decorating a bathhouse with your own hands using a slab

The remains of the old bathhouse were revived on a budget and lined with slabs inside.

I already wrote that the previous bathhouse that stood on the site was dismantled by “good people” into timber, along with a large summer kitchen under one roof.
After this incident, we invest in the dacha “grindingly.” Although we are gradually getting used to it, there were no more cases of vandalism and theft. And so what we had:

This is one and a half walls left over from the previous construction on an old 3m*3m foundation. “We’re tired of being taken apart by the crooks,” we laughed. The logs were not bad yet, so it was decided to leave them.

We were very lucky in terms of savings with the foundation for the stove, many of course put it directly on the floor, but with a foundation it’s somehow more reliable, making a new one is quite expensive, but here it’s ready, meter by meter, for a potbelly stove even

There is a reliable foundation, so for greater safety, the walls behind the stove were laid with small brickwork, “secured” to the wall with 200 nails, driving them into the wall between the bricks every couple of rows.

A potbelly stove was purchased, a place for the stove was designated, so when installing the ceiling, an outlet for the pipe was immediately made

Metal 3mm 80*80cm, we made a hole in advance and screwed it to the ceiling from above. 2 rows of bricks were laid around the perimeter of the square of metal, an asbestos cord was wound around the pipe, and the void around the pipe was filled with sand. Although the brick heats up, it is not hot and cannot cause a fire. Next, the ceiling was covered with isospan and covered with a layer of sawdust.

The floor was made without cracks, but with a slight slope so that water could escape.

All the wood in the bathhouse is burned with a burner, and covered with a suitable antiseptic, and on top with matte varnish for baths and saunas (not counting the shelves).

When the walls, floor and ceiling were ready. They made a partition and divided it into a bathhouse and a locker room. The wall was also filled with sawdust, using the same technology as the street one, only on the side of the bathhouse they used not a slab, but an edged board

Then they put a strip on the crack and did not do anything else with this wall. By the way, we painted the stove here in vain, with super-duper paint that supposedly holds up to red metal))) we paid a thousand for a small jar, but “without a sucker, life is bad”))) But the brick behind the stove, which is quite hot, was painted with ordinary cheap paint spray can in gold color and has been standing beautifully for a year now.

It was decided to cover our terrible walls in the bathhouse itself with slabs. Of course, you can call it not an edged board (with which it would have turned out absolutely gorgeous by the way), but we took exactly the slab at 2000 per cubic meter, so to speak, this is not a substandard edged board, where else “you can choose.” The cube was enough for us with a surplus, 2000 seemed like a fairy tale to us compared to the 15,000 that we would have given here for the cheapest lining, and we wouldn’t have dared to cover the old walls with expensive material!)))

The technology “how to cover walls with wood beautifully” was invented on the fly, but somewhere they made mistakes. First, they nailed this kind of sheathing to all the walls (the boards were just trimmed):

For these empty spaces, boards of suitable width have been prepared in advance. We will process them and nail them overlapping on top with slate nails (I really liked the big head). The “lower” boards in the photo above were painted with water-based stain (the kind that is odorless and dries quickly) in “oak” color, and left the upper boards white, i.e. just burn it, I naively believed that contrasting colors would look cool, but alas, after a couple of months, both the boards treated with stain and those not treated began to look the same.

Here the walls are already ready. The frame for the shelves was nailed to the walls BEFORE installing the “upper” wall boards, this is more reliable.

When the frame for the shelves was ready, we coated everything with varnish and left it to dry for a couple of days. We made the shelves ourselves from 4cm boards, trimmed them and my husband spent a long, long time sanding them with sandpaper. then with sanding sponges by hand. It turned out great, they sparkled better than store bought ones! I am amazed at his patience!))) The sanded boards were soaked on all sides with special oil, and “fried” them in a bathhouse, after which they were screwed from below to the frame.

And next to it is a “horse” made of driftwood))) they brought it from Lake Teletskoye, did not saw anything, covered it with varnish and nailed it in its original form, we hang a washcloth on it:

The bath door also had handles on both sides made of driftwood, a strong and reliable thing, and no “dancing with a tambourine,” I advise

Pouring premises from sawdust concrete. Nuances

1 foundation.

It must be monolithic, tape. No separate pedestals and piles, as some do for wooden houses. A structure made of sawdust concrete requires a strong strip foundation with a good reinforcement frame. The foundation for such buildings does not have to be large. A sufficient height of 50-70 cm and a width of 35-50 cm. The main thing is not volume, but the right technology. A well-made cushion of sand and crushed stone, a strong reinforcement frame, and good waterproofing.

For waterproofing, it is better to immediately buy plastic film. And lay out a trench for it under the foundation, before pouring. This film, firstly, protects well from moisture, and secondly, it ensures concrete-ground sliding. It would also be good to buy 3-5cm polystyrene foam. and place the sheets between the film and the outer wall of the trench under the foundation. the foam is cut into pieces ranging in size from the bottom of the trench to the top level of the ground approximately. Insulating the foundation in this way is a huge plus.

Well, then we mix the solution with crushed stone so that it is not liquid but like dough (since excess liquid makes the solution weak.) If you have M400 cement, then mix ONE to TWO (one part of cement to two parts of sand) and crushed stone until it is filled. Many may start arguing - they say one to two is too much, extra expenses. They say you need one in three, etc., etc. To which I will answer - based on my experience, I realized that good cement was only available during the union. And now he's shit. And only the one to two proportion of M400 makes the foundation really strong. Well, or as an alternative - Order a mixer. The cement mortar is usually good there.

