Well      06/23/2020

How to insulate the floor in the bath: ways for different coatings. Creating comfortable and favorable conditions in the bath by insulating the concrete floor Insulating the wooden floor in the sauna in the country

To make your favorite bath comfortable and safe, while extending its service life, you can simply insulate the floors in it. This process just seems complicated and time consuming. In fact, all the work can be done independently. The main thing is to listen to the advice of builders and choose the right materials.

The need for floor insulation in the bath

To make your favorite bath comfortable and safe, while extending its service life, you can simply insulate the floors in it

Good thermal insulation helps to solve several problems at once:

  • reduce heat loss - due to the cold floor, up to 20% of the heat in the steam room is lost.
  • increase the heating rate.
  • extend the life of the building - sudden changes in temperature, high humidity and dampness lead to the appearance of rot on lag wooden floors.
  • make the bath safe for health - a cold floor can provoke the development of colds, and rot and fungus - diseases of the respiratory system.

It is necessary to insulate the floor in all rooms, including the steam room, dressing room, washing room and rest room.

Warming methods

When choosing a heater, it is important to remember that heat-insulating materials that are used in residential premises are not always suitable for baths. Simply because they do not withstand operation in conditions high humidity, as a result of which they can quickly lose their properties.

The modern market offers a wide variety of options, including budget ones. Among them, everyone can find something for themselves.

Perlite is a material that has the structure of sand expanded using a special technology.

Perlite is mixed with cement and water to make perlito. concrete mix, which is laid out on a pre-laid concrete slab. After that, insulation work is suspended for a week until the perlite layer dries completely.

Perlite Benefits:

  • ease;
  • low thermal conductivity;
  • excellent vapor permeability, thanks to which all surfaces breathe, and the natural microclimate is maintained indoors;
  • environmental friendliness - it does not provoke allergies;
  • heat and sound insulation - a layer of perlite 3 cm thick has the same heat-conducting properties as a layer of brick 15 cm thick;
  • fire resistance - perlite does not burn and can withstand temperatures from -200C to + 845C;
  • durability - the service life of this material is unlimited, due to which it retains its heat-conducting properties for a long time.

It is necessary to work with perlite indoors. Otherwise, the material may fly apart under the influence of a draft.

The disadvantages of perlite include: overpriced compared to other heaters, difficulties in finding it, since it is not available in all stores, and the need to follow the rules when working with it. Builders recommend moistening it a little, as it is very dusty.

Expanded clay not only performs thermal insulation functions, but also smoothes existing irregularities

Expanded clay is made from clay. Fired at a temperature of 1400C, it forms granules with a porous structure. They fall asleep on the prepared base, not only performing heat-insulating functions, but also smoothing out the existing irregularities.

Manufacturers offer several types of expanded clay with granule sizes from 5 mm to 4 cm. They can be mixed to provide better thermal insulation. Thus, small granules will evenly fill the empty space between large ones and make the thermal insulation layer dense and resistant to subsidence.

It is undesirable to use split or damaged expanded clay granules, since they have worse thermal insulation properties than whole ones.

Expanded clay advantages:

  • environmental friendliness - it is safe for human health;
  • thermal insulation;
  • soundproofing;
  • ease;
  • cheapness;
  • ability to withstand heavy loads - up to 300 kg / m2.

The main disadvantage of expanded clay is its high moisture absorption. Therefore, before backfilling, you should take care of an additional layer of waterproofing and lay roofing material, for example. From above, a layer of expanded clay is also covered with several layers of roofing material, on top of which a screed is made.

Styrofoam

Styrofoam is called ideal option for warming baths, as its plates have a cellular structure, which is resistant to high humidity

Styrofoam is called an ideal option for warming baths. Its plates have a cellular structure, which is resistant to high humidity. It absorbs no more than 1% of moisture from its mass, provided that it is completely immersed in water for 24 hours. And its benefits don't end there. Styrofoam:

  • has excellent thermal conductivity;
  • has a high density (up to 500 kg/m2);
  • characterized by ease of installation;
  • is of low cost.

In addition, it prevents steam from escaping the steam room and is suitable not only for floor insulation, but also for thermal insulation of walls.

Low-density foam is undesirable for pouring concrete or cement-sand screed.

Like any other insulation, polystyrene foam has its drawbacks. They are revealed in weak mechanical strength, low resistance to paintwork materials based on nitrocellulose and impossibility to pass air.

other materials

Mineral wool is successfully used to insulate concrete floors

thermal insulation properties have:

  • Penoplex, or extruded polystyrene foam - it is produced in the form of plates with a thickness of 20-100 mm. In their appearance, they resemble polystyrene, but differ from it in improved technical specifications. The material is highly valued for its advantages: increased strength, durability, sound insulation, small specific gravity and high thermal insulation properties. In addition, foam plastic does not absorb moisture at all, does not crumble during installation, does not rot and does not dry out over time. Its plates "sit down" on glue or fasten with dowels.

Penoplex is absolutely safe for health only when it is manufactured in accordance with existing regulations. In case of their violation, styrene, a toxic substance, may remain in the plates. You can minimize the risk of its impact on a person by plastering foam or tightly closing it with sheets of drywall. In this case, you need to ensure that there are no gaps at the joints.

  • Basalt insulation - mineral wool, glass wool, etc. - are used for insulation of concrete floors. They are laid under wooden flooring only if there is a good waterproofing layer. Their advantages are low cost, low thermal conductivity, sound insulation, resistance to deformation and ultraviolet radiation, incombustibility and easy installation. Glass wool additionally protects the bath from rodents and other pests, but when working with it, it is necessary to use protective clothing, a respirator, gloves and goggles.

Builders recommend insulating with glass wool only the floors of the washing room, dressing room and locker room. It is undesirable to use it in the steam room or lay openings near the stove with it. High temperatures can cause fiber sintering, as a result of which the material will lose its thermal insulation properties.

  • Jute felt is a material of organic origin that retains heat well, is characterized by strength and resistance to fungus.
  • Empty bottles - plastic or glass. They create an air layer under the concrete, thereby retaining heat on its surface. The advantages of this method are low cost and ease of installation. In addition, the floor, insulated with bottles, is not afraid of temperature changes and does not become unusable from heaving of the soil. It is done quite easily. Sand is poured and compacted on the base under the concrete floor. A reinforced mesh is laid out on top of it, on top of which the bottles are laid. Slightly warmed up and closed with tight lids, they should lie with their necks to each other, filling all the free space with them. Subsequently, concrete will be poured on them so that it completely covers them. After it has completely solidified, it is advisable to pour another layer of concrete, which will serve as the basis for a finishing screed or ceramic tile. The only downside similar way- in fragility. It is not intended for rooms in which the floor will be subjected to heavy loads, which is why it violates safety regulations. Nevertheless, it exists and is successfully used in handicraft construction.

    For achievement maximum effect plastic bottles intended for floor insulation, it is advisable to fill with sawdust before use.

Work on the insulation of the floor in the bath can be performed using other materials. The following have thermal insulation properties: building felt impregnated with bitumen, foam concrete, expanded clay sand and gravel, polpan, boiler slag, isover, ursa, etc. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages and perfectly performs the functions assigned to it if used correctly.

If necessary, modern insulation can be replaced even with clay mixed with earth or peat, moss, sawdust, coniferous shavings, dried oak leaves and other materials that were used in construction several decades ago.

The right choice of insulation is the key to success

The modern market offers a huge number of heaters. They differ from each other not only in their technical characteristics, but also in cost. However, you should not focus on the latter when choosing the best option.

The choice of insulation must be made on the basis of:

  • Vida floor covering. The concrete floor is insulated with foam, expanded clay or perlite. Wooden floor - foam, as it is the only material that does not absorb moisture at all. It is undesirable to lay insulation with a fiber or open cellular structure under it, for example, expanded clay, since in this case it will be necessary to equip a reinforced waterproofing layer. Penoplex can be replaced with foamed polymers - ecowool or Aisinin foam. Being light in weight, they retain heat very well. However, both under the concrete and under the wooden floor, you can install electric, infrared or water heating.
  • The space in which it will be placed. Organic heaters are suitable for use only in rest rooms or in the dressing room, since even treatment with flame retardants does not make them resistant to high temperatures.
  • Personal safety wishes - insulation can be organic and have a vegetable or animal origin (felt, tow, cellulose) and inorganic (foam plastic, mineral wool and glass wool). The latter are produced through the processing of minerals and are characterized by resistance to high temperatures. However, they lose in terms of environmental friendliness to organic heaters.

In addition, you need to pay attention to the specific gravity of the insulation itself. A good insulation is one that does not create an additional load on the foundation.

Necessary materials and tools

Ruberoid can be used as a waterproofing

The choice of materials for insulation and tools for working with them is purely individual. In the case of a wooden floor, you will need:

  • roofing material, glassine or sheet foam, from which layers of vapor and waterproofing are formed;
  • directly insulation - foam, ecowool or expanded clay;
  • cement, water, sand for the preparation of a solution with expanded clay, if it is still used as a heater.

To insulate a concrete floor you will need:

  • coating waterproofing (rubber-bitumen mastic, etc.) and rolled, for example, hydrostekloizol or roofing material;
  • insulation - foam, foam, perlite or expanded clay;
  • cement and sand for pouring the screed or for mixing the mortar with perlite.

The calculation of the required amount of materials in both cases is carried out on the basis of the quadrature of the room.

Tools:

  • ruler;
  • square;
  • sharp knife or hacksaw;
  • pencil;
  • perforator;
  • dowel mushrooms.

Preparing rooms and surfaces

If for some reason the floor was not insulated during the construction phase, you will have to dismantle the old floor covering

To facilitate the assembly of a wooden floor in the future, dismantled boards and decorative elements must be numbered.

After dismantling, it is important to check the draft beams for suitability (they make up the draft floor). Damaged ones must be replaced with new ones. To avoid rotting, they are treated with an antiseptic.

It is impossible to cover the material to be used in the steam room with an antiseptic. When heated in this room, harmful chemical fumes will appear.

Floor insulation in different rooms baths - a steam room, a washing room, a rest room are made in their own way. This is due to the different temperature regimes and the level of humidity that are observed in them.

