How to build a Russian bathhouse with your own hands - device, step-by-step instructions with photos, videos and drawings

For our compatriots, the Russian bathhouse is a symbol of relaxation. In addition to its medicinal properties, you can have a good time with friends and talk about pressing topics in a relaxed atmosphere. If you like this kind of pastime, then you can build it on your site, but in this case you need to know well the structure of the steam room in a Russian bath. This is exactly what we will be discussing in this article.

The steam room is the heart of the bathhouse; the mood its visitors will receive will depend on it. The peculiarity of the Russian bath in question is that it has a different quality of steam and temperature compared to others. For example, if in a Finnish sauna there is dry steam with a temperature of about 110 degrees and humidity only 15%, then in a Russian sauna the temperature is 60 with the same humidity.

The principle of operation of a Russian bath

Features of the Russian bath

The Russian bathhouse, which our ancestors built, includes two sections: a dressing room and a steam room. The largest size of this room is 2.3x4 m, the smallest is 5x6 m. Baths with such dimensions are again popular.

1 - dressing room; 2 - steam room and washing room; 3 — shelves; 4 - oven

The construction of a traditional Russian bathhouse implies:

creation of a shallow columnar foundation based on boulders, without a base;
assembly of a log house from selected wild logs, that is, material that has not been subjected to any processing other than removing the bark and drying;
construction without using nails;
plugging cracks with moss and tow;
installation of a flat ceiling;
insulation of floor and ceiling coverings with moss and peat;
waterproofing the structure with resin and shoe polish;
making a sod or shingle roof;
creating a brick oven.

Legends of deep antiquity

No one can say for sure when baths appeared in Rus'. Even in the pre-Christian era, they were a formed and independent product with their own culture and even traditions. Mentions of them can be found during the conquest of Constantinople by the Kyiv squad led by Prince Oleg from the Rurik family. Even then, the Russian steam bath was fundamentally different from its Byzantine relatives, who, in turn, were greatly influenced by Roman baths.

In fairness, it must be said that the bathing traditions of the Roman Empire were a classic reference product that used the most advanced technological achievements of that time for its arrangement. Even after the fall of the Western Roman Empire under the blows of the barbarians, its eastern part continued to profess and use existing developments in the field of hygiene and organization of bathing leisure.

But even such achievements, such chic and brilliance, which were inherent in Roman baths, did not in any way impress our ancestors, who, even in Byzantium, reserved for themselves the right to practice exclusively the Slavic bath rite. There is mention of our bathhouse in the classic written monument - “The Tale of Bygone Years”; sayings about the Russian bathhouse are attributed to Andrew the First-Called himself. European guests of our region, since the time of Peter and Catherine, also left their testimonies about our bathhouse. A product that is colorful, original and unforgettable.

Preparation for construction: drawings and dimensions

When drawing up a bathhouse design, you should not forget that the steam room and washing room will be used by several people at once. Therefore, the area and dimensions of the bath should be determined without making serious mistakes.

The second version of the bath differs in the arrangement of the shower

In order for each user to be comfortable in the bathhouse, he needs to allocate at least 1.8 m² in the dressing room and 1.5 m² in the steam room. The average total usable area of a bathhouse for a family is 10 m². In this case, the most space should be in the dressing room, and less in the steam room and washing department.

So that people of any height can wash in Russian, the ceiling should be built at a height of 2.4 meters.

When determining the height of the ceiling, it is taken into account that the building will soon settle

At the construction planning stage, it is necessary to reflect in the drawing the area for arranging the vestibule. This room may be needed as a place to block the path of cold air from the street.

For a vestibule, 2.32 square meters is enough. m

Conclusion

In this article we looked at how to set up a steam room in a Russian bathhouse with your own hands. As you can see, there are a lot of small nuances here, but if you show persistence and patience, and also take into account the advice, then you will succeed. In the video presented in this article you will find additional information on this topic.

Scheme of insulation and sealing of a chimney for exhaust gases

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Recommendations for choosing material

Followers of traditions are recommended to build a bathhouse from high-quality coniferous wood. This material is not fragile, and most importantly, it lasts a long time. The needles are also distinguished by their environmental cleanliness and low thermal conductivity, that is, they do not release heat and at the same time interfere with air exchange. A unique property of this tree is its resistance to various climate conditions.

