It is unlikely that Diogenes could have imagined that a wooden barrel - a place of solitude for philosophical reflection - would be used by his descendants for bath procedures.
Paying tribute to Greek wisdom, Russians today are guided by the Roman principle "a healthy mind in a healthy body." Its embodiment is a bath in the form of a barrel. — the best place to restore strength and health. Despite the novelty, this unusual building is gaining popularity among the townspeople and residents of the rural hinterland.
Taking care of the health of our readers, we consider it our duty to tell you about what barrel baths are. This article will consider their device, original design options, advantages and disadvantages, as well as the possibility of self-assembly.
Barrel bath. Design whim or practical construction?
The first thing that attracts the eye in this design is an unusual appearance. A huge wooden barrel, laid on its side, looks great on any site. A simple association will tell you about its purpose: “barrel-water-steam room”.
In addition to the original design, a barrel-shaped bath has important practical advantages:
- The cylindrical shape of the surface minimizes heat loss. To fully warm up such a bath, 8-9 logs are enough.
- In terms of the rate of temperature rise, the barrel-bath surpasses rectangular structures. In it, you do not have to wait long for the “first pair”. In just 30 minutes, the air heats up to the comfortable temperature of a Finnish sauna (+90 C).
- Light weight allows you to put such a design on any flat and solid base (concrete site, asphalt, dense soil).
- In the warmed bath you can bathe all year round. Due to the small volume and operation of the compact stove-heater, the temperature in the steam room does not decrease even in severe frost.
- A barrel bath is cheaper than a regular bath.
The main disadvantage of budget structures is relative constraint. Two people can hardly pass each other in the central aisle.
The internal layout of the structure depends on its length. The smallest mobile bath-barrel 2 meters long consists of one steam room. Here you have to undress and dress under a canopy-visor (if provided), crowning the front door.
Two-meter sauna barrel - an option for the summer season
The absence of a washing department inside implies the installation of such a bath next to a pool or a wooden font.
In a three-meter barrel, in addition to the steam room, there is a small dressing room 1 meter long.
In a 4-meter bath, the layout does not change. The length of the benches in the locker room is increased to 2 meters.
Four-meter bath-barrel with an open porch
The maximum size of wooden barrel-shaped structures is 6 meters. It is enough to accommodate a steam room, a washing department and a rest room.
"Royal format" - bath-barrel 6 meters long
The height of a standard barrel bath is 2.2 meters. Thanks to this, even a very tall person feels comfortable inside her.
In addition to the traditional round shape, manufacturers offer oval and square designs.
Oval sauna barrel. Rare, looks beautiful
Interesting square design with rounded corners
In addition to the end location of the doors, there are baths with a side entrance.
This solution divides the room into two functional areas: a sauna and a relaxation room. The space behind the front door is reserved for the dressing room.
Bituminous tiles are used to cover bath-barrels. This material is durable and beautiful. Its main advantage is that it fits perfectly on any curved surfaces.
Some manufacturers cover their structures with OSB pitched roofs. Such a decision is debatable. Rain water drains quickly from the round surface and there is no need for an additional canopy. However, some customers consider the pitched coating option to be the most attractive.
The stove-heater is the "heart" of any bath. In a barrel-shaped design, one of three modifications is implemented:
- Electric heater;
- Wood stove with chimney;
- Wood burning stove with hot water tank.
The chimney is brought to the roof or passed through the end wall.
This arrangement of the chimney eliminates leakage through the roof
The barrel bath board is made of coniferous wood (pine, cedar, spruce, fir, larch). Linden, aspen, alder, oak or cedar are used for interior decoration. To increase water resistance, they are impregnated with linseed oil.
The interiors of the steam rooms
Some manufacturers offer buyers a combined case manufacturing option. They assemble the lower part of the barrel from decay-resistant larch, and the upper part is made from pine.
Estimated prices
The cost of a barrel sauna directly depends on its size and configuration. The price of a turnkey construction of 2 meters in length (diameter 2.1 meters, material pine) in the basic configuration starts on average from 130,000 rubles.
If the hull is made of cedar, then the total amount will increase noticeably and add up to 25%. If you want the bathhouse to have an open mini-veranda with a visor, be prepared to pay another 15-20 thousand rubles. The insulated version will cost 20-25% more than the standard one.
Those who like to take a steam bath in the bosom of nature are offered a sauna on a trailer. The cost of such a trailer starts from 50,000 rubles.
Mobile mini-bath
The average price of bath-barrels 3 meters long with 2 compartments (steam room and dressing room), built of spruce, is 160 thousand rubles. A six-meter pine "maxi-bath" with a washing department can be bought from 300 thousand rubles.
Features of assembling a bath-barrel with your own hands
It is not easy to make a kit for self-assembly of a bath-barrel with your own hands. The reason is not the complexity of the design, but the need to use a milling machine. With its help, a semicircular profile is cut on the joined boards.
Docking profile of boards and cutters for their processing
It is unprofitable to buy a machine and cutters “at one time”. Better to save on assembly. Depending on the size of the bath, manufacturers charge from 10,000 to 40,000 rubles for this work.
Using the factory instructions, you can make a barrel bath with your own hands quickly and efficiently.
Bath assembly kit
The first stage of work is the preparation of the foundation. It is made of crushed stone or a concrete screed 10 cm thick is poured over the leveled ground.
The second step is the installation on the site of wooden supports with semicircular cutouts (supplied in an assembly kit).
Having installed the supports, they lay out the bottom of the bath from grooved boards. Having collected the lower sector of the circle, the end walls are mounted. They are inserted into the grooves made in the side boards. In a vertical position, the walls are fixed with the help of temporary ties, using the sidewall boards as this.
