Is it possible to call a fairy tale an opportunity to equip a steam room in an apartment? In Finland, for example, every third family uses saunas at home. This is due to the fact that the mini-sauna takes up little space, and to equip it with your own hands is quite simple. The main thing is to know the technology and observe a few rules. For example, it is better to prefer a sauna, since the temperature in it is not as high as in a bath during procedures. In addition, ventilation and waterproofing will be much easier.
Project work
Before you make a steam room in the apartment, you must choose a suitable place for it. To do this, you can combine the bathroom and give a small corridor to the kitchen for this, due to which the free area is taken. In the resulting space it will be possible to make a sauna, especially if you put a shower stall instead of a bath, because it saves space.
If nothing happened with the legalization of the redevelopment of the apartment, installation can also be done in the pantry, if you remove the existing trash from there. Some equip a steam room on the balcony, installing infrared heaters there. It is also important to decide what dimensions the sauna will have. Calculation is carried out taking into account how many people will bathe at the same time. For each vacationer, 2 m 3 will be required, while the ceiling height should not be less than 2 m.
The size of the steam room for the apartment
If you want to build a steam room in the apartment yourself, refusing to purchase a finished one, you will not need to change the floor, because tiles will do. It will be necessary to allocate an area of approximately 1.8 x 2 m in order to place one bed in such a space. Regarding the legal side, the construction of this kind in the apartment is officially allowed, but the house should be new. Doing something similar in living rooms and basements is not possible because of the risk of fire. The redevelopment in the bathroom under the sauna should be formalized legally, all this is not difficult, there would be a desire.
Legal subtleties
Before equipping a steam room in the apartment, you must comply with a number of requirements. For example, air heating is possible only from the installed furnace by the manufacturer. Such equipment provides automatic switches under conditions when the temperature reaches a level of + 130 ° C, as well as during continuous 8-hour operation.
You will need a drencher or perforated pipe to spray water. It is important to ensure connection to the water supply and sewerage system outside the sauna. The average floor area is 24 m 2 .
To protect against fire and decay, wood that is specially treated should be used. The steam room in the bathroom should be coordinated with the housing inspectorate, sanitary and epidemiological station, the HOA and the fire service. In different regions of Russia, the number of authorities may vary, so everything should be clarified.
The pleasure of steaming in your own sauna is available to residents of the apartments of the first category houses. It is not allowed to install steam rooms in kitchens, in rooms and cellars of city houses. Before you make a steam room inside the apartment, re-equipping for this room, you should legally arrange everything, demolish the walls and make additional doorways for this is unlikely to be allowed. However, the redevelopment can be tried to coordinate in the BTI, but, from experience, this will be very problematic.
Solution of the problem
If you still want to enjoy all the benefits of a Russian steam room, it is better to purchase a prefabricated sauna, and if necessary it can be disassembled and transported to another place. When equipping a mini-steam room, it should be borne in mind that, according to fire safety requirements, the furnace power should not be more than 4.5 kW. This also suggests that the size of the sauna should be small, only 2 people or less.
To warm a sauna with a volume of 2 m 3, you need a 2 kW stove, and for a family sauna, the volume of which can reach 12 m 3 , you need an 8 kW unit. When purchasing a stove over 6 kW, you will need to connect it to a network voltage of 380 V, and in apartments only 220 V.
If you have chosen pine or Scandinavian spruce for your home sauna, you should know that this wood has not yet been recognized by Russian regulations. In this regard, the requirements of the fire inspection to protect the home and sauna from fire must be strictly observed.
Equipment
Start the interior with heat generators. In Finnish saunas, they are electric heaters. To connect the heater in the bathroom, you do not need to install the outlet, the cable runs along the floor. A special tray is usually installed for it. The cable in the cab must be secured with a thermostatic hose so that it can withstand the effects of temperature.
Electricity will be consumed approximately as the operation of a washing machine. A thermal insulation stand is placed under the oven. Install the heater near the bath or on the same level with it is not worth it. When equipping a Russian steam room, it is not recommended to use heating systems made by oneself.
This is especially true for open spiral devices. In the role of a heating device, it is better to purchase a furnace of industrial production. If you live in a house with a gas stove, the situation is somewhat more complicated. To power the heater, it will be necessary to conduct a special cable from the meter.
Wireframing
For a sauna, it is better to use panels that are interconnected with spikes and grooves, without glue. This design can be disassembled and moved to another place. At the first stage, measurements should be taken of the room. You can use a regular beam to make the frame. Its height should not be more than 2 m.
It is sheathed with a lining, a heater with a reflective foil is laid, which is wrapped inside the sauna. The frame bars must be pressed against the wall and strapping in 5 levels. Five horizontal lines should be drawn on the foil. The first mark is located at a height of 3 cm from the floor, the second must be removed by 60 cm. The third will be located from the ceiling of 5 cm, the fourth - in the middle, between the third and fifth.