Such a wooden building must stand on a reliable foundation

For construction, you can take one of two types of coniferous wood:

rounded round logs;
solid beams.

Experienced builders advise building a bathhouse from beams, since this material is cheaper and it is much easier to build walls from it. In addition, timber construction works well without a bulky foundation.

The timber structure looks simple, but is easy to assemble

If you opt for rounded logs, you may be severely disappointed: a log structure takes a long time to settle, which is why it will not be possible to put it into operation earlier than a year and a half after construction. Unlike a log bathhouse, a timber structure can be safely used six months after the completion of construction work.

When purchasing beams, you should use a tape measure to check the material for compliance with the specified dimensions, and then make sure that the building materials are of good quality. To do this you need to do the following:

visually examine the material and remove defects from the prepared batch, that is, bars whose color is uneven or unnatural and indicates poor drying of the product;
see if there are any building materials with large cracks, bluish spots, wormholes or other damage among the beams, and put them aside;
Every beam needs inspection
pay attention to the edges of the material and make sure that the growth rings on both sides are exactly the same in size.

A little more about the process

Before entering the steam room for the first time, you should take a warm shower, without using soap or body gel, so as not to wash off the protective film from your skin. When taking a shower, do not get your hair wet, as wet hair can cause heat stroke. You need to put a felt hat on your head.

The first run, during which the body must get used to the increased temperature and humidity. During your first visit, you need to take a broom with you and soak it in hot water. It is not recommended to steam during the first run.

During the second run, you need to start steaming. Lightly tapping the broom, walk from top to bottom along the body. Patting should be slow and gentle.

Breaks

You need to take breaks between entering the steam room. The duration of the break should be longer than the stay in the steam room. During breaks, it is recommended to drink warm herbal tea or water, since the body loses a lot of water in the steam room.

Completing the procedure

Before the last entry into the steam room, you need to rub your body with a hard mitten or washcloth. This will help open the skin pores. If you want to combine a visit to the steam room with cosmetic procedures, then this should be done during the last time you enter the steam room. After leaving the steam room, wash off the mask with a warm shower and wash your hair and body under warm water.

A few recommendations for Russian bath lovers

Only seasoned people can plunge into the cold water of an ice hole or rub themselves with snow. Beginners should use the pool.
After leaving the steam room, it is not recommended to lie down; it is better to walk around a little.
If you feel the slightest deterioration in your health, you should immediately leave the steam room.

If you use all the possibilities of hot steam correctly, then steam room lovers can only get benefits for their body.

Step-by-step construction of an object with your own hands

Construction is taking place in stages:

along the perimeter of the future building and under its load-bearing internal walls, pits are created to form a strip foundation;
sand is poured onto the bottom of the trench, the finished “cushion” is pressed and watered;
the pits are filled with reinforcing bars and liquid concrete, the layer of which is smoothed with cement mortar;
Before pouring concrete, formwork is constructed from boards
the base for a brick kiln is formed from concrete;
several layers of waterproofing material treated with bitumen mastic are placed on the platform;
assemble the frame, connecting the beams using the method “at the corners in a paw, and the ends in half a tree without a trace”, laying insulation between them and installing dowels through each row at a distance of 20 cm from the edge;
The corners are connected in 4 steps, and the ends are connected in 3 steps
prepare a platform for the floor, that is, pour a 10 cm layer of sand, press it, and then cover it with a 10 cm layer of crushed stone;
the crushed stone is covered with sheets of roofing felt, the edges touching several centimeters;
cement is placed on the roofing material, creating a screed with a slope, thereby arranging the flow of waste water towards a sewer pipe built into the ground and leading to a separately dug hole;
a facing material is glued onto the hardened cement screed, and a wooden sheathing is placed on top of it;
Wooden sheathing on the floor prevents your feet from touching the cold floor
floor beams are attached to the upper bars of the walls in a horizontal position;
the installed beams are connected with iron brackets to the rafters - thick beams;
fasten the rafter legs to each other using ridge beams;
the rafters are covered with rolled waterproofing sheets and wooden flooring - the basis for the roofing material;
create a ceiling, that is, lay out boards every 2.5 meters for non-load-bearing walls;
A vapor barrier film is laid on top of the ceilings and thermal insulation material is placed.