Having assembled the body, it is pulled together with steel strips-hoops. At their ends are threaded adjusting connections.
The next stage is the installation of a stove-heater and the laying of engineering communications (electrical wiring, lighting, sewerage). The installation is completed by the installation of woodwork (doors, benches, ladders, tables) and the laying of bituminous tiles on the roof.
Using the factory instructions and a minimum set of tools (screwdriver, jigsaw, planer), you can assemble such a structure in 1-2 days.
What are the owners saying?
Positive emotions of those who bought a bath-barrel, as they say, "pour over the edge." The original appearance, beautiful interior, pleasant aroma of wood, a hot steam room and the pleasure of bathing procedures are the main advantages of such an acquisition.
However, as is often the case with wooden structures, after 2-3 years in the reviews of the owners there are complaints about the drying of the boards and the appearance of cracks. An additional tightening of the hoops does not always eliminate them. The reason for this lies in the poor-quality preparation of lumber before processing it. A poorly dried board shrinks more than allowed.
Another typical problem is rotting boards in the sewer drain area. It occurs due to a violation of the wood preservative technology. It is possible to avoid these unpleasant moments. To do this, before buying, you need to pay attention not only to the price tags of manufacturers. It is much more important to communicate with the real owners of their products. The information received from them will be objective and unbiased.
Those who want to use the sauna all year round often worry about the suitability of such a building in the winter. The way out of this situation is additional internal insulation. However, the reviews of some owners indicate that a well-built bathhouse copes well with its tasks in winter and without insulation.
Zealous owners of country houses, dreaming of their own bath, can wash in a barrel. Do not think that this option will take you back several centuries. On the contrary, the popularity of the bath-barrel is gaining momentum, because this building has its advantages, especially when creating with your own hands.
Interesting about the bath-barrel: technology and features
Many lovers of steam and washing in their own bath know how diverse these buildings are in terms of design features. Since ancient times, residents of cool climatic zones have built baths in order to wash and warm themselves. There is an opinion that baths existed even in the Stone Age.
Our time with the presence of hot water in every home has not relieved people of the craving to “warm and stretch the bones”, to wash off all the accumulated dirt. Bath procedures are especially loved by those who permanently or seasonally live outside the city.
What if your financial and territorial capabilities do not allow you to acquire a full-fledged bathhouse? A special design of the bath will come to the rescue - a barrel in which all the functions of an ordinary bath are preserved.
Miniature size, efficiency, saving time and effort in the construction of such an instance of a bath - this is not a complete list of the benefits of a bath-barrel.
Advantages
What characteristics of a barrel bath put it head and shoulders above traditional designs? Here you can talk about the following advantages:
- Mobility. This design is much simpler and easier to transport from place to place.
- Less weight. A bath-barrel weighs much less than a capitally built "washing room". For comparison - 1.5 tons of a bath-barrel against five tons of a brick bath structure.
- Minimum heating time. The bath-barrel warms up in the summer season in just fifteen minutes. This is due to its ergonomic shape, in which there are no corners. Heat is kept in such a building for up to 2-3 hours.
- Small building area. A compact version of the installation of a bath-barrel can be carried out on ten square meters (and even less).
- Significant financial savings. Building a bath in the form of a barrel will help save a lot, because both materials and the cost of building a foundation will require much less.
- Bold style decision. Installing a barrel bath on your site can be a real decorative victory against the backdrop of classic bath buildings. It is unlikely that anyone will remain indifferent when looking at such a design.
- Good capacity. Despite the small external dimensions, the bath-barrel can accommodate a sufficient number of attendants - up to six people.
- Low cost of electricity and fuel. This is due to the similarity of the design of the bath-barrel with a thermos, capable of retaining heat for a long time.
- Variety of building materials. A barrel bath can be built from different types of wood, as well as from other materials. There are budget options, and the possibility of building "on a grand scale" with expensive wood trim - oak, linden, etc.
Flaws
But is everything so safe with the use of a bath-barrel?
Of course, this design has drawbacks. First of all, it is the need for good insulation for the use of a barrel bath in winter. And this means that the cost of such a structure will increase significantly.
Another drawback of this design is that for the installation of a bath, good conditions will be required in terms of access to the intended installation site. This applies to cases where a barrel bath is purchased from manufacturers. If you build it yourself, then this minus can be ignored.
During the operation of a bath of any design, over time, repair and replacement of some elements is required; it is much more difficult to do this in a barrel bath than in a stationary version.
Difficulties when using a bath-barrel may arise during the installation of water supply and sewerage(when there is a need for this), especially in winter, because pipes can freeze if proper thermal insulation is not made.
Design features
To be very brief, the design of the bath-barrel can be defined as a thermos with a door.
Such a special design, according to experts in the bath business, was invented by the Finns, who love to bathe very much, but are limited in free space. A barrel bath is a cylindrical building with a diameter of two to three meters - this parameter corresponds to the height of the bath. The length of this structure can be different (3-6 meters), often this is due to the size of the building materials used.
A barrel bath can be a modern design, to which both sewerage and cold water supply are connected.
The number of useful compartments in the bath-barrel depends on the design ideas. It is quite possible to make a separate steam room in this cylindrical structure, a place for washing and relaxing by constructing internal partitions. You can limit yourself to a steam room or a shower room - the decision is yours.
The appearance of the bath-barrel determines the name itself, but there are instances of square and rectangular shapes.
Forms of barrel baths in the photo
This design of the bath-barrel is quite acceptable. 
This is what the traditional design of the bath-barrel looks like 
This bath design is more like a trailer
Kinds
Bath connoisseurs can name several types of barrel baths at once:
- Traditional Russian in the shape of a barrel, equipped with steam and washing compartments. In such a building, it is necessary to consider a drainage system. You can take advantage of the natural landscape in terms of water runoff, for this, install a barrel bath on a small hill. The compartments and the oven are located similarly to the design of a conventional bath, only taking into account the fact that the oven must be small-sized due to the limited space in the barrel version.