When installing a steam room, the frame is attached through special holes along the lines. The drilling step is 60 cm, the holes should be closed with wooden corks and nylon dowels. At the next stage, you need to prepare a shield that is well sanded with sandpaper and fits on three sides of the frame. Rubber is laid between the shields, fastening is carried out by furniture corners, which are then covered by a skirting board.
Methodology
After that, the front shield is attached, where the doorway will be located. For internal lighting, an electric cable is laid. In order to decorate the cracks between the wall and the shield, in the circle of the face shield, you should make bordering with platband. Mineral wool can act as a heater, the foil should be glued with an overlap, it will provide infrared radiation. Seams are closed with a special sealant tape made of aluminized material.
Insulation should be laid on the ceiling with a double or triple layer. Lining upholstery is carried out horizontally, so that the interior space visually seemed larger.
Interior decoration
For this, wood is best suited, for example:
Mixing wood species is not worth it. You can choose the material for this, taking into account the characteristics. For example, the Scandinavian pine has a pink hue, an interesting pattern of rings, which may be suitable for external cladding. Scandinavian spruce is the most affordable coniferous wood. Lumber can contain many knots, has a light yellowish tint.
Which lumber to choose
Without tar and knots of linden, but it is quite expensive. Light beige color has aspen. It does not emit tar, does not rot and is affordable. African oak is characterized by evenness of structure and density. Abashi retains heat well and is distinguished by the appearance of dark decorative specks on a light brown background.
Shelves for sauna
The strength of the structure and its durability will depend on the method of fixing the boards. Shelves in the steam room can be fastened with self-tapping screws, which are recessed into the lumber: oak wedges or self-tapping screws from the outside. The first method is the most popular. This option is more often used in the construction of benches for a bath. Wedges are recommended by experts, since this approach is the most environmentally friendly. The technology provides for the organization of holes where wedges are clogged.
The backrest is attached in the same way as the skin of the frame. The difference is only in the gap between the elements. For the work should be prepared:
- construction mallet;
- hacksaw;
- measuring tape;
- hammer;
- screwdriver;
- a chisel;
- self-tapping screws.
By the beginning of the work, you must determine where the supporting elements will be located. This parameter is determined taking into account the thickness. If you want to use 22 cm products, then the distance between them should be 60 cm, this will allow you to distribute the load. The thickness of the planks can be individually selected. When choosing this indicator, you need to pay attention to the width of the product. With an increase in this parameter, the board becomes thicker, as thin and wide boards may not support the weight of a person.
When planning a steam room, you should take into account that the shelf frame is the basis of this type of structure. Before assembling the benches, calculations should be made. For the installation of the frame, wooden blocks are purchased. In order for the structure to turn out rigid, you should prepare five boards that will serve as racks.
The supporting elements are joined by transverse wooden products that act as jumpers. This will give the building strength. When fixing the shelf to the wall, it is important to ensure air flow, providing a clearance of 10 cm. The frame for the upper tier is going to be the first if the structure is two-story. In the next step, you can mount the load-bearing racks to the wall. The distance between them will depend on the size of the structure and ranges from 60 to 85 cm.
Bath lighting
When choosing a luminaire in a steam room, you should consider that such equipment must meet certain requirements. Firstly, the case must be resistant to water splashes and high humidity, as well as temperature. Secondly, the electrical insulation must be reliable. Thirdly, the lamp should be quite powerful, it should shine brightly.
Such devices may be halogen. They have power ranging from 20 to 35 watts, are completely safe, not afraid of high temperature and humidity. Even if splashes get on the lamp, this will not entail dangerous consequences. Such lamps give the most natural light. Such lamps in the steam room are good in that they allow you to adjust the brightness of the light. Such partitions should be selected taking into account the presence of an electromagnetic inductor. Such lamps can not be used for unheated rooms, as they do not tolerate negative temperatures.
If you care about functionality and love the unusual appearance of the room, you should choose fiber optic lights. They are the safest, they work smoothly even at a temperature of + 300 ° C, and the moisture resistance is so good that you can place such devices even at the bottom of the pool. The main feature is the need for proper connection.
Alternative
LEDs are also an excellent option. Their main advantage is a wide range of color schemes. With their help, you can create an unusual atmosphere. The weakness of the LEDs is high temperature, so the installation of such a device is best done closer to the floor. Incandescent lamps are not the best choice, but there is no definitive ban on their use in such conditions. Lamp power should not be more than 60 kW. During installation, it is necessary to install a sealed ceiling.
Finally
Legalizing the redevelopment of an apartment for a sauna can be accompanied by difficulties. Where the best solution would be to install a ready-made version of the steam room, which, if necessary, can be disassembled, rearranged in another place or completely taken away from the apartment. In addition, the turnkey solution already has all the necessary fire protection, and you don’t have to do insulation and finishing work.