2 Waterproofing sawdust concrete walls.

Waterproofing sawdust concrete is a very important component of construction. Because this material does not like moisture. He doesn’t like him very much - this is practically one of his main disadvantages.

This is how I understand sawdust concrete waterproofing technology.

It should be double. We fill the foundation and coat the top with bitumen. liquid to soak in. Better yet, use special primers and then coat them thickly with bitumen. Lay roofing material on the bitumen, at least two layers, coating each layer with bitumen. Nuances: You can take the cheapest bitumen, in a bag. You cannot melt it in a container, for example, in an old bucket (it’s easier to throw the bucket away than to clean it) over an open fire. Needed by email. tiles When the bitumen melts, you need to slowly add waste oil to it and stir. And when you boil the bitumen with oil, it is ready for use, since it will no longer harden. For us this is the very thing. (I also make a composition for filling the bottom of car interiors when I do anticorrosive and noise-resistant materials) We also take the cheapest roofing material, because it is not the price that is important, but the right technology. The first layer of waterproofing is ready. After this, we begin to fill the walls, fill the first 20-30 cm (up to 50) without sawdust, 1x3 or 1x4, that is, four buckets of sand per bucket of cement. This will be a type of base. After filling the base, we waterproof it again, and also coat it well with roofing material in one or two layers. And after that we proceed to the main pouring of sawdust concrete walls.

Decorating the inside of the bath with your own hands

After building the bathhouse and installing the stove, it’s time to finish the interior. Typically, decorating the inside of a bathhouse with your own hands begins with insulating the walls (or caulking and sealing cracks in the case of a log house). Then the walls are covered, wooden shelves, hangers and other accessories are installed, and the necessary equipment is installed. Now let’s look in more detail at how to do the interior finishing of a bathhouse with your own hands step by step.

Conclusions and recommendations

If we talk about the construction of bathhouses or other structures, then when purchasing you need to look only at high-quality ready-made blocks. This will ensure the durability of the building, as well as minimal operating costs. In addition, you need to look at the integrity of such blocks and take them from the same batch. A separate point is that it is necessary to correctly calculate the number of blocks for construction before purchasing. In addition, you should make a reserve that will allow you to avoid purchasing additional material in the future. Before use, you should carefully study all the characteristics, and only after that buy sawdust concrete.

In any case, now new materials are replacing familiar and traditional ones, so it’s worth paying attention to them. And sawdust concrete is a worthy replacement for many other components

When purchasing, take into account all the nuances, and only after that make the final choice in favor of the purchase.

Insulation of bath walls from the inside

If your bathhouse is built from untreated hand-cut logs, then you need to carefully caulk the cracks and treat all joints with sealant. A building made of timber or rounded logs is insulated according to a different scheme (photo):

1. Insulation of walls begins with covering them with sheathing. 2. Then insulation is laid between the sheathing beams. 3. A vapor barrier material (ordinary oilcloth or foil waterproofing) must be laid on top of the insulation. 4. At the end, this entire structure is covered with clapboard (wooden only) or natural wooden boards.

Production of sawdust concrete

As has been noted more than once in the article, the material is easy to produce. Most of the tools you will need to make blocks from shavings and cement are inexpensive, and some can even be made yourself. But first, it’s worth talking about the solution.

We suggest you familiarize yourself with Where to get stones for a bath

Composition of sawdust concrete

To make a building mixture you need: cement, sand, lime and organic filler in the form of sawdust. To obtain 1 m3 of finished material, the proportions of sawdust concrete will be as follows, depending on the required grade:

• Thermal insulation material with strength grade M5: 50 kg of cement grade M400, 50 kg of sand, 200 kg of slaked lime, 200 kg of sawdust. The finished product will have a density of about 500 kg/m3;
• Grade M10, suitable for enclosing and load-bearing walls of ancillary buildings: 100 kg of M400 grade cement, 200 kg of sand, 150 kg of slaked lime, 200 kg of sawdust. The finished product will have a density of approximately 650 kg/m3;
• for the more durable M15, used as M10, but also suitable for the construction of one-story residential buildings: 150 kg of M400 cement, 350 kg of sand, 100 kg of slaked lime, 200 kg of sawdust. The finished product will have a density of about 800 kg/m3;
• Structural sawdust concrete with strength grade M25, suitable for the construction of load-bearing walls of residential buildings up to three floors high: 200 kg of M400 grade cement, 500 kg of sand, 50 kg of slaked lime, 200 kg of sawdust. The finished product will have a density of approximately 950 kg/m3.
• To accelerate the hardening of sawdust concrete, calcium nitrate, liquid glass or ammonium sulfate are mixed into the mixture. These additives have no other effect on sawdust blocks.

First, cement is diluted in water, then the required amount of sawdust, sand and lime is mixed into it. The sawdust in the container for preparing the solution is mixed with lime, then cement and sand are added to them, the resulting mixture is mixed with the required amount of water. Both sequences are used equally.

The resulting solution is placed in molds. They can be put together from boards or bought ready-made. Equipment for casting cinder blocks is optimally suited. Depending on the available tool, the method of manual or mechanical compaction of the composition in the mold is used. Sealing pins are often used to remove voids.

Insulation of bath walls: which material is better

Since ancient times, bathhouse insulation was carried out using natural materials: moss, flax or wool felt. Currently, the use of such technology is impractical and expensive. Cheaper and more convenient materials are available on sale. Most often, insulation is carried out using: - mineral wool; - peat slab; — chipboard; - reed slab; - foam plastic.

