and has its own fundamental features. Failure to comply with which will lead to the construction of a cold floor and its rapid rotting. An improperly constructed floor and the drainage of used water underneath it can cause unpleasant odors in the bathhouse.
Everyone wants to spend time comfortably and usefully in a bathhouse, where the floor is properly and evenly arranged, where there is no need to step barefoot through dirty puddles or jump from grate to grate.
It is impossible to imagine a bathhouse without water procedures. And where there is water, the issue of its drainage or drainage must be resolved. Thanks to this, the floor will prolong its operation for a long time.
For the manufacture of floors in bathhouses, mainly wood and concrete are used everywhere. And how to make it yourself using simple materials, we will consider in different versions.
Both in the dressing room (rest room or locker room), and in the washing and steam rooms, the floors must be warm. Gradually, step by step, we will consider the construction of floors in the best options in these premises and in this article.
Step-by-step guide for installing a floor in a bathhouse
Before you start installing floors in the bathhouse, you need to decide which floor to choose and how to install it: suspended directly along the joists or laid on the ground with insulation. What kind of soil is inside my bathhouse: sandy and dry or clayey and more often wet. And where the water will drain, I need to help the water find a way out of the bathhouse, or it will stagnate and gradually dry out on its own. Here we need an objective approach and the same answer.
In general, it is customary to divide floors in a bathhouse into:
- Leaking wooden
- Leak-proof wooden
- Concrete with insulation and covered with tiles
All other floors are varieties and modifications of the above. Let's consider the design of these floors separately, as well as in a combined version, it all depends on their purpose and operating conditions.
The flooring in the rest room is made of non-leaking wood.
Very often, the relaxation room in a bathhouse combines the concept of a locker room and a dressing room. In this room the interior is always dry, just like in a residential building. To lay the logs, you need to lay 400 x 400 mm columns made of reinforced concrete and brick. The upper plane of the support columns must be at the same level as the upper plane of the strip foundation. If necessary, make alignment.
Let's consider a non-leaking wooden floor as a suspended option. In the picture we see a backing beam, it is also called a beam and logs are mounted on it. You can start installation without beams, right along the joists.
Lay 150 x 150 mm logs impregnated with an antiseptic agent on the waterproofing of the support columns and the edges of the foundation. Nail 50 x 50 mm skull blocks to the bottom edges of the joists and lay rough flooring on them. edged boards, thickness 25-30 mm. Coat the rough flooring boards with antiseptic as well. Let dry.
Lay parchment or unrefined paper, if the insulation is mineral wool or roofing felt, if expanded clay of different size fractions is poured as insulation.
Then a clean floor of floorboards and a quarter is laid on top of the joists. The boards are rallied according to standard rules. Typically, floor boards are made from coniferous wood, since it is cheaper than larch.
Along the perimeter of the room, the boards should not reach the walls by 2 cm. There should be a distance of 15 cm between the insulation and the top board for ventilation and there should be vents in the foundation walls.
How to make a floor in the washing area and steam room?
About the construction of the floors in these two sections, the most important ones, for the sake of which the bathhouse is being built, it is necessary to talk and show a lot and in more detail. The floors in these rooms can be: wooden, leaking or non-leaking, or concrete with insulation and covered with tiles on top.
Currently, thought does not stand still and with its development new proposals appear. The author of the idea proposed below combined washing rooms and a steam room into one common volumetric underground. Both rooms have leaking wooden floors. Let's look at their device.
- Leaking bath floors:
There have always been leaking or spilling floors in Russian baths. But where does the water go under the floor - this important question is now solved differently, depending on constructive solutions and a smart approach. Let's say right away - in the steam room and in the sink there is a leaking wooden floor with gaps of 5 - 6 mm. In the underground between these two rooms there should not be a strip foundation, but a columnar foundation is allowed.
When the boiler is lit, there is a movement of cold and warm air through the underground. Air moves through open door and through a special window in interior wall. The bathhouse premises warm up well, the floor becomes warm and you can steam and wash, which means pouring water. Let's watch a video about the movement of wastewater outside the bathhouse.
There are different schemes for releasing wastewater from a bathhouse, and they will be discussed further for comparison and selection.
The basis for a leaking wooden floor is laid on the ground expanded clay concrete screed and it is done sequentially like this:
- On the base of the soil of the steam room and washing compartments, first a layer of sand is poured, leveled and compacted, then a layer of crushed stone. Total thickness 250 mm;
- This layer is covered with thick polyethylene film in 3 layers and raised along the perimeter to the walls. The edges of each layer are glued together with frost-resistant tape. This layer serves as waterproofing.
- Lay down metal mesh with cells 80 - 100 mm.
- Guides are installed with a slope towards the drainage ladder. The beacons are fixed with slides. A slope of 3 cm per 1 m of guides is maintained.
- Expanded clay concrete is laid between the guides and leveled according to the rule, observing the slope.
- Make grout from cement mortar and smooth out all the irregularities well.
Expanded clay was chosen as insulation. It has a number of positive qualities - it is an environmentally friendly material obtained by accelerated firing of low-melting clays. It has high performance indicators and can reduce heat loss by 50 - 75%. Expanded clay gravel is inexpensive compared to other popular insulation materials.
It is weather-resistant, fireproof, odorless, and does not emit harmful components in the event of a fire. Concrete prepared using expanded clay is much lighter than crushed stone. Different fractions are used from 5 to 30 mm.
