How to cover the floor in a bathhouse: paint, varnish, flooring

Requirements for paints and varnishes for baths

Paints and varnishes that are intended to be used in rooms with high humidity must have special properties.

These properties include:

Paints are also selected depending on what materials the floor is made of. If it is wood, then it is recommended to choose a paint color so that it emphasizes the natural grain of the wood without overlapping it.

How to paint a concrete floor in a bathhouse? For concrete, suitable compositions are those that remove dust from the surface and have good adhesive properties to mineral substrates. Otherwise, the protective layer will soon crack.

How to insulate a dressing room?

Before you carry out any work, you should initially put together a plan.
It must be created before construction begins. This is necessary in order to navigate when choosing insulation, since the installation of each of them requires adherence to a certain technology. There are many different options for insulating such a room. But when using any type of thermal insulator, you will have to remove about 15 centimeters of the base. If you plan to make the floor higher than the foundation, then you can fill the space with bulk materials, such as:

1. Earth.
2. Expanded clay.
3. Slag.

These mixtures will need to be compacted after backfilling.

The ideal insulation for the floor will be a material that is durable and fire resistant. It must be inorganic, so it could be:

1. Minvata.
2. Perlite.
3. Glass wool.

Such elements are not subject to rotting and microbes and/or fungi cannot spread there.

Types of paints

Before choosing what to paint bath floors with, you should study what types of paint compositions there are.

Paint and varnish mixtures according to the method of painting are divided into:

Let's figure out whether it is possible to cover the floor in a bathhouse with regular paint. Some paints and varnishes contain formaldehyde. At high temperatures, these substances evaporate from the surface of the coating. The only room in the bathhouse where you can paint the floor with this paint is the rest room.

Here the temperature almost never rises above 28-30 degrees. In the sink and steam room, the thermometer rises to 80-90 degrees. In such rooms, ordinary cheap paint will emit harmful chemicals that negatively affect the human body.

Criterias of choice

Heat-resistant paints for rooms with high temperatures

For each room in the bath complex you need to choose your own treatment option.

• Acrylic or oil paints are not suitable for steam rooms, although acrylic heat-resistant compounds can be used. Oil is good because it impregnates the top layer of wood and prevents it from drying out. A polyurethane-based varnish is suitable.
• In a sauna, the main factor of choice is heat resistance. Special water-soluble paints, oil waxes, and waxes are suitable. Oils and oil paints cannot be used.
• For the washing room, paints and varnishes are purchased that are as resistant to water as possible - latex or polyurethane based. Oil is not suitable: the product does not form a waterproof film, but only prevents moisture from penetrating deep into the wood.
• For the dressing room, the only selection criterion is the safety and beauty of the finish. It is undesirable to use compositions based on drying oil: they take a long time to dry and retain an unpleasant odor.

Painting the floor in the steam room

We've sorted out painting the rest room. How to paint the floor in a steam room? Experts do not recommend treating the floors in the steam room with paints and varnishes. However, to reduce the effect of moisture on wooden surfaces, it is allowed to use water-based paints. They do not contain harmful chemicals that could be released at high temperatures in the bath.

When painting oak floors, it is better to choose a paint that is very close in tone to the natural color of the wood. It is not only beautiful, but also safe. Most of the pigmenting components that make up paints are flammable. Accordingly, at very high temperatures the possibility of a floor fire increases.

Causes of wood rotting

Without special treatment, logs and floor boards begin to rot.
Wood is an organic environment in which pathogenic microorganisms can develop very successfully. Most of them require two components:

• moisture;
• heat.

In a bathhouse, as a rule, wood is used to finish the floors, walls, ceiling, benches and shelves. That is why, without special treatment, logs and floor boards begin to rot. What are the main causes of rot in a room?

• poor waterproofing;
• lack of normal ventilation;
• high temperature and humidity;
• poor quality wood processing.

It is worth noting that certain wood species are more resistant to pathogens than others. For example, coniferous wood contains resins, which contain phytoncides.

Some wood species are more resistant to pathogens than others.
We recommend reading the Zen channel “zen.yandex.ru/vodakanazer.ru”, where you will find a lot of useful information for summer residents and gardeners.

This provides them with “immunity” against mold and mildew. For this reason, in order to prevent floor rotting, it is better to use the following types of wood:

• larch and fir;
• spruce and ash;
• cedar and pine.