As you can see, insulation can be made from both organic and synthetic materials. When choosing insulation, you need to remember that there is high humidity in the bathhouse, and therefore there is a high probability of mold spreading. For this reason, organic materials are more often used to insulate rest rooms and dressing rooms. Synthetic materials are ideal for insulating the wash compartment and steam room.

d) Fire resistance (fire safety).

Arbolite does not support combustion. It would seem that it consists of 60% sawdust, which is a flammable material, but this material was made using a certain technology. Namely: the cement-sand wall reliably covers all wooden sawdust, in other words, each wood plate is hermetically packed in a cement shell.

As a result, when the material is heated, organic fibers self-extinguish. The fire resistance limit, at a temperature of 1100-1200 C, is more than two and a half hours, and the load-bearing capacity is maintained even after more than three hours of exposure to high temperature.

Wood concrete is significantly superior in fire resistance to the popular building material expanded polystyrene concrete, which meets fire resistance requirements. The expanded polystyrene concrete filler is foam balls. Cement-sand walls protect the foam from fire, but in case of prolonged temperature, what do you think will burn “better” - foam balls or sawdust?

Conclusion: although wood concrete contains a large amount of sawdust (about 60%) it is a non-combustible material, thanks to the production technology. The use of wood concrete is appropriate in the construction of any object. The fire resistance of wood concrete is higher than some modern building materials.

How is insulation done?

The frame or lathing on the walls can be made from ordinary beams. Their thickness should correspond to the thickness of the insulation you have chosen. The beams are nailed to the walls vertically and parallel to each other. The pitch should be approximately 60-80 cm. It is advisable to measure them with the dimensions of the insulation slabs, so that you do not have to cut it later and adjust it to fit the openings in the sheathing.

After this, the actual insulation is carried out: mineral wool slabs are laid in the openings between adjacent frame beams. They should fit tightly into each opening, not fall out, but also not swell. After this, the entire insulation must be covered with foil waterproofing (photo). Always overlap the film joints and secure them. Be sure to nail the foil layer to the sheathing beams with nails or staples. This will make it more convenient for you to cover the walls with clapboard.

Advantages and disadvantages of ceiling insulation with clay

Clay as a heat insulator for floors has become popular due to the following qualities:

• Low cost. The raw material has no competitors among analogues used for these purposes. You can always get it with minimal effort. In rural areas, the rock is often dug up and brought in independently.
• Clay is a fireproof material; it does not burn and does not contribute to the spread of fire. It can be safely laid near chimneys.
• Rodents and insects do not live in the thickness of the coating.
• The ceiling solution is prepared from a base and light fillers, which significantly reduces the load on the walls.
• There are no harmful impurities in its composition, so the ceiling is environmentally friendly.
• It’s easy to master insulation technology; you can do everything yourself.
• Clay and lumber interact well with each other. The wood remains in its original form for many years, and the insulating layer does not lose its qualities for a long time.
• If necessary, the already dried mixture removed for some reason can be reused, for which it is enough to wet it. This way, waste can be avoided after construction.
• After adding water, the rock becomes plastic and is able to fill any voids, which allows it to be applied to complex surfaces.
• Once the moisture evaporates, it becomes hard, so it is not necessary to install walk-on decking on the attic floor.

However, the material has practically been replaced by modern heat insulators. There are several reasons for this:

• This method of insulation is far from the most effective. In most cases, clay is used as an addition to the main heat insulator.
• To prepare the solution, it is necessary to carefully maintain the proportions, otherwise the insulating layer will crumble or simply not perform its functions.
• The finished batches are quite heavy, so the floors must be designed for heavy loads.

Do-it-yourself interior decoration of a bathhouse: lining or board?

What to choose - wooden lining or board - is not particularly important. Both materials are made from wood, are environmentally friendly and useful in a bathhouse. Lining is simpler in the sense that the slats fit quite tightly to each other.

On the one hand, this allows you to easily, quickly and beautifully cover all the walls in the bathhouse. On the other hand, the slats are attached so that there is normal ventilation in the room, so that the walls “breathe” and do not bloom. But with some skills in working with wood, a similar effect can be achieved by simply lining the inside of the bathhouse with boards.

It is better to choose coniferous wood (larch, pine). Suitable deciduous trees:

- birch; - Linden; - maple; - ash; - oak; - hornbeam

An interesting effect can be achieved by combining wood species of different shades (photo). The combination of dark and light wood will already be quite an effective and pleasant decorative technique. In addition, during heating, the bathhouse room will be fragrant with different aromas that this wood evaporates. Traditionally, coniferous trees are considered the most useful. Resins containing medicinal compounds are preserved in boards made from them.

What is sawdust concrete and is it worth making a bathhouse out of it?

In fact, sawdust concrete (aka wood concrete) is not a new material - it was invented during the Soviet Union, but has not yet been used very widely.

Essentially, this concrete consists of cement, sand, lime and sawdust. It comes in the form of ready-made blocks and in the form of a mixture.

Wood concrete structure

The more sawdust there is in the composition of such concrete, the better its thermal insulation qualities. However, if there is a lot of sawdust and little sand, then the overall strength of the material decreases - this should always be remembered.

This material is used for the following purposes:

for the construction of load-bearing walls and partitions in low-rise construction;

Wood concrete walls

• for the construction of fences and gazebos;
• for pouring concrete pillars;
• for insulation of foundations and floors.