- Steam room with a predominance of dry steam. In the kit of such a structure with only one steam room, it is possible to provide a "bath" with non-hot water - for contrast. This container with cool water, as a rule, is located outside the bathhouse and can be either a natural reservoir or a specially equipped pool or font.
- Japanese style . Ofuro, as such buildings are called, resembles a barrel with additional heating and without a roof. Such a bath is quite roomy, inside it there are several benches and a stove brought out to the outside.
- Sauna in the form of a barrel. This option requires complete sealing, but "frees" from the water drainage system, because in this room they only enjoy the steam, but do not wash. The barrel-sauna can be equipped with both a conventional stove and an electric one. But it should be remembered that a wood-burning stove will give off the heat necessary for heating within one hour, and it will take twice as long to warm up the same room with an electric stove.
Types of barrel baths in the photo
In such a "tub" you can fit several people at once 
How pleasant it is to plunge into the coolness of the reservoir after the steam room 
In such a room it is not at all humid, the steam is healing and dry. 
This design of the bath repeats all the traditions of the Russian bath: a dressing room. washing, steam room
Preparing for construction
Self-construction of a bath-barrel will help:
- save even more
- “saturate” the building with useful energy, because everything that is done with your own hands is charged with positive;
- take into account all individual wishes for interior design and decoration.
Design: drawings and dimensions
The standard dimensions of a barrel bath are: h = 2–3 m, l = 3–6 m. Being within these limits, you can build a comfortable and functional design for washing and for using steam.
But the independent construction process has one big plus - you can design and take into account all your wishes, including in size, adjusting any drawing from the Internet “for yourself” or building your own.
When preparing a project, consider what dimensions are suitable for you, how many bath visitors you plan to receive at the same time. It is useful to think about the issue of saving the budget, because the bath-barrel initially implies not too sweeping construction.
Base
Determine the place where this building will be installed . The foundation for such a structure is not a mandatory element, but a flat area is simply necessary. A bath-barrel can be hoisted into a place covered with paving slabs, gravel, cement. Direct contact of a wooden bath-barrel with an earthen surface is undesirable, this can lead to rapid decay and failure of the structure.
As an ideal platform for a bath-barrel, you can consider:
- a site with a concrete or asphalt surface;
- a flat place with a wooden shield;
- a platform covered with gravel;
- old concrete slab.
When making the supporting part, do not use low-quality material, because it is on it that the main load will fall. Be sure to treat the wooden parts with special compounds from decay, and cover the metal elements with anti-corrosion agents. In the transverse boards of the base, it is imperative to make notches that exactly match the contours of the barrel.
Material selection
The most commonly used material for a barrel bath is wood. Buildings can be built from wood using:
- larch;
- linden;
- cedar.
Habitual conifers - spruce, pine - are not very suitable for a barrel bath (due to the possible release of resin), they can be used to make a frame structure, but deciduous trees can be safely used for interior decoration.
Each wood has its positive and negative sides. Linden is the best option for finishing a steam room. It has bactericidal, anti-inflammatory properties, while it is low thermally conductive and will not become a source of skin burns.
A more economical option is to use steamed aspen wood, which is also useful in combating various health problems.
Alder boards are quite suitable for the construction of benches. But alder, as well as birch and fir, are not suitable for building the structure itself.
The use of metal for the construction of such a bath device is undesirable due to its rapid heating for safety reasons. But the use of metal elements is not prohibited. These can be corners, rims and other elements to stiffen the structure.
To protect the barrel bath and extend its life, you can make a roof from a metal profile.
How to make the necessary calculations
The length of the boards corresponds to the chosen length of the bath structure.
Boards 9 cm wide and up to five centimeters thick with ready-made joints such as a spike and groove are optimally suited for the construction of a bath-barrel.
In order to correctly determine the required number of boards, you need to calculate the circumference and divide it by the width of one board. For example, the diameter of the bath is two meters, then we calculate the circumference using the formula 2∏R, i.e. we get 2 x 3.14 x 1 = 6.28 m. Having chosen boards 10 cm wide, we calculate the required number of boards:
6280 mm: per 100 mm = 62.8. Therefore, you will need 63 whole boards.
In addition to the boards, we need to prepare:
- metal hoops - for screed;
- window and door elements;
- fuel or electric stove;
- wooden bars - for support;
- roofing material (you can use hard - for the construction of a gable roof or soft - which is placed close to the top of the barrel);
- insulating material (for fuel stove);
- pipes - for the construction of a drainage system (if necessary) and for the exit of smoke;
- fasteners - self-tapping screws, bolts, nails.
Boards sawn to size must be sanded from the end parts and completely treated with antiseptic agents.
Production tools
Having prepared all the material for the construction of a barrel bath, take care of the tools:
- screwdriver;
- a hammer;
- saw;
- drill;
- jigsaw;
- axe;
- plane;
- level;
- roulette.
Everything you need is ready, you can start building a bath-barrel.
Step-by-step construction of a bath-barrel with your own hands
When building a bath-barrel, try to be as collected as possible so that both you and your loved ones will like the process and the result of the work.
Stage 1. The construction of the base.
The number of support beams will depend on the length of the building. They are cut into pieces along a length equal to the bath diameter. If the diameter of the bath is 2 meters, then all beams for support should be two meters. The number of such beams depends on the length of the future building, usually such supports are placed one and a half meters apart.
If the length of the bath-barrel is six meters, then 4 base bars will be needed. In the upper part of these bars, recesses are made that perfectly match the curve of the barrel. Please note that the rest of these bars should not be less than ten centimeters.