The tree species most susceptible to moisture and, accordingly, pathogens are:

• maple and alder;
• aspen and linden;
• birch and elm.

Is it possible to protect wooden materials from rotting? To prevent the appearance of rot in the bathhouse, you can treat the wood with special impregnations and varnishes, which will be discussed further.

How to varnish a wooden floor?

Recommendations

When choosing what to paint bath floors with, you should focus not only on the color of the paint mixture and its service life, but also on the following points:

If the color of the paint has changed, this may be a sign that the coating will crack in the near future. To prevent the wood from getting wet, you need to repaint the floors. Read also: “Which floors are best to make in a bathhouse - choosing a coating.”

Summarize

So, how to paint the floor in the steam room? A steam room is a place where humidity and temperature are always high. Therefore, when painting wooden surfaces, it is necessary to use water-based and acrylic paints, which are non-toxic.

In the recreation room, the floors are painted with alkyd or oil paint.

Source

What materials should be preferred for wall insulation?

Traditionally, the walls in the bathhouse are made of wood. This is an environmentally friendly material that gives the structure a solid appearance and good quality. It is easy to breathe in a wooden room, and the steam becomes richer. But some still prefer to build a bathhouse from brick or foam and cinder blocks, the latter themselves being a heat-insulating material, having a porous structure. However, in severe winters they freeze, making the room cold and causing stains on the walls. Therefore, the walls in the dressing room can be insulated:

• mineral stone wool;
• fiberglass;
• polystyrene foam. The process of insulating a bathhouse with foam plastic

It is best to cover the top of the insulation with polystyrene foam; it is very durable, cannot be compressed, is frost-resistant, durable and does not rot.

How to paint depending on the room

Well, we have already partially begun to cover this question above, but now it’s time to more clearly distinguish what kind of room we are talking about.

In the dressing room and rest room

We see no reason to distinguish these two rooms. The fact is that most owners of country baths have a dressing room size (if they have one at all) that is quite modest. And purchasing separate materials so that you have something to paint the floor in the bathhouse waiting room is somehow redundant, or what?

Unless there is some kind of different covering than in the rest room.

Wooden floor in the dressing room

We strongly doubt that anyone would want to leave a concrete floor in the rest room and dressing room. And there are not many options. The only alternative is wooden. So let's talk about it.

Here is a complete list of “candidates” for painting a wooden floor in a bathhouse vestibule:

Is it necessary to paint the floor in the steam room and washing room?

We do not consider this point particularly controversial - it all depends on the quality of the coating.
There is no point in taking special care of a spilled floor in a summer shed. But the more money you have invested in the arrangement, the more powerful the desire to take care of what you have achieved becomes. We did not write above, but now it is appropriate to mention that the Finns (Tikkurila, in particular) offer a special type of oil designed specifically for impregnating the floor in the steam room and washing room. First reaction: but he will slide! The Finns think differently and actively promote their sauna product.

It is assumed that this impregnation will be done on freshly planed or freshly cleaned boards - then it will be well absorbed and the wood will stop absorbing moisture and dirt. The layer itself will be invisible and will not cause slipping.

But still, let's return to the two types of floors that are made in the steam room and washing room: dry and wet.

Dry floor paint

The top layer is often made of tongue-and-groove boards that fit well together . This is an almost monolithic coating that practically does not absorb water and does not allow it to pass down at all. What happens next depends on the wood - there are species that do not rot from moisture, for example, larch or oak. Conifers resist well - due to the presence of resins in them, which serve as a natural antiseptic.

In addition to protection from rotting, there is a second argument: the wood darkens, looks untidy, and those who don’t like it look for ways to preserve its beauty. As an option, varnish coating , for example, “Unika Super” from the same “Tikkurila” or a similar composition from other manufacturers.

By the way, poor-quality floor installation or poor-quality painting can lead to such a problem as in the video below.

In general, use either specialized products for sauna floors or varnish at your own risk.

Paint for pouring floors

A flood floor is a board with gaps through which water flows either into the subfloor or is collected and discharged into the sewer. Usually, good ventilation is needed here, which goes well with a summer bath. Although... plugs are placed on the ventilation holes in the foundation, so the process is regulated. This means that ventilation dries the floor and prevents it from rotting. She should be enough. But you can also protect it further.