Step by step instructions for floor insulation

Builders have developed a technology for insulating wooden and concrete floors, which has been popular for many years. In rare cases, minor changes may be made to it, due to the wishes of the owners.

Wood

After completing all the preparatory work, the foundation is created

  1. After completing all the preparatory work, the foundation is created. For this, cranial bars are built up on the beams. On top of them, a draft floor is laid out from marked and cut boards. Their length should correspond to the distance between the beams.

It is extremely important to leave gaps between the boards themselves. They will help to avoid deformations during temperature changes.

A waterproofing layer is laid on the resulting base - roofing material or glassine. It is necessary to make sure that he blocks all the beams and enters the walls by 20 cm around the entire perimeter. To ensure tightness, an overlap of 10 cm is made, and the joints are connected with a vapor barrier tape.

2. At this stage, you can proceed directly to laying the insulation on top of the waterproofing or laying the second subfloor, which will serve as an additional basis for the insulation.

There are no norms regulating the thickness of the insulation layer. It can reach 25 cm if it is necessary to minimize heat loss in the bath due to floor insulation.

3. Laying waterproofing on the insulation.

4. Laying the final floor. Boards must be thoroughly dried. Initially, they do not need to be fixed, but only laid. After that, the bath is dried again, and the boards are finally nailed. At this stage, the protruding edges of the waterproofing are trimmed.

When laying the final floor, care must be taken to have a gap of 4 cm between it and the waterproofing layer itself. It will provide optimal conditions for drying wet wood.

Builders recommend making the floor in the bath from hardwood- poplar, aspen, oak, pine or fir. Not only an antiseptic or a pre-made gap between the floor and waterproofing, but also a removable floor can protect them from decay. It is equipped in a steam room or washing room. To do this, the boards are not nailed, but only carefully laid so that after getting wet they can be replaced with dry ones.

Another option for quick drying of a wooden floor is a special technique designed for this.

Concrete

The technology of concrete floor insulation is different from the technology of wooden floor insulation.

The technology of concrete floor insulation is different from wooden floor insulation. And the period of its use exceeds the period of operation of wood by 4 times. Thus, concrete allows you to reduce the cost of re-laying the floor in the future.

Stages of warming:

  1. Laying a concrete slab on the foundation, if it is missing.
  2. Laying a waterproofing agent, for example, roofing material, on top of the slab. You can replace it with rubber-bitumen mastic, however, in this case it is better to coat the surface with it at least 3 times.
  3. Laying insulation - glass wool or foam. The joints between the plates are glued with construction tape. Instead of inorganic heaters, expanded clay or perlite can be used.

When insulating with perlite, a perlite-concrete solution is prepared from water and perlite, which are mixed in a ratio of 1: 2. The resulting mixture is well mixed until complete shrinkage, after which cement is introduced into it in small parts. Its ratio to the total volume should not exceed 0.5. After thorough mixing, another 1 part of perlite and 0.5 parts of water are added to the solution. Do not add more water to it, even if it seems too dry. Only careful kneading will help to correct the situation and give it the required elasticity. The finished solution is laid out on a concrete base with a layer of 10 cm. It hardens within 6-7 days.

When insulating with expanded clay, it is pre-prepared cement mortar that is poured over concrete. After it has completely solidified, the expanded clay itself is covered with a layer of at least 8 cm thick. A new layer of concrete is poured over it. It must be reinforced with reinforcement or reinforced mesh and wait for the surface to completely harden, after which you can continue to work on insulation.

4. Reinforced mesh spreads on foam or glass wool. A rough screed is poured over it with a layer of 5-8 cm, which is then leveled with a needle roller.

5. After that, ceramic tiles are laid or a finishing screed is poured.

Insulating the floor in the dressing room, you can do without waterproofing, since there is no large accumulation of moisture in this room. Therefore, here it is possible to lay a layer of insulation between the rough and finishing floor. By insulating the floor in the washing room and steam room, you can not dismantle the finishing flooring, but lay materials on top of it. This will raise the floor by at least 15 cm, thereby reducing the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room and speeding up the process of heating it.

Application of the "Heat floor" system

Liquid or air heated floors, which were known in antiquity, are also very popular.

Liquid or air heated floors, which were known in antiquity, are also very popular. Their arrangement provides for laying wiring for heat transported by air, water or a heating element under the finished floor. Equip them in rooms of small areas with a small bearing load.

Stages of work:

  1. Subfloor leveling.
  2. Laying a heat insulator - expanded polystyrene or mineral wool in order to exclude excessive consumption of thermal energy. For maximum effect, you can use aluminum foil. At this stage, it is desirable to lay a damper tape around the entire perimeter. It will prevent the walls from coming into contact with the mortar and compensate for the expansion of concrete during solidification.
  3. Laying a reinforced mesh over a heat insulator.
  4. Laying pipes with a "snake" or "snail" in places that require heating. Between them, as well as between pipes and walls, a distance of 10 cm must be left.
  5. Connecting pipes to heating system through collectors. You need to connect the elements with couplings and windings.
  6. Testing for maximum power pressure and elimination of detected leaks.
  7. Subfloor filling.
  8. Taking into account the fact that a wooden floor is being built in baths built on screw piles, the technology of its insulation is practically the same as the technology of warming a lag wooden floor.

    Taking into account the fact that a wooden floor is installed in baths built on screw piles, the technology of its insulation practically does not differ from the technology of insulation of a lag wooden floor.

    1. The pile heads are tied with screw beams, which in the future will serve as a support for the flooring.
    2. A layer of waterproofing is laid on the existing foundation of a wooden beam - roofing material or mastic.
    3. Inside the contour of the upper part of the foundation - the grillage - load-bearing beams are installed on which the subfloor will be laid. In this case, you need to maintain a step of 30-40 cm.
    4. A cranial beam is attached to the underside of the beams, on top of which a draft floor is laid.
    5. A layer of waterproofing and insulation is laid on top of the floor. From above it is covered with a film or waterproofing.
    6. Arrangement of a fine wooden floor.

    Solving the issue of warming the second floor in the bath

    The floors on the second floor of the baths are insulated according to standard technology

    IN modern baths rest rooms are located on the second floor. The floors in them are insulated according to standard technology. On the ceiling, which now serves as a kind of foundation, vapor barrier, insulation, waterproofing and flooring are laid. As a vapor barrier, it is best to use foil material. It not only perfectly performs the functions assigned to it, but also reflects heat. It is better to make a layer of insulation at least 20 cm.

    It is desirable to leave gaps between the foil and the inner lining, layers of waterproofing and insulation, waterproofing and flooring.

    Warming the floor in the bath is troublesome and time-consuming. However, it is fully rewarded with comfort, safety, warmth, coziness and a special atmosphere that begin to reign in it after its completion.

    Therefore, do not deny yourself the pleasure of enjoying them! Moreover, subject to the competent selection of materials and compliance with the technology, they will also extend the life of the building and help save on carrying out repair work further.

A Russian bath is the place where a person relaxes, rests his body and soul, therefore, even during construction, it is necessary to think about the insulation of walls, ceilings and, most importantly, the floor in all rooms, because experts say that good insulation can reduce heat costs by almost two times. In addition, it takes much more time to heat rooms without proper insulation, and they cool down in a matter of hours.

The floor in the bath often serves not only as a place on which you walk, but also as a drain of water, which, in the absence of insulation and waterproofing, can rot very quickly and become covered with mold that is dangerous to health.

To visit the steam room to be as effective, useful and comfortable as possible, you need to know how to insulate the floor yourself. After all, the microclimate that forms in the bath itself, the dressing room and the rest room is so different that such a sharp temperature drop can adversely affect health, especially if you have small children.

*Important! If during construction the issues of thermal and waterproofing were not taken into account, or if you got an already finished building for a bath, then you will have to completely dismantle the floor covering and re-equip the floor.

In this article, we will consider several options for thermal insulation, the choice of which depends on the material of the flooring (the most common are wood and concrete) and its structure (screed on the ground, on the floor, and so on). Usually use modern technologies or folk methods, which for many years have not lost their relevance among the owners of country houses and cottages. We will also give you a couple of practical tips and recommendations for warming the floor in the bath with your own hands.

Material selection

Since a bath is a place where an increased level of moisture and temperature is observed, professional builders recommend taking the choice of heat-insulating material very seriously, because it depends on its quality and proper installation whether the steam room will be in operation for many years without causing unnecessary trouble.

*Important! The main characteristic when choosing a heater is the level of its hydrophobicity, that is, the level of water absorption.

The choice of insulation depends on the material from which the floor is made. There is also a universal insulation with an excellent price-to-quality ratio - polystyrene foam and its twin brother - polystyrene foam. Due to their lightness, they can be easily cut into pieces of the required size, while both materials do not absorb moisture and have low thermal conductivity. In addition to these two, there is a large number of other materials:

  • Mineral and glass wool. They are used only for warming concrete floors. When used for wood decking, it is important to wrap the wadding in a thick layer of waterproofing because the wadding absorbs moisture very well and quickly loses its thermal insulation properties. And when wet, the structure quickly collapses;
  • Expanded clay. It is used only for warming concrete floors. It has similar characteristics with glass wool, requires an additional layer of hydro and vapor barrier. Expanded clay is used both in pure form and in the form of a mixture with cement. After the solution, the space between the lower and upper cement screed is poured.
  • Perlite. Material in the form of sand or dust, which is mixed with cement, water and poured between cement floor screeds. After hardening, it has a porous structure. Less commonly used for wood flooring. After hardening, perlite acquires a cellular structure, allowing to reduce heat loss in the steam room.


*Interesting! As a replacement for the above raw materials, no less high-quality analogues are sometimes used - building felt, cinder block and foam concrete.

Wooden floor insulation

Just before starting, you should carry out some preparatory work, namely:

  • Carry out the dismantling of the flooring, remove all the logs, and if you plan to use them after insulation, we recommend numbering all the boards;
  • All floorboards must be inspected for defects, chips, cracks and fungus. If this was found, it is better to replace the floorboard completely;

*Advice! When you lay the flooring back after all the manipulations, do not forget to leave between top layer insulation and wooden blocks with a gap of 3-4 cm. This will prevent the deformation of the boards, and there will also be an additional layer of ventilation.