The support beams are attached to a flat workpiece area with a slight slope so that the water is removed from the bath by gravity. This can be done from the back of the bath to the exit. A drain pipe is connected to the drain in advance.
Stage 2. Fixing floor boards.
Marks are made in the middle of the support beams and the first board is drilled into these places. Then, on both sides of it, boards are fixed sequentially one after the other using the “groove-thorn” method.
The continuous recess of the recesses in the support beams must be completely covered with boards.
Stage 3. Installation of partitions.
It is necessary to make partitions in the places that are provided for by the project. Focusing on the drawing, fix the boards on the crossbars of the base. The main thing, being carried away by work, do not forget about doorways!
Also correlate the number of walls with the project.
Stage 4. We continue to sew boards.
We fasten the remaining boards on both sides of the partitions, trying to do it as tightly as possible. When working, use a stepladder and do not forget about safety precautions!
Stage 5 Performing a screed with metal hoops.
To give additional rigidity, you need to use a screed. It is performed either with ready-made special hoops, or with a metal tape with holes at both ends. A bolt is inserted into these holes and tightened, fixing it with a nut. It is still better to use special clamps that will help compress the entire building with its possible drying out during operation.
Contraction will help to avoid gaps in the structure so that the useful heat does not go outside, but remains inside the bath-barrel.
Stage 6 We install doors and windows.
Ready-made door and window structures are inserted into place. Round windows-portholes look very original.
Stage 7. We cover the roof.
For this stage, we will use a soft or hard roof at your discretion. Installing a soft roof is much easier, cheaper and more time-saving.
You can use flexible tiles or metal profiles for these purposes.
Stage 8 Interior arrangement.
If the barrel bath is intended for use only in summer, then it does not need to be insulated. It is enough to process all internal surfaces. Experts recommend using a natural and environmentally proven remedy - linseed oil.
Benches, a table - in the dressing room, shelves - in the steam room, benches - in the washing room - all this will need to be built to create comfort and give functionality to the structure.
You can learn a lot of useful information after watching the video.
Video: assembling a sauna
Internal finishing after production
The interior decoration of the bath-barrel does not require any frills, but at the same time it is pleasant to be in a room where everything is thought out to the smallest detail.
- To improve walking on an uneven semicircular floor, a small portable lattice flooring will help. It will help not only to feel firmly on a slippery floor, but also to help better air circulation. Humid air will not stagnate in the lower part of the bath.
- To organize the drainage of water, you will need a dug hole so that the liquid from the bath flows there. If there is already sewerage on your site, then you need to “crash” from the bath into this system.
- All lamps, as well as an electric cable, should be chosen for a barrel bath with special protection; these devices must be adapted to the conditions of baths and saunas.
- When arranging the stove, do not neglect all safety rules, the use of thermal insulation is the main condition for the safe use of the bath.
- The arrangement of a small veranda at the entrance to the bathhouse is a personal matter, but how nice it is to sit in a sincere company on the street between visits to the steam room.
The construction of a bath-barrel is subject not only to the masters of the bath business. This process can be done independently. Having built a bath of a barrel design, you will be rewarded for your work - such a building will last a long time, and will delight all those who like to take a steam bath!
Bath barrel on a turnkey basis, inexpensive - ads in newspapers and advertising blocks on the Internet are full of. A. S. Pushkin in the tale of Tsar Saltan, rhyming the line “A cloud is moving across the sky, A barrel is floating on the sea,” hardly imagined that the modern generation would adapt a barrel for a bath. We also doubt that the ancient Greek Diagen, writing his philosophical treatises, could have assumed that his descendants would arrange a Russian steam room in a wooden barrel.
national ingenuity, guided by the adage Roman satirist Juvenal “a healthy mind in a healthy body”, proposed to users the idea of using baths under a barrel, supplementing it with the principle: “the economy must be economical”. It is not known for certain who is responsible for the implementation of the idea to build a Russian bath in a barrel. However, it can be unequivocally argued that an extraordinary building has earned popularity both among residents of suburban villages and among urban private sector.
Bumping into such proposals, we wanted to understand what barrel baths are. We propose to consider the principles of the device and non-standard approaches in the performance of an intricate structure. Find out what advantages a barrel bath offers, and determine a list of disadvantages. In addition, I want to know what is more profitable, buy a ready-made bath barrel or build an object with your own hands?
Barrel bath - pros and cons
Ecological consciousness. The bath barrel is made of wood, which has a positive effect on the environment. Selected, quality materials are used that are renewable and safe to use. The dynamic, round shape of the barrel bath provides less wasted space than their square counterparts, which reduces the load on the sauna stove. For a good heating of the cylindrical shape of the bath, 8-10 logs are enough.
adaptability- truly a bath in a barrel is easy to adapt for use in any space. The barrel can be placed both indoors and outdoors. Sauna barrels with electric heaters are offered for sale and wood stoves. Bath designs can be created in custom sizes to suit your needs.
Easy assembly. The barrel bath can be supplied fully assembled or as a DIY kit. The unique articulated semi-circular profile allows you to easily assemble the bath yourself, far surpassing the competition in the construction of a bath from traditional logs. The small weight of a bath promotes installation of a design on any firm and equal surface. The base can be dense soil, concrete pouring or ordinary asphalt.
Detail Orientation- from each plank in the sauna, to the installation of windows, benches and accessories. Ready-made options are preferable, as manufacturers pay the closest attention to every aspect, while outdoor work can be accompanied by shortcomings. The finished sauna barrel is installed at the facility in one day, which allows you to pay more attention to small details. Many firms are interested in the buyer, promising to make the foundation as a gift.
