The barrel bath is a compact, easy-to-use design, which, moreover, is capable of decorating a personal plot. You can build it yourself if you carefully study the recommendations of the masters and carefully consider the case. Content:
- Peculiarities
- Material selection
- Preparation of the base
- Making a barrel
- Assembly
- Interior decoration
- Heating
The barrel bath has an unusual shape in the form of a horizontally located cylinder. The diameter of the structure is 2-3 m, the length is up to 6 m. The standard structure inside has an area of about 12 square meters. m, can be used by 3 people at the same time. Despite the difficult appearance, it can be built with your own hands.
Features and varieties of barrel baths
Many owners of private houses or summer cottages dream of such a building, because when it is erected, a foundation, a frame, a roof is not required. There are other advantages over other baths: small dimensions and the absence of a foundation make it possible to install it on any flat area. In addition, the structure can be transported to the place of temporary residence.
Usually a barrel bath is used for washing in the summer. For winter use, the bath should be carefully insulated, which requires new financial investments. After analyzing the photo of the barrel baths, we can conclude that the interior of a traditional wooden barrel bath resembles an ordinary bath, consists of a steam room and a washing room. A high temperature is created in the steam room, there is always a lot of steam, which appears after water or herbal tincture gets on a hot surface. In the washroom, users continue their water procedures after the steam room. There must be a hole in the floor of the shower room to drain the water, so there is always a slope towards the drain.
Sauna in the form of a barrel on dry steam consists of one room, only steaming in it. There should be a pond or pool next to the building, where heated visitors dive - there is no other way to finish the washing process. It is easier to equip a sauna than a traditional bath. They do not drain the water, because they do not wash in the steam room. It is enough to form a wall and fill up all the cracks. In the upper part there are small openings that can be closed with latches. Only wide shelves and a stove are installed in the room.
The choice of material for the bath barrel
In an ordinary bath, the walls can be made of any material, and then sheathed from the inside with the wood you like. In a barrel bath, lumber must be selected at the design stage.
The best boards for construction are from "bath" tree species, which include oak, aspen, linden:
- Oak buildings are strong and solid, they have been in operation for many years. Moisture even makes wood stronger. The oak cut has a beautiful textured pattern. The disadvantages include the high cost of blanks, so oak is used mainly for the manufacture of critical parts.
- The most common tree for baths is linden. It has medicinal properties, so people come to the lime bath with diseases of the respiratory system, liver, etc. Wood vapors rejuvenate and cleanse the skin. Linden boards are easy to process, keep heat well, but are short-lived - they do not resist rotting well.
- Aspen is considered a budget option. The strength properties of aspen sawn timber are similar to those of linden, but they crack and deform less when wet.
It is not recommended to make the walls of the bathhouse barrels from coniferous trees due to the presence of resin in their composition. The substance is released from the boards when heated, there is a risk of scalding. The exception is cedar. Cedar boards do not deform from high temperatures, do not shrink, are not afraid of moisture, and are not affected by microorganisms. The cedar barrel bath has medicinal properties, and the visitors take a course of aromatherapy at the same time. The boards are rich in color shades and look stylish thanks to textured patterns.
Coniferous types of wood (pine, spruce) are used to make the frame of the building. Hardwood planks do not heat up that much in the steam room and make the steam light and the air fragrant.
The work requires profiled grooved boards with a section of 45x90 mm for laying on a curved surface. It is not recommended to buy boards that are too wide - it is difficult to lay in a curved shape. For the manufacture of vertical partition walls, a board of 50x200 mm is needed. The base is made of boards 300-350 mm wide and 35-40 mm thick. To determine the number of boards, calculate the circumference of the bath and divide by the width of one board.
Making blanks for a bath is a difficult and painstaking business. Therefore, the work should be entrusted to a qualified craftsman who has woodworking machines. Drawings of the barrel bath must be made in advance and provided to the carpenter. You can also order the production of windows and doors from him. These are important components, the quality of bath procedures depends on their manufacturing accuracy.
In addition, kits for the construction of baths with already cut boards are sold on the market. It is enough just to study the proposed drawing and assemble the structure yourself. You can also buy ready-made door and window blocks.