As for the specific properties of sawdust concrete, there is definitely something to think about.

As you can see, there are many more advantages than disadvantages. So the conclusion here is very simple - it is quite possible to build small houses from the material. By the way, it is quite possible to build a bathhouse made of sawdust concrete with your own hands from such a mixture, it will be cheap, and the heat inside will be retained perfectly.

Construction of a bathhouse from sawdust concrete

What is wood concrete?

Sawdust concrete is a material that is made from cement, sand, water and sawdust in a certain proportion. It is made mainly at home, using it as a composition for monolithic construction, or individual blocks are poured.

Interior arrangement of the bathhouse

By tradition, all the interior fittings of the washroom, steam room and relaxation room are made of wood. You can also use natural stone, but only in some places (around the stove, in the rest room). Wooden boards are used to cover the floor, on which people often walk barefoot in the bathhouse. It is also necessary to fence off the stove using wooden slats and beams (photo).

All internal arrangement, placement of shelves and other details are carried out in accordance with the tastes and requests of future users. You can watch a video of how and what the shelves in the bathhouse are made of. It also gives the parameters of standard shelves for a steam room.

House made of monolithic sawdust concrete

It is worth noting that we will consider the shortest and simplest scheme of work, but it is not universal! In your specific situation, there may be a lot of nuances that will require you to do something completely differently than in the instructions published below.

Remember this.

We will not describe the structure of the foundation, because there are many types of this structure and which one you should use is a topic for a separate discussion.

Let's assume that in our case this is the most common option - a strip base and we will only analyze how to fill the walls with sawdust concrete.

Strip foundation

Let's begin.

Installation of formwork and installation of a frame made of reinforcement

Walls, in fact, are made very simply - exactly the same as from any other concrete.

A frame made of reinforcement is mounted, formwork panels are installed on both sides of it, and all free space is filled with concrete.

This is what the structure of wall formwork looks like

Everything is done approximately in this order (let’s look at the example of assembling one wall):

The reinforcement bars are cut to the required length. If metal has not been released vertically from the foundation in advance, then you need to drill holes in the concrete and hammer reinforcement bars into them vertically (to the height of the future wall). The distance between them should be approximately half a meter

If the foundation is very strong and you can’t make holes, then pay attention to such a service as diamond drilling of holes in concrete - in theory, you can drill everything using a professional tool. If the reinforcement is installed vertically, then you need to attach transverse horizontal rods to it. So that you get a kind of grid with a cell size of approximately 50 by 50 cm.

Vertically installed fittings

If everything is done, then you can begin assembling the formwork. This is done very simply.

On both sides of the previously installed vertical frame made of reinforcement, you need to install (on edge) wooden sheets, plywood, for example. To keep the formwork vertical and not fall, it is usually supported by triangular posts made of timber.

After this, they begin directly to concrete work.

Pouring sawdust concrete

This is exactly the simplest stage.

The mixture is prepared (or delivered on a mixer) and the entire mass is poured into the space between the sheets.

It is very important to prevent the formation of voids. Therefore, you need to try to compact the entire poured mixture very carefully - this can be done even with an ordinary hoe

In addition, if the pouring does not happen “at once,” then remember one rule: the “joining” of hardened concrete and fresh concrete cannot be done vertically. It is better to lay the mixture in horizontal rows - this will make the walls more durable.

In principle, if the walls are poured, then after the mortar has dried and the formwork has been removed, you can begin installing the roof. It is done in the same way as on any other house.

Monolithic walls

That's all. Let's summarize.

Bath accessories

It’s hard to imagine a comfortable bathhouse without accessories such as wooden buckets, tubs, bathing barrels, rests for your head while relaxing on shelves, hangers, etc. (photo). All this can be done with your own hands. Now the traditional Russian bathhouse is combined with elements of other cultural traditions.

For example, in the wash room they often place a Japanese ofuro barrel or a spacious tub with spring water for rinsing. After the steam room, it’s nice to plunge into a cool plunge pool or pour a bucket or two of cold water over yourself. This rejuvenates and strengthens the body.

The advantages of this method of insulation

At first glance this seems absurd. In modern conditions, there is an abundance of artificial materials and insulation for every taste and budget, to resort to ancient methods of insulating roofs and ceilings, to use old “old-fashioned” methods? However, not everything is so obvious, because everything new is often well forgotten old, and some technologies of the past remain relevant to this day, and the method of insulating the ceiling of a bathhouse with earth has not sunk into oblivion.

Regular exposure of the bathhouse ceiling to hot air and water vapor requires a special approach to the issue of its insulation, both from the inside and from the outside (attic).

All methods of thermal insulation of roofs and ceilings can be divided into:

1. By type of materials used:
   using natural materials;

hemmed (the ceiling is made from the inside, fastened to the floor beams);

For frequent use, other requirements for thermal insulation are met: the use of vapor barrier membranes, heat-reflecting foil, etc. These materials have their undeniable advantages: long service life, they are not subject to rotting, inedible for rodents, unsuitable for insects, quite light and durable, insulate from noise, easy and convenient to work with, increased fire resistance.

The most popular way to insulate the roof of a bathhouse was considered to be clay coating with the addition of sawdust. This mixture was used to cover the ceiling of the bathhouse from the attic side, and then additionally covered it with a layer of peat, sawdust, moss, tow, a mixture of these materials with sand, etc.

The advantages are the availability of materials, almost free of charge, environmental friendliness, etc.

