2021 ᐈ

Almost everyone loves the sauna - with its powerful heat that forces the body to work harder, the tart pine or birch smell, and the amazing healing effect.

The relaxation that comes after visiting her can be compared to a good rest. Unfortunately, in the metropolis there are very few opportunities to visit a bathhouse or sauna - both the lack of free time and the long distances to the nearest public institution interfere.

Let's try to figure out whether such an option as a sauna at home in the bathroom is possible, what legal documents are required and whether it is possible to make a home steam room with your own hands.

Styles and directions

If previously a bathhouse was considered strictly a place for hygiene procedures and little thought was given to its interior, now the issue of design is relevant. After all, the sauna has become a place for rest and relaxation. Therefore, it is important to think through the style of each room.

The steam room is quite limited in the number of design ideas. But there are some great options.

Maximum simplicity. Bright accents can worsen the situation. Under the influence of high temperature, the body experiences stress, and a flashy interior will only increase it. Therefore, the design should set the mood for relaxation and relieve fatigue;

If you want to get a positive charge when placing a steam room, it is recommended to add bright colors, but in moderation.

It is better to focus on originality. It’s enough to play with lighting, add details and materials of different textures and colors.

In addition to the steam room, you should consider the design of the relaxation room. There are many more options and you can realize the most attractive style. It is only recommended to organize everything so that the design of both rooms is combined.

Preferred design ideas:

Classic

Use natural materials, mainly wood. The palette is calm, without bright elements. The design is restrained, simple, but chic.

Modern

Place upholstered furniture such as a few armchairs and a sofa. Place a glass table opposite. You can hang a TV on the wall. Use more metal, mirror surfaces.

Eclecticism

You can mix several different styles. Decorative elements are suitable as an accent.

Country

Rustic style in a rough style. Use massive furniture and wide floorboards. Complete the room with appropriate decorative elements.

Ethno

It is recommended to choose a specific country and create a design that fully reflects it.

Peculiarities

Visiting the sauna has a beneficial effect on the entire body. Now it has become possible to visit the steam room without leaving home.

You can equip a sauna right in your apartment, if, of course, the free space allows this.

The installation of such structures in the residential premises of an apartment building is not prohibited by any regulations and is completely legal. However, the installation of a sauna must be coordinated with a number of government agencies.

In large rooms you can equip a sauna with a total capacity of two people. In small rooms it is possible to install only small-sized structures for one person.

A steam room in a residential area, no matter what its dimensions, is a sealed glazed installation resembling a cabin in shape. Seating must be provided in the sauna. If the structure is large, then shelves are installed in it.

The installation operates on electricity. The air temperature can be adjusted by raising it to the desired degree and stopping heating.

The benefits of taking water treatments in a home cabin are no less than the benefits of visiting a regular sauna.

Advantages and disadvantages

Home saunas are becoming increasingly popular due to a number of significant advantages.

Let's consider the main advantages of such structures:

For sauna lovers, installing a similar design in an apartment will save time and money on visiting public steam rooms.
Most models of heating equipment for home steam rooms have a remote control. Using the remote control, you can regulate the heating speed and temperature in the steam room.
An infrared steam room does not require large amounts of electrical energy to operate.
Regular visits to the steam room have a beneficial effect on the body. The only exceptions are those cases when, for health reasons, a person is contraindicated from visiting the sauna.

Home saunas also have certain disadvantages. Let us highlight the disadvantages of such structures:

Good quality models are quite expensive, and making a sauna yourself is not always possible.
Not all apartments can accommodate a steam room. The decisive factor in this case is the area of the room.
Not all people can visit the sauna. Serious diseases associated with the cardiovascular system or oncology are grounds for complete refusal of water procedures in the steam room.

Projects

The design of a home sauna primarily depends on the free space in the room. Now you can purchase ready-made structures of various shapes and sizes, or you can make a cabin yourself. As for the placement of the sauna, cabins are most often installed in bathrooms.

However, placement options such as a balcony or even a storage room are also acceptable.

In a three-room apartment, you can equip a separate room as a steam room. As for private houses, it is much easier to find a place to place a steam room.

Basement or attic spaces may be involved here.

The placement of a sauna in a room largely depends on the layout of the room. Among the ready-made structures you can find both corner and wall-mounted cabins. In certain cases, it will be more advisable to make a steam room yourself.

According to the regulatory documents that regulate the design of these structures, the area of the sauna should not exceed 24 m². The minimum area of the steam room is 1 m3?. The optimal cabin height is two meters. The only exceptions may be mini-barrels.

