How to make a foundation for a bath with your own hands
The technology for building log cabin steam rooms is rooted in the distant past. Previously, baths were installed on stones coated with clay. Sometimes they were placed directly on the ground, having previously made the lower crown from oak wood, which was least susceptible to decay. These methods are applied today, but if you want the structure to last for many years, it is better to install it on a specially designed foundation for the bath.
Content
- What you need to know about soils when choosing a foundation
- Which foundation is better for a bath
- The initial stage of laying the foundation – marking
- How to make a foundation for a bath yourself
- Tape type construction
- Column foundation
What you need to know about soils when choosing a foundation
The main purpose of the foundation is the uniform distribution of the building load on the soil layers. When choosing a basis, it is important to consider the features of the soil, which determine the depth of the base. Light, damp earth often requires additional reinforcement, while clay does not imply.
Unstable heaving soil can be slightly balanced at the very beginning of work. To do this, when calculating the foundation, the use of gravel or sand is made, which will serve as a pillow for concrete. Bulk raw materials are moistened before pouring, which ensures compression and compaction of the material. Among other things, the heaving soil requires that special attention be paid to reinforcement with reinforcement. Despite the fact that this part of the project is quite costly, additional reinforcement will give the structure additional reliability.
Clay rocks will eliminate unnecessary manipulations, because under the influence of gravity the clay is even more compacted.
The choice of foundation must be oriented not only on the property of soils, but also on the type of building materials
The climatic factor is also of great importance. It must be remembered that after winter, the soil thaws and sets in motion.
If in the process these nuances were not taken into account, the appearance of cracks along the bearing walls and the foundation body is unlikely to be avoided..
Which foundation is better for a bath
The choice of the type of foundation depends on the characteristic features of the soil, which are not difficult to determine. For research it is necessary to dig a small hole and visually perform soil analysis.
- when detecting components of forest, garden or swamp land, a monolithic strip foundation is suitable. The basis for it is a sand cushion;
- on soils with clay, coarse sand, and gravel, a strip or column foundation is erected. They are considered ideal for construction;
- in the presence of rocky rocks, fine sand, you can choose the foundation of any type.
Important!
The selected building material for the walls is also important. So when using a bar or brick blocks, the optimal option is a strip foundation, for walls made of logs – a columnar base type.
The initial stage of laying the foundation – marking
First of all, deciding on an independent laying of the foundation for the bath, you need to mark the area under it. To do this, choose a site with a slight slope (only not to the north), which will ensure the removal of rain flow and melt water in the spring. When marking up the territory, keep in mind that the width of the future base should be 10 cm greater than the width of the walls.
Important!
To work, you will need the following tools: tape measure, cord, building level, right angle triangle, wooden pegs.
Using pegs, you need to outline the internal contours. First you need to outline the first corner, drive in a peg and put on a triangle. The length of the longitudinal wall is marked on one outer side, and the transverse on the other.
The foundation for the bath: marking the site
The next step is the installation of cast-in from boards and posts. The design should be placed at a distance of 2 meters from the driven pegs. Boards are fixed at a height of one and a half meters from the ground.
The axial dimensions of the base are transferred to the upper ribs of the castoff. Nails are driven into a wooden structure and the cord is pulled between them so that it fits exactly above the pegs.
This sequence applies to all sides of the future bath. Then with the help of a plumb line outline the contours of the inner surface.
How to make a foundation for a bath yourself
The most suitable type of foundation is called tape and columnar. Consider device technology.
Tape type construction
The construction of the strip foundation is not particularly difficult, but the material will require a lot. It fits seamlessly around the entire perimeter of the building..
You will need components: sand, cement, gravel and water. The strip foundation can be built in several ways:
1. Layered crushed stone and sand in a trench. Tamp the layers, moisten. Their thickness to the earth’s surface should be 15 cm. Then a cement solution is applied to the base, and then a socle is made, insulated from moisture with a double layer of roofing material.
2. Sand and gravel are poured into the trench to half. The surface is leveled, bricks are laid on it in one row. Next, a wooden formwork is built – a form for concrete, which is removed after hardening.
3. If the soil is dense, you can build the foundation after the construction of the formwork. Slots are filled with sand and rammed. Sand is poured into the formwork in layers, moistened, compacted again, and then poured with concrete.
Pouring a strip foundation into a wooden formwork
3 hours after work, the strip foundation must be lined with moisture-transmitting material: burlap, shavings, sawdust. Pour over water and cover with polyethylene. After 7 days, the formwork is removed – the foundation is ready.
Column foundation
The design of such a foundation consists of pillars that are placed in places of maximum load (in the corners). The distance between them should not exceed 2 meters. Supports are built of metal, wood, stone, brick, asbestos cement.
Support tables are located in places of maximum load
The most popular type of columnar foundation is from asbestos-cement pipes filled with concrete. Under them, you need to drill wells with a diameter of 25 cm and a depth of 1.5 m. Pipes are installed strictly vertically, and the distance between them is poured with concrete so that it fills the bottom of the well. Then the pipe is filled with concrete mortar, leaving 15 cm to the top. Finally, a metal rod is inserted into the center of the pipe. Such a foundation is good for log baths.
The stage of construction of the foundation has been successfully completed, the answer to the question of how to build the foundation for the bathhouse with your own hands has been received, which means that you can start laying walls. Building a bath on your own is a time-consuming process, but the result is a beautiful and durable bathhouse – really worth it.