Bath barrel has a number of advantages
Support. When buying a ready-made sauna barrel, you can choose a seller where the company's policy allows you to maintain a working relationship with you. Retains attention to detail, improves claim response times and improves customer service. Despite the fact that a barrel sauna is cheaper than a traditional log sauna, manufacturers, due to fierce competition, are extremely scrupulous about the quality of their work.
Availability– the entire structure of the sauna in a barrel is an inexpensive and beautiful alternative to building an outdoor sauna or bath building. Modern ones make it possible to insulate a bathhouse - a barrel and operate it all year round without any problems. The small dimensions and efficiency of the stove help to keep the temperature in the steam room at a high level, despite the severe frost outside the window.
Beautiful comfort. All turnkey barrel baths are equipped with standard warm wooden floors, in contrast to the cold concrete that is typical for ordinary bath rooms. The barrel bath comes with quality benches made from linden wood, their traditionally pleasing round shape is a bright comfort enhancer that everyone will love.
Fast cooking. In terms of heating speed, the barrel bath is noticeably ahead of standard rectangular structures. . Households and guests will not have to wait long for the “first couple”. It takes no more than 30-40 minutes for the air in the steam room to warm up to the comfortable temperature of a Finnish sauna (+90 C).
The only drawback in the budget building is the natural tightness, according to the owners, the barrel bath does not allow a cheerful company to comfortably settle down. Capacity is limited to two people, which sometimes acts as a significant disadvantage.
Bath barrel from a bar projects and prices
The cistern bath project is definitely a simple and predictable zoning of a narrow, small interior space. The determining factor in the layout of the bath is its length.
The project "mobile bath-barrel" does not exceed the length of 2 meters and is limited only to the steam room. There is no dressing room, you have to take off your clothes either in Spartan conditions under a canopy-visor crowning the main entrance or in advance in the house, and run to the sauna wrapped in a towel.
In a two-meter bath barrel there is no place for organizing a washing department. Deciding to install a mini-bath, you need to take care of installing a wooden font in advance or place it near the pool.
A portable three-meter sauna barrel has an advantage in length, using it to organize a dressing room and a minimal recreation area.
The project of a four-meter barrel bath does not involve changes in the layout. The design of the structure remains the same, the steam room has the same limits, increases just the changing room. The increased space allows the installation of benches of greater length, increasing the degree of comfort for vacationers.
The most justified project of a wooden barrel-shaped bath is six meters long. A large bath is better to build a traditional shape. The six-meter length allows you to freely place a steam room, a washing department and organize a recreation area.
Bath barrel 6 meters long can allow changing the tradition of the location of the entrance from the end of the building, moving it to the center of the object. This approach helps to divide the internal space of the bath into two functional areas: a steam room and a relaxation area. The locker room is located behind the front door.
The diameter of the barrel can be chosen based on individual growth parameters, as part of the standard design, the height of the bath-barrel is determined at 2.2 meters. For the average person, this height is enough to feel comfortable inside the barrel.
Designers are not satisfied with the traditions of the round shape, they are inventive and offer the consumer oval, square and even triangular designs.
From bad weather, rain and snow, the roof of the bath-barrels is covered with soft bituminous tiles. The tile emphasizes the fabulous beauty of the building, and serves for a long time without losing its original properties.
The choice for tiles fell not only because of the external qualities, the craftsmen successfully use the main advantage of the material - the ability to perfectly bend around any curved surfaces.
Sauna barrel - heater stove
A fiery motor that makes an ordinary room turn into a Russian steam room looks like an ordinary stove . The “heart” of the bathhouse is the feringer baby oven or the geyser oven. In a barrel-shaped design, the oven is installed inside or outside, usually at the end of the room. In rare cases, the oven is placed on the side. The choice of a stove for a bath of their barrel falls on one of three models:
- Electric boiler equipped with a heater;
- Traditional wood-burning sauna stove;
- Wood burning stove combined with a stainless steel water tank.
How to make a barrel bath with your own hands
Coniferous wood species are used in the production process for the manufacture of barrel baths. A more budget option is designed from pine and spruce. Larch and fir add presentability but the purchase price increases. Expensive cedar helps to achieve luxury and nobility of the building.
Linden, aspen, alder, oak or cedar tree varieties impregnated with linseed oil are used in interior decoration. Linseed oil is needed to improve the water resistance characteristics of the material.
It is advisable to combine the body of the barrel bath, using different types of wood. It is reasonable to assemble the lower part of the barrel from larch, as it resists decay processes well. The top of the barrel, where more building material is needed, is preferably made from cheaper pine.
Estimated price of a bath from a barrel
In the same way as the length of the barrel determines the project, the price of the bath is primarily set based on the dimensions of the barrel. The second thing that makes up the price is the variety of equipment with furnace equipment and the cost of finishing materials. The price of a two-meter bath of a turnkey barrel with a diameter of 2.1 meters, made of pine boards with an initial configuration, is offered on the market from 80,000 rubles, which prevailed in 2018.
The design of the Altai pine is 10% more expensive, the cedar breed will increase the total amount by another 25%. A barrel bath with an open mini veranda protected by a canopy from the rain will cost you 15-20 thousand rubles more than the basic version. Typically, a barrel bath is used in the summer and does not require insulation. For those who like to return to the dacha in late autumn and flood the bathhouse from the road, it is necessary to order an insulated structure, it will cost another 20-25% more.
A very inexpensive option can be purchased for only 60,000 rubles. To do this, you should pay attention to the mini bath - trailer. An irreplaceable thing for passionate lovers of the steam room who do not want to part with the bath. Take a steam bath on the shore of the lake while fishing, a luxury worthy of a modern person. The mini sauna is installed on a trailer and becomes mobile. The price of a bath for a trailer starts from 60,000 rubles.