If the bath was built on the ground with high level moisture, an ordinary roofing material is suitable as a waterproofing material. It must be laid so that the insulation layer does not have gaps and partially extends onto the walls.

Although wood is less durable than concrete, it is most often used to cover the floor in baths because of its environmental friendliness and high thermal insulation performance. The most popular trees for decking are:

  • Poplar;
  • Pine;
  • Fir;

*Important! If the boards in the dressing room and other rooms are covered with an antiseptic to prevent the wood fibers from being allowed to grow by fungal growths, then due to the high level of toxicity in the steam room itself, this should by no means be done.


The best choice as a heater would be a material with closed cells that do not allow moisture to pass through. The best option is expanded polystyrene, as well as its modern counterparts:

  • Ecowool;
  • Pena Aisinin.

This material is light, so it practically does not affect the weight of the entire wooden structure.

And so, the second step after the dismantling of the flooring. To lay a layer of insulation, it is necessary to create a support for the draft floor, increasing the lower edges of the log with bars smaller than the distance between the beams.

A layer of waterproofing is laid on the support of the subfloor, represented by a special membrane, which simultaneously protects against moisture and steam. If the bath is built on water soil, then a layer of roofing material is laid, which must necessarily cover all the boards and climb the walls to a height of twenty centimeters along the perimeter of the steam room. It is better to seal the formed seams with a vapor barrier tape, you can buy it in a specialized store, the average price is 520 rubles per 10 meters (strip width 70 mm), and the joints with a construction stapler.

Next, either another subfloor or insulation is laid on top of the waterproofing layer. The thickness of the total layer is usually 200-250 mm, depending on how much it is necessary to reduce heat loss, and on the financial capabilities of the owners.

Another layer of hydro and vapor barrier is laid on top of the insulation. At this stage, the membrane can be replaced again with roofing material, and the resulting seams can be sealed with mastic.

At the final stage, the space near the drain pipe is filled with mounting foam. A finished floor is already laid on top.

*Interesting! In the shower room, you can not nail the finished floor to the base, but leave it as it is. This will allow from time to time to easily remove it and dry it from the moisture accumulated there.


concrete floor insulation

Concrete flooring is very popular because of its durability. Due to its high strength, annual refurbishment of the floor can reduce costs. It usually consists of concrete slabs, blocks of mineral wool, polystyrene, as well as the aforementioned expanded clay are used for insulation. It is necessary to start warming only after carrying out work on the preparation of the lower cement screed(rough floor).

We lay the first layer of waterproofing. The easiest to install and inexpensive option would be to use a durable layer of polyethylene or roofing material. We spread the film around the entire perimeter of the steam room (it should protrude 5-6 centimeters onto the walls, later the extra edges can be easily cut off).

Insulation is laid on the waterproofing layer. For more reliable fixation, you can screw it to the semi-draft using self-tapping screws or other fasteners wooden frame.

As with warming wood flooring, on the layer of thermal insulation we lay another waterproofing. When laying, the sheets are laid with an overlap of 10 cm and connected with a stapler.

On this stage the last layer is poured with a special solution no more than two centimeters thick, then a reinforcing mesh is placed, which is located on special plastic supports.

After complete drying, using a self-leveling mixture, lay the final rough screed 5-8 centimeters thick. It is leveled using a special device - a needle roller, which removes all air bubbles. Sometimes, at the request of the owners, instead of a finishing screed, a layer of ceramic tiles or porcelain stoneware is laid.

Other premises

In addition to the steam room and shower room, there is also a dressing room in the bathhouse. The amount of moisture in it is several times less, therefore, when insulating, you can not lay a layer of hydroprotection, that is, it is enough to insulate the space between the rough and finish screed.

In the case when the bath has already been built, professional builders recommend not dismantling the floor covering, but simply performing insulation on top of the existing one. Of course, the volume and height of the room will decrease by raising the floor by ten to fifteen centimeters, but the room will heat up faster and stay warm longer.

Folk methods

  • Straw. For floor insulation, you can also use straw, but only rye. It must be mixed with liquid clay in a ratio of 1x1. You have to mix the clay manually or with your feet. With the resulting solution, fill the earthen base in the bath, level it and wait for it to dry completely.
  • Sawdust. The processing process is identical to that of straw. Sawdust can be used for any tree species, but coniferous are best. Because they contain special resinous substances in their fibers, which, when heated, are released into the air and thereby slow down the process of decay and the spread of moisture.
  • Bulk heaters. As a heater, you can use expanded clay, slag from factories, and so on. Raw materials are poured, usually on an earthen base 5-10 cm thick. From above, the layer must be compacted and poured with a thick layer of clay (10-15 cm, or more).


*Interesting! If it's cold for you to stand on the floor, then the easiest and cheapest option would be to buy special wooden gratings. You can easily make them yourself, just make sure that there are no nails sticking out of anywhere, and also process the boards to get rid of knots. In stores, you can also buy special rubberized mats.

Let's summarize

If you have your own sauna, so that nothing interferes with a friendly warm atmosphere, in order to reduce the cost of fuel for heating the room, in order to reduce the time it takes to warm up the bath to the required temperature, you should think about insulation initially, during construction. But even if this issue was not taken into account, then it will not be difficult to dismantle the floor covering, and then insulate it.

The main heat loss in the bath occurs through bearing walls and floor construction. But unlike the walls, the floor is constantly exposed to a large amount of moisture and waste water. When insulating the floor, these points should be taken into account. Otherwise, constant exposure to moisture can damage the insulation. How to edit to insulate the floor?

The need to insulate the floor of the bath

Floor insulation in the dressing room with extruded polystyrene foam

When heated warm air rises, partially mixing with cold air masses penetrating through cracks and voids in the floor structure. Floor insulation avoids heat loss and reduces the penetration of cold air.

According to statistics, properly organized insulation helps to save up to 25% of all heat received during combustion. solid fuel. Therefore, it is necessary to insulate the floor in the bath in every room - a steam room, a washing room, a rest room and a dressing room.

In addition, thermal insulation of the floor allows you to solve such problems as:

  • high fuel consumption;
  • slow heating of the room;
  • high humidity in the steam room;
  • mold and rot.

A sharp temperature difference on the floor surface in different rooms of the bath can adversely affect human health. Especially if a person during bathing procedures leaves the steam room many times and goes into the rest room or washing room.

Warming methods

Insulation of the concrete floor in the steam room at the construction stage of the bath

The method of insulation depends on the design of the foundation and floor, as well as the materials that were used to build the base. Usually, thermal insulation of the floor is carried out at the stage of building a bath. In the process of work, the technology of laying the insulation and its insulation is observed, which prevents the ingress and absorption of contaminated water into the material.

When the floor is insulated in an already operated bath, dismantling is carried out facing material. The space between the supporting structure of the floor is cleaned and treated with antiseptic impregnations. After that, the estimated amount of insulation is laid and a fresh facing coating is laid.

Regardless of the method, when insulating the floor, it is important to take care of protecting the "heat-insulating pie". Otherwise, the material used will quickly become unusable.

Material selection

Expanded polystyrene and polystyrene in slabs for floor insulation

When choosing a material for insulation, one should take into account: the type of floor, the type of room, the thickness of the heat-insulating layer, environmental friendliness and specific gravity of the material.

Other things being equal, it is worth choosing materials with the least hydrophobicity. The material should not absorb moisture and have a minimum hygroscopic index. Especially in the case of wooden floors. Below is an overview table with the most popular materials for floor insulation.

Table: advantages and disadvantages of heaters

heat insulatorfloor typeMaterial Advantages
Styrofoamwooden/concreteDoes not absorb moisture, has a low coefficient of thermal conductivity, high service life and low weight. It is environmentally friendly and safe for human health, does not emit harmful substances when heated.
Styrofoamwooden/concreteDoes not absorb water, has high thermal insulation qualities. It does not weigh down the supporting structure; for thermal insulation of most types of floors, material 10 cm thick is sufficient.
Mineral woolConcreteDoes not burn, has a small specific gravity, convenient size. During installation, it is easy to cut and adjust to any floor configuration.
EcowoolWoodEffective and safe type of thermal insulation material. Mounted by spraying, which allows you to apply the material on any surface, even in hard-to-reach places.
Expanded claywooden/concreteEnvironmentally friendly and safe material. Possesses high insulating qualities and small weight. Compared to other heat insulators, it is the most affordable.
Perlitewooden/concreteDoes not absorb moisture, does not burn, has a low weight. Well suited for floor insulation, when the thickness of the heat-insulating cake should be minimal.

Despite the described advantages, each of the materials has its drawbacks. Styrofoam and extruded polystyrene foam are best used for insulating concrete floors with further tiling or laying plank grating.

Glass and mineral wool in rolls for thermal insulation

For the insulation of wooden floors from structures on logs, foamed heaters are somewhat worse. When laying, it will be necessary to level the rough base and carefully isolate the heat-insulating layer from possible heating.

Mineral wool is not suitable for floor insulation in a steam room. When heated, the material may release formaldehyde. It is dangerous by poisoning, exacerbation of chronic bronchitis and pulmonary edema.

High moisture absorption is the main disadvantage of expanded clay. When insulating a wooden floor in a washing room and a steam room, it is necessary to carefully equip the waterproofing of the floor. The expanded clay layer must be reliably protected from water and moisture.

Expanded clay and perlite are well suited for insulating a wooden floor.

Before using perlite, you should carefully study the technology of work. The material has a low weight and high volatility. For laying in the screed, you will need to thoroughly mix the material with water and cement. When insulating wooden floors, personal protective equipment should be used and work should only be carried out in rooms without drafts.

Ecowool is well suited for warming the bases in the washroom and dressing room. In the steam room, it is better to use more hygroscopic and dense materials. And also, when exposed to high temperatures, the material can deform and begin to smolder.

Calculation of the required amount of material

Wooden floor insulation with ecowool

To calculate the insulation required for carrying out thermal insulation works, you will need to know the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room in which it is planned to insulate the base. The thickness of the heat-insulating material is selected individually depending on its type and temperature conditions at the work site.

