Russian bathhouse leaks from the floor, what should I do? Why is there a cold floor in the bathhouse: what to do and how to insulate it? The need to insulate floors in a bathhouse
A bathhouse is not only a place where you can wash yourself and steam to your heart’s content, it’s also a nice place to relax and spend time drinking tea with friends or family. Therefore, when designing your own bathhouse, first of all, seriously think about the thermal insulation of all its structures, especially the floor.
After all, this will not only save coolants, but will also help create the most comfortable environment for visitors to the bathhouse.
Reasons for a cold floor
The answer to the question why the floor in the bathhouse is cold is not clear.
This can happen for several reasons:
- Freezing due to uninsulated foundation.
For your information!
This problem threatens not only a cold floor, but what is much sadder is possible damage to the foundation and in the future even the destruction of it and other bathhouse structures.
- Drafts from the underground when the flooring boards do not fit tightly to each other.
- Floors are too low - located close to the base with thin layer or a complete lack of heat and waterproofing. This is in conditions high humidity in a bathhouse can also lead to heaving of the soil underneath, which will have a very adverse effect on the entire structure as a whole.
The need to insulate floors in a bathhouse
The floors in the bathhouse are affected by various factors that worsen the condition of its coating:
- Water is constantly flowing here. The coating practically does not dry out.
- In a steam room, another negative for finishing is a constantly high temperature.
Together, these two troubles can contribute to the emergence of other accompanying problems - the formation on the surface of all structures and primarily on the floor:
- Mold.
- Different types of fungi.
- Other harmful microorganisms.
This will not only damage the finishing coating in the bathhouse and make it unsightly, but can have a very negative impact on your health. In addition, it is completely unpleasant to step on moldy and cold floors in the bathhouse.
Note!
Many still believe that insulating floors in a bathhouse can also provoke the occurrence and spread of mold and germs.
Not at all, with a properly executed complex of hydro-, steam- and thermal insulation works you will be able to avoid both discomfort and the occurrence of pathogenic microflora.
Plus, heat loss, which largely occurs through the floors, will be reduced.
What materials are best to use in a bathhouse?
It is necessary to select materials to insulate a cold floor in bathhouses with special care. Mineral insulation is not suitable for us due to its high hygroscopicity, and in a bathhouse water flows without caution, that’s why it’s a bathhouse.
Perfect for this purpose:
- Polystyrene foam with its cellular structure and excellent water-repellent properties. This material can be used to insulate floors on both concrete and wooden base and on the ground.
- Bulk insulation materials – expanded clay, perlite, expanded vermiculite, etc.
How to insulate floors in a bathhouse
Let's talk about ways to insulate floors in a bathhouse, which can be done with your own hands in two versions.
Wooden base
Thermal insulation work is carried out at the construction stage, otherwise the finishing coating will have to be dismantled.
The instructions for the technology for performing this work are as follows:
- We nail cranial bars to the bottom of the beams.
- A vapor barrier is laid on top of them.
- Next, the flooring is made of unplaned boards, chipboards or OSB is a supporting base for insulation.
- We place the selected thermal insulation material on the vapor barrier between the beams.
- A layer of waterproofing is placed over the insulation. The insulation layer is calculated individually taking into account the climatic conditions of your region. For a bathhouse floor it is usually 100-160 mm, if necessary add another layer heat-insulating material and increase its thickness to 250 m.
- Now we sew on the floorboard.
Concrete base
If the base for the floors in the bathhouse is concrete, proceed as follows:
- We cover the concrete with a coating layer of waterproofing from bitumen mastic, better in two times. Every time to start next stage, you must wait until the surface has completely hardened.
- We lay the roll insulator.
- Next is a layer of insulation, for example expanded clay, of the required thickness.
- We carry out compacted backfill with a thickness of at least 30 mm with mandatory reinforcement. In this process it is very important to prepare quality cement, and to make the screed more durable, add a reinforcing mesh.
