Attached bathhouse to the house - features, types, advantages and recommendations

When choosing how to build a bathhouse on your site in order to save money, they often stop at adding a structure to the main house. A sauna extension has a number of advantages: cost-effectiveness, ease of installation, saving space on the site. The main thing during construction is to choose the right project, taking into account all the subtleties of the extension. How to attach a bathhouse to a house, features of installation and project selection in this article. We will introduce the reader to some photos and video materials on the issue of adding a steam room to the main house.

To save space, a bathhouse extension is being built on the site.

Types of baths

Designs of bathhouses attached to the house differ depending on the type of steam room:

Russian bathhouse with its classic attributes - a stone stove, wet steam, brooms and a font.
Finnish sauna, in which, thanks to dry steam, you can stay in it even at a temperature of 100 degrees, but in this case the use of brooms is strictly prohibited, as they can lead to burns.
Turkish hammam with an air temperature of about 60 degrees. You can spend a lot of time in such a steam room without harm to your health.

The choice of a bathhouse for construction depends on the personal preferences of the owner of the site.

How to install a bathhouse?

Is it possible to attach a bathhouse to the house? There are no legal restrictions; in addition, there are rules that regulate the construction of extensions of this type. There are several options for how you can combine a steam room with a living space:

Using an existing wall of the house. This method is the most economical, since costs are reduced for the construction of one wall of the bathhouse. However, the savings will have to be invested in high-quality vapor barrier and waterproofing, as well as fire safety methods. It is especially important to comply with all fire safety rules if the house to which the steam room is attached is wooden.
Bathhouse attachment to the house. In this case, the bathhouse attached to the house has its own wall, which is built close to the wall of the dwelling. The advantage of such construction is that there is no need to make a vapor barrier. In this case, the doorway connecting the two buildings turns out to be quite wide, so it makes sense to install two doors instead of one and make the one closer to the house fireproof.
Connecting the house and the bathhouse with a short passage. In this situation, the bathhouse does not come into direct contact with the home, but it is easy to carry out all the necessary communications through the existing corridor.

The choice of method depends on the planned construction budget, personal preferences and the type of house to which the steam room is attached.

If the steam room is an extension to the home

During construction, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

In the extension project, you need to indicate the materials that will be used during construction, describe the transition from the house to the steam room, and clarify the layout inside the bathhouse.
The main requirement for a foundation is lightness. It must be of the same type as under the living space.
Doorways are low, their threshold is high. This will help to better retain heat in the steam room. The main door should open into the vestibule.
Waterproofing the walls inside the steam room is done using vapor-reflecting foil. The top of the walls should be covered with linden clapboard. It can be replaced with any other material of suitable quality.
The pipe is insulated. It needs to be brought out in the opposite direction from the wall of the house. Otherwise, when burning, smoke will enter the home.
Conducting communications directly from home. Pipes and electrical wiring are routed through a common wall or through the foundation under the steam room. The wiring in the bathhouse is carried out in any convenient way. It is advisable to conduct water separately. You can also make a well on the site.

Important! The vestibule must be end-to-end. This reduces the risk of heat loss by 80%.

If the vestibule is separate, then additional insulation needs to be done. This room contains benches and a clothes hanger.

Country house and bathhouse

Advantages and disadvantages

The pros and cons of a bathhouse attached to a house give a person the opportunity to think about his decision about future construction. The advantages include the following:

the opportunity to visit your own steam room without leaving home;
reduction in costs for a separate water supply, since communications are carried out from the house;
there is no need to go outside and be exposed to sudden temperature changes during the cold season.

However, when trying to make a bathhouse attached to a house, a person may encounter the following number of difficulties:

compliance with all SNiPs that regulate high-quality waterproofing, vapor barrier and fire safety standards;
engineering communications require careful calculations, as in the case of self-construction;
the need for regular treatment of premises with antiseptics.

The majority of the disadvantages are rather arbitrary, since when building a free-standing bathhouse one would have to comply with all the same established standards.

Useful video

Here is an example of the fact that it is still possible to attach a frame bathhouse to a house - we had no doubt about the technical reality of this, but the video says nothing about the resolution. This extension looks like this:

And here is another video that shows some techniques that can increase the fire safety of a bathhouse attached to a house. See if something from another person's experience will be useful.

The following video was recorded by a professional builder with a decent amount of work experience and the mental activity associated with it. That's why it's valuable. See if you also tend to think carefully about your decisions before getting down to business.

*** When writing this article, we encountered gaps in knowledge about the legal part of construction. Like most land owners, we believed that garages, bathhouses, sheds and verandas were the owner’s personal business. It turned out that the state thinks differently. It’s very interesting how many of our readers knew about permits and registration of buildings, sign up below if it’s not difficult!