Foamed heat insulators are produced in plates with a thickness of 20 to 150 mm. For floor insulation, as a rule, plates with a thickness of 50 and 100 mm are used. Glass wool in slabs has a similar thickness - from 50 to 120 mm. The working thickness for floor insulation is 50–100 mm.

The minimum thickness of ecowool must be at least 20 mm. For baths in most regions of Russia, it will be necessary to lay an 80–100 mm layer. The minimum thickness of the expanded clay layer depends on the size of the fraction. For insulation of wooden structures and floors under a concrete screed, it is recommended to use expanded clay fraction 20–40. The thickness of the heat-insulating layer is at least 100 mm.

For example, let's calculate required amount polystyrene foam for thermal insulation of the floor in a steam room with an area of ​​8 m2. 8 / (0.5 * 1.2) = 13.33 ≈ 14 pieces, if you buy the material individually or 3 packs, since on average one pack contains 7 boards with a total area of ​​4–5.3 m2.

To calculate bulk heat-insulating materials (expanded clay, perlite), the formula is used: V = S * h, where:

  • V - quantity necessary insulation, kg.;
  • S - base area in the room, m2;
  • h is the thickness of the heat-insulating layer, m.

For example, let's calculate the volume of expanded clay needed to insulate the floor in a steam room with an area of ​​10 m2. V \u003d 10 * 0.2 \u003d 2 m3. In practice, a little less material will be required, but according to SNIP, any heat insulator is purchased with a 10% margin.

Necessary tools and accessories

Tool for warming the concrete floor and leveling the screed

To carry out thermal insulation work, you will need:

  • tape measure and pencil;
  • steel square and level;
  • construction knife and hacksaw;
  • screwdriver and drill;
  • electric planer;
  • container for water and cement;
  • rule and trowel;
  • a construction mixer or a mixer attachment for a drill;
  • galvanized screws.

Depending on the technology used and the type of insulated floor, additional material may be required, which is calculated individually for each room.

How to insulate the floor with your own hands - step by step instructions

Scheme of the device of a conventional and insulated floor in a bathhouse on a columnar foundation

It is optimal if floor insulation is carried out at the construction stage of the bath. In this case, it will be possible to fully prepare the space between the foundation and the floor, as well as properly protect and process the foundation itself.

Before insulating the floor in the operating bath, you will need to remove the final flooring from the supporting structure and clean the free space from dust. If thermal insulation of concrete floors is required, then the existing layer of concrete screed will need to be dismantled using a perforator and improvised means.

Wood

Preparing support beams and laying rough flooring

For work, in addition to the insulation used, it will be necessary to prepare an antiseptic for wood, a vapor barrier membrane, a 200 micron thick polyethylene film, a 30 × 30 mm bar, and a 25 mm thick edged board.

Wooden floor insulation is performed in the following sequence:

  1. Cranial bars are mounted to the lower edge of the support beams for the entire length. For this, galvanized self-tapping screws 40–50 mm long and a screwdriver are used. A rough base of edged boards is laid in the space between the beams. The length of the board is equal to the distance between adjacent beams.
  2. In the selected place, using a hacksaw or a jigsaw, a hole is cut to enter the pipe drain pipe. Similar actions are performed when working with insulation, only a sharp knife is used. The material is carefully cut to the shape of the pipe. After fixing the pipe, the gaps are filled with mounting foam.

    Laying insulation and installing bevelled guides to form a slope

  3. The floor structure is treated with a wood preservative at a time. A vapor barrier membrane is laid on top of the rough flooring with an overlap on the walls of 10–15 cm. The overlap between adjacent rows is at least 10 cm. The membrane is attached to the beams using masking tape or a construction stapler.
  4. Expanded clay is poured over the insulation or expanded polystyrene is laid, adjusted to the width between the support beams. For trimming, you should use a construction knife, but it is important to remember that the material must be laid tightly and without gaps.
  5. The insulation layer is covered with a vapor barrier membrane or a layer of roofing material. When working with roofing material, the overlaps between the rows are smeared with bituminous mastic, which will provide more reliable adhesion of the material.
  6. On top of the insulating layer, pre-prepared wooden poles. For this wooden blocks 50 × 50 or 70 × 70 mm are planed to form the required slope. For fastening, only galvanized self-tapping screws are used, which are recessed into the wood.
  7. A sheet of galvanized metal is mounted on beveled bars with a solid sheet with an overlap on the wall of 15–20 cm. A rubberized mallet is used to form a bend. The fastening step to the guides is 20 cm. In the center of the sheet, a hole for the drain is carefully cut with scissors for metal.
  8. In the lower part of the wall, supports made of timber with a section of 70 × 70 mm are mounted for laying a clean floor. The installation step is 70–80 cm. For fastening to the wall surface, it is better to use a stainless steel corner and 40 mm long self-tapping screws. A finishing flooring made of planed larch boards is laid over the supports.

If the wooden floor is insulated in the dressing room or rest room, then there is no need to form a slope and lay a galvanized sheet. After laying the second layer of insulation, a plank finish is laid.

Concrete

Scheme of floor insulation on the ground for baths on a strip foundation

For thermal insulation of a concrete base, it is necessary to prepare a polyethylene film 150-200 microns thick, a damper tape, construction stapler, beacons for leveling the screed.

The process of warming a concrete floor on the ground consists of the following steps:

  1. The surface of the soil is cleared of debris and plant roots. After that, a layer of slightly damp sifted sand is poured. The thickness of the sand cushion is 10–15 cm. The sand is carefully distributed over the ground and well compacted.
  2. A hole of small diameter is made in the foundation structure for the introduction of a drain pipe. The inner surface of the bearing base is smeared with bitumen-based mastic for one or two times. A layer of roofing material is laid on a sand cushion. The overlap between the rows is at least 10 cm, the overlap on the walls is 20 cm. Before laying, the adjacent areas are treated with mastic.

    Backfilling the sand cushion and laying the heat-insulating material

  3. A heat insulator is laid on top of the insulation. When forming a layer with a thickness of more than 50 mm, the material is laid with offset joints in order to avoid the formation of cold bridges. When using foam insulation, the gaps between the plates are filled with mounting foam.
  4. The insulation is covered with polyethylene with a strength of 150-200 microns. The joints between the rows are fixed with masking tape. An expansion tape is glued along the perimeter of the wall in the lower part to a height of up to 20 cm.

    Filling and leveling concrete mortar

  5. A reinforcing mesh and guides for leveling the screed are being installed. To do this, a cement-sand mixture is taken and laid out in a slide to a height of 10-15 mm. A reinforcing steel mesh with a cell of 10 × 10 cm is installed on the mixture.
  6. After that, a little more cement is laid, so that after installing the linear guide, the distance between the reinforcing layer is at least 3-4 cm. When installing the beacon, the necessary slope towards the drain is observed. If desired, the steel mesh can be replaced with fiberglass, which is added to the concrete solution during mixing.

    Laying ceramic tiles or wooden flooring after the concrete layer has cured

  7. A concrete mortar based on M300 cement is being mixed. The ratio of sand to cement is 3:1. For convenience, it is recommended to use ready-made dry mixes from the manufacturer. A metal rule is used to distribute the screed over the surface.

Before pouring the screed, the reliability of the fastening of the drain pipe is checked. If necessary, the pipe is fixed with steel wire directly to the reinforcing mesh. On the 4-6th day after pouring, the beacons are removed, and the space is rubbed with a solution. On the 29-30th day, you can start laying finish coat and operation of the insulated floor.

Video: floor insulation with polystyrene foam

Thermal insulation of the floor in the bath is time-consuming, but quite a feasible process even for people with minimal building skills. Before performing thermal insulation work with your own hands, we recommend that you carefully study the technologies described above. If you are unsure that you can perform floor insulation according to the requirements, then it is better to contact qualified specialists.

One of the problems that can upset the owners of a brand new steam room may be the floor is too cold in the room. If they collected a bath box in the summer, they could also insulate the floor in the bath, as they say, according to the season or according to the standard adopted for ordinary housing on a light foundation. With the advent of winter, thermal insulation is clearly not enough, and in the steam room, not to mention the dressing room and dressing room, it becomes chilly even with a properly working stove.

Warming the bath floor with mineral wool will be the cheapest

Why is the floor in the bath cold

It is clear that the boards on the floor in the bathhouse should not be overheated, but it is even worse if at a height of 10-20 cm from the surface the air already seems cold, and even icy in severe frost.

There are few reasons for such cooling of the lower tier, mainly these are mistakes made when planning the design and power of floor insulation in the bath:

  • Alteration of the summer steam room - a temporary hut into a full-fledged bathhouse, without thermal insulation of the foundation and soil under the floor;
  • Incorrect position of the stove. If the distance from the boards or tiles to the stove blower is more than 25 cm, and plus everything, a screen is installed, then even the insulated floor in the bath will simply not have time to warm up in a few hours of visiting the steam room;
  • The erroneous device of the drain system, or worse, the equipment of the drainage pit under the bathhouse.

Important! The main reason is still the illiterate arrangement of thermal insulation. The method of warming the floors of the bath is different from the device warm walls and ceiling covering.

Another factor that prevents you from properly performing floor insulation in the bath with your own hands can be considered elementary illiteracy or the desire to save on building materials. For example, when planning floor insulation for different rooms baths are used different materials and tricks. You can’t do everything one size fits all, if in the steam room it is necessary to lay reflective thermal insulation under the subfloor, then it is pointless to do this for a concrete base, just a waste of money. It will not be a mistake to make the floor as hot as in the steam room, but if it is the other way around, it will be impossible to heat the steam room even in 4-5 hours.

Insulation of the bath floor without vapor barrier is wasted effort and money

Cold floor in the bath: how to fix it

Even if the bath room has a weak and cold floor, no one will rebuild the building, and there is no particular need for this. But it is necessary to correct the insulation, waterproofing of the foundation and thermal insulation of the steam room, washing department and rest room.

Important! There are few options for keeping warm, but each of them requires a very careful, balanced approach. In addition to warming the bath floor, it is necessary to ensure normal ventilation of the space, otherwise the underground will not only be cold, but also wet due to condensation, and, as a result, infect the bath room with a sick atmosphere.