When installing a home sauna that is equipped with a steam generator or an electric stove, you must remember about ventilation. Such structures are not installed close to the wall, but with a gap of at least 20 millimeters.

In addition to ventilation, it is important to take care of high-quality thermal insulation and electrical wiring. Mineral wool is most often used as insulation. High-quality thermal insulation material will save electricity for heating the sauna and will allow you to keep the cabin warm for a long time.

A separate cable coated with a thermal protective layer must be used for electrical wiring. The cord is pulled along the floor in the steam room and led out to the electrical panel.

Selecting a location

A home portable or folding cabin can be placed in any suitable room in a house or apartment. The bathroom is most convenient for this, because it already has hydro- and vapor barrier layers and a waterproof finish. All necessary communications have already been installed in the bathroom; there is no need for redevelopment or approval.

An empty pantry or a section of a spacious hallway connecting the bathroom to the kitchen can also be used to install a compact cabin. In this case, redevelopment is necessary, perhaps more efficient use of the usable space of the apartment. The cabin should be located at a distance from external walls, as they can become covered with moisture and mold.

In private homes, a bathhouse is often installed on the ground floor or in the basement, next to a mini-gym or shower. A bathhouse in the attic is also an excellent solution. This is a comfortable relaxation area. A thoughtful solution is to include a drawing of the sauna in the overall design of the house during the construction stage.

Materials

Home saunas are most often made of wood. To ensure reliable sealing of the cabin, glass is used to produce cabin doors. Shower cabins with steam room function are made from high-strength plastic and glass.

Barrel-shaped structures are mainly made from cedar.

You can easily make a home steam room with your own hands. An important step in the manufacture of a sauna is the correct selection of materials. For finishing the floor, tiles are perfect, which are laid on a pre-equipped infrared warm coating.

Wooden floors are not recommended.

The frame, sheathing, external and internal cladding, as well as shelves must be made of high-quality wood. Don't forget about vapor barrier. You can use special parchment as a vapor barrier layer.

Mineral wool is well suited for thermal insulation of the walls of the structure.

As for wood, the material must be treated with a special antiseptic and fire-resistant compound. Not all tree species are suitable for making a sauna. The most suitable option is linden, valuable African wood species abash and aspen.

Each type of wood that can be used to make a home sauna has its own characteristics:

Abash is practically non-heat-conducting wood, which is why it is so often used for finishing baths and saunas. The material has high strength, which indicates resistance to mechanical stress and deformation. The surface of the wood is smooth and does not emit any resins.
Aspen is highly resistant to rotting. Resinous discharge does not form on the surface of the material.
Linden retains heat well, so it is ideal for interior decoration of a sauna. The surface of such wood is quite smooth, with no knots.

Canadian hemlock (hemlock) has a long service life and beautiful natural texture. This wood contains no resins.
Canadian red cedar is distinguished by a large number of natural shades from light to dark tones. The material is practically non-flammable, resistant to temperature changes and moisture.
Black alder (sticky) practically does not absorb water and can withstand very high temperatures. The material is resistant to deformation and has a low level of thermal conductivity.

Main types of baths and saunas in an apartment

A properly equipped steam room in a modern apartment can be of any type. This is a Russian or Turkish bath, an electric or infrared structure, a miniature structure or an entire room.

Infrared

In a city apartment, an infrared sauna is also convenient - it deeply warms all body tissues. Some believe that the device causes harm due to its radiation, but an infrared sauna is easier to tolerate for people with heart problems, since it is impossible to overheat in it.

You should not use cosmetics inside the structure, as burns are possible.

Mini

The smallest option is a phyto-barrel. This is a heated structure with a bench inside that can accommodate one person, whose body, with the exception of the head, fits completely into the keg. The device operates from a regular outlet.

There are also ordinary small structures that occupy less than one square meter. m. area of the room. They are easy to integrate into any niche.

Turkish

A Turkish-type steam room is installed in rooms with a height of at least three meters, equipped with ventilation, sewerage, and vapor barrier. There is high humidity, relatively low temperature, and a mild microclimate. This is a suitable place for a variety of beauty treatments.

Finnish

Such a structure is suitable only for very spacious apartments, where you can allocate an entire room for a sauna. The structure generates dry air, so it is easy to stay in it for a long time; there is practically no steam. Manufacturing the structure is labor-intensive, installation is complicated.

Russian

A steam or Russian bath requires medium temperature combined with high humidity. Warming up of the body occurs especially actively here, due to the formation of a thin film of water on the skin.

The structure is heated with a metal or brick stove, preferably closed. Additional installation of a steam generator is allowed.

Electric

The electric sauna installed in the apartment is heated using an electric stove-heater. The structure has a beautiful appearance, it is fireproof, since there is no need to buy special fuel.