- Ceramic tiles can be laid on the screed.
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Under the tiles on such floors you can equip modern system“warm floor”, but this, of course, will significantly increase the price of the floor structure.
Do not forget that in the bathhouse, especially in the wash compartment, water is constantly pouring onto the floor, so it is necessary to organize its unhindered outflow:
- Floors should be laid with a slight slope.
- In the lowest place we make a hole for water to flow into the sewer.
- The drain is equipped with a siphon to prevent drafts and the appearance of unpleasant odor from the sewer.
Conclusion
Any insulation work process wooden structures must be carried out using antiseptics, which are used to treat the surface of a wooden floor. Concerning concrete base, then it is advisable to first repair all cracks and chips cement mortar, of course, except for the drain holes.
Many bathhouse lovers have noticed that the floor in the steam room, especially in winter period, very cold. Each owner solves this problem in his own way: some wear slippers, others lay walkways. If the floor is ceramic, then you have to put up with uncomfortable movement in the steam room and other rooms of the bathhouse.
But, if you provide proper insulation premises at the construction stage, these problems can be avoided, at least you can forget about the cold floor in the bathhouse.
In the photo - there should always be a drain in the steam room, but often the floor is so cold that it is necessary to lay wooden walkways
Insulation of the floor in the steam room
No one will argue that, and it is by it that quality is judged bath procedures. At the same time, the decoration of this room has a number of specific features due to extreme conditions of use - temperature changes and high humidity.
A cold floor in bathhouses is especially noticeable in steam rooms, hot air and an icy surface of the floor covering - this ratio can even lead to thermal shock, so you should not skimp on insulation operations, which can be done in several ways.
Insulation of concrete floor
Concrete flooring is quite simple to make; you can make it yourself with minimal costs time and money, these are the factors that determined its high popularity among developers. However, it is precisely because of this that cold baths are obtained, because the thermal insulation characteristics of concrete are very, very low.
The most in a simple way will be poured in two layers with a heat-insulating layer between them.
Very often perlite is used for this; the procedure for working with this material is as follows:
- Before starting work, it is necessary to close all windows and doors in the room, after which two buckets of granulate must be poured into a prepared container with 10 liters of water.
- Next, a little cement is added and the mixture is mixed very thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
- Then another bucket of perlite is poured in and water is added, after which the composition should be mixed until the release of water stops.
- The mixture is laid out on a clean, dry base in an even layer. The final filling of the floor can be done 7 days after laying the perlite.
Expanded clay pillow
A popular method of insulation is the installation of an expanded clay pillow. The material is very light and inexpensive, making it very popular in the construction process. You can fill it as a layer between two layers of concrete, or you can simply make a base of expanded clay.
If you pour expanded clay directly onto the ground, the base should be waterproofed using black film, since the material strongly absorbs moisture, which impairs its thermal insulation properties.
Advice: if you insulate the floor with expanded clay, to ensure high heat retention, the layer must be at least 25 cm, remember this when preparing the room.
Insulation with polystyrene foam
It is also possible to insulate using sheets of expanded polystyrene or high-density mineral wool.
The technology here has its differences:
- The base must be dry and level; if necessary, it must be additionally waterproofed.
- After laying the surface, it is necessary to lay a reinforcing mesh, which will give the final surface the necessary strength.
- After pouring the concrete floor, before laying ceramic tiles or other covering, the floor must stand for 4 weeks.
If the floor is wooden, it can also be insulated with expanded clay, expanded polystyrene or mineral wool. Very often a removable system is used, in which the boards are not nailed. In this case, they can be removed and dried, and if you prepare two sets of floorboards, your floor will always be dry and warm.
Insulation of the floor in other rooms of the bath
Cold bath - no The best way relaxation, therefore, in addition to insulating the floor in the steam room, you should take care of other rooms. , the relaxation room and shower deserve no less attention.