What can be done:

  • In the rest room and washing department of the bath, remove the floors, lay insulation and pour concrete screed. A clean floor is laid on top. Due to the air gap and the insulated concrete base, heat loss will decrease by 3-4 times;
  • For small steam rooms, the problem can be solved by laying a heat-insulating layer and changing the air movement pattern between the subfloor and front floor. A 10 kW stove of thermal power, with the correct arrangement of air channels, heats the floor in the dressing room and in the sink even faster than the walls;
  • Tiny bathhouses, with an area of ​​​​4-7 m 2, can simply be equipped with a “warm floor” water heating system. For most winter country steam rooms today this is the most optimal option for warming.

A hot water tank installed on the stove will provide not only floor heating, plus everything, it becomes possible to regulate the temperature depending on the weather and frost. And most importantly, upon completion of the bath procedures, the heat stored in the water container will be enough to dry the floor and drain even when the stove is extinguished.

You can heat the floor of the bath from the stove

Of course, all of the above activities make sense only with the correct primary insulation of all floor levels in the bath, otherwise the effect of heating the wooden base will be reduced to zero.

How not to do floor insulation

Separately, mention should be made of the methods by which it is impossible to insulate the base of the bath floor. First, you cannot rely only on the air gap between the wooden flooring from the boards and the ground. If the basement of the bathhouse is made without waterproofing, in other words, it remains under the lags open ground or a dug hole to collect water, then it will not be possible to insulate the floor. Humid air conducts heat very well, so the soil must be covered, an outlet sewer and an additional layer of heat-insulating material must be installed.

Insulation from cut foam packaging is unlikely to save the floor of the bath

Secondly, it is impossible to cover the outer parts of the foundation and walls with soil. Sometimes this is done to close the outer layer of insulation in the bases of residential buildings, but the earth embankment itself leads to the accumulation of water and rotting of the lower crowns of the walls. For a bath, it is more profitable to insulate the floor inside the room, rather than deal with general heat loss.

Thirdly, you can not use electric heaters, no matter if they are film or based on a high resistance cable. This is a direct violation of safety rules, and the effectiveness of such a warm floor in a bath room is low.

What insulation for the floor in the bath is better

Of the entire list of heaters used in domestic construction, only some of the most resistant to high temperature and humidity:

  • Extruded polystyrene foam or polystyrene;
  • Bulk insulation based on granulated perlite or expanded clay;
  • Multilayer polyethylene foam with a reflective aluminum layer;
  • Mineral wool.

In addition to standard ways to insulate the floor, there are many folk methods of keeping warm, most of them are still used in practice for small country steam rooms and padded jackets.

The floor can be insulated with standard foam and fiber materials

Important! Folk methods are quite laborious, require patience and good knowledge of the characteristics of the preparation of insulation, therefore, if there is no exact information about what and how to lay the material, then it is better to use more understandable traditional methods and heat insulators.

Bulk insulation

Many builders do not like floor insulation in the bath with expanded clay or perlite for one simple reason. The process itself turns out to be quite dirty and dusty; upon completion of the work, the walls and the wooden floor have to be washed and dusted for a long time. Perlite is especially "dusty" in nature, it has to be laid in the floor in the form of an additive 3: 1 to the cement mortar.

Perlite is not cheap, but the insulation from the granules is ideal

Expanded clay itself tolerates high temperatures well, therefore it retains its insulating qualities without degradation for decades. But burnt porous clay has one drawback - expanded clay, like a sponge, absorbs water vapor and odors.

If in the bath part of the moisture through cracks or through cracks in the logs gets into expanded clay, then the material will have to be changed, even prolonged heating will not restore heat-insulating qualities.

Among the advantages can be called simple technology, do-it-yourself floor insulation in a bath with expanded clay is considered the most affordable way of all existing. Expanded clay is ideal for a steam room and dressing room, but subject to good waterproofing and vapor barrier. The recommended layer thickness is up to 20 cm.

Mineral wool for the floor in the bath

Mineral fiber plates are used for insulation, basalt, gabbro-basalt or even slag processing products can be used, it is better not to use glass wool. Of the most popular brands, Rockwool or TechnoNIKOL are recommended.

The thickness of the thermal insulation layer for the steam room must be at least 15 cm, with the obligatory protection of the vapor barrier along the lower layer and the waterproofing along the upper one. Unlike expanded clay, thermal insulation with mineral fiber of the floor in the bath is possible only along wooden logs.

Foam materials

There is a certain prejudice in the use of expanded polystyrene and polyethylene foam in the insulation of the bath floor. Many owners of the bath, and experts too, believe that when the floor and walls are heated in the steam room, the appearance of polymer decomposition products is inevitable. In the case of walls and ceilings, this statement may have some basis in fact. Facing in the ceiling space can be heated up to 100 o C.

Insulation with polystyrene foam is the most durable

Another thing is the floor in the bath, it is always wet or even wet, the temperature rarely exceeds 50 ° C, so it is also possible to insulate the floor in the bath with polystyrene foam, but under the screed.

Advice! In cold climates, the floor in the bath can be additionally insulated using foil-wrapped polyethylene foam. One additional layer of thermal insulation can reduce losses through the floor by 20%.

How to properly insulate the floor in the bath

It is clear that the choice of insulation method fully depends on the design of the floor and foundation. For example, for a steam room installed on an uninsulated earthen base, moisture-absorbing insulation cannot be used. In this case, it will be necessary to make a screed and additional waterproofing of the base.

The scheme of warming the wooden floors of the bath on columnar supports

If the bath box is installed on piles, then the lower level of insulation is covered with a vapor barrier, and a waterproofing membrane is laid under the finishing floor, on top of the insulation. The same film acts as a water collector for the inlet funnel of the built-in sewage system.

Snipovskaya scheme of insulation for a bath on the ground

Insulation of the wooden floor in the bath

If it so happened that the bath box, including the floor, is on the ground, then the best option for warming would be to use EPS. Extruded polystyrene foam does not allow water vapor to pass through, so you can lay out and glue the sheets directly on the covered plastic wrap priming. The next layer is laid from waterproofing, and then you can lay out the boards of the finishing floor. In the steam room, they are usually made removable to make cleaning and drying easier.

EPPS can be laid directly on the ground

It is customary to glue EPPS at the joints, therefore, if polyurethane glue is used and plates with a thickness of at least 50 mm are taken, then the bottom layer of the film can be completely abandoned. True, in this case, you will have to make a pillow of gravel and sand in order to protect the wooden floor and the entire bath building from ground moisture. If the room is planned for a steam room, then the wooden floor can be insulated with an additional layer of mineral plates.

Insulation on a sand and gravel pillow

The result is a very simple and dry floor, in which, apart from plank floorboards, there are no details, logs and beams made of wood, which means there is nothing to rot, there is no basis for the reproduction of the fungus.

Warming along the lags

In most cases, they try to raise the bath box on a foundation of piles or columnar supports in order to avoid rotting of the basement or the lower crowns of the walls. In this case, the floor is made on logs.

You can insulate the floor by laying EPS or foam plastic in the space between the wooden beams. A layer of waterproofing is preliminarily laid, then a heater and a vapor barrier membrane. The joints between the slabs and beams are blown with foam.

The second option involves the use of mineral wool slabs. In this case, there should be a ventilation gap between the wooden floor and the insulation surface, 10-15 cm high.

Thermal insulation on Rockwool with reflective foil

How to insulate a concrete floor in a bath

The easiest way to perform thermal insulation on the foundation is to use perlite concrete. Perlite moistened with water and a small amount of liquid soap. In this case, the mixture becomes fluid, and you can easily fill in insulation up to 12 cm thick.

More complex, but at the same time more quality option Insulation of a concrete floor in a bathhouse involves the use of an embedded insulating layer of XPS. A waterproofing film is laid on top of the laid polystyrene foam panels and beacons from a perforated profile are glued.

If the thickness of the screed is less than 40 mm, then a mesh of fiberglass reinforcement. It is clear that a concrete floor with insulation is just a rough basis; to ensure the necessary level of comfort in the bath, you will need to remember about the surface waterproofing and the sewer system.

Next, it remains to lay oak or larch beams and lay wooden floorboards. With such insulation, sanded boards are laid with a gap of 2-3 mm. The cracks do not interfere with walking in bath slippers and at the same time do not allow the wooden floorboards to swell and stand on end. In the process of cleaning, they are easy to remove, clean, dry and return to their place.

How to insulate the floor in the bath with your own hands: video

Oddly enough, but when arranging floor insulation in the steam room or other rooms of the bath, drainage ground water do not, these tasks are solved with the help of drainage laid along the perimeter of the foundation of the building.

The first thing to do is to tear off part of the soil inside the bath to a depth of at least 15 cm and replace the removed mass with a sand-gravel mixture or expanded clay, in which case the insulation will be softer. It is clear that the layer will need to be carefully planned and aligned with the rails.

At the second stage, the pillow is covered with a film and the main layer of foam or EPS insulation is laid out.

Next, a perlite concrete screed is poured and waterproofing is applied. A tile is laid on top of the concrete field. The use of floor ceramics in the steam room and dressing room usually causes a lot of controversy. It is believed that part of the heat is lost in this way, and the floor becomes slippery and unsafe.

On top of the insulation in the bath, you need to lay tiles and wooden ladders

In fact ceramic coating ideal for a bath, the tiles can be glued in one step throughout the bath room, and wooden ladders can be laid on top.

As a result, we get additional bonuses:

  • Ideal waterproofing and insulation of the bath floor;
  • Lack of soil odors and penetration of fungi and bacteria from the ground;
  • Cleaning the floor in such a bath is much easier and faster than a purely wooden floor.

If it is required to insulate the floor with mineral wool, then a system of lags is assembled over the concrete screed, between which the slabs are laid. A PVC membrane is used as a vapor barrier, then a layer with a reflective coating and a finished floor made of wooden floorboards.

One of the options for laying Rockwool for floor insulation in the bath is shown in the video:

Warming folk methods

The simplest folk method is still used today, before steaming in a bath, a cold floor is poured with a large amount of boiling water. The procedure has to be performed until the oven warms up the floorboards, logs and underground. The technology is simple, but too troublesome.

For stone baths on the foundation, you can insulate the floor with a mixture of grated and burnt clay mixed with chopped reed stalks. To prevent the insulation from getting wet from moisture, the top was covered with larch or oak sawdust.

