How to make floors in baths. How to make a floor in a bathhouse - we follow all building rules

Bath floors have several significant functions that justify their differences from "residential" standards. In addition to guaranteeing safe movement in conditions of constant moisture, they play the role of a component of the sewer system. A well-arranged floor in the bathhouse will provide a full-fledged drainage of water, will not rot and will not wear out prematurely. To do this, you need to familiarize yourself with the specifics of different technologies for the construction of bath floors and choose the most acceptable scheme. A separate project with mathematically accurate calculations is being developed for the floor of the fundamental bath building. But for the majority of compatriots who have bought a ready-made log house for a bathhouse and are personally involved in arranging a bathhouse, it is enough to get a general understanding of the difference in the principles of construction. The home master will be able to independently modernize any of the proposed schemes to meet the needs and requirements of his own construction.

Guidelines for choosing a future design

The owner of a country bathhouse must initially decide on the type of drainage of water constantly pouring onto the floor and on the material for the construction of the floor. Basically, in buildings recognized as a mandatory component of suburban areas, the floor is poured with concrete or boards are laid on logs.

A concrete base will require more labor, finances and time, but it will serve flawlessly for more than half a century.
It is easiest and cheapest to build a floor in a bath with your own hands from lumber, but after 7-8 years its wooden elements will need to be replaced.

By the type of drainage and the associated complexity of the structure, timber structures are divided into leaking and non-leaking subcategories.

Pros and cons of leaking floor

The leaking floor is the simplest and cheapest. It is a boardwalk, between the elements of which gaps are left for direct drainage into the ground. He does not have any additional sewer "delights" except for the drainage pit located in the underground, insulation is also not available. Therefore, a leaking floor is suitable for baths in the southern regions and for summer cottages.

Building such a floor for a bath with your own hands is as easy as shelling pears. Replacement of damaged elements and complete repair will not be difficult. Boards do not stick to the logs at all, they can and should be removed and taken out for airing and drying outside. If desired, instead of a drainage pit, you can install a pallet, the drains from which will be discharged into a sewer facility.

The specifics of a leak-proof design

A non-leaking system is much more complicated. It is constructed from two rows of planks. The upper flooring, going over the log, is made of grooved pine or larch boards without the slightest gaps. A rough floor is arranged below. The non-leaking floor belongs to the category of "dry" and can be equipped with insulation.

The floorboards of the finishing flooring are placed with a slope to the place of collection of drains and their subsequent discharge into a sewer ditch or into a septic tank. At the lowest point of the plank surface, a hole is made to which a siphon is connected to drain the drains. The hole can be replaced with a full-length tray. The tray is installed with a slope to the collection point for contaminated water.

What should be a concrete floor cake?

The concrete floors in the baths are poured in three technological stages. An exaggerated "sandwich" design consists of six components, these are:

rammed and reinforced soil base prepared for pouring;
the first layer of concrete 5 cm;
insulation, most often expanded clay or felt;
reinforcing concrete layer with netting;
leveling layer;
coating.

The ramming of the soil and the 15 cm reinforcing gravel-crushed stone mixture laid on top of it, as well as the pouring of each of the "sandwich" layers, is performed with a slope towards the drain pit. As a result, the structure should have a normal . The slope is standard, like for wooden structures 10º.

We have decided on the scheme according to which the flooring in the bath will be installed. Do not forget that if the floor has to support the weight of a capital, and not a portable sauna stove, you need to take care of creating a foundation for it in advance.

Features of the construction of wood floors

The main structural element of wooden floors for a bath is logs, resting on a foundation beam of a columnar type foundation or on the edge of a strip foundation.

All places of contact between the lag and the elements of the foundation must be insulated with two or three layers of roofing material coated with heated or dissolved bitumen in the solarium. Instead of this budget option, you can use eurobitum or another effective waterproofing material.

Boards are laid on the logs. In the case of the installation of leaking floors, the boards are laid with equal empty spaces between them of 3-4 mm; along the perimeter between the flooring and the walls of the bath, a technological two-centimeter gap should remain. Owners of small buildings, who want to learn “how to make a floor in a bathhouse,” can lay logs on the flashing bar without erecting additional devices, if the log is less than 3 meters between the reference points.

The direction of the lag during the construction of a leaking floor determines the smallest distance between the walls. When constructing a non-leaking structure, the direction of installation of the lag should be perpendicular to the direction of the drain.

Construction of supporting pillar chairs

The construction of floors in large bath buildings will require the preliminary installation of support posts-chairs with a cross-section of 25 cm. Craftsmen planning to lay a board with a thickness of 19 mm will need to build support posts every 70 cm. size 29 - after 90 cm.

Small foundations of 20 cm thick are made under the pillars, or sandy soil is rammed. The foundation, poured into the formwork from a low-grade board, is safer. Masters studying the device of the floor in the bath should know that the edge of the base under the supports should "protrude" at least 5 cm from each side of the pillar.

The supports above the foundation can be folded from bricks, made from logs or cast monolithic from cement. It is cheap and quick to make a support post from an asbestos pipe with a suitable diameter. The pipe section is buried in the ground, the soil around it is rammed, then cement mortar is poured into the finished formwork.

Before laying the lag, the support posts must be leveled. The level of their upper plane should coincide with the level of the upper plane of the elements on which the edges of the lag will rest.