If you are making a bathhouse with your own hands, you should consider the features of its design, so the floor in the premises can be of two types:
- Wooden, this option is quite good for a rest room, but is not very suitable for showers due to the tendency of wood to fungus. There are also durable types, but the price for them is quite high, in addition, such wood is quite hard, which causes difficulties if you lay the floor with your own hands.
- Ceramic flooring is much preferable, as it is resistant to dampness, high temperatures and other adverse influences. In addition, it is very convenient to install heated floor systems under the tiles; in this case, you don’t even need heating - the floor will heat small rooms Moreover, this solution will make the floor warm and comfortable for movement even barefoot.
The installation of a heated floor in a bathhouse is no different from similar systems in other rooms. It can be electric or water - it all depends on your capabilities and preferences.
Conclusion
The easiest way to heat a bath is with heated floor systems; they solve two problems at once: heating the room and the comfort of moving barefoot. At the same time, remember that underfloor heating systems are not installed in the steam room - good insulation should be carried out there.
To thoroughly understand all the information, watch the video in this article.
Cold in a bathhouse is a necessary and useful thing, if of course it is in the form of a tub of ice water or a bucket of snow, in any other case it is a real disaster. It should be noted that this trouble is not the rarest one that lovers of brooms and steam have to face.
Not a high temperature in a steam room is common, many of us are generally supporters warm bath, but, as they say, everything should be in moderation. When, after throwing water on, there is no smell of steam, or it immediately evaporates, or your feet freeze on the floor, then this is no longer the case.
Let's try to figure out what are the reasons for this phenomenon and whether it is possible to do something.
It's all in the oven
I think that we need to start with it, because it is initially the source of heating. The type, design and location of the furnace certainly plays an important role in this.
Factory ones usually do not have problems with good warming up, which cannot be said about homemade ones. An incorrectly welded stove like this can bring problems instead of saving money. The absence of an ash pan, a deflector, a poorly designed firebox or chimney lead to the fact that water and stones simply do not reach the desired temperature.
Once I had a chance to visit one bathhouse with just such a stove - while it was heated, it seemed like nothing, as soon as the wood burned out it immediately became cooler. Therefore, it is very important to properly manage the heat received from the firewood: the fire should not just fly away into the chimney, it should warm up the water tank and the niche with stones.
In general, if such a stove does not cope with its task, we can recommend the following:
— the water tank should be placed on top of the firebox, and not on the side,
— warm up the stones directly,
- close the bowl with stones completely or partially,
- Install a valve on the chimney pipe.
Factory heaters usually have no problems with this, but there is another problem - they do not retain heat. Why is this point so important, it’s simple - quick heating is not enough, you also need to keep the heat for a long period, otherwise it will be a bathhouse for one.
This is achieved by increasing the amount of material capable of accumulating heat and releasing it gradually, and not instantly, as is the case with metal. For expensive models, this function is performed by convector casings made of stone; for budget products, the solution would be: partial brick lining, hanging a samovar-type water tank or a mesh with stones on the chimney, moving the chimney duct from the center to the side or to the rear wall (if provided design).
Increasing the mass of stones in the heater will not give any results - their top layer simply will not be able to warm up to the required temperature
It wouldn’t hurt to read the instructions, although many people don’t like to do this. For example, some manufacturers indicate that the maximum t is achieved by completely filling the firebox with firewood and completely opening the ash pan. In general, take into account the features of your heater and learn to use it correctly.
We should not forget about the performance of the stove, because each model is designed to heat a certain volume of the bath/steam room. By purchasing or making heating device, you always need to figure out whether it can provide the required temperature regime.
As for those made of brick, the situation here is this - good heaters heat up quickly enough and retain heat for a very long time. But such creations are an expensive pleasure, because not every stove maker can put them together correctly, and he will charge quite a lot for his work. Here is one master I know who answered my question - how much will a small but high-quality stove cost me - well, 200 thousand rubles. How do you like this figure?