What to soak: varieties and their purpose

You come to the store to choose a wood impregnation, and there are so many options there that your eyes widen.
In reality, you just need to distinguish between goals. A bathhouse is most often a separate building, in which, in addition to the steam room, there are other rooms. Many baths are built of wood or have wooden lining. There is wooden furniture everywhere. All this implies different purposes and compositions for them. Manufacturers of protective impregnations distinguish them as follows:

• What does the composition protect against: from water, from infection by fungi, from insects, from rodents, from fire;
• the composition is based on oil or water;
• what exactly is intended to protect: furniture, walls, floor, ceiling;
• product release form: gel, solution, aerosol;
• The wood will retain its natural color (bleach is a separate type) or will be tinted. In the latter case, a catalog of shades is offered.

In our particular case, we are looking for something to saturate the shelves in the bathhouse with. Now let’s decide on the task: what we want to protect the shelves from. It’s tempting to protect against everything at once, but without going into details for now, let’s say that antiseptics and fire retardants do not have a beneficial effect on our health, that is, it’s not worth protecting shelves from rot and fire.

Basically, the wood of the shelves is protected from water. In addition, not only for the sake of beauty, but also as a type of antiseptic, bleaches are used, which return darkening wood to its original color.

We will now consider this limited set of what can be used to cover the shelves in a bathhouse.

Impregnations, colorless and colored

Everything here is quite simple: if you add one color or another to the impregnation, which has no or little effect on the original color of the wooden surface, then the result will be a colored impregnation. Wood painted with it will differ from wood coated with regular paint in that its texture will still be visible.

Each manufacturer of color impregnations accompanies its products with a catalog of colors, from which it is easy to choose the right one. Colors for impregnation are not sold separately.

ON A NOTE! Colored colors can be included in both water- and oil-based impregnations.

Oil

The most well-known property of oils and waxes is their hydrophobicity, that is, non-wetting by water. This is precisely what predetermined their use in the creation of water-repellent compounds for wood.

However, there is one important point: in the simplest case, a hydrophobic coating forms a film on the surface of an object, which differs in its thermal conductivity from wood. In practice, this means that the coating can burn if the air in the steam room is heated to a high temperature.

Therefore, manufacturers contrive to prepare oil for shelves in a bathhouse in such a way that the impregnation is absorbed into the wood without creating a noticeable film on the surface.

Usually bath oil has no color, but there are tinted ones too.

Bleaches

Experienced steamers are not deceived when they see light wood in a steam room - it won’t stay that way for long if you use the bathhouse regularly. However, their expectations may not be met if the owner of the steam room uses special impregnations that bleach the wood.

IMPORTANT! Any bleach will contain either a substance containing chlorine or hydrogen peroxide.

Strong oxidizing agents not only lighten, but also disinfect wood, destroying fungi and their spores too.

The depth of penetration of the composition also depends on the concentration of the active substance. Bleach can be in a more or less concentrated form when sold, and then, if desired, it can still be diluted with water.

Features of painting for different coatings

Finally, we’ll talk not about what you can use to paint the floors in a bathhouse, but about how to do it correctly, because different compositions require different brushes.

If you decide to use oil (not oil paint, but floor oil), then the brush you will use to apply it should be made of natural bristles . Due to its structure, such a brush will not leave streaks on the surface of the wood. By the way, you can only remove oil from it with a solvent.

Wood glaze mixed bristles . Wash off with water.

Colored wax artificial fibers for application . It is liquid, so you can use a roller or a spray gun.

In general, there is such a division: water-based paints and varnishes are applied with artificial brushes, and other varnishes and oils are applied with natural bristles.

Applying varnish

The final stage of finishing any room is varnishing. However, the materials necessary for treating surfaces in a bathhouse are subject to special, increased requirements (for more details: “Which varnish to choose for baths and saunas - the differences and advantages of different compositions”).

The varnish must provide:

• absence of rotting due to increased effects of antiseptic impregnation;
• protect floors from any damage, including mechanical;
• safety for the health of humans and their pets;
• resistance to high humidity;
• no toxic fumes due to overheating.

After this, you can apply the varnish using a brush or roller - whichever is more convenient for you. The varnish should dry thoroughly, after which another layer can be applied if necessary. Please note that in the steam room you can only use varnishes that do not contain toxic substances released into the air when heated. Another important point is that the varnish must protect the coating from accidental fire as a result of a spark from the oven.

