Lining for a bathhouse: which is better, linden, pine, aspen, cedar, alder for the walls and ceiling of the steam room? Technology for selecting and installing internal cladding

Options for lining for a steam room
Choosing a lining for a waiting room
Lining for walls outside the bathhouse
Criteria for choosing lining
How to process lining
Types of lining for a bath
Calculate the area of the internal lining
Panel selection table

Wooden lining is considered the best finish for a bathhouse.
This is an environmentally friendly material that creates a favorable microclimate in the room. Wooden paneling for sauna

Finishing the bathhouse with clapboard

Today on the market you can find regular and eurolining. Regular lining has roughness, but eurolining is completely smooth. What type of material is suitable for a bath?

Eurolining, unlike conventional lining, has the following properties:

It is capable of allowing air to pass through due to the holes made. Thanks to this, moist air can circulate and moisture in the room does not stagnate.
The lining of the European standard is processed more efficiently. It is made from dried wood, while conventional lining is made from wood with a certain percentage of moisture.
During production, this material is already coated with special substances that prevent the process of wood rotting.

Choosing the type of wood

Depending on the type of wood, builders recommend certain areas of purpose for lining made from it, listing the main properties. They can be seen in the table:

Properties	Wood type
Properties	Conifers (spruce, pine)	Linden	Larch	Ash, oak
High temperature resistance	low	high	average	average
Moisture resistance	weak	high	high	average
The need for special surface treatment	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Application area	outside (balcony cladding)	baths and saunas (interior decoration)	dressing rooms, rest rooms	no limits
Advantages	low cost	heat resistance, pleasant smell	rot resistance	rot-resistant durability, aesthetic appearance

Thus, it becomes clear that spruce and pine boards, of all those mentioned, have the least resistance to a humid, hot environment, but are also relatively cheap. If special processing is carried out, such materials can be used for finishing a steam room.

The most reliable and high-quality ones are oak or ash, but at the same time they are the most expensive. Linden and larch occupy intermediate positions, possessing unique properties: a pleasant smell for linden boards and high resistance to rot for deciduous boards.

Linden lining

Usually linden wood has a brown tint, sometimes red wood is also found. Linden lining is perfect for interior decoration of a bathhouse. It conducts heat poorly.

Thanks to this, the heat is distributed throughout the material in the room and does not disappear for a long time. Also, linden does not accumulate heat. Therefore, if a person touches a wall decorated with this material, he will not get burned.

In addition, when heated, linden releases essential oils that have a beneficial effect on the human nervous system.

Classification by variety

In addition to the division by profile, specific processing, tongue-and-groove lock design, lining differs by grade. The designation used is the Latin letters A, B, C and two additional, elite types - “Premium” and “Extra”. All of them mean the quality of the wood and standardize the presence of minimal defects (wood defects) strictly in accordance with the class requirements.

For example, if “A” may have dry (unfallen) knots, then “premium” should not have them at all. Technically, varieties differ only in these indicators, and not in production or processing technology. The cheapest is “C”, you shouldn’t expect anything special from it, this is the lowest quality lining. There is some connection between the grade and the recommendations for use: it is believed that “B” category is optimal for walls, and “A” for ceilings.

Generally speaking, regarding the quality characteristics, the humidity requirement for the carriage board is no more than 12%. It is clear that the average consumer will not be able to verify or refute this indicator; this requires special equipment and laboratory tests. The humidity parameter must be indicated in the documents for the lumber; if it is not there, you should separately request the technical specifications (certificate) from the seller.

To figure out which type of lining to choose from those offered on the market, what type of wood it is made from, you need to first determine the technical conditions for the operation of the purchased board. They are completely different on the lining of the balcony, the dressing room, the bathhouse itself (even within the walls and ceiling). In proportion to these requirements, as well as the cost estimate, the required type of lumber is selected.

It is not at all necessary to save unnecessarily, leaning towards cheap pine or spruce, low-quality lining profiles, and, at the same time, buy super expensive varieties of oak and ash. It is always possible to find a reasonable compromise. The main condition is to purchase a high-quality profile with consistent parameters and normalized humidity. It is then that the decoration of the home steam room will delight the owners for a long time, bringing them benefit and pleasure.

Aspen paneling

Another common material for lining. It has a white color. On the aspen paneling you can see growth rings, which make it clear the age of the tree, and a silvery tint on the surface. This lining is a fairly popular finishing material because it:

Moisture resistant;
Resistant to temperature changes and high temperatures;
Doesn't get hot;
It becomes stronger over time;
Does not require special attention to care.

If the aspen lining has darkened, then to make it presentable, it is enough to sand it.

Pine paneling

The lining made from this wood has a beige color, which looks quite stylish. But over time, the material, unfortunately, darkens, this must be taken into account when choosing. If you examine the pine paneling in detail, you will notice pine tree rings and visible droplets of resin on it.

