The tile is ideal for use as a floor covering for a sauna and is a serious competitor to a wooden floor. Its installation is within the power of any owner, subject to strict adherence to the laying technology. Let's talk about this in more detail. Content:
- Advantages and disadvantages
- Tile selection
- Materials and tools
- Preparation of the base
-
Laying tiles
- Technology
- Slope
Bathrooms are characterized by high humidity. Wooden floors do not last long enough in such conditions. Alternatively, ceramic coatings can be used that are not afraid of dampness and fungus. From our article you will learn today how to put tiles on the floor in the bath.
Advantages and disadvantages of a tiled floor in a bath
The tile is ideal for flooring in the bathhouse and has undoubted advantages:
- Ceramic tiles are not afraid of high humidity, mildew and mold.
- With the help of tiles, you can make a slope of the coating to organize the flow of water into the floor drain.
- Tile floors can be complemented with modern heating systems.
- Ceramic material is durable at its low cost.
- Tiled coatings are relatively inexpensive, easy to maintain, and a variety of designs.
- The ease of laying the tiles is provided by moisture-resistant glue, which is diluted with ordinary water.
Among the disadvantages of the tile, it is worth noting its fragility. If it falls, it will break, so the floor in the bath from tiles with your own hands must be done carefully, with at least minimal experience. In Russian baths made of wood, tiles are used only in washing departments - there it is really necessary.
The choice of floor tiles in the bath
The appearance and ease of use of the coating depends on the choice of tiles. It goes on sale in the form of glazed and unglazed tiles. The first one takes place in the production of double firing, which increases its strength and endurance to temperature extremes.
When buying tiles for a bath, some criteria should be considered:
- The texture of the front side of the material should be rough to avoid falls on slippery surfaces.
- The base of the tile must contain a relief to ensure adhesion of the adhesive to the product and the prepared surface.
- For your own installation, buy rectangular tiles, only professionals will install octahedral tiles.
- The number of tiles for the floor is taken 10% more than its area, the stock is needed to trim tiles to the abutments.
Materials and tools for floor installation in a tile bath
Before laying the floor in a tile bath, it is necessary to purchase materials and prepare the tools that will be required for work. Below is a list of everything you need:
- Ceramic tiles for floors;
- Plastic crosses to form seams between tiles;
- Waterproof glue for laying tiles in sanitary facilities;
- Suture polymer grout;
- Metal comb spatula;
- Standard metal spatula;
- Rubber spatula for sealing joints;
- Rubber mallet for upsetting tiles;
- A container for water and moistening tiles before laying them;
- Tile cutting machine or "grinder";
- Construction level;
- Cord.
Preparation of the substrate before laying the tiles in the sauna on the floor
Before preparing the base for tiled floors, it is necessary to equip drainage systems and drainage of wastewater outside the building. The start of these works is planned at the stage of foundation construction. If there is sandy soil on the site, a drainage pit is dug under the washing room of the bath, which is partially filled with rubble or fragments of bricks.
To remove the unpleasant odor from the drainage pit, which can enter the room through the floor drain, air ducts are laid out through the body of the foundation. Embedded sleeves for them must be provided before the concrete is poured into the formwork.
With dense soil, for a similar purpose, a pit is made with a drainage system in the form of a sewer pipe, which is discharged into a prepared gutter. The walls of the pit are concreted, and the pipe is insulated against freezing in the ground during severe frosts. After installing the sewage system, we perform a tile floor with insulation made of porous material in the bath. For this, it is necessary to level and compact the soil under the washing compartment.
It is stacked on it in turn:
- Sand pillow 15 cm thick;
- A five-centimeter layer of foam or mineral wool;
- Overlap roofing material waterproofing;
- Reinforcing metal mesh 100x100 mm.
A concrete screed is poured from above, and the base for the floor is ready.
Laying tiles in the bath on the floor
The process of floor cladding in a bath room is distinguished by the use of moisture-resistant materials and the creation of the necessary slopes in the coating for water drainage. These nuances should be taken into account when working in "wet" rooms. The creation of floor slopes will be discussed below. In the meantime, let's dwell on the technology of laying tile material.
Floor tile laying technology
The features of laying tiles on the floor in the bath are as follows:
- The concrete base prepared for facing must be level, dry and clean. The tile should be soaked in water for a few minutes before work. After that, the material will not absorb moisture from the binder solution, and this will ensure the strength of the laid coating after the adhesive has polymerized.
- The cladding starts from the most visible corner of the room. To determine this, simply stand on the threshold of a doorway and look around the room.
- Then, using a mixer, a glue mixture or cement-sand mortar is prepared according to the recommendations indicated on their packages.
- An adhesive mixture is applied to the base of each tile using a notched trowel, the texture of which will have grooves over the entire surface as a result of the use of such a tool. This allows for increased adhesion between the tiles and the subfloor. Mixture consumption per 1 m2 gender is indicated on the package.
- Then the tile with the mortar is pressed against the concrete surface and, if necessary, is settled with a rubber mallet.
- Excess mixture is removed with a spatula and used in further work.
- The seams between the tiles are taken equal to 2-5 mm. To keep them even, special crosses made of plastic are used. They are installed vertically near the corners of adjacent tiles and allow keeping the same distance between piece materials. Smooth laying and horizontal rows are constantly monitored using a level rail.
- The mortar that gets on the face of the tile should be removed immediately with a damp sponge. After it dries, this is extremely difficult to do.
8-12 hours after the end of the laying of the coating, the grouting of the tile joints is carried out. It ensures their reliability and waterproofing of the entire coating. For grouting, you need to remove all plastic crosses and use a rubber spatula to fill the joints between the tiles with an adhesive mixture. To give the joints a certain color, the corresponding pigment is added to the grouting solution. The color of the joints should be in harmony with the shade of the face of the tile. The remnants of the grout compound are immediately removed from the finished surface with a damp sponge.
Organization of the slope of the tiled floor in the bath
Indoor puddles are not attractive. Therefore, the floor from the tiles in the washing bath is arranged with a slope of 1: 100, which is directed to the drain of the sewer drain. The ladder can be located in the center of the room, near the entrance, in its corner or in the receiving tray.
In the latter case, the task is very simple. The edge of the floor opposite to the tray must be made a little higher, using lighthouse cords between the points of the height difference of the future coating when laying the tiles. In other cases, it is required to install the floor profile "envelope".
This is done in this way:
- You need to calculate the difference in height between the top of the ladder and the cover along the contour of the room.
- Make appropriate elevation marks at the corners of the room.
- Connect the corners with cords to the opposite sides of the drain hole.
- Begin laying the tiles, taking into account the fact that its side, parallel to the ladder, lies horizontally, and the perpendicular side repeats the slope set by the cord.
- To guide the slope of tiles located far from the cord, you can use additional cords stretched between the corner "beacons".
Features of laying tiles on the floor in the bath are shown in the video:
That's all the "science" for laying tiles on the floor in a bath. Business is not difficult, but troublesome. We hope that our material will help you to do this job correctly.