Arrangement of underground baths

The owner constructing a leaking wooden floor needs to find out what filtration properties the soil is characterized by in his area. If under the bath there is an excellent natural filter - sand, to arrange the underground you will only need to fill in a 25-centimeter layer of gravel. It will act as a purifier for drains passing through it before transit into the ground. There should be a distance of min 10 cm between the lags and the upper plane of the backfill.

If under the bathhouse there is soil with low filtration properties (loam, clay, sandy loam), you will have to work hard. It will be necessary to make a tray for transporting wastewater to a pit, from which dirty water will be discharged outside the building. For this purpose, in the underground of the flowing structure, a clay castle is arranged with a slope towards the drain-collecting pit. Clay can be replaced with concrete, but it is too expensive.

The underground floor of a non-leaking floor can be covered with expanded clay insulation. A 15-centimeter ventilation gap should remain between the expanded clay and the logs. In the washing compartment, a pit is made near the wall. The walls and bottom of this water intake are tamped and coated with clay. From the pit, the drains collected in it must be discharged to the outside, for which a pipe with a size of at least 15 cm in section is laid.

Installing the lag system

When constructing leaking floors in a wooden bath, the logs are laid horizontally on prepared, waterproofed places. For non-leaking floors, it is necessary to form a slope, for the purpose of which the felling in the log from the side directed to the collection point is increased by 2-3mm. The result is the required slope of 10º.

The level of the foundation for the sauna stove is brought to the level of the future floor after installing the log before laying the flooring.

On the installed logs, the boards of the leaking floor are laid without nailing. The floorboards of a non-leaking structure are nailed with two nails at a 45º inclination, but first a subfloor is made of low-grade planks and equipped with insulation. The groove of the grooved flooring board is directed into the bath room.

Initially, it is better not to nail the floorboards of the non-leaking floor to the logs, but only to "get them". After finishing all the finishing work, the baths need to be dried, and then the boards must be adjusted and finally nailed.

The bath floor is finished with a plinth around the perimeter. It must be installed so that moisture flowing down from the walls does not get under the slats. That is, the wall cladding should "lie" on the plinth and abut tightly against it without gaps.

Nuances of concrete flooring

By tradition, before pouring, you need to make a pit, equip it with a pipe communicating with the gutter. Then the concrete floor in the bath is arranged according to the above scheme, in the description of which some specific features of the construction of floors in the concrete bath were not mentioned:

If the sewage system of the monolithic floor brings the wastewater into the ground under the bath, it is necessary to make vents from asbestos pipes in the base of the bath. These holes are necessary to remove the negative odor that will inevitably appear over time.
If drains are to be diverted through a pipe to a sewage system, the receiving edge of the pipe must be equipped with a shutter. A cunning folk shutter - a rubber ball that pops up and falls on the pipe; factory devices are also suitable.

Waterproofing was not mentioned in the short description of the monolithic floor structure. You need to protect from moisture an insulating layer from all sides. Bitumen, polyethylene film, roofing felt, etc. can be used as an insulator.

The concrete floor is classified as a "cold" structure. So that the feet of lovers of bath procedures do not freeze, portable wooden lattices are hammered together. They are taken out to dry on the street and brought in before the next visit.

The described common schemes in general outline introduce how to make floors in a bath. This is not a strict guide, but just a principle of arrangement - general recommendations that the owner of the building should modify and improve in relation to his property. Even if there is no desire to build the floor on their own, each of the owners needs to know the design differences and specifics, so that the bathhouse brings only mental pleasure, and does not "strained" with endless problems.

Building your own steam room is a multi-stage process in which each stage is of decisive importance. And the device of the bath floor, of course, is no exception. To ensure water drainage, ventilation, heat and waterproofing, it is necessary to follow simple, but important installation rules. It should also be borne in mind that the life of the floor will depend on the quality of the source material and the chosen arrangement technology. If the question of how to make a floor in a bath is more relevant for you than ever, then this article will help you understand the types of bath floors and the intricacies of their installation.

To build the correct floor in the bath, the first step is to decide what material it will be made of. To date, two options are recognized as the most acceptable: wooden and concrete floors. Each has its own advantages and nuances of arrangement, which means that you cannot do without appropriate theoretical training.

Wooden floor

A classic solution that has not lost its popularity for many years. Even the intensive development of the construction market is unable to negate the natural benefits. Wooden floors:

environmentally friendly and absolutely safe for health;
aesthetically attractive and able to demonstrate the impeccable taste of the owner of the steam room;
do not require a large amount of time for construction (compared to concrete counterparts);
bring a cozy and comfortable atmosphere to the bathhouse.

Varieties

When building a bath with your own hands, the floors (depending on the design) are divided into leaking and non-leaking. In the first case, the flooring of single-level floorboards is made, which ensures the exit of water through the cracks with its subsequent absorption into the soil under the foundation. Of the minuses of leaking floors, it should be noted the impossibility of insulation, because the floorboards are removed and dried after each use.

In the second, the installation is carried out with a slight inclination towards the drain hole, equipped with a water collector and a drain pipe leading to a septic tank. A leak-proof structure requires the installation of a sub-floor and thermal insulation with expanded clay. This method is more expensive and time consuming, but in terms of convenience and practicality it has no equal.

