The dream of my own bath has visited me for a long time. But something was constantly getting in the way - now work, now urgent plans, now the Russian blues. Last winter, I pulled myself together and literally overnight drew a plan for a 4 * 5 meter bath.
Nothing superfluous - an entrance hall, a recreation room, a washroom and a steam room. I discussed a promising project with my brother, and I began to wait impatiently for the summer to implement my plan.
For the bath, I chose a strip foundation (the Internet suggested that this option is better for heaving soil). The foundation was laid as follows: the construction site was marked out with twine, a trench was dug, sand and gravel were poured on the bottom. Then they installed the formwork, laid the reinforcement and poured it on top with a concrete mixture prepared in a hurry in an old bath. In terms of money, this stage cost me 8-10 thousand.
I have heard a lot about the fact that building a log house on your own is a task for dashing professionals. In order not to complicate his life, he decided to order the manufacture of a log house. This pleasure was quite expensive - about 60,000 rubles. They brought it to me disassembled and proudly left it at the gate. It was necessary to drag each "log" to the construction site independently. The logs were numbered, so there were no questions about the installation technique.
I thought about laying the floors for a long time. Familiar with a rebuilt sauna to foam at the mouth convinced me that there is no better tile - both inexpensive and practical. But my soul wanted wooden floors, which seemed to me the standard of the Russian bath. Morally, I prepared myself for the fact that the boards accumulate moisture and rot over time. To minimize the risk of rot, I installed an aspen floor.
I arranged the floors according to science - at different levels. In the steam room, the floor is located 10 centimeters above the cover in the washing room. This slight difference allows it to stay warm longer. The floor in the washing room, in turn, is 5 centimeters below the floor in the dressing room, which creates protection against moisture.
Linen tow and red moss for caulking were not at hand, so we had to look for alternative ways to solve the problem. To insulate the log house, I ordered a factory-made material with jute and linen in the composition. I was assured that this material is almost magical - it is resistant to moths, fungi and is durable.
We carried out caulking during the assembly process: the material was laid between the logs. The final caulking (outside and inside) was postponed for a year, since before that, the log house will take time to shrink.
We decided to build a gable roof for the bathhouse and cover it with slate. The only thing left was to attach the rafters to the crown of the log house, mount the lathing and cover with roofing material. The procedure was as follows: first, the roof was assembled on the ground, and then it rose up, leveled and secured. All roof elements have been treated with anti-decay agents. We impregnated the rafters and beams with antiseptic and fire retardant.
I bought the stove for the bath as expected - with certificates, in the store. The metal case does not fit in the best way with the wooden surroundings. At first we wanted to install a parapet and nail in wooden planks, but for now we put this idea aside for the future. For safety reasons, the ceiling was covered with a metal sheet with a layer of minerite (the area of the sheet is one third larger than the area of the furnace).