1. There is an attic space.

In this case, the ceiling insulation consists of the standard technology described above using natural materials. The method is not expensive, but requires physical labor and time. The ceiling is made of boards at least 4 cm thick, with them attached to the floor beams or continuous flooring. The work is carried out from the outside, attic side!

The second stage is to seal the seams between the boards with thick clay without additives. When the seams are dry, the entire surface of the ceiling is covered with a mixture of clay and some other natural material - sawdust, for example. The layer must be at least 5 cm thick. After drying, a layer of earth of 10 centimeters or more is poured on top.

You may be surprised, but the method described above for insulating the ceiling of a bathhouse with earth can also be used... in the absence of a roof as such! A ceiling with a layer of earth will itself act as a roof, and moreover, in addition to its useful function, it will also perform a decorative function. We are talking about Scandinavian green roofs, on which strawberries are grown, grass and even small shrubs grow.

The main difference between such a “roofing cake” installed over a bathhouse will be the additional layers of waterproofing, because Precipitation passing through the ground should not be absorbed into the clay. Despite the fact that a layer of soil of 10 cm is enough to absorb rainfall, average rainfall does not always occur.

To create a grass-covered roof, waterproofing is laid over a layer of dried clay mixture. Then a layer of geotextile is desirable (previously tree bark and birch bark were used for these purposes), and at least 20 cm of soil is poured. Warmed from the inside and moistened by rain from the outside, the soil on the roof of your bathhouse will quickly be overgrown with grass or moss and will become a wonderful decoration for the site.

It is no coincidence that the use of clay is so popular. This method of insulation has a number of advantages compared to other methods:

• proven and reliable technology: it has been developed over the centuries, it has long proven its effectiveness;
• environmental friendliness: the material is completely safe for the health of people, animals, and the environment;
• this method of insulation does not significantly load the floors and foundation;
• all work can be done with your own hands, even without much experience in construction;
• the material does not attract rodents and insects;
• fire safety: clay does not burn, so it can be safely used for insulation near pipes, stoves and other heating devices;
• cheap: you can even dig up the clay yourself, i.e. for free.

Cold water rinse tub

The interior arrangement may also include elements such as a hanging tub for rinsing (photo). It needs to be hung in a washroom higher than a person’s height so that an adult man can use the tub as a shower. It works very simply: you just need to pull the rope attached to the tub, after which the container tips over and water spills onto the person standing under this stylized shower.

Please note that the tub must be secured at a sufficient distance from the wall so that the bucket can completely rotate 180 degrees without the bottom resting against the wall. It also needs to be equipped with a simple device for supplying cold water.

Raw materials for the production of sawdust concrete

In addition to sawdust, the material includes:

• lime;
• cement;
• sand;
• water.

Sometimes craftsmen improve this composition by adding clay to it. Because of this, the strength and thermal conductivity of houses built from sawdust concrete increases.

The density of the material depends on the amount of sand, cement and sawdust used. Sand plays a significant role. The more of it, the denser the structure of sawdust concrete. If it is less, the house increases its thermal conductivity.

It is worth considering that a certain amount of raw materials can ensure frost resistance and water resistance of sawdust concrete. At the same time, the reinforcing masonry is also protected, which, under the influence of moisture, undergoes corrosion and destroys its structure.

This is what a sawdust concrete block looks like

When producing sawdust concrete for construction, the following technical characteristics of houses are taken into account:

• thickness of the walls of the future house;
• number of load-bearing walls;
• number of interior partitions;
• number of floors of the cottage.

Bath style

Modern baths are most often equipped in a minimalist modern style, guided by considerations of practicality and comfort (photo below). But there is an alternative: perform a bath in the traditional Russian style. It looks especially good in a log hut. In such a bathhouse, the steam will be light and pleasant.

Stage one. Selecting raw materials

The best option for use as insulation is sawdust of the middle fraction. The reason is extremely simple: it is difficult to work with fine starting material, and coarse sawdust has insufficient thermal insulation properties. Sawdust from cutting in carpentry production is considered the best, because it has low humidity, so it does not require additional drying, and will not begin to rot when used.

If sawdust is available exclusively from round timber, which has natural moisture, then before laying it should be spread out under some kind of canopy and dried thoroughly. There is no need to cover, otherwise they will start to rot.

Choosing sawdust for ceiling insulation

What types of sawdust are more suitable? Give preference to coniferous species - they contain a lot of resin, which creates a lot of inconvenience for various types of pests. But if you are insulating a bathhouse, it is preferable to use sawdust from deciduous trees.

Also, before laying, sawdust should be left to rest for up to 1 year - during this time the level of sugars, which provoke rotting, will noticeably decrease

Pay attention to ensure that the raw materials are free of debris and other foreign impurities; if any are present, sift the sawdust and remove large debris manually

Sifting sawdust

Decorating the inside of the bathhouse with your own hands according to your own taste

In order for the interior of the apartment to be pleasing to the eye, the interior decoration must be impeccable: smooth walls, smooth ceiling, carefully laid laminate flooring, etc. Therefore, to obtain an ideal result, many apartment owners prefer to delegate repair work to professionals. A completely different matter is auxiliary buildings on your site or in your country house. The owner arranges sheds, garages, and greenhouses at his own discretion, and do-it-yourself interior decoration of a bathhouse is found everywhere.

Materials for the interior decoration of the bathhouse should under no circumstances be treated with any paints and varnishes.

But if you have never previously dealt with finishing work inside outbuildings (in particular, bathhouses), you will have many questions: what materials are best to use, where to start and in what sequence to carry out the stages of work? You can’t do without detailed recommendations!