With an increase in length, the price of bath-barrels increases, not without a straight line. If the site in the country allows, it is advisable to swing at a three-meter length. Two compartments (steam room and locker room), a spruce or pine barrel will cost the owner about 130-150 thousand rubles. A six-meter pine "royal bath barrel" should be considered for a large family. The project allows you to accommodate a washing department, a locker room and a steam room. The initial price of a 6 meter barrel starts from 300 thousand rubles.
Barrel bath on your own
Of course, you can file with your own hands, cut a set of bath barrels for self-assembly. The only negative is that it will take forever, leaving the summer season behind. The reason for the long manufacture of structural elements lies in the need to plan each board on one side forming a semicircle, on the other - a gutter. Otherwise, it will be impossible to form a cylindrical shape without huge gaps.
In the modern world, for such a purpose, they use not a chisel, but a milling machine. Technological equipment cuts the connecting elements quickly and accurately forming a semicircular or U-shaped profile.
It is definitely unprofitable to purchase a milling machine for personal use in order to cut a set of boards once. Moreover, you still have to buy a set of cutters. The best option to save on the construction of a bath from a barrel is to purchase a ready-made kit, and do the assembly yourself.
Professional assemblers ask for work from 10 to 40 thousand rubles, based on the length of the bath, we suggest installing a barrel bath yourself. Armed with instructions and a minimum set of tools, any healthy man can install a barrel bath on the site with his own hands.
Bath assembly kit
Before installing the bath, you need to take care of a flat and hard base. In most cases, a compacted ground area is sufficient. If the earthen rocks are soft on the site, then the work on preparing the base is carried out more carefully. It is best to make a concrete pad the size of a bath. In the absence of concrete, the area under the barrel is covered with rubble and poured with a cement-sand screed 100 mm thick with the proportions of 1 part of cement, 2 parts of sand.
Next, wooden supports are installed on the site, which are included in the delivery. Semicircular cutouts of the supports will securely fix the barrel bath along the entire length. We advise you to additionally treat the barrel bath supports with a composition against fungus and mold formation.
Having placed the supports for the barrel along the length of the structure, we begin to lay out the bottom of the bath from profiled boards. We fasten the boards to the supports with self-tapping screws. Having laid the lower sector of the circle, we install the end round load-bearing walls. The walls must be inserted into the groove formed by the stacked boards at the bottom. Next, the bath is sequentially sheathed with boards in a circle, using nails as fasteners.
When the body of the bath is assembled, it must be firmly pulled together with steel hoops. The ends of the hoop are equipped with special threaded adjusting bolts. With the help of a screed, the hoops are pulled, finally giving rigidity to the entire structure.
The final stage is the installation of the stove-heater. The factory instruction for installing a barrel bath also regulates the laying of utilities (electrical wiring for lighting and sewer pipes).
Fine finishing, installation of doors, benches, tables is carried out at the end of the installation work. It remains to protect the bathhouse from the weather with shingles and start the first kindling of the sauna.
If you have a partner, then using the factory instructions and armed with a set of tools (hammer, screwdriver, saw and planer), you can cope with the assembly of the bath from the “constructor” in a couple of days.
Many owners of country houses dream of a cozy and compact bath, which will not take up much space and will neatly fit into any landscape of the backyard. The best option in a limited space would be a miniature barrel bath, which you may have already heard about somewhere. Today we will discuss possible models of mobile structures, talk about the construction technology, including the design stage, designate the materials for manufacturing and finishing, and also share all the nuances of the arrangement.
What people are just not ready to invent, if only to equip a miniature and comfortable bathhouse on their backyard, while not spending much. The bath-barrel has become such a masterpiece of architecture - extremely simple in everyday use, convenient and compact design, capable of radically transforming the area near the house with only its appearance. And the aroma of natural wood and the healing properties of the bath, which everyone knows about, will bring many pleasant moments of relaxation and recovery. Yes, you can work hard for this!
Comparing a barrel bath with traditional steam rooms, it is worth noting several of its advantages:
- Relatively light weight. A structure made of larch weighs only 1.5 tons, while a stationary brick model weighs up to 5 tons.
- Mobility. At any time, you can change the location of the structure on the site.
- High heating rate. It will take only a quarter of an hour to warm up the bathhouse to 90ºС (in summer).
- Compactness. For the construction and installation of a bath-barrel on the site, you will need only 8-10m², which is very convenient if you have a very small area.
- Unusual architectural solutions and extraordinary decoration. It is not only pleasant to relax in such a bathhouse, but it can be used as a separate decorative element within the existing territory.
- Economy of construction. The construction of any other bath will cost you many times more: just remember the cost of foundation work and the cost of materials.
- Ergonomic space. Despite its small size, it can easily fit up to 6 people inside.
The lasting effect of a thermos, which is ensured by the multi-layer structure, its rounded geometry and high-quality thermal insulation. All this ultimately ensures economical consumption of fuel resources and electricity.
Variety of barrel baths
Needless to say, in our country such a steam room is still perceived as a kind of know-how, despite the fact that in Europe and Scandinavia such designs have already become familiar. In fact, a barrel-bath is a barrel-shaped log house equipped with a mobile steam generator stove, which works productively both on wood and on electricity.
There are several types of barrel baths:
1. An ordinary Russian bath, combining a steam room and a washing room.
2. Steam room with dry steam, which will ideally harmonize with a cool water font.
3. Ofuro (Japanese variety), very similar to a font, but equipped with a heating system from a stove.
Russian bath
Habitual and familiar to all ordinary bath, consisting of a steam room and washing.
Since the Russian bath involves the use of water, the barrel design project should provide for the organization of a drainage system. A slight tilt of the structure will help eliminate the possibility of stagnant water.