Video description

The video will demonstrate how to properly insulate the ceiling in a steam room:

Installation of doors and windows

It is better to avoid any plastic in the steam room. No matter how the manufacturer positions the harmlessness of its products, the danger of releasing harmful substances still remains. Especially with high heat. Therefore, the frames must be wooden. But have a modern airtight seal and double glazing. For maximum conservation of energy resources, triple is perfect.

You will have to spend extra money to install windows. Because the openings will have to be well insulated. It is better to install frosted glass instead of ordinary glass or apply a translucent film to it. This way you can easily get rid of the possibility of spying on the street.

The installation of a bathhouse inside always implies a separate and well-closing door to the steam room. This is a special element and is different from a regular sash. Firstly, the bath door is much lower and narrower in width. Secondly, the loot must be installed on the threshold.

Modern doors to a steam room made of glass Source vyborok.com

In modern baths you can see glass doors that are installed in the opening with a small gap at the bottom along the floor itself. Some experts will argue that a small heat loss in this case is not important. But the classic version of entering a steam room always has a threshold. Traditionally, it reaches up to 30 cm and you have to carefully step over it.

This design completely eliminates the occurrence of drafts and, as a result, reduces heat loss. And for ease of movement, the door must be equipped with reliable handles that do not allow you to get burned when touched. The door itself that allows entry into the steam room must be well insulated with heat-reflecting material.

Finishing

Finishing work begins after the structure has settled. First of all, all surfaces inside the bathhouse are coated with an antiseptic composition.

Interior finishing involves performing tasks such as:

installation of sheathing directly on walls and ceilings;
laying insulation and vapor barrier material into the gaps of the sheathing;
flooring of lining or other facing material.

Lining is laid on the ceiling and wall

If the most popular construction raw material for the interior decoration of a bathhouse has become only lining, then many materials are in demand for cladding the external walls of a building:

vinyl or metal siding;
plastic lining;
block house imitating the appearance of a log house;
edged or unedged boards, characterized by a low price.

The material extends the service life of the structure

Finding stones for a sauna room

It is customary to use igneous rocks in the steam room. Formed during a volcanic eruption, they are resistant to extreme heat. Igneous rocks that have a positive effect on human energy include:

polished or chipped jadeite, the main feature of which is beauty;
talc chloride, capable of absorbing moisture and, evaporating it, creating the desired steam in the bath;
basalt that can withstand high temperatures.

In addition to benefits, this stone gives aesthetic pleasure

Metamorphic rocks can be placed on the stove, which tend to normalize blood composition and improve well-being. We are talking about stones such as:

white quartz, called hot ice, which releases ozone when cooled rapidly;
crimson quartzite, the second name of which is the royal stone.

This stone goes perfectly with brickwork

To create steam in a bathhouse, you can use fully crystalline rocks, for example:

dunit;
serpentinite

These stones are able to regenerate cells of the nervous system, increase immune strength and have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the thyroid gland.

The length of such a stone is about 20 cm

If you want to break away from tradition, then it is better to use cast iron stones - balls produced by industry - as steam generators in the bathhouse. They instantly heat the room and retain heat for many hours. True, cast iron stones are subject to rust after a short service life and carry no useful properties for humans.

You definitely cannot place sedimentary and siliceous rocks on the stove. Their structure is porous, which means that when they cool sharply, they become covered with cracks and small particles scatter in an area of one meter.

Exploitation

The main requirement for using a bath concerns the creation of the desired temperature. In the steam room, this physical quantity should be within 55–77 degrees. The temperature indicator is selected individually, that is, it depends on the preferences of the bathhouse owner. It is customary to heat the washing room to 40°, and the rest room to 20°.