How to cover the floor in a bathhouse: paint, varnish, flooring

After the floorboards have been laid and the lining of the ceiling and walls of the room has been sewn, the stage of choosing a coating or impregnation for the wood, especially the lower tier, begins. You cannot even try to cover the floor in a bathhouse with ordinary varnishes and paints; a completely different environment, high humidity and temperature can destroy the wood within a few months of service.

Simple varnish can protect floorboards as well as paint

Interior decoration

Upon completion of insulation, work begins on finishing the dressing room. Usually it is covered with wooden clapboard, taking into account the unique design and style of the bathhouse. When covering the floor, the first step is to lay the beams on the waterproofing layer. And again, the entire tree needs to be treated with a water-repellent solution.

You need to fix the floorboard to the beams using self-tapping screws using the tongue-and-groove system. It would be a good idea to install a rubber coating on top of the boards. After the floor is covered, we proceed to finishing the ceiling and then the walls. You can sheathe walls in different ways. So, you can make clapboard cladding horizontally, vertically or diagonally. This is where your imagination comes into play.

How to cover a wooden floor in a bathhouse

Wood will require at least some surface preparation. For a bathhouse, laying the first protective layer is of particular importance. The floor needs to be covered correctly, and most importantly – with high-quality materials. The starting layer creates the base on which all other paintwork materials will be laid. If experiments with impregnations and varnishes are still allowed on the outer part of wooden walls, then inside the first layer of varnish or paint for the floor in the bathhouse must be laid in compliance with all the subtleties of technology.

It is impossible to sand or cut off poor-quality paint or impregnation with a grinder, as this can completely ruin the wooden floor. Removing varnish, paint or impregnation will be expensive and difficult.

The classic technology for painting a bathhouse floor is as follows:

In addition, you will need to use a wide and narrow brush and a plastic spatula. The process of choosing a tool in order to cover a wooden floor in a bathhouse or sauna deserves special attention. A spray bottle and a paint roller are definitely not suitable; in both cases, you can cover wooden floorboards with paint or a varnish composition quite quickly, but at the same time, quite a lot of air bubbles remain under the protective layer, due to which the paint quickly peels off.

The prepared surface can and should be coated only with a brush.

A good paint for a wooden floor has a fairly liquid, low-viscosity consistency, due to which it adheres very well to the surface.

Is it possible to paint the floor in a bathhouse?

It is clear that if you have a strong desire and under the influence of advertising, you can paint the floor inside a bathhouse with almost anything, from water-dispersion paint to oil-based paint. At the same time, the bathhouse is considered one of the most difficult in relation to the correct use of paint and varnish material. There are two serious reasons for this:

The boards pick up moisture and can expand, which can cause the paint or varnish to peel or flake off the wood base. The problem is more serious than it might seem at first glance, for example, in the summer, heating the bathhouse to 60 o C, the wooden floor heats up to only 20-30 o C, the difference with the outside air temperature is relatively small, so there is nothing to worry about.

Floor varnish must be heat-resistant and plastic at the same time

Antiseptics for bath floors

The first thing to do is sand and coat the floorboards with a protective water-based bioseptic solution. There are quite a lot of products on sale for the bioprotection of wooden bathhouse structures; there will be no problems purchasing them. It is better to take imported compounds from the island. You can, of course, cover the floor in the bathhouse with budget Senezh, but given the fact that you will have to work and breathe the mordant for quite a long time, it is still better to take a composition that is safe for health.

To cover the torrential floor of Senezh it will take twice or three times as much

Why water-based? Water is best absorbed by the surface of a wooden floor due to the specific structure and the presence of a large number of pores in the wood. Neither oil nor varnish penetrates that deeply, so covering with an aqueous solution of salts means making the floor at least 4-5 mm deep closed to pathogenic microorganisms.

Before covering with impregnation, it is advisable to sand the floor surface with fine sandpaper in order to “open” the top layer of wood. Before being coated with a primer, the wooden floor is subjected to artificial veneering. This is an operation very similar to polishing. Essentially, the floor of the bathhouse is sanded with a rapidly rotating felt wheel mounted on the shaft of a grinding machine. As a result, the impregnating materials are sealed inside, the surface acquires a smoother appearance, and the consumption of primer and paint is significantly reduced.

Rating of the best funds

Let's look at several factory-made products for impregnating bath shelves.

Tikkurila Supi Arctic

Composition from a well-known manufacturer of paints and varnishes from Finland. The main ingredient is acrylate resin. It forms a thin protective layer on the tree that does not allow moisture to pass through and ensures the safety of the wood.