If you heat the pine panels, even more resin will come out, and it will also be hot. For this reason, it is undesirable to carry out interior finishing in a steam room, because there a person can accidentally touch a place with leaked resin and get burned.

It is also not recommended to finish the ceiling in this room; the resin will flow down.

A dressing room and a washroom are suitable for finishing with pine clapboard. This finishing material has the following advantages:

Its cost is much lower compared to materials from other tree species.
Pine itself is quite resistant to moisture, but often this property is further enhanced by applying a protective coating.
Pine lining attracts the eye with its texture and color.
When heated, pine releases a pleasant aroma, which has a beneficial effect on human health.

Calculate the area of the internal lining

It is necessary not only to choose the type of lining, but also to make the necessary calculations in order to buy the required amount of material (with some margin).

The area taken into account is not the area of the room, but its walls, and sometimes the ceiling, since lining is not used for the floor.

For example, a bathhouse consists of 2 rooms. The area of the steam room is 3x2 (m), and the area of the dressing room is 3x1 (m). At the same time, the ceiling height is standard - 2.5 m.

Then the following algorithm is used:

The area of 2 walls of a steam room 3 m long is 3 x 2.5 = 7.5 m (the total figure will be 15 m).
The area of the short walls is 5 sq.m., and the total area is 10 sq.m.
The area of the ceiling covering is calculated as 2x3=6 m.
To finish the steam room, the lining should be 15+10+6=31 sq.m.

A similar algorithm is used for the waiting room. With the given values of material, you need to buy enough to be enough for another 23 sq.m.

Wooden lining for a bath

How to take measurements correctly

To buy the required amount of lining, you will first have to make accurate measurements - this is the only way to make calculations.

To do this you need:

Measure the length, width and height of the walls in the steam room and dressing room.
Mark the location of the oven. For fire safety reasons, the walls near it are finished not with clapboard, but with tiles or natural stone (the width of such a zone should be at least 40 cm).
Calculate the planned insulation thickness.

After taking measurements, you need to decide what type of installation to implement - vertical or horizontal.

For example, the ceiling height is 2.5 m, and the vertical method is chosen for finishing. Then you need to look for lining 2.5 m long. The walls will be finished with such panels. When covering the ceiling, their length depends on the width of the room. With the horizontal cladding method, they look for material whose length is equal to the width of the wall: in the example above it is 3 m.

A bathhouse almost always needs insulation. Therefore, measurements are taken taking into account the installation of the frame and the thickness of the insulation.

Lining area (square meters)

When purchasing material, it is better to enlist the help of a specialist who can help you calculate the required amount of material. Or you will have to do additional calculations yourself, since products are sold by cubic meters, and the required area for covering is calculated.

There are special tables that indicate how many square meters of lining are contained in 1 cubic meter of material. Moreover, the length of the products is taken into account. For example, with an indicator of 3 m in 1 cubic meter - 278 boards of size 96x12.5 mm. A specialist will help you perform more accurate calculations.

Siberian and Canadian cedar

Lining made from such wood species has a pinkish-brown tint. As a rule, such material is used in elite establishments because it is expensive.

These cedar species, when heated, release essential oils that are beneficial for health, in particular for the respiratory system.
This lining does not rot and withstands mechanical stress and temperature changes.
Over time, cracks and other damage do not appear on it.

Does wood need to be treated?

The question of whether lining treatment in a bath is required remains controversial. Each point of view has its supporters. And deciding which is better is quite difficult. Treatment extends the life of the tree (sometimes several times). But chemical compounds can be harmful to health. Especially in conditions of elevated temperatures (although there are products designed specifically for treating steam rooms). Therefore, it is better to start from the specifics of the room and the quality of the wood.

Despite the high humidity, it is not worth treating the steam room. The correct type of wood will not absorb water and will last a long time (subject to high-quality installation).

But the dressing room and shower area are worth treating. To do this, you can use drying oil, or coat the wood with an antiseptic and then varnish. There are also products that use oil as a base.

Attention! It is better to treat the lining with a specialized compound. Conventional paints and varnishes are not suitable. Especially for the steam room.

Do-it-yourself lining installation (step-by-step instructions)

There are several ways to fasten the lining: horizontal, vertical and diagonally. The first method is considered the best. Its advantage is that if the floor in the bathhouse begins to rot, then the part below can be easily replaced. Also, with this mounting option, the room expands before your eyes, and the air circulates less.

The second mounting option allows you to get a sauna effect in the bathhouse: the air temperature becomes higher and the humidity becomes lower.

Before starting the interior decoration of the bathhouse, you should make the lathing. Thanks to her, the laying of the material will be successful. Some separate areas are usually attached diagonally.

And if you combine all the options for fastening the lining, you can get an original design. But in addition to style, you need to think about convenient installation of damaged areas in the future.