General recommendations

Professional builders recommend not to neglect the following tips:

Properly done waterproofing will help to significantly extend the life of the bathhouse and the house.
The best option is to install a stove that is designed not only for a bathhouse, but also for a home. Thus, in the summer you can dry the premises by heating, and in the winter the bathhouse will heat the house with its heat.
It is better to attach a bathhouse made of profiled timber to a wooden house.

In general, it is recommended to build an extension in the form of a bathhouse from the same material from which the residential building is built.

Additional requirements

Just like any house projects, construction involves all sanitary and technical standards and norms, but when adding a bathhouse to a home, certain nuances arise that need to be taken into account.

Don't forget about waterproofing. After visiting the steam room, it is necessary to ensure that the room is thoroughly dried. Then the air in the bathhouse will always be hot and dry. Otherwise, high humidity will contribute to the destruction of the walls of the home.

It’s good when the bathhouse is adjacent to the kitchen so that they have a common stove. Due to this, even in summer the air will be cleaned and dried by heating. During the cold season, the bathhouse will warm the living space with its warmth. Plus, the bathhouse will be ventilated using a ventilator located under the stove.

It is better to attach a sauna to a building made of wood from profiled timber. In the case where house designs were created a long time ago, it is necessary to calculate all the nuances so that the bathhouse does not shrink.

Bathhouse made of timber

Attaching a bathhouse made of timber to a house is allowed if the entire dwelling is built of wood. To implement your plans, you will need to choose the right building material. It is recommended to use timber with a section of 150 x 150 mm. It can be made of linden, larch, cedar. It is not recommended to use coniferous trees, as they can release a certain amount of resin when heated.

The beam can be of the following types:

Profiled sheets are convenient to use during installation; in this case, the canvas is smooth and without gaps. The disadvantages of the material include the need for additional thermal insulation cladding after some time of operation of the building.
Glued laminated timber is often used in finished bathhouse projects. It ensures quick installation, and the foundation can be lightweight. The disadvantage is the fact that in some cases the glue may contain formaldehyde.
Conventional timber has a relatively low cost, but can shrink and become deformed when drying.

When purchasing material, it is important to take a little as a reserve, since some part of the beams will definitely deteriorate during the construction process.

How to attach a bathhouse to a wooden house? To do this, you can use the following instructions:

a lightweight foundation is suitable for construction - strip or pile-screw;
mastic and two layers of roofing material are used as waterproofing of the base;
to lay floors, it is necessary to first assemble the logs;
building walls is not difficult, especially if you use profiled or laminated timber, in which case the materials are simply stacked on top of each other;
doors and windows are cut out after complete shrinkage of the timber, which may take several months;
Before the end of shrinkage, a rough roof is made; after the allotted period, it is replaced with a permanent one made of metal tiles.

A sauna made from timber turns out to be the most environmentally friendly steam room, since no harmful substances are released when the wood is heated.

What you need to know about the foundation

Until you built the house, the soil underneath had the same properties, but the violation of its integrity, the pouring of the foundation, the load of the built house - all this changed them.
The zone within which the change in soil properties occurred does not exceed a couple of meters from the boundary of the building.

Stabilization of the soil after a house is placed on it lasts from 3 to 5 years. During this time, you should not place anything next to it, especially on a connected foundation.

Once it is established, you can build. But it is advisable that the project be carried out by specialists who can calculate how much weight the future extension will be, how much, on the one hand, it will sink the soil, and on the other hand, resist the forces of frost heaving, which tend to push the foundation out of the ground.

Of course, a lot depends on the soil itself. Some people are lucky and have sandy soil with coarse sand and gravel. And others have heaving clay, for example. Therefore, you need to know the geology of the site.

And the foundation for the extension of the bathhouse is selected according to the depth, design and material in accordance with the type of soil, the depth of groundwater, as well as the depth of soil freezing in winter. See the section on types of foundations.

ATTENTION! It is better if the groundwater is at least half a meter below the base of the foundation. If it’s higher, then think about drainage. This means that bathhouses are usually placed on a shallow strip foundation, but it’s unlikely to be suitable for an extension to a house

This means that bathhouses are usually placed on a shallow strip foundation, but it is unlikely to be suitable for an extension to a house.

Firstly, because it is very desirable to build such a bathhouse from non-flammable material, and it weighs a lot, even if it is aerated concrete.

Secondly, because a shallow foundation is laid above the freezing depth of the soil, and therefore, the forces of frost heaving will act more actively on it if the soil is heaving. And it is better not to consider options for connecting the bathhouse to the house through the foundation or just the roof.

Everything is fine when the foundation is laid at the same time and for both buildings at once. Therefore, it is recommended to pour the foundation immediately, taking into account all subsequent additions, if they are planned, and to implement them as funds and other opportunities become available.