Arrangement of pillars

It is not difficult to lay a wooden floor for a bath with your own hands. To do this, you will need logs with a section of 18 cm or beams 15x15 cm, on which the floorboards will be attached. Please note that the logs have a high load, so they must be laid on supports made of reinforced concrete or brick. The thickness of the racks is at least 15 cm, the width of the platform under them is 7 cm more than the supports themselves.

As for the height, this indicator is identical to the height of the edge of the base (with a strip foundation). If the foundation is columnar, then the wooden logs rest on the beams of the mortgage crown, and the top of the supports-supports must coincide with these beams. Before installation, the lag supports are covered with waterproofing (roofing felt, roofing material, bitumen or glassine).

Underground construction

The next step in solving the problem “how to put a floor in a bathhouse is building an underground. For a leaking floor on soil with a high degree of absorbency, it will be enough to pour crushed stone (25 cm) underground. If the earth does not absorb moisture well, then it becomes mandatory to install a container for the drain. To do this, a clay castle is built on the ground at an angle to the pit.

If you decide to do-it-yourself installation of the floor in a non-leaking bath, then the subfloor is insulated with expanded clay, leaving 15 cm to the lag (for ventilation).

Laying logs and flooring boards

Under the leaking floor, the logs are laid from any wall, under the non-leaking one - with a tilt to the side. We proceed to the flooring of the boards. For a non-leaking floor, first, a base floor (rough) with heat and waterproofing is equipped, on which grooved boards are then attached. Please note that the groove of the boards goes inside the bath, fastening to the logs is done with wood grouse screws or nails.

Laying the floor in a leaky bath takes less time and effort. The boards are sawn so that there is a gap of 2 cm between them and the wall. It is recommended to nail the first floorboard with nails, the thickness of which is twice the thickness of the board. The following boards are installed in 3 cm increments.

Concrete floor

A concrete floor has many advantages, which often become decisive when choosing:

not afraid of high humidity and temperature changes;
not subject to decay;
has a long service life;
easy to clean.

Important points

The soil is carefully compacted, a cushion of crushed stone impregnated with bitumen (150 mm) is formed on it. In this case, the crushed stone will be able not only to withstand the loads, but also to distribute them evenly.

In order to get rid of one of the main disadvantages of a concrete floor (it is cold), you should think about insulation. The problem can be solved in two ways: lay the base in 2 layers, placing thermal insulation between the layers, or form a heat-insulating layer on top of the concrete, on which to equip a warm wood floor.

For double laying, it is necessary to properly prepare the concrete mortar. For the bottom layer, the mixture should include large crushed stone fractions (35 mm in size). The thickness of this layer is 150 mm. If the bath is small, then the screed is laid immediately on the entire base, otherwise it is more convenient to divide the territory by means of wooden guides into 1000 mm strips. The screed will turn out to be beautiful and even.

For the top layer, it is more expedient to prepare a mixture of fine fractions. Level the floor with extreme care and tamp it firmly. Concrete gains strength over several days. Do not forget to take care of it - do not allow it to dry out, daily moisten the surface previously covered with sawdust.

Insulation of a concrete floor

Regardless of the chosen insulation, it should be laid on waterproofing. For waterproofing, polyethylene film or roofing felt is most often used. A liquid solution can be purchased. Before applying the coating waterproofing, the surface is primed.

After the bottom layer has dried, you can start warming. For this, different materials are used:

expanded clay gravel and sand;
boiler slag;
mineral wool slabs;
expanded polystyrene (half-pan);
foam concrete.

Each of these components has both advantages and disadvantages. For example, expanded clay gravel is expensive, and the thickness required for the appearance of normalized thermal conductivity compared to boiler slag will be much less. Polystyrene is an excellent insulation, but it is powerless against the influence of rodents and can deteriorate over time. Penobet could win the laurels of "very-very", however, it is hygroscopic.

Use of modern technologies

The technologies of the present century offer new ways of arranging a concrete floor in a bath. Tiles are increasingly being used, bypassing the formation of a second layer of concrete screed. This method presupposes strict adherence to the sequence of construction work.

Waterproofing is laid on the thermal insulation, and a screed is formed from a special cement on top, the properties of which allow a coating with a thickness of only 15 mm to serve as a reliable base for the finished floor made of ceramic tiles. Tile samples are glued onto a thin layer of glue, which firmly fixes the material. Such a floor is distinguished by a long service life, unpretentious maintenance and excellent appearance.

Now you know what kind of floors there are and how to make a floor in a bath, which will become a thoughtful solution that complements and decorates your steam room - the best place for relaxation and recovery.

Bath floor device: video

The bathhouse consists of two rooms - a steam room (washing room) and a dressing room. Each of these premises has its own characteristics, the technology of floor construction takes these differences into account. Let's start first with more complex work - the floor in the steam room, and then we will consider the device of the floors in the dressing room.

High temperatures, high humidity and direct contact with water require special care during flooring. Otherwise, washing will be uncomfortable and the floors will have to be changed frequently. So, we have a ready-made log house, what to start with the construction of floors and what they are.

Photo of the floor in the steam room, already finished and laid
Wooden floor in the steam room

Spilled floors - photo

The simplest option, they are laid only with natural (glued will not work!) Boards of coniferous species, the thickness of the boards is at least 25 mm, the distance between the logs is not more than 80 cm, the distance between the beams is 1.0 ÷ 1.3, The thicker the board, the greater the distance maybe between lags. For lags, you can take bars of 50 × 100 mm, the dimensions of the beams are about 100 × 100 mm. There is a desire - make the impregnation with antiseptics, there is no desire - and without impregnation the floors will last for many years. The main difference between pouring floors is that water flows over the entire area in a slot with a width of ≈5 mm.