When designing and building a Russian bathhouse, the stove should be placed between the steam room and the washing room. The part of the oven equipped with a tank for heating water must go into the washing room. In the steam room there will be a container with stones heated from the firebox. In order not to get burned in the washing room on the design of the firebox, it should be fenced off.
The stove itself should be small in size, since the space in the barrel bath is very limited. From all sides, the stove is sheathed with heat-resistant materials.
Steam room on dry steam
This is a bathhouse with one room and a nearby pool, natural pond or font.
Barrel - sauna
Experts say that organizing a sauna barrel is an order of magnitude easier than a regular steam room. All that is required to ensure the tightness of the structure is the absence of cracks in the walls and on the floor surface. A small hole is often made on the roof, which is partially or completely (depending on desire) closed with a valve.
Drainage in the sauna is not necessary. The room is equipped with wide benches and a stove with a heated heater.
An electric stove can also be installed in the sauna barrel.
Interesting. Such a sauna can be placed on the site both vertically and horizontally. With the latter option, the area of \u200b\u200bthe room doubles!
Bath Ofuro from Japan
The Japanese version of the bath is very easy to use, and its main feature is the absence of a roof, which does not prevent you from enjoying the harmony of fire, water and air even in winter.
A slightly elongated barrel is placed on a wooden deck. Inside, the construction is equipped with all necessary amenities: a stove and wooden benches. The stove is often taken out to a safe distance and equipped with a special partition that protects against burns.
However, at the same time, it will take more time to warm up the water in the bath and maintain it at the same level, which means that fuel consumption will increase.
Choosing a material
The operational properties and convenience of a barrel bath largely depend on the wood from which it will be built. If for the construction of an ordinary bath, almost any material is used and only wood is selected for interior decoration, then in our case it is better to decide on the choice of suitable wood right away.
Take your choice of wood very seriously!
For example, do not consider conifers. They are enriched with resinous components, which, when the wood is heated, are released and often burn the skin.
Prices for unedged boards
unedged boards
Material preparation
It is not enough to know which wood is better to use for the construction of a barrel bath. It is important that the wood is of high quality and pre-treated.
First of all, all the boards selected for the bath must be adjusted to one size. If the wood will be processed independently, then it is better to choose boards 90 mm wide and 50 mm thick.
If you do not have your own woodworking equipment, then it is better to contact the master, who, based on the drawing, will produce lumber of the required dimensions. Once again, we note the painstaking process of manufacturing blanks for a bath: all boards must be the same size.
Depending on the expected diameter of the barrel, the number of boards is calculated. For a more accurate calculation, a drawing is made on which a circle is drawn. Then it is exactly divided by the width of the board. The length of the boards determines the size of the room (2.5-6 meters).
Installation is not complete without fasteners (nails, stainless steel screws).
Do-it-yourself barrel bath: step by step instructions
Working with the base
Since the weight of the finished structure is not too large, it is quite possible to do without making a foundation. The most important thing is to find a solid and even platform where the bath-barrel will be placed in the future, to build a reliable foundation, thanks to which our structure will be held.
An asphalted or paved area with paving slabs will perfectly cope with the role of the site. At worst, a rammed surface covered with turf is also suitable.
To create the base, high-quality edged boards with a thickness of 5 mm or more are used. The support boards are fixed at a distance of 1.5 meters, so their number is directly determined by the dimensions of the structure. Rounded recesses are made on the transverse slats, corresponding to the contours of the future bath. For drawing contours, cardboard patterns are used. The width of the remaining part of the bar must exceed 10 cm.
All prepared boards are fixed to each other with screws as firmly as possible, and metal corners are used to give additional rigidity. They are fastened at the corners of the structure and at the junction of the transverse and longitudinal strips.
To fasten the elements of the bath-barrel, it is convenient to use screws and a screwdriver.
Attention! Before bonding all parts, do not forget to treat them with a special impregnation. After assembly, it will be problematic to do it qualitatively!
Screw prices
Construction of the front and back walls
As you move on to the next step, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Both walls must be perfectly shaped.
The back wall should provide for the presence of windows (one or two, depending on the project), and the front wall - a doorway. The location of these elements determines the area for placing the bars on which the boards are fixed. They are attached across the structure.
Making a doorway is not an easy task (Fig. 28)
Using bars and boards, an equilateral square is made. Its middle is determined, and then a circle is drawn, which is carefully cut out jigsaw.
In the finished circle, markings are made for doors and windows, and it is also sawn out. For reliability, the holes obtained can be reinforced around the perimeter with wooden blocks.
Bath-barrel walls: preparation of boards
At this stage, boards are being prepared for cladding the walls of the bath-barrel. Grooves are made on each board at the level of installation of the front and rear walls. Their width is comparable to the thickness of the boards from which the walls are made, and the depth is 8-10 mm. These grooves will fix the "bottoms" of the bath. If the steam room will consist of two rooms, then the grooves will have to be cut not in two places, but in three, because the separating partition will also be fixed in them.
Creating windows and doors
The absolute tightness of closed rooms is one of the most important points in self-manufacturing.
It is still better to entrust this painstaking and precise work to the master, providing him with all the calculations and sizes.
Bath assembly stage
The base for the steam room is mounted on a solid base with a slight slope. A drain pipe must be connected to it in advance.
On the basis of the prepared arcs, the middle is marked. The first board of the bath-barrel will be attached to it.
On both sides of the first board, the rest are installed along the entire length of the base arc.
Attention! Be sure to ensure that all cut grooves form one recess. This closes the floor.
The next step is the installation in the grooves of the fixed boards of the back and front walls. Make sure they fit snugly and can stand without support! Thanks to these walls, the geometry of the building will be formed.