The main disadvantage is that energy costs will increase significantly.

Which sauna or bathhouse is better to choose for an apartment?

At home, the design of the steam room is selected based on the available area and the possibility of connecting communications. Electric and infrared saunas are the most convenient, since they do not require fuel in the form of firewood or other similar material. The frame itself can be built into any niche or assembled separately.

The second option is preferable, since if you move, it’s easy to take the “bathhouse” with you to your new place of residence.

To decide which sauna to place and where, they make a detailed drawing with dimensions and several location options.

Coordination

Having decided to build a real steam room at home, you need to be prepared for claims from some authorities. Therefore, before you start equipping a home sauna, obtain the consent of these organizations. The exact list of authorities that you will need to contact to obtain a permit depends on your place of residence, since even within the same country the requirements may vary.

If you are in Russia, then most likely you will need consent:

State Fire Service;
State Housing Inspectorate;
Homeowners' Associations;
Sanitary and Epidemiological Service;
Rospotrebnadzor;
State construction supervision inspections.

Collecting all the documents will take you a lot of time and some money, but you will probably get permission.

Which room is better to place it in?

A sauna or bathhouse in an apartment is most conveniently located in the bathroom and adjacent rooms. Then, immediately after the steam room, you can plunge into cool water, and not run to the other end of the apartment. In case of redevelopment, the toilet is combined with a bathroom, and a sauna is created in the vacated room.

A small sauna is set up on a loggia, a spacious kitchen, or in a storage room; it is only important to think through the ventilation and lighting system.

When the apartment is on the ground floor, it is allowed to create an extension and arrange a steam room in it.

Ventilation

Any sauna must be ventilated for the comfort of visitors and to comply with sanitary standards. To prevent mold from forming and wood from rotting, the ventilation system requires openings for air inlet and outlet and air outlet. either natural or forced using fans that can withstand temperatures up to 130o C.

The hole for air flow in apartment saunas is located directly under the stove or at the bottom of the door. An exhaust hood for removing moist and heated air is supposed to be on the opposite side of the room heater. The hole is covered with movable wooden disks, which can, at the request of the steamers, block the air duct to quickly increase the temperature in the steam room. You need to check the functionality of the existing ventilation ducts in the apartment before installing the sauna device.

It is also necessary to first think over and purchase a door, the leaf of which should fit tightly to the frame, not create drafts and not cause attacks of claustrophobia in cabin users. It can be either made of tempered glass, covered with a heat-resistant seal, or made of wood with a glass insert. The edges of the jamb of such doors should be three-stage for good sealing of the cabin.

Interior design options for a room with a sauna, bathhouse

Even the smallest sauna in an apartment is decorated according to all the rules. It is sheathed with heat-treated wood, preferably aspen or linden. Finishing begins from the ceiling, then the walls are finished. A wooden grate must be placed on the floor to prevent your feet from getting hot.

Less often, floors and walls are decorated with ceramic tiles, which greatly simplifies cleaning. Doors are made of wood, with tinted or frosted glass.

If the apartment is large and the ceiling height allows, a pool with a depth of one meter and a width and length of two meters is made in the room next to the steam room. Both rooms are separated by glass doors. Lighting is done only on the ceiling itself - lamps and LED strips located along the perimeter of the floor, under the benches, are acceptable options.

One of the walls is decorated with mosaics or natural stone, if this does not violate the overall style of the bathroom.

Construction stages

To understand what you will have to face if you plan to make a sauna with your own hands, you need to familiarize yourself with the construction plan step by step.

Frame installation

It all starts with the installation of a vertical frame. If the size of the room allows, first the frame planes are mounted on the floor. And only then are they fixed vertically. Dimensions are selected individually, but usually the ceiling is not raised higher than 2.2 m. The lower beam of the trim is placed not on the floor, but higher, and for this purpose an aluminum profile is used. The step between the frame elements will be equal to the dimensions of the insulation (minus 1 cm).

A double frame can be made near the main walls of the room, which will create a ventilation gap that ensures the safety of the building. This can be built correctly like this: first, a beam is attached vertically to the wall, and membrane insulation is sewn onto it. When assembling the frame, you need to remember about the electrical wiring and markings for ventilation holes.

Insulation against steam and water

In the step-by-step instructions, this step comes second. The main requirement for insulation is that it must be rigid, for example, basalt wool will do.

An even (this is very important!) layer of insulation fills the space between the panels. Then it is covered with a special foil film or aluminum foil

But suspiciously cheap materials should be discarded, since when heated they can release toxic elements.