That’s why many people who don’t recognize modern potbelly stoves try to build the stove themselves, and not everyone gets the desired result. When laying them on your own, mistakes are often made. Incorrectly executed smoke circulation, firebox lining or the wrong cross-section of the well guarantee weak or too long heating. In this case, you can suggest making a combined oven - well, at least like this.
Poor ventilation
Let’s say you are completely confident in the performance of your stove, but it’s cold in the bathhouse! In this case, let's pay attention to ventilation.
In the old days, when they didn’t know what insulation was, double glazing or self-leveling floors, no one thought about ventilation; the air itself seeped inside and also went out through the ceiling powder. And the space of a village bathhouse was not divided into two or more rooms. Now everything is different, which requires a modern approach.
Separation of zones with careful insulation of each of them is simply not possible without properly arranged ventilation, otherwise the air will just stand - cold at the bottom, hot at the top. Our task is to make it circulate, thereby distributing the heat where we need it.
This is usually done like this: a small window is installed in the partition of the steam room with the washing room; it connects two closed rooms. In the washing room, usually near the stove, they do vent which is led through the floor into the steam room by a channel or corrugation. The system arranged in this way works as follows: heated air from the stones enters the room, and is replaced by cold air through the lower hole into the steam room.
It became warm in the washing room or they went to take a steam bath - the top window was closed.
This system can be modified and linked to a leaking floor, but more on that below.
Attention to the foundation and floor
Often the cause of coolness in the bathhouse is a cold floor, and the roots of this problem go back to the very beginning of the construction of the building, and they are different for rustic and modern buildings.
Typical for rural baths strip foundation, earthen subfloor and leaking wooden floor. This is where we proceed in solving the problem.
The space under the boards itself does not freeze even in severe frosts (for a chopped bath), so in order to prevent your feet from freezing, we do the following:
- We increase the space between the floor and the ground a little. This can be done in two ways - make the foundation higher or remove a layer of earth.
- WITH inside Sprinkle the concrete/brick tape around the perimeter with sand or expanded clay.
- Make a pile on all sides outside.
- Do not lay the floor boards close to the frame or to each other; we also leave a gap near the stove.
- Make the floor slightly higher than the base of the heater.
Modern frame buildings, as well as from bricks or blocks, all this may not help, especially since in most of them you will not find a simple drainage of water onto the ground. They are equipped with concrete bowls with a system for collecting and draining water to the outside. Moreover, many began to do this not only in the washing room, but throughout the entire contour of the bathhouse.
In such buildings, t under the floor is often equal to that on the street, i.e. at -20 degrees in winter, after a week's absence, you will have almost the same amount under the floor. What happens - you turn on the stove, after an hour and a half it’s already hot, but downstairs it’s still cold.
It is better not to insulate the foundation from the inside with various types of foam-based materials - this threatens the appearance of condensation on the surface of the tape.
Including the floor in the ventilation system, which has already been written about above, will be very effective. In the washing room we make the floor leaky (in this case a special hole is not needed) and partially the same in the steam room. The heated air passes through the window into wash room, heats this room, cools down and is drawn back into the steam room through the cracks in the floor. By circulating in this way, the air warms the floor and underground space much faster.
For those who have a monolithic screed, we can only advise laying a water or electric floor; adding layers of insulation to the base will not give the desired effect.
Let's warm ourselves up
As they say, no matter how much you flood the street, it will not get warmer, so let’s pay attention to how you are doing with thermal insulation.
Baths made of stone, frame, panel and timber necessarily require insulation from the inside and outside.
Inside this process carried out using a long-established technology (there are plenty of visual videos on YouTube) - frame, vapor barrier, mineral insulation, foil, lining, so we won’t focus on this.
For greater reliability, it is advisable to carry out appropriate work on the outer walls of the bathhouse - they consist of laying wind protection and securing protective material from precipitation.
