Did anyone have any idea why in the cold season the door in the apartment is not covered with hoarfrost? Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is a good thermal insulation of the door. But not only that. The main reason for the lack of ice on the door is the presence of a vestibule room - a small space that separates the entrance doors to the apartment and street. This room also happens in a private house. But first things first.
General concept of vestibule
There are several meanings of the vestibule room, but all of them are essentially reduced to one. So, the vestibule is a separate room or its small part, which prevents cold air from entering the living rooms immediately. It serves as a kind of air cushion, where street and home air meet.
Another purpose of the vestibule is the retention of dirt, dust and sand brought on the sole of the shoe. No matter what the rug is laid in front of the front door or inside the apartment and house, it will not be able to ensure complete cleanliness. But a separate room where you can change your street shoes for home, will completely cope with this task.
Building codes that would regulate the mandatory dimensions of the vestibule do not exist. But when designing it, one should take into account at least the width of the inner door, which, as a rule, opens outward. Therefore, the minimum depth of the vestibule should be 1.3-1.5 m. If additional use of the vestibule space is expected, then, accordingly, its area must be increased.
Location of the vestibule and its need
By its location, the vestibule can be built into the house or in the form of an extension (in a private house) to the house.
In public institutions, there is also often a vestibule. In this case, during its construction it should be taken into account that the more people will come / go at the same time, the more difficult the plan of the vestibule should be. Otherwise, there will be no sense from him at all, because cold air will quickly get inside.
Many people believe that the vestibule is a completely unnecessary room in the house. It either eats up part of the living space, or requires additional costs for the extension. In fact, the costs of its construction are fully justified, because funds for heating housing with a vestibule are required much less than without it. This is especially noticeable in the area where the cold season lasts long enough.
Tambour in a private house
The construction of the vestibule was invented for a long time, when another small extension to a private house was called the word "canopy". Today, such a room can be decorated in any style and used not only as a buffer zone. For example, using double-glazed windows, you can build an air structure that will perfectly perform the main functions of the vestibule. If you make the room spacious enough, and the windows are large, you get an excellent veranda on which you can gather guests at the table in the warm season.
In the vestibule room there can be not only internal and external doors, but also the entrance to another separate room. So, often from the vestibule they make the entrance to the garage attached to the house. Then in wet or cold weather there will be no need to go outside to get into the car, and gasoline vapors will not enter the housing. An additional door can also lead to the utility building or boiler room.
Tambour in an apartment building
Tambour in the entrance, directly at the entrance, in modern houses does not always happen. More precisely, of course, there is a room and an entrance door. But the next inner door, separating the entrance to the stairs, may not be.
Tambour in an apartment building is also called a room that separates 2 or more apartments from the rest of the corridor. Such a barrier is usually not done by developers, but by the owners themselves after settlement. If we turn to legislation in this case, then such premises are possible only if the rest of the owners of apartments located on this floor are not against redevelopment. Also, when constructing a vestibule in an apartment building, one should take into account such conditions:
- the entrance door to the apartment to the neighbors should open without hindrance;
- in a separate area should not be located common electrical panels, cables, etc.
Vestibule decoration
First of all, finishing the vestibule is necessary in a private house. It is advisable to additionally insulate the attached building using heat-insulating materials. You can fix them both inside and outside the room. The heat-insulating layer is puttied on top and proceeds to a fine finish. Materials for the outside are selected in accordance with the general concept of the house.
The built-in vestibule does not require additional insulation; for it, finishing will be enough. The walls of the vestibule room can be painted, textured plaster can be applied to them, and they can be covered with plastic panels - i.e. use materials that do not respond to temperature changes and are not afraid of the cold.
The flooring of the vestibule should be chosen so that it meets the following parameters:
- was durable;
- durable (or at least easy to install);
- easy to care.
Linoleum, ceramic tile, and porcelain tile correspond to such characteristics. If desired, you can use more expensive materials, such as stone.
Often in apartment buildings, a vestibule is a room that residents of two or more apartments use. And therefore, the finish may not be at all. But if the relationship between the neighbors is good, then the finish is done jointly. Materials in this case are selected similar to those used in the vestibule of a private house.
Operation of the vestibule
In addition to the basic functions of protecting residential premises from cold and dirt, the vestibule can serve as a pantry. If the area of the room allows, then in it you can put a cabinet, for example, for tools or sports equipment. The entrance vestibule in an apartment building can be used to store various food stocks, because, unlike a similar room in a private house, there will be no negative temperatures, but it will not be too warm.
In a small room, you can simply lay a mud mat and install a small shelf for shoes. So that the mat really retains dirt, it should be selected especially carefully. In this case, a variant of a metal fine mesh with a rubber base is suitable. The base will not allow the rug to slip, and dust and sand will settle in the mesh cells.
Heating vestibule
There is a lot of controversy about heating the vestibule. A tambour in a private house is one situation. According to building codes, heating appliances cannot be installed there. Firstly, this can lead to freezing of the coolant. Secondly, even if it does not freeze, the cost of heating itself will increase. This is also not very profitable. Therefore, if there is a great desire to provide the vestibule with additional heating, you should opt for a warm floor system. He and the room will warm a little, and dry wet shoes.
An alternative is to install a split system above the front doors. The exterior doors will then be separated by a stream of warm air. The power of the system does not have to be large (given the small size of the room), and it will not work continuously. Public institutions (shopping centers, banks, and other institutions) often resort to this method. Naturally, in this case, the power of the split system should be greater than in a private house.
In apartments, additional insulation is rarely used in vestibules, because There are heating appliances in the entrance and they are enough to warm the room a little. But if there is a goal, for example, to dry shoes in the wet and cold season, then in this situation the warm floor system will also be appropriate. Another point is the accession of the vestibule to the apartment and its insulation. But such an action is illegal, because the tambour in this case is part of a common corridor and cannot be assigned.
What else is called a vestibule?
Tambour is not only a room that protects the living space from cold and dirt. There is another meaning to this word. So, the platform also means a special type of knitting (embroidery).
In addition, there is a vestibule in the train carriage. It also protects the interior from cold, smoke and wind.
Whether to build a vestibule in a private house, whether to separate the apartment with an additional door from the site or not, each owner decides for himself, but the presence of this small room, obviously, gives a lot of positive moments.