In order for the bathhouse to serve for a long time and properly, you need to use it according to the rules:

put exclusively any dry fuel into the firebox, except for firewood made from coniferous wood;
keep the combustion chamber door closed, thereby avoiding the escape of hot sparks;
do not let the chimney heat up until it turns red;
do not touch hot surfaces, including the walls of the water heating tank;
monitor the cleanliness of bathhouses;
ventilate the sauna sectors after each fire for four hours;
try not to splash water on glass surfaces indoors (windows and doors);
Clean and inspect the chimney for holes at least once a quarter.

The owner of the bathhouse will have to carefully care for wooden surfaces. Elements inside the bathhouse made of wood should be coated with special products twice a year to protect against fungi and rot. External treatment of the wooden walls of a building is recommended after two years of operation. To do this, it is better to use antiseptics that contain wax.

Wood deteriorates over time and therefore needs careful care

In order for a Russian bathhouse stove to provide the required amount of heat, you must be able to regulate the draft force. To do this, open the chamber door more or less to accumulate ash. Excessive draft will cause the furnace to heat up too much, and this will speed up the time of equipment failure. If the force forcing air into the firebox is normalized, then the stones in the bathhouse warm up to a standard temperature.

When firing the stove, you should monitor the operation of the chimney. The consumption of firewood can be minimized, and the efficiency of heat supply can be increased, just by not completely covering the chimney damper. But this is allowed to be done only after the ash chamber is completely closed.

Video: building a bathhouse from scratch

You can get true joy from building a Russian bathhouse. It is clear that this work is impossible without skills and labor, but the result evokes pride. This feeling is even stronger if the object was built on its own.

Author: Ksenia Zubkova
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Briefly about the main thing

In order for the steam room in the bathhouse to be comfortable to use and to function effectively, it is necessary to adhere to certain rules when arranging the bathhouse. And, in addition to competent construction of walls, considerable attention will need to be paid to interior decoration.

The main conditions for proper arrangement:

The basis of the building is a reliable foundation. A ribbon or columnar version is perfect for a bathhouse.
It is important to choose a productive and safe stove.
For it, as well as the water tank, you need to choose the right place.
Thermal insulation of the steam room should be of the highest quality.
The room must have good ventilation.
Before construction, it is necessary to make a design and calculate the size of the premises.
We must not forget about the convenience of using the premises.

When arranging a steam room, it is better to adhere to minimalism. In addition to the stove, the room should only have shelves for sitting or lying down when taking hot air procedures. When decorating a room, at least metal should be used. All the main material is high-quality wood with the lowest resin content.

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Approval of the project by administrative authorities

This is a key step. Without approval of the project before the start of construction, an already built bathhouse can be demolished due to any complaints from neighbors, and you will lose the labor and money invested. The project should include the following items:

A plan (floor plan, even if you have only one), created according to all the rules of drawing with specifications, sections and explication.
Approximate estimate for materials.
Planned type of foundation with drawing.
Consent of the closest neighbors for construction.

The bathhouse design must be agreed upon with the necessary authorities

How to build a sauna stove

For all sauna stoves there is a single condition, the fulfillment of which is mandatory - lengthening the combustion channel so that the door is located in the dressing room (firewood is placed in it in that room).

The oven door must be in the dressing room

You can install a metal stove by purchasing it ready-made, or build a brick one yourself (it is much better due to its slower heating and long-term heat transfer). The most difficult thing will be to correctly remove the chimney through a wooden roof, insulating it with special metal sheets and vermiculite.

When installing a stove, the most difficult thing is the chimney outlet

Stones must be selected as carefully as possible. They must have the following qualities:

heat resistance (does not collapse due to temperature changes);
heat capacity (gives off heat for a long time);
environmental friendliness (does not emit harmful substances when heated);
homogeneity and the same coefficient of thermal expansion (foreign inclusions with a different thermal expansion can explode when heated);
round shape (it improves the circulation of hot air).

The stones should be:

up to 13 cm for the first layer on the grill;
up to 9 for the intermediate layer;
up to 6 for the top layer.

Bath stones should be round in shape

If the heater is made correctly, then unforgettable moments of steam await you.

Russian traditional steam room with heater can be supplemented with dry herbs for aroma