Subsequent boards are attached to the installed walls (front, middle and back). Work is carried out in parallel on one side and the other.
After the boards are installed, the structure must be pulled together with metal hoops. This will provide additional rigidity to the structure. Instead of hoops, ribbons are often used, at the ends of which holes are made. A bolt is passed through them, tightly tightened and twisted with a nut.
Windows and doors are being installed.
At the final stage, roofing work is carried out. Most often, flexible tiles and metal sheets are installed on the roof. The gable roof looks very impressive. Finishing slopes is done using metal tiles or corrugated board.
If the barrel bath project provides for a veranda, then it's time to start arranging it and installing benches.
We equip the bath-barrel from the inside
Before equipping the interior of the bath, the walls are covered with a special linen compound. The oily liquid will reliably protect the wood from excess moisture, deformation and cracking.
Linseed oil is a reliable wood protection.
Linseed oil - reliable wood protection (Fig. 38)
Attention! Not only the wall is processed, but also all wooden elements.
Organization of water drain (Fig. 40)
Drainage features
If you plan to build a bathhouse where a large amount of water will be consumed, then you cannot do without a reliable drainage system. You can, of course, drill small holes in the floor through which the liquid will seep into the ground. But with frequent use of the bath, the liquid can simply accumulate, which will lead to rot and an unpleasant smell of dampness, then the floor boards will become unreliable and in the end it will simply fail. It is for this reason that experts recommend taking care of organizing a high-quality drainage system in advance.
To do this, the bath-barrel is mounted at a slight tilt back. In this case, the water will not accumulate, but will all drain to the very end of the washing room, where a drain will be installed in advance - a special hole with a pipe leading to the drain pit. The pipe connected to the floor must be insulated. Otherwise, it will crack from the temperature difference at the most inopportune moment.
The construction of a barrel bath will take you only a few days, and it will delight you with endless heat for years. This is a very worthy option for a country house and a summer residence.
Video - building a do-it-yourself barrel bath
Why not build a bathhouse on your site? Everything would be fine, but many are stopped by the fact that the construction process itself takes a lot of time, a sea of \u200b\u200bmoney is spent on the bath project and construction, and the same amount is spent on interior decoration and equipment. Yes, and the site is not rubber, more or less a decent bath - this is already 10-15 squares at least. So what, and live without a bath all my life?
If there is no life without a bath
Nothing like that. If there’s no way at all without a bath, but with a place or money it’s stressful, then you can consider a rather original, inexpensive, compact and interesting option - a do-it-yourself barrel bath. We will attach the drawings and photos to the text, and we will try to tell the rest in words. First - what is it all about, a bath-barrel? Frankly, no one can really say where such structures came from, but there are still some assumptions.
The fact is that in Japan their traditional bath, sento, is not quite similar to ours. They do not steam in our understanding in the steam room, but take a hot bath, and with a strictly controlled temperature - 55 degrees. Sento is a collective bath and it looks like a huge deep basin or barrel. The audience, having previously washed up, climbs into such a barrel-font for a bath and takes a steam bath, conversing at the same time on abstract Japanese topics.
Japanese and Finnish bath-barrel. What is the difference?
But all Japanese have time to visit a public bath. Those who cannot live without good steaming install a miniature analogue of sento, called furo, right at home. And this is a real barrel with a lid, into which they put their head, after filling the barrel with water at a temperature of 55 degrees.
Probably, the Finns spied on this design and decided that it would be nice to build the same barrel to save time and money, only install it horizontally and increase it in size five times. Then the bath font will turn into a real bath, with a steam room, a vestibule and a relaxation area, and the Finnish barrel bath looks something like this.
A person who is absolutely far from wooden architecture will be able to build such a structure with his own hands, and in finished form there is a bath-barrel of three hundred or four hundred thousand. No three hundred thousand to have your own mobile bath with a steam room? It's not scary, then you can assemble it with your own hands, and quickly and without special time costs and special tools.
Since the bath-barrel is entirely assembled from a good tree, all the healing properties of a traditional bath are fully preserved. In terms of technology, this is a solid construction that does not take up much space, it can be transported to any place on the globe on a conventional car trailer or, in extreme cases, in the back of a one and a half ton truck. What prospects open up for the owner of such a miracle, we hope it is not necessary to explain.
Materials for a bath-barrel
The interior of the bath-barrel is Spartan luxury. That is, there is everything that is necessary for taking bath procedures and even a little more:
In addition, the interior of such a bath can absorb any design fantasies, since the very approach to the design and design of the building is unconventional. But only if the materials used for interior design are all the same wood: cedar, linden, birch, pine or spruce. The advantages of the barrel bath also include the absence of corners, as such, and very uniform heating, which is facilitated by the round or oval section of the cedar barrel bath or barrel bath from another tree.
Forms and designs
The design of such a bath is thought out to the smallest detail, this is clearly seen in the drawings. There is no need to build an expensive foundation, since the bath feels great on a flat, compacted site, in extreme cases, on a monolithic concrete floor slab, which is not a problem to get. Beams-runners are installed on the base, on which the main structure of the bath-barrel rests. These beams are needed not only for reliable fixation of the structure, but also so that the surface of the bath does not have contact with the soil.
You cannot build a barrel bath from bad and low-quality materials. But good timber will need the bare minimum. The boards must have either a special radial profile or a profile designed for a tenon-groove connection. As a rule, they use a board 4.5 thick and 9 cm wide. Steel hoops will be needed to mount the barrel, which tighten and firmly fix the entire structure.
Actually, that's all the tricks you need to know about a barrel bath, and good wood and a properly made stove will take care of the optimal microclimate in your new bath. Successful experiments!