Most difficult option consisted in the formation of channels in the underground from clay and rye straw. When passing hot air from the stove, the floor of the bath warmed up and remained warm for 4-5 hours.

Conclusion

There are quite a few options for qualitatively insulating the floor in the bath. Even if you just do the waterproofing and vapor barrier correctly, then after laying the insulation material in the base, the floor of the bath will in any case be warm. Practice will show how durable the insulation made "by eye" will turn out.

Thermal insulation of the steam room is a must in any bath, regardless of the material of its manufacture. It is best to devote time to this matter at the construction stage, although this can also be done in a finished bath. How to do the warming of a steam room in a bath with your own hands - you will learn from our article. The steam room is the most important part of the bath. It should not be cold, and such a statement can hardly be disputed. Every zealous owner of the bath tries to minimize any heat loss in its steam room, since extra heating costs, problems with heating the room, keeping it warm and the discomfort of bath procedures usually do not please anyone. For reliable thermal insulation of the steam room, it is necessary to go through several stages of work on the insulation of its walls, floor and ceiling.

Features of reducing heat loss in the steam room




To avoid extra costs to kindle the stove and retain heat in the steam room, you need to consider a few simple rules for planning a bath:
  • The area of ​​the building is determined depending on the number of visitors present in it at the same time and the number of its rooms - a steam room, changing rooms and others. The size of the steam room is usually 4-6 m2.
  • The location of the locker room is planned closer to the entrance door of the bath. This will keep cold air from entering the steam room.
  • To save heat, the entrance from the steam room to the adjacent room can be arranged in the form of a vestibule.
  • The doorway for the steam room is made with a high threshold and a width of not more than 0.7 m.
  • The sauna stove is located closer to the exit.
  • To reduce heat losses through the window, the latter is made of a double-glazed window and is placed at a height of 1 m from the floor of the steam room.

Thermal insulation materials for steam room insulation




Natural raw materials and artificial products are used as heat-insulating and sealing materials for the steam room.
Natural raw materials include: tow, which is used to fill gaps, sphagnum, which acts as an interventional sealant, construction frame moss - wall insulation. These materials are environmentally friendly and do a good job of protecting the premises from heat loss. However, they are prone to rapid decay and are a delicacy for insects. For this reason, natural heaters are recommended to be treated with antiseptics, and their use for a steam room is undesirable.
Expanded clay and expanded polystyrene plates, basalt wool and ordinary foam plastic serve as artificial materials for insulation. All of them are distinguished by moisture resistance, biological safety, long-term operation and a high degree of thermal insulation. Expanded clay slabs are used to insulate the floor of steam rooms, polystyrene foam slabs for their attic floors, and basalt wool for walls and ceilings.
For the insulation and waterproofing of the walls and ceiling of the steam room, foil insulation is currently used. It is a roll of basalt wool with a layer of aluminum foil glued on it. When using this material, the process of insulating structures is greatly simplified - the foil protects the insulation from moisture and contributes to the reflection of heat from the enclosing structures into the room.

Insulation of the ceiling of the steam room in the bath




To insulate the ceiling in the steam room, we will use a modern method, which involves the use of foil material as a vapor barrier layer.
The work consists of five stages:
  1. Insulation is attached to the ceiling beams with a stapler, facing the inside of the room with a layer of aluminum foil, which simultaneously serves as a heat-reflecting screen. This will reduce the cost of heating and keeping the steam room warm by 2-3 times. The joints of the panels of the overlapped insulator are glued with aluminum tape. Other vapor barrier materials are also used for baths, but they are not as effective.
  2. The ceiling batten supporting the insulation is fastened with screws across the ceiling beams. The crate is necessary for the installation of the outer skin of the ceiling. WITH inside the ceiling of the room between the future sheathing and the sheets of foil insulation, an air heat-reflecting gap is left.
  3. The selected insulation is laid from the attic side between the ceiling beams. It should be tight, without the slightest gaps.
  4. A polyethylene film is laid and fixed on top of the insulation to protect it from moisture and dust from the street. To avoid mechanical damage to the multilayer thermal insulation in the attic, a rough plank floor is laid along the beams.
  5. At the last stage of work, the ceiling of the steam room is sheathed along the crate with a wooden clapboard. The material for it can be hardwood - linden, aspen, etc. What material to choose is up to you.
When warming the steam room in frame bath such thermal insulation of the ceiling is necessary, but for a log cabin - optional. There are enough boards 6 cm thick, fixed on ceiling beams, and a layer of mineral wool 15 cm.

Thermal insulation of the walls of the steam room in the bath




Before the internal insulation of the walls in the steam room, it is necessary to seal all joints and gaps in them with a sealant. After the composition has dried, you can begin to perform thermal insulation. Its process is similar to the insulation of the ceiling, but has some nuances. Wall insulation is carried out in a horizontal direction along the perimeter of the steam room, moving from the top to the floor. Moreover, the strip of foil overlaps to the slope left during the insulation of the ceiling. The insulated wall of the steam room should have three layers of protection: waterproofing, thermal insulation and vapor barrier membrane.
The order of work is this:
  • To exclude the possibility of the formation of vapor condensate on the walls, the enclosing structures of the steam room are covered with a waterproofing film.
  • The heat-insulating layer of mineral wool is placed in a crate of timber, which is stuffed onto the wall along the waterproofing and the intermediate layer of clean paper.
  • The vapor barrier layer protects the insulation from exposure to moist air. For this purpose, a foil membrane is used, which is attached over the insulation to the crate using a stapler. The joints of her overlapped canvases are glued with metal tape.
  • At the last stage, over the membrane to wooden frame The wall is fastened with lining made of hardwood.
In contrast to the warming of the steam room in brick bath, a wooden building will require fewer heat-insulating materials, since the wood itself has similar properties.
Important! Before the outer wall cladding, thin laths must be stuffed onto the crate to create an air gap, which, together with the foil membrane, will create a heat-reflecting effect.

Warming the floor of the steam room in the bath

A concrete floor is stronger and more durable than a wooden one, as it is not afraid of moisture. It is very easy to take care of the tiles laid on the screed. But tiles are cold material. Wooden floors for a steam room are much more suitable. To reduce its heat loss, both types of floors require insulation.

Insulation of the wooden floor in the steam room




Structurally, a wooden floor has differences from a concrete floor, but their thermal insulation has the same principle. The whole system looks like this: foundation, floor beams, logs laid on beams, a layer of vapor barrier material, a subfloor, insulation, a waterproofing layer, a finishing floor.
After installing the log and laying the vapor barrier material, the space between the floor beams is filled with insulation. They can be sand, slag, expanded clay, fiberglass or mineral wool mats and foam. Waterproofing and a finishing floor are laid on the insulation.

Thermal insulation of the concrete floor in the steam room




The scheme of the concrete insulated floor in the steam room is as follows: foundation, concrete floor, waterproofing layer, insulation, concrete screed, ceramic tile or wooden floor.
You can see that such a floor is similar to a kind of "sandwich", consisting of a couple of layers of concrete and insulation laid between them. In the same way, the floor of a bathhouse erected on a columnar foundation is insulated. The difference here is that the monolithic base is replaced reinforced concrete slab laid on a frame made of a metal channel.
Work on floor insulation in the steam room consists of several stages:
  1. The laying of the base of the lower layer of the floor is carried out from a concrete mixture having a crushed stone fraction of 20-35 mm. The thickness of the concrete cushion is 120-150 mm.
  2. The waterproofing is laid after the polymerization of the concrete. Roofing material, roofing felt and bituminous mastics can serve as materials for it. Before applying the latter, the base is painted with a special primer. Waterproofing is laid on the concrete surface after it has been treated with two or three layers of bituminous material.
  3. For the installation of insulation, mineral wool, perlite, boiler slag with a layer of 250-300 mm, foam plastic, expanded clay with a layer of 100-150 mm, etc. are used.
  4. The second layer of the floor is laid on the heat-insulating material. In the concrete of this layer, a finer fraction of crushed stone is used.
The finished floor can be covered with a platform made of wood. After the end of the bath procedures, it is removed, washed and dried.
How to insulate a steam room in a bath - look at the video:

As you can see, warming a steam room is easy to do on your own. Turn on your patience and diligence, and the result will be sure! Author: TutKnow.ru editors

How to make steam room insulation correctly and what materials to use

One of the most important stages in the construction of a bath is the warming of a steam room, since only a stable temperature regime V this room will achieve excellent performance, as well as a comfortable and beneficial microclimate. Further in the article we will talk about this procedure.


The danger of improper insulation of the steam room

Any errors in the performance of insulation work can lead to a low quality of accepted bathing procedures and a deterioration in the overall performance of the room. Intense leakage of steam and thermal energy can lead to deformation finishing materials, to the formation of fungi and mold on them, etc.

In this regard, it is possible to form a set of rules that should be followed when warming the steam bath compartment:

  • thermal insulation must be of high quality in everything: correct installation, reliability of materials, etc.;
  • the tightness of the floors is very important, since the effectiveness of the procedures depends on the degree of steam conservation in the room;
  • save on purchases thermal insulation materials in no case is it possible, since this can lead to their rapid deformation and deterioration of the general visual condition of the steam room in the photo or during visual inspection.

Optimal building materials for steam room insulation

If we are talking about how to insulate the steam room from the inside, then it is immediately worth pointing out the main qualities that the selected materials should have:

  • ecological cleanliness without the release of any substances harmful to the human body;
  • high degree of fire safety required for a room where extreme temperatures are reached;
  • moisture resistance, which allows you not to be afraid that the material will get wet and become unusable after the first bath procedures.

Most of all, all the declared requirements correspond to materials based on basalt. It is about stone mineral wool. The vapor barrier layer in the ceilings can be created from aluminum foil.


The beginning of work on laying heat-insulating material should begin with preparatory work aimed at leveling and eliminating defects in rough foundations. Any protrusions and roughness on the walls and ceiling should be sanded, and any gaps should be sealed. Before insulating the steam room from the inside, it is necessary to clean and degrease all areas affected by fungus and mold (more: " Proper insulation steam rooms from the inside - advice from the master").