Insulation is also laid on the ceiling. Depending on its thickness and characteristics, the required number of layers is selected. Less than two are usually not used. In corners, vapor barriers are laid especially carefully. If the wall cladding goes up, a reserve of 10-15 cm of insulation is made, and it is adjusted during subsequent finishing. The door frame and corner elements are sheathed with boards and platbands.

The insulating material is fixed to the beam with slats, which will provide an air gap between the lining and the foil. On the ceiling, the insulation is mounted with ordinary metal tape, which is used to lay roofing material. The joints are glued with special tape for gluing foil insulation.

Interior and exterior decoration

The walls and ceiling are covered with clapboard. The size of the tongue is 1 cm, this eliminates natural shrinkage during the operation of the sauna. The ceiling is hemmed with either clapboard or planed boards. The thickness of the planed board is 20 mm. When covering the board, it is necessary to adjust it with special care. The boards are attached only horizontally, to each beam - with at least two hardware.

Installation of heating equipment

Electric furnaces today are as compact as possible; it is very important to choose the right heating equipment in terms of power. For 1 meter of cubic area, 1 kW of power is required, t

That is, it will not be difficult to calculate the current need. If the stove is less powerful than the size of the sauna requires, then the steam room will take too long to warm up.

There are options for heating saunas using gas, but they have their own pros and cons; this option cannot be called particularly popular today. With the purchase of an electric stove, everything will be simpler and safer, and installing it in a sauna (even a built-in one) is not difficult. The guideline is competent power calculations.

Tips and recommendations for decorating the interior of an apartment with a bathhouse, sauna

The bathhouse designs in the apartment in the photo look very different. Design and renovation specialists give the following recommendations for their design:

the lighting is not bright, but diffused, which ensures better relaxation;
It is not advisable to make the shelves themselves from coniferous wood;
It is not advisable to coat wooden structures inside the steam room with varnish, but only with anti-rot compounds;
an additional therapeutic effect is achieved by decorating the bathhouse floors or its fragments with large pebbles;
glass doors are the optimal solution for those who feel uncomfortable in an overly cramped enclosed space.

Design

Most types of home saunas are made from high quality wood. Wood has a beautiful natural structure that does not need to be hidden under paint and varnish coatings. Wooden structures look aesthetically pleasing and fit perfectly into any interior design.

The modern building materials market offers a wide range of paints and varnishes for treating wooden surfaces.

If desired, you can paint the sauna in any shade. Interior finishing must be done with materials from deciduous trees. It will be enough to treat the finishing materials inside the structure with a special protective composition against mold, which also emphasizes the natural texture of the wood.

Floors in the sauna can be tiled. Such a coating will not only be visually attractive, but also reliable. Despite the fact that home steam rooms are small in size, it is not forbidden to decorate the cabin with decorative elements.

Inside the steam room you can arrange a beautiful composition from small wooden buckets, sauna hats, tubs and other items.

Sometimes steam rooms are installed in very small bathrooms. To make the design look less cumbersome in a small room and not visually make the room smaller, it is better to make the doors in the sauna out of glass.

It is also possible to make one of the walls glass.

If, instead of a ready-made sauna, you plan to make the structure yourself, you can implement any design ideas. It is allowed to combine different types of trees in the manufacture of the external frame, as well as for interior decoration.

Also at the design stage, you can think about the type of artificial lighting and select suitable lighting fixtures.

Specifics of the device, oven power

If you decide to set up a traditional sauna with a heater, then you will need to provide several important points:

1. Calculate electricity consumption and ensure a safe connection. The correct calculation provides that for 1 cubic meter. The internal space of the mini sauna must be allocated 1 kW of electricity. Based on the same calculation, select an electric heater.

For the most common dimensions of apartment mini-saunas, this is a 4.5 kW stove. To connect it, you will need to lay a separate two-core twisted copper wire from the shield with a cross-section of each core of at least 4 mm. Place the control unit outside.

2. It is better to make the floor from tiles with a wooden ladder. If it is possible to install a sewer drain, that will be good.

3. The best covering for walls is non-coniferous wood, which does not release resins when heated. If you do not take into account the species that are exotic for Russia, then this is alder or linden.

4. Use stones - diabase. Others, in a heated state, may crack when splashed with water.

5. Provide for the possibility of connecting exhaust ventilation.

6. For the door, the best option would be tempered glass 8 - 10 mm.

7. For lighting, use only moisture- and heat-proof lamps, and it is better to use low-voltage devices with transformers 12 - 36 V.