The relevance of using sawdust for thermal insulation

Current insulating materials are constantly being improved; moreover, more and more new thermal insulators appear on the market every year. But technological progress inevitably leads to rising prices. Often people save money for many years to repair their home (including insulation) or even take out a loan from a bank. And if we remember what materials our ancestors used to insulate walls and roofs, we can come to the conclusion that the “old-fashioned” methods are still relevant and effective. At the same time, it is difficult to predict what the condition of, say, polyurethane foam will be after 20 years of operation. But the sawdust has successfully passed the test of time.

Using sawdust as insulation

So, the main advantages of insulating the ceiling with sawdust include:

• widespread dissemination of this material;
• symbolic price;
• environmental cleanliness;
• extreme ease of installation;
• long service life.

Moreover, the savings here consist not only in reducing capital investments, but also in caring for natural resources, which contributes to a significant improvement in the environment and a reduction in the cost of heating a home.

Sawdust prices

sawdust

How to make sawdust

Modern thermal insulation materials

Table. Prices for popular insulation materials.

It turns out that insulation with sawdust will cost almost free. In fact, wood companies can even deliver sawdust to your home for a small fee. But here it should be clarified: not all varieties of this material are suitable for thermal insulation.

Wood, tiles, concrete?

There is an opinion that it is best to make a Russian bathhouse entirely from wooden paneling: the aroma of fresh wood will merge with the smell of birch brooms, creating an infinitely cozy atmosphere. However, if you make a wooden floor in the washing area, it will quickly become unusable from constant exposure to moisture. Therefore, it is recommended to use wood for finishing walls, ceilings and shelves, and it is better to make the floor from concrete, placing a wooden grate on top, which can be taken outside to dry.

Another common option is a tiled floor, but be sure to choose a tile with a rough surface and a smooth base. Unlike a porous base, a smooth base absorbs moisture less and dries faster, which means that fungus or mold will not appear in the bathhouse, and the material itself will last a very long time.

Types of timber for the construction and finishing of baths.

As for wood, it is better to choose deciduous species that provide good heating of the premises (linden, aspen, alder, birch). But it is not at all necessary to use the same type of wood for all bath rooms.

For example, inexpensive pine is perfect for a rest room or locker room, but it cannot be used in a steam room due to the release of scalding resin under the influence of high temperatures. Oak boards become very slippery when wet, therefore, they are only suitable for walls and ceilings in the washing area or for the rest room.

And if you still want to make a wooden floor inside a bathhouse with your own hands, pay attention to larch, because it’s not for nothing that piles for bridges have been made from it for a long time. Water only makes larch stronger.

Floor finishing

Interior work should begin with the floor covering. If you have chosen wood, then first you need to lay logs (diameter 15-18 mm) or timber (200x200 mm, 150x150 mm) from one wall of the bathhouse to the other. When making leaking floors (in which water will flow into the cracks between the boards), a 25 cm thick layer of crushed stone is poured onto the sandy soil between the joists. For soil that does not absorb moisture well, a clay castle is created on a slope, through which water will flow into a special tray and be taken outside.

Scheme of the floor arrangement in the bathhouse.

Non-leakage floors are laid at a slope towards the middle or towards one of the walls, where there is a recess under the grate for water drainage. Such floors require an additional “subfloor” made from scraps of wood, slabs or expanded clay. Waterproofing (glassine, roofing felt) is laid on top, and then finishing boards. It is imperative to provide ventilation between the subfloor and the main flooring by installing a ventilation pipe.

The concrete floor is poured after a base of 100 mm crushed stone and 100 mm sand has been compacted. A 30-50 mm layer of thermal insulation made of felt or expanded clay is laid on top of the base and covered with a 5 cm layer of concrete. Instead of felt and expanded clay, you can use perlite-cement screed - it is covered with a 3 cm layer of concrete a week after laying. The hardened concrete is leveled with cement. In the washing compartment, do not forget to provide a slope of the floor towards the drain hole.

You can lay tiles on a concrete base with your own hands. Just remember that you should start laying tiles from the corner that first catches your eye. The tiles are laid on tile adhesive, leveled and pressed tightly; it is recommended to use separator crosses between the tiles, which can be easily removed after the adhesive has dried.

Ceiling finishing

The ceiling of the bathhouse must be protected from moisture using a vapor barrier material, secured with wooden slats. Leave an air cushion between the vapor barrier layer and the lining using bars. The place where the pipe will exit must be lined with brick or iron to prevent possible fire. To cover the ceiling with your own hands, choose boards 20-30 mm thick.

Wall decoration

Scheme of finishing the walls of the bathhouse.

A newly erected bathhouse must stand for a year and a half so that the log house allows natural shrinkage. After this, you can carefully caulk the walls where cracks have appeared and begin laying thermal insulation (fibreboard, chipboard, foam plastic, expanded polystyrene), as well as vapor barrier (polyethylene film or foil materials).

High-quality lining is used to cover the walls inside the bathhouse. The boards are tightly fitted to each other, nailing them vertically. It should be remembered that boards for interior decoration should not be treated with any paints and varnishes, as this is unsafe for health. But you can use impregnations specifically designed for finishing work in the bathhouse. Such impregnations, even at high temperatures, do not emit toxic substances and reliably protect wood from premature destruction.