Do not forget to soak all wooden parts with an antiseptic before starting work.
Preparation of the site for the barrel bath
The barrel bath can be installed in any place where the wooden parts of the bath will not come into contact with the soil. A platform filled with concrete and covered with rubble will do. It is good if the structure is placed in an elevated place.
If there is no ready-made place, make the site yourself. Dig a hole 0.2 m deep and 40-50 cm wider than the base of the bath. Dig a drain hole nearby. Determine where the drain from the bath will be located, install a pipe to drain water to the pit. A pipe from the washing room will be connected to one side of the sewer pipe, the other side is led out into the drain pit. Fill the hole with sand and gravel mixture and compact thoroughly. Lay the reinforcement on top and fill it with concrete with a slight slope - the barrel bath should be inclined towards the washing room. The water flows away from the steam room and is discharged outside. After the concrete has set (about 3 weeks), you can continue working.
Making a bath barrel
In a thick board, cut a cylindrical indentation with a radius equal to the radius of the barrel. In total, 2 to 4 similar stands are required, two are installed under the front and rear machines, the rest are evenly between them. The number of stands depends on the length of the building. Place the stands on a horizontal surface and secure together with rigid ties.
From the planks, make wooden square shields with dimensions slightly larger than the diameter of the barrel. When forming the shield, it should be borne in mind that there should be a small window in the back wall, and an opening for the front door in the front.
Determine the center of the shield and draw a circle on the structure. The diameter of the circle should be equal to the diameter of the barrel. Saw out the circle with a jigsaw. Mark the door and window in the walls and also cut out the openings. Temporarily reinforce the boards in the openings with slats. Make a lintel in the same way.
On the boards, mark the position of the grooves for connecting to the front and back walls of the bath. The width of the grooves must match the wall thickness. If there is a partition in the bath, mark the grooves on the boards under this wall. Cut grooves 8-10 mm deep in the boards.
Assembly of a bath barrel
The assembly of the barrel bath is carried out in the following sequence:
- Place the assembled bath base on the prepared area. Check the quality of the joining surfaces of the boards - they must be perfectly processed and made in the form of spherical surfaces or a tongue-and-groove connection.
- Determine the midpoints of the coasters and mark them. Place the first board in the middle of the stands and secure. Lay adjacent boards on the right and left, align the previously made grooves. Slide the boards all the way into the first and secure. Repeat the operation until the boards fill the entire surface of the stand.
- In place of the last plank, attach the adjustment bar. It has a wedge shape and is used to close gaps between the boards.
- Place the vertical walls in the grooves of the boards, they should remain upright without support. Now install the boards with grooves on the walls at the same time from both sides of the bath.
- After installing the boards, the structure is pulled together with metal clamps in two or three places.
- Install the window and doors. Cover the bath with soft tiles or metal sheets. You can make a roof and a more complex shape.
- After assembly, cover the outside of the building with a fire retardant compound, inside with linseed oil.
Barrel bath interior decoration
The interior decoration of the barrel bath looks like this:
- Make a hole in the lower boards to drain the water, install a pipe outside between the floor and the drain.
- Make the flooring in the form of a grid with at least 1 cm gaps. It should be removable for easy cleaning.
- Fasten the shelves along the wall, if there is room left, fasten the table.
- Make thermal protection for the walls near the stove. Install a heating device, chimney and water tank.
- A barrel bath with a shower looks more comfortable, but the device should not take up much space.
- Supply electricity and water.
Heating bath barrels
In a traditional barrel bath, the stove is installed between the steam room and the washing room, so the stove is conventionally divided into two parts. The stove is heated from the washing room, there is also a tank for heating water. A part of the stove with stones that are heated from the firebox goes into the steam room. The dimensions of the oven should be kept to a minimum. The installation site of the heating device is insulated with heat-resistant material. At the design stage, a smoke extraction method and ventilation openings are envisaged.
It is convenient to use an electric stove in the sauna. The minimum power of the heating device is at least 6 kW, therefore, first calculate the cross-section of the electrical wires and install the safety elements.
See the video for a master class on making a barrel bath:
A barrel bath with your own hands is made for a long time, if you are not a professional carpenter. But if you try, everything will work out!