When dry, acrylate resin is very flammable, so the product can be considered fireproof.

The drug is suitable for both Russian baths and saunas.

The main disadvantage of Supi Arctic is that it does not allow the tree to release essential oils into the steam room air.

The cost of a 0.9 liter can is about 500 rubles.

Sauna Natura Saunasuoja

The composition is based on a polymer substance that is absorbed deep into the wood and tightens its fibers, thereby creating reliable protection against moisture. It also contains antiseptics that prevent the proliferation of pathogens, fungi and mold.

A 2.7 liter bucket of product costs approximately 4,000 rubles. The price is high, but quite justified - Sauna Natura Saunasuoja has a long service life and good wood protection.

The impregnation will have to be changed only after 5–6 years. At the same time, rotting and mold are practically eliminated.

Tikkurila Supi Lattiaoljy

An emulsion that consists of linseed oil and tar oil with a small amount of polymer additives. The components also include antiseptic agents that prevent the development of bacteria, fungi and mold.

Suitable not only for protecting shelves, but also for treating walls, floors and ceilings in a steam room.

A 0.9 liter jar of emulsion costs about 1,000 rubles.

Zhivitsa BioGrunt

Domestic protective agent for impregnating shelves in a bathhouse.

Consists of the following ingredients:

• natural linseed oil;
• pine resin;
• turpentine;
• silver.

Linseed oil and turpentine provide reliable protection of wood from moisture, silver prevents the development of microorganisms, and oleoresin gives the shelves a pleasant pine aroma, which becomes even richer when the steam room is heated.

A 0.4 liter container of the composition costs about 700 – 800 rubles.

Neomid Sauna Oil

It is an oil emulsion for treating shelves, walls and ceilings in a bathhouse. Unlike most other formulations, it is made not from natural, but from synthetic oils.

Thanks to this, it is cheaper than analogues. Provides reliable protection against moisture. Absolutely safe for the human body. A 0.25 liter bottle of the product costs about 200 - 300 rubles.

Pinotex Lacker Sauna 20

Water-soluble acrylic emulsion varnish. When dry it becomes moisture resistant. Tolerates exposure to high temperatures well. The composition includes antiseptic agents that prevent the development of fungi and bacteria. The cost of a 1 liter can is 500 – 600 rubles.

Biotex

This product is a mixture of antiseptics that prevent the development of bacteria that cause rotting. The composition protects against water and high temperature due to the presence of wax and paraffin among the components. A 0.9 liter jar of the product costs 300 – 400 rubles.

VGT

The product is an acrylic varnish with special additives that make it moisture and heat resistant

It contains wax, which makes the surface coated with the product more pleasant to the touch, which is especially important for bath shelves. A 2.2 liter container costs 700 – 800 rubles

Teknos SATU SAUNAVAHA

Finnish product based on natural beeswax. It also contains antibacterial agents and substances that promote the absorption of the composition into the wood. The cost of a 0.9 liter can is about 700 rubles.

Coating concrete floors

Unlike wooden floorboards, a concrete base remains insensitive to moisture in any form, as well as temperature changes. Concrete floors in bathhouses are made relatively rarely, and only if the problem cannot be solved by protecting and waterproofing the base. Before covering the screed with a protective varnish layer or applying paint, the concrete floor must be carefully leveled horizontally, otherwise water will collect in puddles in several places.

On concrete floors, leveling the surface is more hassle than painting.

Next, you should cover the floor with a primer. If you compare concrete with wooden floorboards, the situation is the opposite. The cement-sand base turns out to be little sensitive to temperature, while the varnish or paint on its surface under the influence of water and hot steam can peel off. Therefore, it is always necessary to prime.

Next, we lay out the main layer of paint, you can take latex or butyl-styrene compositions or the popular Tikkurila Betolux Aakva Base, designed specifically for rooms with high levels of humidity and temperature, like in a bathhouse.

Where to begin?

In fact, the problem of choosing the optimal floor design and materials for its installation is not so significant. It all depends on the type of foundation and ceiling. Having decided on them, the acceptable options for implementing the base of the dressing room will be reduced.

For clarity, we present in the table the main types of foundations and possible types of floors (the table is a recommendation):

Let's look at the most common types of floors in more detail and continue choosing the optimal floor design for the dressing room.