Bath furniture

You can make bath furniture with your own hands that will completely suit your taste. However, you should take into account the basic recommendations to make using shelves and benches as convenient as possible. For example, it is recommended to make a wall bench with a width from 40 cm (middle shelf) to 100 cm (top shelf), the width of the bottom bench is usually 30 cm. The thickness of the board is at least 5 cm. The shelves are installed on pillars made of thick timber or simply rest on wall.

The main finishing of bath furniture consists in impregnating the wood with special agents that protect against rotting. In addition, the edges should be rounded and the nails and screws should be deep enough. Lattice shelves will be better ventilated and will therefore last much longer than solid shelves.

At this point, finishing the bathhouse with your own hands is complete; all that remains is to complement the interior with wooden accessories: basins, tubs and ladles. Finally, you can relax and appreciate your creation firsthand!

Finishing

For lovers of “natural” interiors, slab cladding will be a real outlet: an uncut cut of a log fully conveys the feeling of the pristine material. Moreover, you can sheathe any rooms and surfaces:

• walls and ceiling, subfloor;
• corridors, living rooms, entrance areas;
• indoors and facade of the house and bathhouse;
• steam rooms and washing rooms in baths.

Finishing a wall with a slab requires the use of prepared material. For this purpose, thermally treated lumber or treated with antiseptics and insecticides is suitable. The first option is more environmentally friendly, but at the same time more expensive, and the second is cheaper. Heat-treated slab is definitely recommended for the bathhouse, as well as for living rooms. However, if the manufacturer uses safe impregnations, then you should not refuse them.

The slab ceiling and walls are made simply:

• guide rails are placed on a base made of wood, concrete or sip panels, which will provide an air gap. Their thickness can be from 2 cm;
• A slab, pre-aligned and processed, is nailed onto the guide rails.

The subfloor is installed in a similar way in a non-residential area - the boards are nailed to the joists.

How and what is the best way to decorate a steam room

The steam room is considered the most complex and demanding in terms of material selection. This is where the highest temperature and humidity will be. Taking this into account, it is necessary to choose finishing materials only from natural raw materials.

Plastic is definitely excluded from the list of possible options. In a steam room, it can cause serious harm to health. Tiles cannot be used for this room either. When heated, it can crack; touching a very hot ceramic surface can cause serious burns.

The most widely used material for finishing a steam room is wood. It is preferable to use only hardwood lining. Because boards made from coniferous trees release resin when heated. Contact with it is very dangerous due to burns. For a steam room, it is better to choose one of the following types of wood:

Advice. Although larch is a coniferous tree, it is excellent for cladding a steam room.

These tree species differ somewhat in properties, complexity of processing and appearance. Their cost, finishing board manufacturing technology and other parameters also vary. But they are united by a number of important characteristics for a bath, such as:

Never use synthetic materials for the steam room.

The quality of the steam room lining must be of the highest quality. It is advisable to select material without knots, defects and other natural defects. The treatment of the board is also very important. Since the operating conditions of the room are characterized by serious loads, the lining should not swell at high humidity and not dry out when the bathhouse is not heated.

Features of wood concrete

The basis of wood concrete (or in other words lightweight concrete, wood concrete, sawdust concrete) are chemical additives and organic, cement-binding fillers, presented in large quantities. Wood concrete is produced in the form of ready-made building blocks and slabs.

The filler is mineralized with liquid glass, calcium chloride and nitrate, aluminum sulfate and other substances that can effectively combat the negative effects of organic compounds on the hardening of the cement mass. The following are usually used as organic matter: wood chips, woody parts of stems - flax and hemp, chopped straw and stems of cotton plants.

An important advantage of wood concrete is its amazing strength. Structural types are able to withstand even very strong loads and deformations, and have the valuable property of self-healing after temporarily exceeding the maximum load.

Excellent sound absorption, environmental friendliness, low thermal conductivity, combustion resistance, low cost, convenience and ease of processing - all these qualities make lightweight concrete indispensable in the construction of low-rise buildings for any purpose (houses, bathhouses, garages, shops, cafes, industrial buildings, etc. .).

It is also ideal for the construction of internal partitions and non-permanent walls of buildings; it is often used as a material for thermal and sound insulation of ceilings, walls, etc.

Do-it-yourself finishing of the washing room

The finishing requirements for a washing room are slightly less stringent than for the arrangement of a steam room. But although such high temperatures do not occur in this room, the humidity is always very high. Thus, finishing materials may not differ in heating characteristics without burns, but moisture resistance is a mandatory criterion. Experienced bath attendants advise to give preference to natural, environmentally friendly, breathable materials here too. Wood, such as good quality lining, can boast of these properties. But other materials are also often used, for example:

Tiles in the washing room

Plastic finishing materials must be approached with extreme caution. They must be only of the highest quality, preferably certified. Because in a bathhouse, heated plastic can emit a far from pleasant odor, or even release toxins.

The choice of wood for finishing a washing room is much wider than for a steam room. Coniferous species can also be used here. The temperature in this room is no longer so high as to provoke the release of resin. Pine is one of the most affordable materials among its analogues. It has many advantages. For example, such wood contains phytoncides, which are very beneficial for health. The pine smell has a healing effect on the nervous system, heart, and lungs. But with intensive use of the bathhouse, pine lining may lose its decorative effect. Its pleasant color can darken.

Physicochemical characteristics

In terms of specific gravity and thermal conductivity, sawdust concrete is close to such materials as:

• foam concrete;
• expanded clay concrete;
• polystyrene concrete.

Like these materials, sawdust concrete has a low load-bearing capacity, so it cannot be used to build load-bearing walls of buildings 3 or more floors high.