For reliable setting, cement grade M400-M500 is used. Experts advise adding a plasticizer. Proportional composition for preparing the mixture: 2 parts expanded clay, 1 part water, 1 part cement, 3 parts sand.
It’s not difficult to mix the mixture yourself. Need to cook construction mixer and a metal container large sizes. You can also prepare a concrete mixer.
From practice, it is recommended to soak expanded clay in water so that it does not float. During the mixing process, expanded clay concrete acquires a characteristic grey colour. It is necessary to pour in place immediately after mixing. The solution is poured between the beacons from the corner of the room to the funnel. Complete drying of expanded clay concrete occurs within a month. You can check readiness by installing glass jar upside down, it should not fog up.
This is how a leaky wooden floor with a base of expanded clay concrete is made. At the location of the drain, make a shield or cover to access the funnel and clear it of debris and broom leaves.
2. Concrete floor with insulation and tiles.
In this option, there is a strip foundation between the washing room and the steam room. Therefore, each room must have its own drain with a drain.
Such a floor is made for both the washing room and the steam room and it is well used. It is made in exactly the same way as a base made of expanded clay concrete, only to increase the thermal performance indicators, dry expanded clay is additionally sprinkled onto the metal mesh and the thickness of the expanded clay concrete layer is increased.
Then put in the usual way ceramic tiles with grouting of joints and with a slope towards the drain. Additionally, they make a border of tiles on the walls around the perimeter.
Wooden panels, strong and reliably made, are placed on top of the tiles on the floor. Still, the tile floor slips.
Any floor ends in a drain and it is best if it is thought out before the foundation is built in order to lay together boxes made of boards or metal pipes as a case in the body of the foundation. And, objectively thinking about where you will have a well for drainage, outside the foundation, with the location of the drain inside, dig trenches and lay PVC sewer pipes on a slope. Make a slope of at least 3 cm per 1 m of pipe.
Lay special frost-resistant sewer pipes with a diameter of 110 mm, because the pipes are durable and comfortable conditions Over the years, you want more - that means you have a reserve. Maybe in the future you will make a toilet and dishwasher in the recreation room, or install a shower stall with an electric water heater and run cold water through pipes for the summer.
The sewer pipes in the trench must be insulated with ready-made Energoflex foam polyethylene. It is sold in different lengths and different diameters with a cut along the pipe, so you just put it on it and seal the seam. Trenches with pipes can be filled with sand, expanded clay, and then earth.
The washing room is connected to the arrangement of drains with ladders PVC pipe with a steam room and then the drains go beyond the walls of the bathhouse into drainage well. Eat good video about this theme.
This should also be considered life situation when, when arranging the drain, you did as described above in the article, but for unknown reasons, the smell from the external well penetrates into the bathhouse and you feel it. There is no need to be upset, because there is a constructive opportunity to avoid this. A special device in the ladder will help with this. Look carefully at the pictures with the ladder.
Understanding the structure of this drain, which is installed in the drain hole, is not at all difficult. The second color picture shows how air bubbles from the external well with an odor are trying to penetrate inside the bathhouse, but the water seal prevents them. There is a red cap on top of the outlet and it seems to float in the drain water.
If water gets into the drain from time to time and there is a possibility of the water seal drying out and, accordingly, the appearance of unpleasant odors from the sewer, then to eliminate this problem, drains with a “dry” siphon “Primus” are used. He is in front of you in the picture.
If there is water in it, the siphon works like a regular siphon, and when the water seal evaporates, the drain hole is blocked by the movable upper part of the siphon (cap).
Typically, bathhouses are equipped with drains with a vertical outlet and a non-freezing siphon brand HL310N.2
3. Leak-resistant wood floors
Leak-free wooden floors in the washing room and in the steam room can be made by the bathhouse owner himself, but it is more difficult than the previous options. This is the principle of arranging this floor.
The picture shows two types of non-drip floor devices: with a drain in the center of the room and with a drain closer to the other opposite wall.
The floor slope is created by arranging a notch in the body of the log. A non-leaking floor is made of two layers of flooring: rough and finishing. The boards must be coniferous, and the finished floor is made from higher quality boards, without knots or gaps.
The direction of the boards is towards the drain. The drain itself is mounted in different ways, most often from galvanized sheet. And then, as best you can: you can go into a pit, and then into a pipe and a well, or you can make a ladder with a “dry” siphon and also connect it through a pipe to a well on the street. The ladder must be accessible for cleaning and repairs.
The picture on the left shows the presence of all layers of non-drip flooring. This floor is considered suspended, wooden and warm. This is also done, but more often specialists are invited to install it.
If you dare to install such a floor yourself, consult a specialist; it will not be superfluous, but will only give you confidence in your own abilities.
Water can be drained through the drain chute into a pit made of reinforced concrete. From the pit, wastewater flows through a sewer pipe into an external well.
After bath procedures, the floors in the bathhouse must dry in order to prolong their performance for a long time. To do this, someone then heats the bathhouse. But installing a ventilation duct near the wall of the bathhouse with access to the attic will not interfere with the floor and will allow it to “breathe.”
There must be an air gap of up to 150 mm between the top finished floor and the top waterproofing, which lies on the insulation.
The galvanized sheet is simply stuck into the body of the log and secured with an overlap on the floor.
And so on around the entire perimeter of the bathhouse.
The ventilation duct is made from dense boards or from a regular galvanized thick sheet.
I hope the article was useful to you. Build it yourself and strive to improve your living conditions. Good luck!