Bath flooring

What you shouldn't try to do is cover all the floors in a bathhouse with the same type of paint. Firstly, the savings that are usually claimed in this case turn out to be absolutely meager, and secondly, in different rooms there are completely different regimes, which means that the requirements for covering a wooden floor are also different.

How to cover the floor in a bathhouse vestibule

In this case, there are two options - use inexpensive alkyd enamels or try to protect the wooden floor with more durable polyurethane or acrylic paints. If there is a wood-burning stove in the dressing room, then it is better to use the second option. In addition, for rooms with stoves or fireplaces, the floor cannot be covered with polyvinyl chloride and rubber materials.

According to reviews, most owners prefer to use inexpensive water-dispersed and alkyd materials in their bathhouse. The calculation is very simple, it’s easier to cover a wooden floor with a fresh coat of paint once a year and have a great look than to spend money on very expensive but safe silicate coatings. It is clear that with this approach, the interior inside the bathhouse looks very attractive, but the floor and wooden floorboards practically rot under a thick layer of enamel, which does not protect at all from moist air.

How to paint the floor in a bathhouse in a washroom

Two types of paints and varnishes are best suited in the washing department:

Before covering the floor in the bathhouse with a protective layer, the surface must be cleaned and dried with a hair dryer with air at 70-100 o C.

Rubber paint is only suitable for concrete

If the washing room has a concrete floor, then acrylic-silicone or epoxy materials can be used.

How to cover the floor in a steam room

For a very difficult, humid and very hot steam room atmosphere, we can only recommend special paints based on alkyd-urethane compositions. They are not distinguished by high decorative qualities, but at high temperatures they ideally withstand wear and contact loads.

In addition, even over time, varnish and paint do not lose their plasticity, do not peel off or “glaze” to the state of tiles. At the same time, they remain safe and do not emit any harmful substances into the atmosphere in the bathhouse.

Construction stages

The wooden floor is built using classical technology using logs and floorboards. The wooden floor in the steam room is somewhat different, where it is built in the form of a leaking grate, which must be especially carefully protected from water. The construction of a wooden floor begins with the installation of joists.

Before making a wooden floor in a bathhouse, you need to purchase lumber.

You need to purchase it in such a way that there is a minimum amount of waste.

The length of the lumber should not differ from the finished workpiece, or be such that cutting can be carried out without much loss.

The maximum length for lumber is 6 m. Long transport is not required for their transportation. The selected type of board depends on how to paint the floor in the steam room and the rest of the bathhouse. If it is a covering paint, then you can take second grade boards. If it is a transparent varnish, then only the first one with a minimum number of defects.

For strip concrete, rubble foundations, as well as concrete foundation blocks, logs are used along the entire length of the bathhouse and a regular floorboard for the floor in the bathhouse (tongue and groove boards of the same thickness). The logs in the bathhouse are placed strictly horizontally. This is the main installation requirement. Here are some other general rules:

1. Logs can only be made from solid timber, joints are not allowed;
2. For all lags, timber or board of the same section is used;
3. The logs are made from coniferous species: pine, larch;
4. Treatment with an antiseptic is mandatory;
5. Waterproofing the ends from the foundation is also required.

Do-it-yourself logs in the bathhouse are installed in pre-prepared places on the foundation. In this case, a standard set of carpentry tools is used, which are now almost all made electric.

The use of power tools greatly increases work productivity. The timber for the logs is cut to the required length and immediately installed in place. Places for logs are prepared in the foundation in advance.

Typically, logs are simply placed on concrete through a layer of waterproofing. Their ends are simply wrapped in roofing felt and placed in sockets in concrete.

Screw pile foundations are now becoming widespread. On them, the cross-section of the lag can be much smaller. The span length there usually does not exceed 1 meter. The logs are installed directly on the metal frame of the pile foundation.

Metal is not a conductor of moisture from the soil, so waterproofing is not required. The logs are placed directly on the frame protected by an anti-corrosion coating. In some cases, corrosion due to damp wood may occur. Then it is possible to provide in advance a simple waterproofing in the form of a bitumen coating.

Information. There are two sources of moisture in the bath. This is water seepage from the floor surface and moisture seepage from the foundation. Waterproofing must take both of these points into account.

Construction technology

Preparation

If you decide to install a bathhouse on sandy soil, you must first make a drainage hole under the sink to drain the water. Subsequently, it will be imperceptibly absorbed into it.