Do-it-yourself pouring floor. Instructions

Step 1.

The point is that the water must go into the ground. If the soil is sandy, no problem. If your soil is clayey or loamy, there will be problems. Baths are built on columnar or shallow strip foundations, they dig to a depth of about 50 cm, rarely anyone makes a sand pillow (but in vain!). Clay soils with an excess of moisture swell, the bath begins to "play" with all the negative consequences. This means that on clayey soils, it is imperative to make a drainage if the foundations are closed (tape shallow). You should not be especially upset if the builders are responsible, then they must have left ventilation holes in the foundation, they can be used to drain water. There are no such holes - you have to do it yourself.

Step 2. The floors are laid on logs, logs on beams. And here a lot of things depend on the conscientiousness of the builders. They had to lay the beams during the laying of the timber. Didn't you get it? The problem is, you need to make columns for them.

The pillars should be poured only with concrete, the brick is afraid of moisture and crumbles after a few years.

Stage	Description
	Make the markings, the distance between the posts is the same as the distance between the beams. In most cases, 1.0 ÷ 1.3 m is sufficient (for beams 100 × 100 mm). Dig square holes 50 centimeters deep, sprinkle 15 ÷ 20 cm thick sand on the bottom and tamp it, this will be a pillow that prevents swelling.
	In clayey soils, the formwork does not need to be done, the earth will hold its shape anyway, the formwork needs to be done only for the protruding part of the posts. For sandy soils, formwork will have to be made along the entire height of the posts. For formwork, you can use various waste boards, trimming OSB or plywood. The height of the posts should be below the floor level (in construction, this level is considered to be the zero mark) to the height of the beams, the log and the thickness of the boards. First, you need to set the formwork of the extreme posts, pull the rope between them and put all the rest at this level.
	Pour concrete, making it elementary, no advice is needed.
	After pouring, you need to wait at least two weeks, during this period of time the concrete is gaining 50% of its final strength, with such material it is already possible to work. Remove the formwork and check the position of the posts again. If necessary, adjust the posts with a cement-sand mortar, make them as equal in height as possible.

Video - An example of arranging a columnar base for logs

It is advisable to lay the beams on a waterproofing material, it is not necessary to use expensive modern cushioning materials, you can use ordinary roofing material or several layers of plastic film.

The beams are fixed to the posts with corners - a dowel in concrete, to a tree with a self-tapping screw or a nail. Lay the beams and logs according to the level, constantly check the spatial position, fix the logs to the beams with metal corners. The same height is also checked with a rope stretched between the outer eiders. If necessary, pieces of boards should be placed under the logs for leveling. Just do not use wedges, they fall out over time, the emphasis of the gaskets should be over the entire area of the beam.

Roofing material prices

roofing felt

Step 3. Laying boards.

The boards lie across the log, do not forget to leave gaps between them for water to drain. In order for the slots to have the same width, a thin river of suitable thickness can be used as a template. After laying the board, it is removed.

You can nail it down (quickly and cheaply), or you can use self-tapping screws. The main thing is that the hats must be flush. Why are nails better? The fact is that the relative humidity of the floors in the steam room varies considerably, the boards swell and dry out. The nails compensate for these changes in the thickness of the floor, they are slightly pulled out of the log, the length of the nails in our case is approximately 70 mm. In general, there is a rule - the length of the nails should be three times longer than the thickness of the board to be nailed. Self-tapping screws hold "tightly", the boards break a little, which is not very desirable.

Video - Preparing boards for laying

Video - Installing beams, laying floorboards, floor insulation

Step 4. Finishing work - nailing the skirting boards, leveling and, if necessary, sanding the boards. The skirting boards are nailed in the usual way with small nails approximately 30 mm long. The specific values depend on the thickness of the skirting boards. The cuts in the corners must be done at an angle of 45 °, there are special devices for cuts. If a factory device is at hand, then it will not be difficult to make it yourself. That's all, the drain floor is ready for "use".

Do not be afraid that the drain floors are cold and in the steam room you will catch a runny nose. The temperature in the steam room is about + 80 ° C, the floor heats up from this heat, and large drafts from small cracks will not appear.

Leak-proof floors

It is a little more difficult to make them, but the comfort of being in the steam room increases. They differ from the flowing ones in that there are no gaps between the boards, but there is a slight slope for draining the water.

You need to make a slope to one of the walls of the steam room, it should be borne in mind that periodically the mesh will have to be cleaned. This means that access to the drain must be free. At the point of discharge, it is advisable to make a water receiver and immediately bring it outside the perimeter of the foundation, it is not difficult to do this, the water flows down in one place (unlike leaking floors).

As for the preparatory work for the arrangement of ventilation holes in the foundation and the arrangement of stacks, these works are the same as we described above, but in the future there are differences.