If the foundations are laid at different times, and even more so at different depths, then their vibrations in the ground will not coincide in any way. It follows from this that it is best not to make a connected foundation of the house and extension.

But what's wrong with a single roof? If two foundations rise to different heights, but at the same time have a common roof, stresses will arise in the roof, which will lead to the destruction of the most stressed structural parts.

It is easier to add a bathhouse to an old house. It’s also easy to get to a house with a wide, warm blind area. In both cases, changes in the soil around the house will not have the same effect on the foundation of the bathhouse.

ADVICE! Of course, we have simplified a lot here, but the best thing you can do for yourself is to talk to specialists. So the project will be competent, the BTI will accept it, and there will be no need to expect destruction over time.

Frame bath

Constructions of this type have recently come into use, but have managed to earn full trust among experienced builders. The undeniable advantage of a frame bathhouse - an extension to a house made of brick or wood - is the absence of the need to create complex drawings, because the building is assembled easily and simply, like a designer. In this case, the lightest and simplest foundation on piles is required. Frame baths have the following advantages:

ease of construction;
no shrinkage;
ease of installation;
thermal insulation, which is not inferior in quality to brick buildings;
low cost of building materials.

Unfortunately, frame structures are not without flaws, but they are an order of magnitude less numerous than the positive aspects:

increased fire hazard;
relative fragility of the structure;
the need for exterior and interior finishing.

It is also important to pay great attention to vapor barrier, since the materials from which the frame is made can quickly deteriorate from high humidity and temperature changes inside and outside the building. An attached frame bathhouse to a brick house can look like a single unit with a residential building if its exterior decoration is made using brick-shaped tiles.

Construction stages

How to attach a bathhouse to your house? A simple rustic Russian bathhouse can be made independently if you know some basics of construction. The following stages of building construction should be followed:

Laying the foundation is where any construction begins. It is recommended to install it taking into account the weight of the structure and the characteristics of the soil. So, for example, on moving lands it is recommended to use a pile foundation, and for the construction of a permanent brick bathhouse - a concrete, strip, reinforced foundation.
Floor installation. Since ancient times, bathhouse floors have been made of wood. This material, although less durable than concrete, is more environmentally friendly and resistant to high temperatures. In addition, you can walk freely on a wooden floor without fear of getting burned. But builders recommend constructing logs for laying floors from asbestos-cement pipes, since they are much more durable and are not subject to rotting over time.
The walls of the bathhouse complex can be made of logs, bricks, or made of sandwich panels. It all depends on the financial capabilities of the developer, as well as personal wishes. It should be noted that brick buildings will cost much more than similar ones made from sandwich panels.
Metal tiles are traditionally used for roofing. This is a modern environmentally friendly material that meets all safety standards.
The last stage is interior and exterior finishing. The outside of the bathhouse is covered with siding, a slab that imitates a log house, wild stone, and tiles with imitation brick. The interior decoration should be wooden - linden and larch wood is used for these purposes.

All stages must proceed sequentially, since this is the only way to ultimately obtain a high-quality building.

Examples of projects

Today, there are many projects with extensions to bathhouses, thanks to which spending time becomes comfortable. The most popular option is adding a terrace with a barbecue to the bathhouse. To place a grill area on the site, the terrace must be spacious. The distance between the table and the grill is at least two meters. The barbecue is built with a chimney on a separate foundation, which must be provided for at the beginning of the project.

As a flooring for an open terrace, you need to choose sandstone or tiles. To protect from external influences of precipitation, the structure should be glazed with plastic or sliding aluminum frames. In a closed terrace, you can choose wood for laying floors.

Particular attention should be paid to the interior design of the terrace. It should be made in the same style as the steam room

We must not forget about the placement of furniture; wicker chairs and a large wooden table are ideal for the terrace.

No less popular are bathhouse designs with a relaxation room equipped with a plunge pool. The mini-pool is covered with tiles, its color and design matched to the style of the relaxation room. It is recommended to decorate the extension in an oriental style, using mosaics and floral patterns; it can be built from either wood or brick. Furniture is selected from moisture-resistant materials.

A steam room with an attached veranda will allow you to fully relax not only for all family members, but also for friends. This complex should be designed under a common glass roof and supplemented with a gazebo and a swimming pool, this will allow you to not only eat, drink tea, but also cool off in the fresh air

In order for the extensions to the steam room to look harmonious, it is important to maintain proportions in their sizes. So, for example, it is recommended to build a 2x4 m veranda for a bathhouse measuring 6x4 m; as a result, the dimensions of the combined building will be 6x6 m

In the gazebo you need to place several chairs, a bench and a table, and put comfortable sun loungers next to the pool.