Start laying steam and waterproofing materials, as well as the insulation for the steam room itself, is possible only after all the wooden elements of the floors have been treated with antiseptic agents. It is always worth remembering that floors contain more than one layer of material and thermal insulation is not the crown of the whole structure. In fact, the walls and floor are sandwiches, in which each layer is responsible for certain functions.

Proper drafting of the bath project is the key to success

In addition to carrying out the warming of the steam room in wooden bath, it is necessary to create a competent project of the entire structure.

When developing a project, the following parameters should be taken as a basis:

  1. To begin with, it is worth deciding on the size of the bath. For this, the maximum capacity of visitors and the number of rooms that are planned to be equipped inside the building are taken into account.
  2. The project itself is created with an emphasis on taking into account all possible losses of thermal energy and their minimization. For example, the dressing room is located at the exit from the bathhouse in order to minimize the access of cold air masses to the main part of the building where the steam room is located.
  3. Between the washing room and the steam room, a vestibule should be equipped, which will not allow steam to leak into a room with a lower temperature.
  4. The door in the steam room should not be large, but its joint with the floor should be raised with a special threshold, which does not allow cold air to enter the room.
  5. The greatest convenience of the steam room is achieved when the room has the shape of a square. One of its corners is reserved for the installation of a heating furnace. It is desirable that this be the corner closest to the front door.

Also, do not forget that when designing it is necessary to determine the materials used. If we are talking about how to insulate a steam room in a bath, then artificial or natural materials can be used.


Natural materials are the following types:

  • tow - used to seal cracks that are formed when creating a log cabin or a building made of wooden beams;
  • sphagnum - is laid between the crowns;
  • construction moss is a standard wall insulation.

If the warming of the steam room in the bath is made with artificial materials, then we are talking about the following varieties:

  • extruded polystyrene foam;
  • mats made of stone or mineral wool.

Each of these materials has a long service life, a high level of mechanical stability, moisture resistance, etc.

The importance of insulating ceilings in the steam room

The ceiling has a greater amount of insulation material compared to wall ceilings. The reason for this is the convection of air: when heated, it rises to the ceiling, and cold air descends in its place. The same thing happens with water vapor. In this regard, heat-insulating materials are laid in ceiling ceilings in two layers, which will reduce the level of heat loss.


Ceiling thermal insulation of the steam room of the bath is carried out in stages:

  1. The rough surface of the ceiling is covered with paper in rolls. The sheets are overlapped with each other with a sufficient spade. Sheets are fixed with wood blocks measuring 5x5 centimeters.
  2. Empty spaces between the bars are laid with heat-insulating material.
  3. Then all segments of the ceiling are covered with aluminum foil, which is fixed with adhesive tape. It is important to avoid the formation of gaps and cracks in this layer. It is the foil surface that maximizes the safety of water vapor in the steam room and prevents condensation from forming. In the absence of aluminum foil, the ceiling of the bath steam room can be insulated with paper or cardboard impregnated with special compounds.
  4. From above, the coating is once again lined with bars measuring 2x3 centimeters. This improves the ventilation of the ceiling.
  5. On top of these bars, the selected facing material is mounted.

Features of steam room wall insulation

After the ceiling has been insulated in the steam room, you can begin to process the walls. The rough surface must be specially prepared for this procedure. Any joints, cracks and other cavities must be plastered or sealed with sealant.

Work on the installation of thermal insulation can only be started after the completion of the drying process of the plaster or sealant. Processing the walls is no more difficult than insulating the ceiling in the steam room of the bath, since both processes are similar (read: "How to make a ceiling in the steam room and run a chimney through it").

  1. First fixed aluminium foil using wooden blocks measuring 4x4 centimeters, placed horizontally.
  2. Between the bars is laid thermal insulation material.
  3. Then the foil is finally fixed with a construction stapler. It is important to stretch the material, but not to allow the formation of gaps, cracks or tears in the foil.
  4. All joints of the structure are glued with a special aluminum tape.
  5. On top of the tape, bars are longitudinally attached for laying the selected facing material.
  6. The work is completed by laying the finish coat.

When finishing, low-density materials should be used, since warming the steam room in the bath requires everyone structural elements the main thing is to keep the heat in the room. It is best to pay attention to materials from pine, linden or aspen wood with a small thickness of the planks. They not only reliably protect the steam room from heat loss, but will also look aesthetically pleasing in the photo and during visual inspection.

The installation of the material should be carried out in a horizontal way in order to reduce the total load distributed over the main structural elements. Penofol, which is gaining its popularity in the construction market, should be chosen as a warming material.

How to insulate a concrete floor in a steam room

In the end, you should move on to warming the floors in the steam room. In addition to thermal insulation, you should also take care of waterproofing floors. There are two types of materials mounting algorithm. In this paragraph, we will talk about floor insulation in a steam room with a concrete base.

The following algorithm for heat and waterproofing is simplified, as it is used when laying under a tile.

Work is carried out as follows:

  1. The base is leveled to a perfectly flat state.
  2. Apply over it bituminous mastic and wait for it to dry completely.
  3. Then roofing material and a polymer film are laid.
  4. A tile is mounted on top (read: "How to choose a tile for a bath and how to lay it on the floor").

Better construction for concrete floor insulation:

  1. A plywood sheet is mounted on a draft base.
  2. A waterproofing layer is laid on it with a spade on the walls.
  3. All joints are glued with aluminum tape.
  4. The gaps are sealed and insulated with a building hair dryer.
  5. A reinforcing mesh is laid on the layer and poured with a layer of concrete mortar.
  6. After the screed hardens, you can begin laying the tiles.

When pouring a concrete screed, it is important to take into account the age of the wood used to create the chopped bath. It is important to use material from the age of 2 years. Otherwise, the structure will shrink, which will cause deformation or destruction of the foundation.

Working with a wooden base

The method by which insulation is laid in a steam room with a wooden floor is similar to the algorithm of actions described above. See also: "How to make floor insulation in the bath with your own hands - a guide from the master."

Work is carried out as follows:

  1. Mineral wool is laid under the logs.
  2. A rolled roofing material is laid on it.
  3. All wooden elements in the floor structure are treated with special antiseptic agents.
  4. A subfloor is laid on the roofing material.
  5. The work is completed by finishing the surface with a finishing floor covering.


After the insulation for the steam room is embedded in the floor from the inside, the “pie” of the floor looks like this:

  • foundation;
  • wooden beams;
  • vapor barrier material;
  • lining and heat-insulating material;
  • floor board.

Also, in the process of laying the floors, you need to take care of creating a high threshold under the front door. This is the most important functional measure aimed at protecting the steam room from cold air masses entering it. Naturally, the complete preservation of water vapor inside the room can only be ensured when the door leaf fits as tightly as possible to the frame and sill.


We must not forget that a separate area in the room should be allocated for the installation of the furnace and the subsequent chimney outlet. A separate foundation base is mounted under the furnace with a height greater than that of the main foundation.

When equipping the walls and ceiling, it must be taken into account that a chimney will exit through one of the ceilings, for which a square hole will have to be cut out and a frame equipped in it. Regulations require that the chimney from the stove be located at least 20 centimeters from any wooden elements in bath design. This hole is closed with a stainless steel sheet.

Outcome

The article describes in detail the procedure for insulating walls, floors and ceilings in the steam bath compartments. It is important to take into account all the recommendations and advice given in the article, as well as pay special attention to the standards for conducting construction works, since installation errors can lead to an unfavorable outcome.


Also, the work can be entrusted to specialists who will take responsibility for all stages - from the purchase of the necessary materials to installation and putting the bath into operation.

How to insulate the floor in the bath: ways for different coatings

A Russian bath is the place where a person relaxes, rests his body and soul, therefore, even during construction, it is necessary to think about the insulation of walls, ceilings and, most importantly, the floor in all rooms, because experts say that good insulation can reduce heat costs by almost two times. In addition, it takes much more time to heat rooms without proper insulation, and they cool down in a matter of hours.

The floor in the bath often serves not only as a place on which you walk, but also as a drain of water, which, in the absence of insulation and waterproofing, can rot very quickly and become covered with mold that is dangerous to health.

To visit the steam room to be as effective, useful and comfortable as possible, you need to know how to insulate the floor yourself. After all, the microclimate that forms in the bath itself, the dressing room and the rest room is so different that such a sharp temperature drop can adversely affect health, especially if you have small children.


*Important! If during construction the issues of thermal and waterproofing were not taken into account, or if you got an already finished building for a bath, then you will have to completely dismantle the floor covering and re-equip the floor.

In this article, we will consider several options for thermal insulation, the choice of which depends on the material of the flooring (the most common are wood and concrete) and its structure (screed on the ground, on the floor, and so on). Usually they use modern technologies or folk methods, which for many years have not lost their relevance among the owners of country houses and cottages. We will also give you a couple of practical tips and recommendations for warming the floor in the bath with your own hands.

Material selection

Since a bath is a place where an increased level of moisture and temperature is observed, professional builders recommend taking the choice of heat-insulating material very seriously, because it depends on its quality and proper installation whether the steam room will be in operation for many years without causing unnecessary trouble.

*Important! The main characteristic when choosing a heater is the level of its hydrophobicity, that is, the level of water absorption.


The choice of insulation depends on the material from which the floor is made. There is also a universal insulation with an excellent price-to-quality ratio - polystyrene foam and its twin brother - polystyrene foam. Due to their lightness, they can be easily cut into pieces of the required size, while both materials do not absorb moisture and have low thermal conductivity. In addition to these two, there are a large number of other materials:

  • Mineral and glass wool. They are used only for warming concrete floors. When used for wood decking, it is important to wrap the wadding in a thick layer of waterproofing because the wadding absorbs moisture very well and quickly loses its thermal insulation properties. And when wet, the structure quickly collapses;
  • Expanded clay. It is used only for warming concrete floors. It has similar characteristics with glass wool, requires an additional layer of hydro and vapor barrier. Expanded clay is used both in pure form and in the form of a mixture with cement. After the solution, the space between the lower and upper cement screed is poured.
  • Perlite. Material in the form of sand or dust, which is mixed with cement, water and poured between cement floor screeds. After hardening, it has a porous structure. Less commonly used for wood flooring. After hardening, perlite acquires a cellular structure, allowing to reduce heat loss in the steam room.



