If you built a bathhouse on your own, then its holy of holies - a steam room - you definitely will not entrust it to the craftsmen from the outside. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the popular design options for its main element - the shelf, as well as the methods of its construction. Content:
- Material selection
- Design
- Dimensions (edit)
- Mounting methods
- Assembly technology
- Protection
At first glance, the shelves in the bathhouse are an unpretentious wood construction, simple flooring. But for the manufacture of a convenient and reliable shelf that brings only joy to visitors, you will have to take into account a lot of nuances.
The choice of material for the shelves in the bath
All structures in the steam room are subject to extreme conditions - high temperature and humidity, so the flooring is made only of wood, moreover, from certain varieties with low thermal conductivity and high fiber density. The cover should not burn the body, so boards are not made of coniferous trees.
The following types of wood are suitable for the manufacture of shelves in a Russian bath:
- Linden … Heats up slowly and dries quickly. There are no knots in the wood, it is easily processed, does not crack, does not rot. When heated, a pleasant amber appears. There are no sweat marks on the surface. Possesses healing properties. The only drawback is that it gets dark quickly in the steam room.
- Aspen … The most popular material among bathhouse attendants due to its low cost. In folk medicine, it is considered a material that absorbs a person's negative energy, a healer of mental adversity. The disadvantages include the ability to rot from the inside, it is difficult to externally identify defective boards.
- Abash … A tree from Africa, accustomed to heat and moisture. Heats up slowly, does not fade under extreme conditions. Wood without knots, well processed. The only drawback is the high cost of the blanks.
Less often, the shelves are made of maple, alder, poplar.
Design options for shelves in the bath
To determine the design, look at the finished structures from neighbors and acquaintances, or ask them to take a photo of the shelves in the bath. There are three popular shelf options in steam rooms:
- Stepped shelves … Installed in a large steam room for rather big companies. The decks are placed along one wall in two or three steps. The top one is the hottest.
- L-shaped shelves … Designed for medium sized steam rooms. The lower and middle shelves are located on one wall, the middle one - on the adjacent one. This design visually increases the volume of the room.
- Sliding shelves … Suitable for small buildings. The decks are placed one above the other. The top shelf can be folded up and fixed in this position.
If there is a choice, the shelves are placed along the longest wall. Decking is not installed on walls with windows. If it hits the heated glass, it can crack and the debris can injure visitors.
Sauna benches dimensions
The dimensions of the decks are chosen from the following considerations:
- To lie on a shelf with bent legs, you need 1.5 m.
- 1, 8 m - the average size for a prone position, but everything is decided by the growth of the owner of the bath. If there is space, the size can be increased up to 220 cm.
- The width of the lower shelf is 0.4 m. The size is sufficient for the attendant to stand on it and swing a broom, as well as to sit and cool down.
- For small steam rooms, instead of a rectangular bottom shelf, a step is made in the form of a right-angled triangle. One leg of the triangle is placed along one wall, the second along the shelf.
- For sitting shelves, the width is 0.6 m, you can lie on them, but without convenience.
- The reclining seats are made with a width of 0.9 m, the size allows you to sit across the steps with your legs tucked in. If the size of the steam room is not limited by anything, the shelves can be double-seated, then you get polati.
- The dimensions of the shelf in the bath and their number are chosen based on the recommended size of 1, 1-1, 2 meters between the ceiling and the upper deck. With this size, it is convenient for the attendant to swing a broom, and the visitor can not only lie down, but also sit comfortably.
- The height of the first step (distance from the floor) is at least 20 cm.
- The height of the steps is 40-60 cm. The range allows you to provide the required number of steps of convenient sizes.
- Another guideline when choosing the size of the distance between the steps is that the flooring surface with the lying visitor should be at the level of the thumb bone of the standing bath attendant's lowered hand. On average, the height of the shelf turns out to be 70-80 cm. This is a comfortable height for the attendant, in which he does not need to rise or bend over during the procedure.
Methods for attaching shelves in a bath
The ideal option for connecting structural elements is the use of oak wedges, which are installed in pre-made holes. Metal fasteners reduce the strength of the structure over time, and in a hot room you can burn yourself against metal. If the elements are connected with metal fasteners, use these tips:
- Self-tapping screws are preferable to nails.
- Embed the fastener heads in the wood by 5-6 mm.
- If possible, install the hardware on the wrong side of the shelf.
Bath benches assembly technology
The shelf has a frame structure and is assembled in the following sequence:
- Make a sketch or drawing of a bath shelf with dimensions, taking into account the previous recommendations.
- Cut structural elements from the blanks.
- Grind boards and beams thoroughly, round off sharp corners.
- Set the beams vertically and fasten them together with thick boards. Install rubber waterproofing pads under the vertical beams. The distance between the beams is no more than 60 cm. The frame can be fixed to the wall or left unsecured in order to take the structure out of the drying room.
- Fasten thin cross-beams between the beams to support the floorboards.
- Attach the planks to the frame to form the flooring. Leave gaps of 1-2 cm between the boards, and fix the flooring itself with a slight slope for free water drain. Boards are chosen thin (within 20 mm), the proportion of thickness and width is 1: 4, in this case the boards dry out quickly.
- The floorboards can be left unattached and removed to dry after using the steam room.
- Leave a gap of 10 cm between the boards of the 2nd and 3rd tiers and the wall.
- Fill the space between the levels with wooden battens with 2 cm gaps between them. This space is often sewn up to reduce the volume of the heated space when steam is admitted, but the boards will take longer to dry. The choice remains with the owner, but you can seek advice from experienced bath attendants who will tell you how to make the shelves in the bathhouse - wired or not.
For a comfortable lying position, you can make a simple structure that allows you to comfortably keep your feet on the shelves above your head. To do this, make a wooden product from two boards, knocked down at an angle of 30-45 degrees. The same stand can be placed under the head.
Protection of shelves from moisture in the bath
Saturate the wood with an antiseptic to protect it from rot and pests. Use only natural substances specially formulated for sauna rooms. They do not smell hot and do not emit harmful vapors.
An economical option is to buy edible flaxseed oil and cover the shelves in the bath with your own hands. Apply oil with a brush and rub in. Before impregnation, warm the steam room well, at high temperatures the oil will polymerize. Synthetic antiseptics at high temperature and humidity emit toxic substances that have a heavy odor and cause an allergic reaction. You can also not use the usual drying oil and varnish.
An overview of the manufacture of shelves in the bath is shown in the video:
In the steam room, the level of comfort is largely determined by the characteristics of the shelves - their height, location, type of wood, construction. Therefore, be careful when choosing materials, diligence when doing work, and your shelves will last for many years without replacement.