Step 1. Preparing the posts. The markings for the distance between the posts, the depth, the preparation of the cushion and the preparation of the concrete mixture are the same. Further differences. The point is that the posts must be at different heights. The floor is slightly higher near one side than near the other. The slope should not be made large, two to three millimeters per meter of floor is enough. For example, if you have a steam room 4 meters long, then the difference in the height of the extreme posts should be within 8 ÷ 12 millimeters. It will not be possible to immediately pour concrete with such accuracy; after removing the formwork, it will have to be adjusted with mortar. For the initial marking, you will need a simple hydraulic level, make marks on the formwork of the extreme posts. Then everything is already familiar - pull the thread between them and level the surfaces.

Step 2. And there is a lot in common, only the beams and logs will be at an angle, you also need to check their position using a stretched thread. After installing the last lag, do not be too lazy to check the correctness of their position again.

Step 3. Planks flooring. Immediately you need to prepare the drain grate and come up with a drain method. Use hoses or pipe lengths of appropriate diameters. Before laying, check the boards for parallelism of the edges, if the curvatures exceed 5 mm - trim them on a thickness gauge. For laying the boards, you need to have special devices for their tight attraction. There are two options. The first is to buy ready-made in the store, it is inexpensive and works quite efficiently. The second option is to prepare ordinary metal staples and wooden wedges of various sizes.

Nail the first board against the wall, fix the stops on two logs. We have already said that these can be staples or factory fixtures. The distance between the stops and the first board should be several centimeters greater than the width of the second board. You can fix the stops further, and adjust the distance with dummy boards - it's faster, but more difficult. Install the second board and use the wedges to pull it tightly against the first, the slight bend will even out. Secure the second board with any hardware. Everything, you have mastered the "main operation", continue to mount the entire floor in the same way.

Do not forget to put a drain grate in the place where the water flows out. It can be homemade from galvanized sheet iron or purchased, there is not much difference, both do an excellent job with their functions.

Floor boards prices

floor boards

The floors in the dressing room

There are three options - ordinary planks, insulated and heated. The first ones are no different from the non-spill ones in the steam room, only they do not have a slope and, accordingly, no holes for draining water. Consider the two remaining options.

Insulated floors

The easiest option is to use foam as insulation, although mineral wool can also be used in the dressing room. The posts, dimensions of beams, logs and boards are identical. Insulation installation technology has slight differences. Let's start with this operation.

Step 1. Rough floor. Insulation lays down to honey with a rough and clean floor. The subfloor is attached to the logs from below, made from scraps of boards, slabs, used plywood sheets or OSB boards. This is an "economical option", there is extra money - use new materials.

Step 2... Insulating materials are laid on the subfloor, make sure that there are no gaps between the individual sheets of insulation. If mineral wool is used, then you will have to make steam and hydro barriers, wool is very afraid of moisture, when wet, the thermal insulation properties deteriorate sharply. But that's not all. After getting wet, it dries poorly, wooden structures are in long-term contact with wet cotton wool. What happens to them in such conditions - there is no need to tell.

OSB board prices

OSB boards

Video - Rough floor

Step 3. Finishing floor. We have already told you how to lay it, now you already have construction experience, the work will go faster.

Laying the floorboard on top of insulation - penoplex

Electric underfloor m

Quite a complex design, requires careful attention and some knowledge not only in construction, but also in electrical engineering. Before getting started, there are a few things you need to know.

It is not advisable to use boards, laminate and other wooden coatings for heated floors. Firstly, they have a very low thermal conductivity, most of the thermal energy will heat the ground, and not the floor and the room. Secondly, the risk of cracks or cracking of the material increases significantly, even the use of boards with a relative humidity of 8% does not always save. The fact is that as long as you use and lay down purchased dry boards, they will absorb moisture. You can, of course, use artificial plastic boards, but is the "game of the game" worth it?
It is necessary to accurately determine the source of heat. With water heating, you need to maintain engineering networks from home or install a separate boiler in the bath. Both options are dubious from an economic point of view. The electric heating option remains. But here, too, problems arise - for efficiency, the power of the heating elements should be approximately 140 W per square meter of the room. These are quite large values, you need to make sure that the power lines are consistent with these indicators.
Electric heating requires the installation of a complex of electrical wiring. All work should be performed in strict compliance with the PUE. Do you have such knowledge?

If everything is fine, then you can start working directly. In our case, underfloor heating will be for a ceramic coating, this is the most effective option.