If the electrical connection of your apartment does not allow you to safely power an electric furnace of such power, abandon this type of mini sauna in favor of an infrared one. In a steam room of the same area, you will only need to install low-temperature IR films with a total power of 1 - 2 kW in order to get the same effect at a temperature of 42 - 45 ° C with no less, or even greater, health component.

For even more critical cases, there are mini-saunas called phytobarrels. Making one yourself is not at all difficult. For their manufacture, cedar wood is used, although you can use the wood already listed, and their heater is an external steam generator.

We are also obliged to familiarize you with the legal aspects of installing a mini sauna in your apartment, which are described in detail in the video.

Reviews

At first glance, it seems that taking water procedures in a home steam room and visiting a real sauna have completely different effects. However, reviews from home sauna owners tell a completely different story.

Buyers, as well as manufacturers of their own designs, note the following:

A visit to a home steam room allows you to quickly relieve stress and physical tension, and also improves your overall well-being.
Ease of use. Most types of heating devices can be controlled using a remote control.
If the room area is large, you can even install a double structure.
Some companies make home steam rooms to order. This way you can purchase the most suitable design for the layout of the room.

Buyers of ready-made saunas warn of a high probability of purchasing a low-quality product. You shouldn’t skimp on buying a steam room and buy cheap Chinese-made goods.

Poor quality designs do not meet the stated characteristics and can fail very quickly.

Tips and tricks

Home saunas are easy to use. However, before using the steam room for the first time, you must perform a number of important steps:

The cabin needs to be warmed up well. There is no need to do this at maximum temperatures, it is best to set it to the average value. When warming up the sauna for the first time, the doors must be open.
After warming up the cabin with the door open for about an hour, close the door tightly without changing the temperature in the steam room.
After an hour, the temperature in the steam room is increased by 1.5 times. After another hour, warming up can be completed.
It is advisable to repeat this procedure for several days in a row. In this case, the temperature must be increased each time. On about the fourth day, you can warm up the cabin at maximum temperature.
If after all the manipulations there are no malfunctions in the operation of the sauna, then you can safely operate the structure.

In order for the sauna to serve for many years, the structure needs proper care. If the steam room is made of wood, it is especially important to dry the cabin thoroughly after each use of water procedures.

It is necessary to remove excess moisture from the surface of the walls, floor and shelves with a dry cloth and leave the door to the steam room open for some time for ventilation purposes.

Frame installation

All structural elements are connected without the help of glue. It is most convenient to use wooden panels equipped with special grooves and tenons, making assembly quick and easy.

Sequencing:

the frame is erected from ordinary timber, which is firmly pressed against the wall;
the strapping is done at five levels with lines drawn on the foil with chalk - they are drawn at 3 cm, 60 cm and 1 meter from the floor, an indent of 5 cm is made from the ceiling, another marking runs between it and the third line;
fastening is carried out through holes drilled through the insulating material, the pitch is about 50-70 cm;
Next, prepare the shields by sanding them with large and fine abrasive paper;

the shields are mounted on three sides of the frame structure, with rubber gaskets placed between them;
the connection of vertical posts is made using angles with constant level measurement;
then the face shield is installed, the ceiling is fixed;
After wiring for lighting the steam room, the gaps between the racks and walls are closed with profiled strips.

The door frame is secured with screws - it is better to temporarily remove it to the side and hang it after further work.

The upper ceiling ends are connected by boards laid with the flat wide side and parallel to each other and the sides of the steam room. You immediately need to take care of the hood and the air duct system - for this, two frames are made of timber.

The benches are fixed according to the factory instructions. The door must be made of thick fire-resistant glass; locks are not provided for it.

Beautiful examples

Small steam rooms are perfect for small bathrooms. The glass walls of the sauna make the structure visually lighter.

The compact cabin, lined with wooden slats, fits perfectly into the stylish interior of the bathroom.

External lighting with spots and decorative cladding of the front wall makes the sauna even more original and attractive.

In spacious rooms you can install larger steam rooms with a lounger. Wooden structures look quite attractive without additional painting of external walls.

You can set up an apartment balcony for a sauna. To make a steam room, you don’t have to build a frame and make lathing - just trim the walls with wooden panels, cover the surfaces of the floor and ceiling and install a stove.

A home sauna can become not only a place for taking water procedures, but also an independent piece of room decor.

Ventilation system

Another feature of creating a sauna with your own hands in an apartment is the installation of ventilation. The humidity of heated air in a home sauna is relatively low, but without a good ventilation system, moisture will still penetrate into the apartment. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a system for prompt removal of excess moisture.

Of course, rare use of the sauna will not lead to mold growth, but the issue of ventilation should still be taken seriously. The ventilation ducts of the house must be in perfect order.