In log houses, the points of heat loss are: doors, windows, inter-crown grooves and the ceiling. Unlike the above buildings, in bathhouses made of round timber there is no need to completely insulate the walls. They already retain heat perfectly, and there is no point in covering such beauty; it will be enough to decorate only the steam room with eurolining.
Insulation work in such a bath is as follows:
- caulk inside and outside,
- insulation of doors and windows,
- ceiling insulation.
If you don’t need to sheathe the walls, then the ceiling is a must. This can be done only from the inside, only from the outside, or both.
From the side of the room it will be enough to fix it to the rough ceiling aluminum foil or kraft paper, on top of which with a little air gap attach the lining. From the outside attic space you can lay insulation or make backfill.
Here, in general, are all the main points for improving your bathhouse. Of course, we must admit that some of them simply will not suit you, others will be difficult to implement, and others will not be effective, but this is how each building should have its own approach, its own characteristics.
Share your thoughts with us, we will be happy to.
Useful video on this topic.
There is also the option of installing a heated floor, since the steam room should be warm, not cool. If the stove does not heat, then you will have to warm up the room using additional “devices”. But if you increase convection, then while the floor warms up, the walls may “melt”, and no one has yet canceled fire safety rules.
Video: Forced air convection in a bathhouse
Attention, TODAY only!
Availability of a bathhouse on site country house or dachas today have become the rule rather than the exception. Find the right one standard project for construction or develop your own design, you can resort to Internet resources or contact specialists. At the same time, the requirements for preventing heat losses during the use of such a room and minimizing heating costs remain unchanged. In this regard, any design of a bath room includes an emphasis on thermal insulation of the walls, ceiling and floor of the room.
Bathhouse on personal plot
Information about floor insulation
The insulation of bathhouse floors has been the subject of attention since ancient times. For this we used available materials: jute, linen materials and moss. Such insulation materials did not have the properties to counteract fungal formations and did not prevent the rotting of wooden structures, but they retained heat. Currently, the country's construction market offers an assortment of various insulation materials. But to maintain heat in the bathhouse, they must meet the following requirements:
- absence of toxicity, the occurrence of which is associated with high temperature conditions bath room, and emissions of chemical vapors can lead to human poisoning and sometimes death;
- low hygroscopicity is necessary for using a bath with a critical level of humidity and inadmissibility large quantity drying time when the room is cooled;
- Possibility of use in rooms with high temperatures without modification performance characteristics, volume, thermal insulation properties;
- during long-term operation there should be no need for special maintenance of the insulation to maintain practical properties.
Placement of floor insulation Important! When purchasing insulation for a bathhouse, you must carefully read the technical properties of the material and documents confirming the product’s compliance with the properties declared by the manufacturer. Information about the use of the selected insulation by builders or other bathhouse owners will not be superfluous.
Characteristics of materials for floor insulation
Currently, insulation materials such as mineral wool, expanded polystyrene, wooden floors s coverings – expanded clay. Each of the materials is used in certain areas of construction and has the following practical properties:
- Expanded polystyrene. Produced in the form flat slabs various thicknesses. Used for thermal insulation of rooms with a base floor made of concrete structures(screeds) and wooden floors. The price is commensurate with the quality of the material. At the same time, installation is not difficult - adjusting the slabs and changing the size is carried out using construction knife. But it is not recommended to use this insulation for bathhouses, because when heated, it can release chemical fumes that have a detrimental effect on the human body.
- Mineral wool. It is a “budget” insulation. There are various samples and varieties of material on the construction market. Effective in use, has a long service life, good properties preventing fire. But to use in rooms with high level humidity is not recommended due to the loss of material in such conditions technical properties. In the absence of suitable insulation, installation is possible only with additional waterproofing.
Insulating mineral wool - Perlite. Crumbly material with good thermal insulation characteristics. Used as a mixture of water and cement, evenly distributed over the surface, followed by the formation of a smooth surface. concrete screed.
- "Penoplex". Characterized by a long service life, good qualities thermal insulation, environmentally friendly, but installation involves gluing the slabs onto a concrete or similar surface.