*Interesting! As a replacement for the above raw materials, no less high-quality analogues are sometimes used - building felt, cinder block and foam concrete.

Wooden floor insulation

Immediately before starting, some preparatory work should be carried out, namely:

  • Carry out the dismantling of the flooring, remove all the logs, and if you plan to use them after insulation, we recommend numbering all the boards;
  • All floorboards must be inspected for defects, chips, cracks and fungus. If this was found, it is better to replace the floorboard completely;

*Advice! When you lay the flooring back after all the manipulations, do not forget to leave a gap of 3-4 cm between the top layer of insulation and the wooden blocks. This will prevent the boards from deforming, and there will also be an additional layer of ventilation.



If the bath was built on soil with a high level of moisture, an ordinary roofing material is suitable as a waterproofing material. It must be laid so that the insulation layer does not have gaps and partially extends onto the walls.

Although wood is less durable than concrete, it is most often used to cover the floor in baths because of its environmental friendliness and high thermal insulation performance. The most popular trees for decking are:

  • Poplar;
  • Pine;
  • Fir;

*Important! If the boards in the dressing room and other rooms are covered with an antiseptic to prevent the wood fibers from being allowed to grow by fungal growths, then due to the high level of toxicity in the steam room itself, this should by no means be done.



The best choice as a heater would be a material with closed cells that do not allow moisture to pass through. The best option is expanded polystyrene, as well as its modern counterparts:

  • Ecowool;
  • Pena Aisinin.

This material is light, so it practically does not affect the weight of the entire wooden structure.

And so, the second step after the dismantling of the flooring. To lay a layer of insulation, it is necessary to create a support for the draft floor, increasing the lower edges of the log with bars smaller than the distance between the beams.

A layer of waterproofing is laid on the support of the subfloor, represented by a special membrane, which simultaneously protects against moisture and steam. If the bath is built on water soil, then a layer of roofing material is laid, which must necessarily cover all the boards and climb the walls to a height of twenty centimeters along the perimeter of the steam room. It is better to seal the formed seams with a vapor barrier tape, you can buy it in a specialized store, the average price is 520 rubles per 10 meters (strip width 70 mm), and the joints with a construction stapler.


Next, either another subfloor or insulation is laid on top of the waterproofing layer. The thickness of the total layer is usually 200-250 mm, depending on how much it is necessary to reduce heat loss, and on the financial capabilities of the owners.

Another layer of hydro and vapor barrier is laid on top of the insulation. At this stage, the membrane can be replaced again with roofing material, and the resulting seams can be sealed with mastic.

At the final stage, the space near the drain pipe is filled with mounting foam. A finished floor is already laid on top.

*Interesting! In the shower room, you can not nail the finished floor to the base, but leave it as it is. This will allow from time to time to easily remove it and dry it from the moisture accumulated there.



concrete floor insulation

Concrete flooring is very popular because of its durability. Due to its high strength, annual refurbishment of the floor can reduce costs. It usually consists of concrete slabs, blocks of mineral wool, polystyrene, as well as the aforementioned expanded clay are used for insulation. It is necessary to start warming only after carrying out work on the preparation of the lower cement screed (subfloor).

We lay the first layer of waterproofing. The easiest to install and inexpensive option would be to use a durable layer of polyethylene or roofing material. We spread the film around the entire perimeter of the steam room (it should protrude 5-6 centimeters onto the walls, later the extra edges can be easily cut off).


Insulation is laid on the waterproofing layer. For a more reliable fixation, you can fasten a wooden frame to the semi-draft using self-tapping screws or other fasteners.

As with the insulation of a wooden coating, we lay another waterproofing layer on the thermal insulation layer. When laying, the sheets are laid with an overlap of 10 cm and connected with a stapler.


At this stage, the last layer is poured with a special solution no more than two centimeters thick, then a reinforcing mesh is placed, which is located on special plastic supports.

After complete drying, using a self-leveling mixture, lay the final rough screed 5-8 centimeters thick. It is leveled using a special device - a needle roller, which removes all air bubbles. Sometimes, at the request of the owners, instead of a finishing screed, a layer of ceramic tiles or porcelain stoneware is laid.

Other premises

In addition to the steam room and shower room, there is also a dressing room in the bathhouse. The amount of moisture in it is several times less, therefore, when insulating, you can not lay a layer of hydroprotection, that is, it is enough to insulate the space between the rough and finish screed.

In the case when the bath has already been built, professional builders recommend not dismantling the floor covering, but simply performing insulation on top of the existing one. Of course, the volume and height of the room will decrease by raising the floor by ten to fifteen centimeters, but the room will heat up faster and stay warm longer.

Folk methods

  • Straw. For floor insulation, you can also use straw, but only rye. It must be mixed with liquid clay in a ratio of 1x1. You have to mix the clay manually or with your feet. With the resulting solution, fill the earthen base in the bath, level it and wait for it to dry completely.
  • Sawdust. The processing process is identical to that of straw. Sawdust can be used for any tree species, but coniferous are best. Because they contain special resinous substances in their fibers, which, when heated, are released into the air and thereby slow down the process of decay and the spread of moisture.
  • Bulk heaters. As a heater, you can use expanded clay, slag from factories, and so on. Raw materials are poured, usually on an earthen base 5-10 cm thick. From above, the layer must be compacted and poured with a thick layer of clay (10-15 cm, or more).



*Interesting! If it's cold for you to stand on the floor, then the easiest and cheapest option would be to buy special wooden gratings. You can easily make them yourself, just make sure that there are no nails sticking out of anywhere, and also process the boards to get rid of knots. In stores, you can also buy special rubberized mats.

Let's summarize

If you have your own sauna, so that nothing interferes with a friendly warm atmosphere, in order to reduce the cost of fuel for heating the room, in order to reduce the time it takes to warm up the bath to the required temperature, you should think about insulation initially, during construction. But even if this issue was not taken into account, then it will not be difficult to dismantle the floor covering, and then insulate it.


Insulation of the bath from the inside - scheme

The internal insulation of the bath is one of the most important stages in the arrangement of this building. Without high-quality thermal insulation, the owner will have to spend much more resources on heating the steam room, and the very situation in the bath without properly installed protection will leave much to be desired.



Since ancient times in Rus', moss, felt and even flax have been used to insulate baths, mainly due to the lack of other heaters - vegetable fiber either rots or dries, therefore today it is not used for basic thermal insulation.



The main difference between warming a bathhouse and a similar event in an ordinary house is simple: in the steam room you need to keep the heat for as long as possible, i.e. high temperatures should remain indoors for as long as possible.



Thermal insulation work in the bath can be carried out using a wide variety of materials. Eg, ideal solution is a modern insulation based on stone wool with a foil coating - it does not burn, withstanding temperatures up to 750 degrees, effectively retains heat, does not rot, is not of interest to rodents.

After reviewing the information below, you will get a complete theoretical understanding of the implementation process internal insulation steam room, and also study step by step instructions By self-assembly thermal insulation materials.

We warm the bath from the inside: what do we need?

Any construction, repair and finishing activities begin with the preparation of materials, without which the implementation of the planned work will simply be impossible. Pay due attention to the study of the list below: it is better to spend a little time reading and buy everything you need right away than to return to the store and buy more of what you forgot.

insulation

The main component of the list under consideration. The modern market offers the widest range of thermal insulation materials, but not every one of them is suitable for use in a steam room - humidity and temperature can be too tough. For warming the bath, the most commonly used are: expanded clay (floor insulation), materials based on stone wool, and expanded polystyrene.

Important! It is strongly not recommended to use foam plastic for insulation directly in the steam room - at high temperatures, a material of dubious quality can most likely release substances harmful to human health.

Comparative characteristics of the mentioned materials are given in the following table.

Table. Comparison of popular bath heaters

Evaluation criterion Expanded clay


Structure Bulk material of natural origin. Presented in the form of granules with a cellular structure. fibrous structure. The arrangement of fibers is both vertical and horizontal, disordered. Open cell structure.
moisture permeability The material does not pass water. Mineral wool insulation has practically no tendency to absorb moisture. Moisture permeability is extremely low.
Weight Easy Medium-light Easy
Strength High Medium
Compressive strength High From low to medium, depending on the specific type of material and manufacturer's technologies. Medium
Toxicity The material is safe No toxic properties Over time, it begins to release harmful substances
Can be used under high load conditions Suitable Depending on the brand of material not suitable
prone to decay The material retains its original integrity for a long time Durable insulation Has a tendency to break down
UV resistance Doesn't react to sunlight Features high UV resistance Long-term direct contact with sunlight extremely negatively affect the performance of the material

As noted, expanded clay is suitable for warming bath floors. Bulk material allows you to provide the required thermal insulation of both wooden and concrete structures. Mineral wool insulation is optimally suited for insulating both walls and ceilings. The best option, as noted, is a stone wool-based heat-insulating material equipped with an additional foil coating - the key characteristics of such heaters are at a higher level.




In accordance with the current provisions of the technology for carrying out the work in question, the joints of the insulation boards must be glued with foil tape. This will create a sealed surface with the highest possible thermal insulation properties.



Elements thermal insulation coating fit into the cells of a pre-assembled crate, for the assembly of which wooden bars are used. Select the cross section of the bars in accordance with the thickness of the thermal insulation. For example, if you are equipping a 10 cm thermal insulation layer, use bars with a similar thickness or width to assemble the frame.

Choose the distance between the bars 1-2 cm less than the width of the plates or the insulation roll. For bulk materials, the optimal distance between the bars is 45-60 cm.



Fixing the elements of the crate (bars) is carried out using dowels / self-tapping screws (if the surface is wooden) or anchors (if the base is stone). The length of the fasteners is also selected in accordance with the base material: for wood - 2-2.5 cm, for capital structures - from 4 cm.

The specific length of fasteners is determined in accordance with the characteristics of their use. For example, during the installation of the crate, the fasteners must be of such length that high-quality fixation of the timber / profile of the selected section is ensured. The cross section of the beam itself, as well as the profile parameters, are determined in accordance with the thickness of the heat-insulating layer to be equipped.