The photo shows a concrete floor for a bathhouse, how to make it on clay soils

On clay soil, you need to dig a small pit from which to tap the pipeline. Its main function is to drain dirty water into a cesspool.

It is recommended to cover the walls of the pit with tiles or concrete to a height of 50 mm. Don't forget to put a metal grate on top of it.

Making a base for the floor

Below are detailed instructions for the process:

1. Compact the soil and make a slight slope towards the hole. Place a layer of crushed stone 150 mm high on it.

What layers are concrete floors in a bathhouse made of?

1. Place a ball of clay around the perimeter and compact the entire surface again.
2. Make a double layer of concrete, then there will be no cold coming from the floor in the washing room and steam room. The first layer should be no more than 50 mm high. Where the concrete meets the walls, fill the seams with bitumen, this way you will avoid water leaks.

Laying a layer of clay

1. Lay down a layer of insulation after the first layer has hardened (you can use regular felt or mineral wool, its price is quite reasonable). Wrap it in roofing material so that the material does not get wet.

Installing a concrete floor in a bathhouse - laying waterproofing

1. Pour the second layer, while the concrete must be reinforced, for example, with a chain-link mesh, and compact it. Apply cement mortar to the surface and then level it thoroughly.

Preparing the solution

In this case, it is best to use expanded sand, which gives strength to the concrete surface. In addition, perlite has good thermal insulation properties, so it is well suited for this type of floor.

Impregnations

The most affordable and simple solution is impregnation. They differ from paints in the absence of pigments. However, the color of the floor impregnated with a protective composition changes noticeably: the surface looks darker and resembles moistened concrete.

What exactly does impregnation do:

Hydrophobizes the surface, creates a barrier between the floor and any liquids;

Let's take a look at several options for concrete impregnation.

Acrylic penetrating primer

The well-known strengthening primer Ceresit CT 17 will serve as an example for us. Here is how its manufacturer characterizes it:

• The composition reduces moisture absorption;
• It can be used both indoors and outdoors;
• Priming increases the adhesion of any final coatings to the concrete base.

Primer from Ceresit.

The characteristics of the CT17 that are worth mentioning are few:

Preparing concrete for impregnation.

Acrylic primer is applied with a wide brush, roller or spray on a surface that has been previously cleaned of dust, fuels and other contaminants. Oil and diesel stains are removed with gasoline, solvent or xylene. Drying the impregnation takes up to 6 hours.

Sodium and potassium liquid glass

Impregnation with liquid glass:

• Manifoldly increases the resistance of concrete to acids;
• Reduces water absorption by forming a hydrophobic film 1 – 2 mm thick;

Liquid glass makes the floor hydrophobic.

Preparing the base for impregnation with liquid glass is carried out in exactly the same way as when applying a primer. Before use, the impregnation is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:3, which, in fact, explains such a low consumption of material.

Drying oil

For our purposes, all types of drying oil are suitable - natural, oxol, synthetic and combined. When applied hot, the impregnation depth reaches 5 mm. Drying oil ensures the absence of dust and waterproofing of the floor for 8 – 10 years.

The consumption of drying oil on concrete can reach 300 – 400 g/m2. It is applied to a dust-free and grease-free base after heating in a water bath.

The wholesale price of a kilogram of natural drying oil produced in accordance with GOST 7931-76 starts from 45 rubles.

Natural drying oil based on linseed oil.

Epoxy impregnation

It is usually a two-component water-based composition. The impregnation itself is mixed with the hardener immediately before use and consumed within 1 – 2 hours.

An example of this class of impregnation is Epoxol, produced by the Moscow company KrasKo.

Impregnation Epoxol.

Here's how the manufacturer describes it:

• The composition increases the strength of the base by 2-3 times and completely eliminates the formation of surface cracks;
• Impregnation eliminates the aggressive effects of salts, acids, solvents and fuels and lubricants;
• Epoxol can be applied to wet concrete;
• It is odorless because it does not contain organic solvents;
• Can be used either independently or as a primer for self-leveling epoxy floors;
• Epoxol consumption is 80 - 100 g/m2 (before preparation it is diluted with water at the rate of 1 kg of resin with hardener per 8 - 10 liters of water, the finished mixture is consumed in an amount of 600 - 800 g/m2);
• The temperature of the base and air should not be lower than +8C.

The cost of a kilogram of Epoxol is 389 rubles.

How to properly prepare this impregnation?

The procedure for preparing the impregnation.