Stage	Description
Step 1. Preparation of the base.	You need to level the site. The ideal option is to use foam concrete. With its help, the site is leveled, and thermal insulation of the heating elements from the ground is ensured - the efficiency of using heated floors is increased. But it is impossible to prepare foam concrete at home, special reagents are needed (this is still being solved) and a special unit (this is no longer being solved). We'll have to prepare ordinary concrete and cement-sand mixtures. The site should be leveled with concrete. To do this, first level the ground manually - the work will go faster, less concrete will be needed. Next, beacons are installed, you can buy them in a store, use even thin slats for these purposes, or make beacons from a solution. The third option is quite difficult, it requires skill and skill, it is better to use the first two. Beacons are installed under the level, try to make the base as even as possible and strictly in a horizontal plane. If horizontality is a little "naughty" - it does not matter, in the future you will have time to align. It is better to pour concrete over the entire area as quickly as possible, otherwise gaps will result. The thickness of concrete is within 5 ÷ 8 cm, if heavy loads on the floor are expected - reinforce it with construction reinforcement of a periodic profile of Ø5 mm. You do not need to knit any mesh from the reinforcement, just lay it in the thickness of the concrete in rows at a distance of ≈ 30 ÷ 40 cm.Let it dry for at least a week, and preferably two. Lighthouses can not be removed, they will not interfere.
Step 2. Thermal insulation.	It is best to use high-strength foam with a thickness of up to ten centimeters. Its physical indicators of strength are quite suitable, and it is not difficult to work with it, and in terms of cost it satisfies the majority of developers. Lay the styrofoam in even and dense rows.
Step 3. Screed.	It must cover the foam and protect it from mechanical damage. For the screed, you need to use the so-called dry mortar. It is not completely dry as you might think, it just has a lot less water than normal. Moisture is checked simply - you can squeeze it in your hand, moisture between the fingers should not leak, the lump should not crumble. Advantages of a dry mortar: due to its low density, it does not conduct heat well (additional thermal insulation), it is very quick and easy to work with it, and corresponds to the required parameters in terms of strength. Do the screed in the same way as for concrete, thickness 2 ÷ 3 centimeters.
Step 4. Laying heating elements.	There is nothing particularly complicated here, it is not worth taking time. Read the manufacturer's instructions and follow their recommendations.
Step 5. Laying ceramic tiles.	The tile can be laid directly on the heating elements, or you can make another screed with cement mortar, only not dry, but ordinary. The second option is preferable. Decide for yourself, the main thing is that the tile does not damage the electrical cables. The tiles are laid in the usual way. Here you already need to have at least some experience. If you have never done such work, you will have to learn on the go and suffer a little. Be prepared for what may not work the first time.
Step 5. Connection.	Manufacturers fully complete all protection and control devices, connect them according to the rules of the PUE, choose a place to install the automation.

Video - Screed

In conclusion, I would like to say a few words about the floors in the dressing room. Before proceeding with underfloor heating and underfloor heating, carefully weigh everything. These floors require skill, time and money, and the return on them is minimal. Any work should have logic, only in this case the efforts are justified. Think how long it takes to stand barefoot on a warm field for the insulation to trap the heat from the wood flooring, bring it back and “warm” the feet? How long does it take to warm up the floors (and how much will it cost) just to undress / get dressed in a few minutes? Isn't it better or cheaper to use ordinary (or warm) slippers in the dressing room? And we described the technology of arranging warm floors in the dressing room only because there is a demand for such types.

We have already considered various options for installing floors, including wooden ones. If you haven't read the article yet, you can do it right now.

In this publication, let's learn how to prepare the foundation for the construction of a leaking and non-leaking wooden floor, how to correctly make supports for the logs, what to make the logs from, what height to make the supports, and consider other issues related to the construction of the wooden floor foundations in the bathhouse.

How to make logs for the floor in the bath

In order for the wooden floor in the bath to withstand a sufficient load, it is laid on logs - thick beams or logs installed at a certain distance depending on the thickness of the boards from which the floor will be laid.

For the lag device, larch or pine wood is best suited, which is not afraid of moisture and has sufficient strength.

As you know, the floor in the bath should have a slight slope towards the water collection pit. Therefore, the logs are also performed not at the same level, but with a slight difference in height, so that the boards to be laid go with a slight slope.

Before laying the logs, you need to decide on the direction of the water flow, so that you do not redo the floor later. But this applies mainly to non-leaking floors, from which water is completely collected and discharged into the sewer. The direction of laying the logs should be perpendicular to the direction of the water flow.

If the floor is planned to be leaking, then the slope can be omitted and the floors can be laid without a slope.

What is the section to make the lags?

In order for the logs to withstand the weight of the washable, their cross section is selected depending on the distance between the supports on which they will fit. The greater this distance, the thicker the logs will be. The ratio of the height of the log to the width is usually 1.5-2 (that is, the height is 1.5-2 times the width).

The main dimensions of the lag, depending on the distance between the supports, are shown in the table below:

As you can see, with a small distance between the supports, you can save on buying a thick bar or logs.

You can save even more on the timber by installing columnar supports under the logs. So, with a log length of 6 meters, only one support in the middle will reduce the cross-section of the log from 220 x 80 mm to 150 x 80 mm. And if the supports are put after 1 m, then you can use a bar with a section of 80 x 50 mm. The difference is visible to the naked eye.

When selecting the section of the lag, do not forget to take into account the required mark of the finished floor, which will depend on the mark of the top of the supports, the thickness of the floorboard, the mark of the flange or strip foundation.

How far are lags placed?

The distance between the lags (lag step) is selected depending on the thickness of the boards from which the floor will be laid. The thicker the board, the greater the distance between adjacent lags and vice versa.

The distance between the joists, depending on the thickness of the floorboards, is shown in the table:

Support for logs

Columnar supports for logs can be made of various materials - wood, brick or monolithic concrete. If the supports are made of brick or wood, a small concrete platform 200 mm thick should be made as a base, protruding at least 50 mm in each direction from under the support that will be made on this platform.

In general, the columnar support will have the following structure:

10 cm of sand bed;
15 cm of crushed stone or gravel;
20 cm of concrete base;
Supporting structure made of brick (wood).

Under each support, you should dig a hole 40 cm deep, make a sand bed, crush gravel or crushed stone from above, then set the formwork 200 mm high and fill the concrete base of the support. After the concrete has hardened, lay a piece of roofing material on the concrete base, having previously lubricated the top of the base with hot bitumen.