If the building has at least one concrete floor, then the maximum height is 2 floors. However, it can be used as a wall material in houses with reinforced concrete frames.

Due to high vapor permeability, the rooms of houses made of sawdust concrete always have a dry microclimate, because excess moisture passes through the walls and goes into the atmosphere.

Another significant advantage of the material is its high resistance to open fire.

Sawdust concrete begins to smolder at a temperature of 150–200 degrees, but for combustion it requires long-term (1–2 hours) exposure to a temperature of 300 degrees or more or 0.5–1 hour of exposure to open fire.

After the cessation of exposure to open fire or high temperature, sawdust concrete quickly goes out, because the amount of pyrolysis gases released is not enough to maintain the pyrolysis process, without which combustion is impossible.

Read more about wood combustion and the pyrolysis process here Pyrolysis gas and its application.

What is the best way to decorate a relaxation room in a bathhouse?

When choosing the type of decoration for a given room, you can pay more attention to the design side than the practical side. Although, of course, the material must meet a number of requirements:

Rest room in the bathhouse

The floors in this room must be very well fitted so that they are pleasant to walk on barefoot. Russian tradition also involves the use of wood in the decoration of recreation rooms. But this is not a prerequisite. You just need to remember that high air humidity remains in all rooms of the bathhouse, even in the rest room. Along with wood, you can give preference to the following materials:

It is advisable to take care of powerful ventilation even at the stage of designing and building a bathhouse. The rest room area should also have healthy air circulation. The very atmosphere of the room is designed in such a way that everything in it is conducive to relaxation and rest.

Advice. It is better not to use linoleum in the bathhouse. Despite its practicality, this synthetic material is capable of releasing harmful substances and quickly deteriorating at high temperatures and humidity.

Proportions of sawdust and concrete

In this article we talked about the proportions that are adopted when making blocks (bricks made from sawdust and cement).

However, these proportions are designed for the construction of load-bearing walls of houses with 2-3 floors and concrete floors, therefore such blocks have excess strength and high thermal conductivity.

For a house 1–2 floors high with wooden floors, the proportions can be changed, so due to the loss of excess strength, the thermal insulation properties of sawdust concrete can be improved.

The ratio of sand and cement should always be 2:1 because they form a binder and provide strength to the hardened concrete.

The ratio of sawdust and lime should be from 10:1 to 2:1. The more lime, the more durable and less sensitive to rot and mold the block is, but also the worse its thermal insulation properties, so the maximum ratio is rarely used.

The ratio of cement-sand mortar to sawdust is made from 3:1 to 1:4, but the optimal proportion is 1:2.

In this proportion, the strength of sawdust concrete is sufficient to build a 2-story house with wooden floors, and a wall thickness of 30 cm (if it has insulating voids) is sufficient even for places where the temperature in winter sometimes drops below 15 degrees below zero.

If severe frosts often occur in winter, then simply increasing the amount of sawdust will not solve the problem; you will have to change the shape of the block or wall.

Tip: if you reduce the amount of water to 0.5–0.6 by weight of cement and add a superplasticizer to the mixture, you will get more durable sawdust concrete. After all, the more water in the solution, the lower the strength of concrete.

If the water is slightly less than necessary, then the strength after hardening increases by 1.2–1.5 times.

Thermal insulation of a bath ceiling with sawdust

When installing a bath ceiling, the ceiling from below is hemmed with boards. Where the chimney pipe is laid, the boards are insulated with a piece of stainless steel and basalt wool.

The sequence of installation of thermal insulation of the floor is as follows:

1. Lay a layer of vapor barrier with overlapping strips and gluing the joints. Place the material on the walls to a height of 100-150 mm.
2. Lay out the sawdust mixture in layers, level it and compact it. For summer baths, the optimal insulation thickness is 50 mm, and for buildings used all year round - at least 150 mm.
3. Let the insulation dry. Seal any cracks that appear. To reduce the likelihood of cracks forming, add salt to the prepared solution at the rate that 10 liters of water will require 75-90 grams.
4. The mixture will dry within a month. After this, cover the surface with a layer of lime and lay a vapor barrier.
5. Complete the rough plank flooring.

To protect a wooden building from fire, hide all wires in corrugated hoses and cover the ends with fire-resistant material. The described recipes for mixtures for thermal insulation of ceilings are suitable for insulating the walls of residential and commercial buildings.

Selecting the fraction of the starting material

To use as home insulation, you need to choose sawdust of only the middle fraction. This is explained by the fact that it is very difficult to work with small sawdust, and large-sized sawdust will not have sufficient heat-insulating characteristics. The best sawdust is the sawdust obtained during sawing in carpentry. They have moderate humidity, they do not have to be dried additionally, and accordingly, the dried sawdust will not rot during further use. In the case when only sawdust from round timber with natural moisture is available, before using it as insulation they should be folded under a canopy and dried . When drying under a canopy, sawdust should not be covered with film, as it will rot under it. Which wood sawdust is best? It is better to choose softwood sawdust. They contain resin, due to which they cause a lot of inconvenience to all kinds of bugs and rodents. If you plan to insulate a bathhouse, it is better to use sawdust from deciduous wood. Before you start creating thermal insulation using sawdust, the source material must be allowed to rest for 6-12 months. During this period, the content of rotting sugars will decrease. Sawdust intended for creating thermal insulation should not contain debris or foreign inclusions. If this is observed, the source material should be sifted through a sieve with large mesh, and larger debris should be removed manually.