If desired, the steam room can be supplemented with other extensions. It all depends on the financial capabilities of the owner of the plot and its size. Despite the fact that building extensions with your own hands is considered a difficult task, anyone can handle it. The most important thing is to draw up the project correctly and select the building material.

To learn how to build a veranda for a bathhouse with your own hands, see the following video.

Drainage equipment

When designing and building a bathhouse attached to a house, it is important to take care of the plumbing and drainage. The advantage of such a bathhouse is that all necessary communications can be carried out from a residential building. Most often, water pipes are laid from a central water supply, but there may be several options for drainage:

A drainage pit is considered one of the simplest and cheapest options. In this case, you just need to dig a hole of the appropriate size and line its inner walls with brick or concrete rings. A sewer truck is used to clean as it is filled.
A drain well with a filtration system is the most expensive and labor-intensive option. The system consists of a filter made of shells, crushed stone or gravel, the upper part is filled with river silt, which is supposed to purify wastewater.
A septic tank is a variant of a drainage pit where a plastic container for wastewater is used instead of a well. Purification can take place using a sewer truck, or a water filtration system can be installed, after which the liquid is discharged into the ground.

If the place where the bathhouse is built has a central sewer system, then you can connect the sewer pipes to it.

In addition, the floors of the bathhouse must be equipped with drains. This could be a leaking floor in a steam room, in which water passes through the cracks between the boards and collects in a tank under the floor, or concrete structures that are equipped at an angle.

Potential Difficulties

Adding a bathhouse to a house is a completely solvable task. However, it requires special attention and responsibility. Otherwise, there is a possibility of structural damage and a decrease in its strength characteristics.

The first thing a builder may encounter is the particular difficulty of organizing a tight connection between two walls. In this regard, most projects involve the installation of a small connecting insert between two structures, which should hide the contrast of the junction.

The second thing you should pay close attention to is the quality of the bathhouse foundation. Its depth must necessarily correspond to the depth of the foundation of the house

This is necessary in order to reduce the likelihood of the extension being torn off during shrinkage and operation.

Third, is the need to organize a separate pipe and sewerage system. Draining water into the general system is very unwise, as this will significantly increase the load.

When creating a bathhouse, you need to take care of its fire safety. It must be said that it is the likelihood of fire that stops many developers from adding a steam room to a residential building.

Roof features

A frame, log or brick bathhouse attached to a house must have a roof that meets all the necessary requirements. Its peculiarity is that it should not allow moisture to pass through, which will accumulate in the steam room, since it can destroy not only the bathhouse building, but also a residential building. To prevent the formation of condensation, it is necessary to carefully insulate the roof; this can be done in several ways:

fixing the insulation directly under the rafters;
installation of material on rafters.

It is also important to lay a layer of material under the roofing material to waterproof the room. To prevent wood rotting, all elements must be treated with resin or paint.

conclusions

Brick is an excellent material for a bathhouse. The main advantage over traditional wood for a bathhouse is fire resistance and durability. This is the main thing that needs to be taken into account in the construction of a brick bathhouse, although the construction itself will be more expensive than for a wooden one, but these additional costs will pay off over the years of operation.

The second important conclusion is that a brick bathhouse needs to be very well insulated. Brick has been known as a building material for a long time, but it began to be used for baths only with the advent of good modern insulation materials. You can improve the performance of brick walls by using special hollow bricks.

Using a standard project allows you to insure yourself against construction errors, inconvenient layouts, incorrect insulation schemes and many other shortcomings.

Internal equipment

It is not enough to know how to attach a bathhouse to a brick house; it is also important to take care of the interior decoration. The main aspects of the internal equipment are as follows:

Doors and windows are deliberately installed smaller than the standard size - this way you can maintain the temperature inside the room.
To ensure fire safety, all doors and windows should only open outward.
Door handles are only allowed to be made of wood, as metal ones can cause you to get burned.
For reasons of heat conservation, windows are positioned horizontally rather than vertically.
All wiring in the bathhouse must be covered with a fireproof casing, and if it is located inside the walls, it must be placed in metal pipes.
Shelves and wall trim must be made from wood species such as linden, aspen or poplar. This material dries quickly and does not release resin when heated.
It is important not to use paints and varnishes inside the sauna, as they can release toxic substances when heated.

A bathhouse attached to a house, made of a block or other material, should be as comfortable as possible for those people who are going to use it.

Bath accessories

It is difficult to imagine a steam room without traditional accessories - brooms, ladles, water buckets. It is also important to follow safety precautions. Buckets and buckets should only be made of wood to avoid getting burned when using them. But the brooms can be anything - juniper, oak, birch, linden, maple, alder, herbal (mint, nettle, wormwood).