The concrete mixture for pouring the base can be prepared in the following proportion - 1 part of cement, 3 parts of sand, 5 parts of crushed stone (gravel).

Underfloor space arrangement

After the supports are placed, you can take up the space that will be under the floor.

If you have good soils (sand) on your site, then you can make a leaking floor, and put 250 mm of gravel on the ground under the floor. Through the gravel, the water will go into the sand and the device of drainage pipelines will not be needed.

If on the construction site of the bath there are soils that do not absorb water well, then a leak-proof floor should be made with the collection of water in a pit and its subsequent drainage outside the bath into a collection well or onto the relief.

If you want to make a leaking floor, and the soil is bad, then you can use the old folk method. From above, gravel is rammed into the ground, it is good to tamp it, and on top lay a layer of oily clay 10-15 cm thick with a slope towards the catchment pit, from which water will subsequently be discharged through a pipe outside the bath.

In the figure, the numbers indicate: 1 - gravel preparation; 2 - clay; 3 - drainage flume (pit); 4 - walls of the pit made of clay; 5 - drainage pipe.

Non-leaking floors can be insulated with expanded clay bedding. In this case, a layer of expanded clay should be chosen so thick that there is free space to the lags, laid on supports at least 10-15 cm for ventilation of the underground space. Otherwise, the floor will quickly rot.

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Now you know how to choose the cross-section of the logs and the thickness of the boards for the wooden floor in the bath, how to determine the number of columnar supports for the logs, and also equip the underground space depending on the type of bath floor.

In the following articles, we will learn how to lay logs on supports, how to make a subfloor and how to lay insulation in leak-proof floors.

After assembling the log house and installing doors and windows, you need to think about installing the floor covering. How to make a floor in a bath in various ways, we will tell in this article. Observing all the stages, you can complete the work without errors and with high quality.

Before installing the floor in the bath, you need to decide what it will be: wooden or screed. Several factors influence the choice:

The type of material from which the floor joists are made.
The material from which the bath is built.
What is the planned drain system.
The purpose of the premises (steam room and washing room combined or separate, use dry steam or wet, etc.)
The material side.

Wooden floor - features and purpose

The wooden floor in saunas is used in most cases. Such popularity is associated with the availability of material and the speed of installation (no need to take technical breaks in work). You can buy floorboards or logs already treated with an antiseptic and dried. And the installation process is simple, and even a beginner, after reading the step-by-step instructions, will be able to lay the floor. Of course, mistakes are made in any work, but if you watch a thematic video and read the article to the end, you can handle it. It is difficult to carry out the flooring alone, so it is better to look for 1-2 assistants.

For a bath, there are several ways of laying floors, but the simplest:

"Cold" flowing;
"Warm" not leaking.

Let's consider each in more detail.

Cold floor - design features

Boards of "cold" coating are laid with a gap of 4–5 mm. It is necessary so that moisture does not accumulate in the baths, but flows into the underground. Since the floor of such a structure is always cold, it is recommended to use it only in the southern regions of the country or for a bath at a summer cottage.

The structure cannot be insulated, so it will not be comfortable to use the bath in cold weather. Of course, there is an option when the flooring is raised above the level of the cushion under the stove, and special ventilation is made. So the floor heats up during the heating and dries quickly. We will talk in more detail about how to do this with your own hands in one of the following articles.

"Warm" floor - design features

The warm version is mounted from boards that are tightly adjacent to each other, which have a slight slope. The slope is mounted to a special drain, which, in turn, is mounted in a collection tank where all moisture accumulates. From there, water flows out by gravity through inclined pipes, outside the bath. This construction resembles a "pie". The upper boards are laid on the rough bottom boards, insulation is placed between them. It is hidden from moisture and steam is made into insulation.

The main advantages of this design:

moisture does not accumulate near the foundation;
the floor is additionally insulated, which means it will warm up;
due to the special drainage system, the floorboards will last longer.

Concrete screed in a bath-features and purpose

Screed floors in a bath is a more laborious process that requires some skill and theoretical knowledge. Concrete screed for the bath floor can be done in several ways: pouring directly onto the ground, screed on the subfloor. It is easier to perform the first method on your own.

Screed on the ground - features

A concrete screed is performed on previously removed soil and a sand cushion (similar to that shown in the photo). After drying, the coating looks unsightly and needs a finish. Of course, you can simply paint the floor with paint, but since the bath will be constantly heated to high temperatures, the chemical compounds in the use of the bath are undesirable. The easiest way is to install ceramic tiles or natural stone. But both options are costly and time consuming.

Recently, the know-how of “warm floor” has been used in concrete screed. It comes in infrared, water and cable. But laying in damp rooms requires special knowledge, therefore it is not recommended to do it yourself.

When using a concrete screed in a bath, it is important to properly waterproof and insulate the floor. Insulation is made of polymeric material, for example PSB-S-35. Material price from 70 rubles.

Installation of flooring in baths and saunas

Any of the options under consideration is suitable for a bath in a private house or summer cottage. And how to make the coating correctly, observing the basic rules and features of the technology, we will tell you in more detail.

Installation of a "cold" leaking floor

As lags for a leaking floor, you can use metal or wooden sticks of rectangular or rounded cross-section. You need to choose depending on the material from which the log house was built. So, for a bath from a bar, it is better to use a tree with a cross section of at least 100 mm.