Appearance"Penoplex" - Expanded clay. Clay mixtures are used for the base material. They belong to the category of environmentally bladeless compounds with high thermal insulation characteristics and are resistant to fire. It seems to be a promising insulation material for bathhouses.
Features of expanded clay
The appearance of expanded clay is granules oval shape. It is produced using clay firing technology at high temperatures. Insulation on the market is presented in a sand composition or in the form of gravel. Sand, the fractions of which range from 0.14 – 5.0 mm, is used in the manufacture building mixtures or as insulation for the ceiling. Gravel (5.0 -14.0 mm) is used for floor insulation, including bath rooms.
Appearance of expanded clay The advantages include the following qualities:
Along with others insulation materials The disadvantage is considered to be the need for mandatory waterproofing equipment and long time installation However preliminary preparation materials and accessories, consistent and proper organization Work time is minimized significantly.
Important! When purchasing insulation from expanded clay granules, it is necessary to calculate the volume of space to be filled. If this is not possible, then the material must be purchased in reserve. Residues after insulating the bathhouse floor can be used to insulate attic floors.
Expanded clay insulation technology
Do-it-yourself insulation of the floor in a bathhouse with expanded clay is carried out in the following sequence:
- Cement, sand, expanded clay of various fractions are purchased in advance, vapor barrier material. Prepare accessories for marking, a tool for distributing mixtures, and a container for preparing working solutions.
- Clean the surface of the insulated bath floor from old decorative covering. If it is missing, level the ground and carry out thorough compaction. Wooden floor treated with antiseptic agents.
- To prevent moisture absorption into the expanded clay, waterproofing is provided. Used for this special materials or fat plastic film, the installation of which is carried out with an overlap on the walls of the room above the line of insulation placement. After the final installation of the insulation, the excess waterproofing is cut to the required length. The film joints are connected using standard tape or another method.
Laying waterproofing under floor insulation - They ensure the same height for laying insulation on the floor surface by placing construction beacons. The technology for their installation is standard, taking into account the filling height of expanded clay granules of at least 150.0 mm. In this case, it is necessary to provide for a slope of the coating towards the sewer drain.
- Expanded clay granules are filled to the level of the “beacons” by sequential compaction of the sections. It is allowed to lay expanded clay in packaging bags without breaking the integrity. The gaps are filled with a scattering of composition.
- In order to strengthen the insulating cushion made of expanded clay, reinforcement is carried out with a special mixture, the composition of which includes cement in a ratio of two parts to three sand with water up to 20 percent by weight. Ready-made composition evenly fill the voids between the granules. This technology provides additional protection against moisture penetration and strengthens the insulation layer, preventing subsidence. Builders call the mixture “milk.”
- After the “milk” has completely dried, they begin work on forming a concrete screed, the thickness of which is 30.0 - 40.0 mm. Special requirements not included in the screed.
- If the flooring is supposed to be made of wooden planks, then the insulation is placed in the niches between the joists with preliminary laying of a protective polymer film in them.
Important! To proceed to work after pouring the “milk” or concrete screed, it is necessary to ensure that the compositions are completely dry. The timing varies depending on the temperature and humidity of the room. To speed up the drying process, arrange through ventilation. Lack of ventilation can lead to moisture build-up on the main floor covering and reducing its service life with a simultaneous deterioration in appearance.
Based on the above information, we can conclude that the point of view of individual owners about the optional insulation of the bathhouse from the floor side is associated with significant costs of money and time - wrong. They will more than pay for themselves in a comfortable time spent indoors with warm floors and a hot steam room. The absence of heat loss will allow you to warm up the bath faster and with less energy, and the heat will remain for a longer period. At the same time, floor insulation work does not require the owner to have any special training - household skills and tools available in a country house are sufficient.
The procedure for carrying out work by floor insulation specialists is presented in the video below.
Procedure for floor insulation.