Before laying, the logs must be treated with antiseptics and impregnations. Used machine oil is used as an economy. Antiseptics are taken any, but it is better for direct use "for baths."

Before laying the wood, it is dried to a moisture content of less than 12–10%, or it is purchased ready-made, chamber drying.

Laying the base under the floor

The installation of the lag must be carried out parallel to the wall, which has a shorter length. To give rigidity, reinforced concrete columns are poured under them, the distance between them should not be more than 1 m.They are laid out in the following stages:

in the places of installation, the top layer of soil is removed and a pillow of crushed stone and sand (10-15 cm) and a reinforced mesh is filled;
columns of red brick are laid out or pieces of reinforced concrete slab are laid;
the structure is waterproofed with bitumen mastic.

If the foundation for the bath was columnar, then the level of the lag should be parallel and equal in level to the embedded log. With a tape - the top of the foundation.

On top of the pillars, waterproofing is laid in 2 layers and logs are mounted. They need to be placed leaving a distance of at least 4-5 cm from the main walls, from all sides, these gaps are needed for ventilation.

Installation of a drain in the underground

It is necessary to implement a system that will quickly remove excess water, and will not allow it to accumulate near the foundation. To do this, you need to study the soil, since the design will depend on the absorption of moisture:

With a soil that absorbs moisture well, the top layer is removed along the entire perimeter of the bath and a cushion of crushed stone with a minimum thickness of 250 mm is poured. It is used as a filter. Moisture will pass through the filter and be absorbed into the soil. This is the easiest way.
With poorly absorbing soil, a 10 ° slope is made towards a specially prepared drain (a hole at least 30–40 cm deep, in which a PVC pipe for drainage with a diameter of 15 cm, covered with crushed stone, is laid). In order for the water to drain more evenly, the soil can be covered with clay and tamped.

Laying floorboards

Floor boards can be used even not edged, the main thing is to level and trim them. Laying begins from the wall, stepping back 2 cm. In relation to the lags, the laying is perpendicular.

You can fasten boards to the logs with self-tapping screws or nails at an angle of 45 °. To make the gaps between the boards the same, use pieces of plywood 3-5 mm thick.

Installation of a "warm" non-leaking floor

Lags under the structure are laid in the same way as in the first case. To organize the slope of the floor, you need to make cuts of 2-4 mm in each log, except for those located near the walls.

Installation of the drain system

A pit of 400x400 mm and a depth of 300 mm is used as a water intake (the design diagram is in the photo above). You need to dig it between the two supports. For waterproofing, a "clay castle" is made in the reservoir or the walls are poured with concrete and coated with bitumen.

At the bottom, stepping back 2 cm, a drain pipe is mounted, which must be laid at an angle. A PVC pipe with a cross section of at least 15 cm is suitable for this.

Laying floorboards

The installation of the floor begins with a rough bottom layer. To fix it on the beams, 50x50 mm bars are attached on both sides along the entire length. Rough boards are laid on these bars; you can use any remaining after construction, even a small round timber. From the top of the beam, you need to retreat at least 60 mm, it depends on the thickness of the proposed insulation, it should not overlap the upper part of the log.

Waterproofing is spread on top of the subfloor. it must be laid with an overlap, and the joints must be fastened with bitumen mastic or adhesive tape (depending on the type of waterproofing). Insulation is placed on top of the waterproofing (mineral wool, ecowool, expanded clay, sawdust with PVA, etc.). The insulation must be protected by covering it with a layer of vapor barrier.

The vapor barrier is laid with an overlap of 15 cm, attached to the logs with a construction stapler.

A finishing board is mounted on top. it is better to use a tongue and groove tongue and groove. This will prevent water from getting between the boards. It is better to mount the boards by putting each subsequent one on a spike, so there is less chance of spoiling the lock connection. A pipe is mounted in an inclined drain, the end of which will go into the catchment.

It is important to leave a ventilated gap of at least 10 - 15 mm between the main coating and the insulation, where an additional exhaust pipe is brought out.

It is better to use products that are resistant to water as floorboards for a bath, for example, larch, aspen. Otherwise, the floor will quickly rot, which will never happen with a concrete screed.

Installation of concrete screed - features of installation in a bath

The top layer of soil is removed along the entire inner perimeter, at least 30-40 cm. The soil is rammed. 100 mm of coarse sand is placed on top. Then a layer of crushed stone 200 mm and two layers of roofing material. At the same time, it is important to leave a place for future acceptance before filling the sand.

The next step is to dig out a place for acceptance, its walls must be concreted to a thickness of at least 50 mm. From above it is covered with rubble and a drain pipe is removed. Only then can you start screed.

Pouring screed on the floor of the bath

The screed is installed in the following stages:

The first layer is poured with concrete to a height of 5 - 6 cm, it is allowed to dry out (but not completely dry);
A layer of PSB-S-35 thermal insulation is spread (you can take any thickness, standard 5 and 10 cm);
To give rigidity, a reinforced mesh is laid;
A 6 - 9 cm finishing layer of concrete is poured. To harden it, the finishing layer should be poured at an angle of 10 - 15 ° towards the drain where the pipe is mounted.

From above, the concrete screed is decorated with tiles, there are many of them in construction centers, the price starts from 210 rubles / m2. You can think over your own design and choose a coating for it. All depending on the size of the wallet and imagination.

All the options under consideration can be done by hand, and our specialists are always happy to advise how to avoid mistakes.