Profiled timber is made from coniferous wood. This building material is environmentally friendly. In the production process, the timber is processed on a four-sided jointing and milling machine. As a result, two of its sides receive a thorn-groove profile, while the other two sides become smooth. The use of such a building material allows the construction of a bath from a profiled chamber-drying beam without the cost of additional wall decoration. Drying the timber in a special chamber reduces its moisture content from natural 50-60% to a minimum value of 18-20%.

A list of some of the advantages of baths with walls made of chamber drying timber

Baths made of chamber-drying timber are characterized by a number of advantages when compared with buildings made from other materials obtained from wood:

• the use of environmentally friendly building materials eliminates the possibility of the appearance of toxins when the temperature rises;
• the shrinkage of the log cabin of the bath from the profiled lumber of chamber drying after construction does not exceed, as a rule, 3%, which allows you to complete the internal work within a month and a half after the installation of the log house, significantly reducing the time required for all work;
• a bath from a chamber-drying beam will last for decades, since the beam is not subject to rotting and biodamage due to the low percentage of moisture;
• the weight of the log cabin of the bath is relatively small, which allows it to be installed on the most economical type of foundation - tape;
• bath walls made of chamber drying timber are waterproof, have a low thermal conductivity, are reliable and durable.

How we carry out the construction of a bath from a bar dried in a chamber

We divide the entire process of building a bath into 4 stages:

1. design;
2. foundation device;
3. assembly and installation of a log house;
4. ceiling insulation and flooring.

To clarify the cost of building a bath from a chamber-drying beam, the customer can at any time call the numbers indicated on the website, name the estimated dimensions of the bath and find out the estimated cost of construction. In addition, our consultant will also be able to answer other questions regarding pricing and the work process.

Owners of country houses sooner or later think about building a bath. After all, the bath is a great place to relax. There you can easily cleanse your body and soul, have fun with friends and family, get a boost of positive emotions and a healing effect.

The efficiency, aesthetics and durability of the building directly depends on the building materials. The bath is built from wood, brick, blocks, etc.. Let's consider the popular options for building materials separately.

wooden bath

The traditional and most rational construction option. Wood is a natural, environmentally friendly material that will enhance the healing effect of bath procedures. Pleasant forest aroma and attractive appearance will create a cozy and favorable atmosphere.

Characteristics of wooden building materials:

• Environmentally friendly materials do not emit harmful toxic substances;
• The tree is easy to install. Installation of a wooden frame will take 1-2 weeks;
• Keeps warm for a long time;
• With proper care, the bath will last 70-80 years;
• Aesthetically attractive appearance;
• Light weight does not require an expensive deep foundation, which reduces construction costs;
• It does not require external and serious interior decoration, which saves a large part of the budget. After all, finishing is 50-70% of the cost of building a building;
• Ease of processing - wood is easy to varnish and paint any color;
• The low cost of the material due to the availability of raw materials.

For a wooden bath, choose a log or timber. Both of these materials have the above listed features, but there are differences between them. First of all, they relate to the appearance and form.

The rounded log will be appreciated by lovers of the Russian style and spaciousness. The material of the correct cylindrical shape will harmoniously fit into the environment and create a refined appearance of the building.

Glued or profiled timber is characterized by a square shape, which will create a practical European style.

The choice of timber or logs is a matter of taste. However, keep in mind that the construction of a log bath will be cheaper. After all, the beam requires additional costs for interior decoration in order to avoid the appearance of cracks and cracks.

Brick is distinguished by high thermal conductivity. Therefore, reinforced thermal insulation of the walls is required. After all, long-term preservation of heat in the room is the main thing for a bath. In addition, laying brick walls requires a lot of physical effort and takes a lot of time.

Characteristics of brick building materials:

• Durability and strength of the material;
• Requires a deep and expensive foundation, which increases the cost of construction;
• Heavy and laborious installation;
• Requires serious interior decoration and laying reinforced thermal insulation due to high thermal conductivity;
• The material takes longer to warm up;
• Easily absorbs and passes moisture;
• Fire resistance.

Thus, brick construction is not the best option. It will take a long time and require a lot of effort. In addition, such a bath requires a serious foundation and careful finishing.

Bath from foam concrete blocks

Foam concrete is made in the form of blocks. The material surpasses brick in terms of thermal insulation quality and saves foundation costs. However, the microclimate in such a bath will be completely different than in a wooden one.

Characteristics of foam concrete:

• Standard wall foam block replaces 13 silicate bricks;
• Ease of installation - the foam block is easy to install on your own without professional training;
• Damp resistance;
• Difficulties in installing ventilation and vapor barrier.

Foam blocks are more suitable for building a bath than brick. However, the healing effect in such a room is significantly reduced than in a natural bath. At the same time, foam concrete makes it difficult to carry out vapor barrier and ventilation.

Frame construction - walls in the form of a lattice of timber of various sections. The cells of the frame are filled with heat-insulating materials and sheathed outside and inside with boards, clapboard or imitation timber.

Characteristics of frame technology:

• Ease and speed of erection;
• Good thermal insulation;
• The light weight of the structure does not require a deep, expensive foundation;
• Cheap materials and construction;
• Structural fragility.

A frame bath will not require large expenditures. However, a fragile structure will last much lower than a bath made of wood, brick or block.

What material is better for building a bath

Regardless of the choice of material, wood will have to be used in any case. For sheathing walls and ceilings, a wooden lining is required, for laying a shelf - boards. Internal partitions, doors and window frames, deck chairs and shelves, cooperage - all this is made of wood. Is it worth spoiling the atmosphere with artificial materials?

A solid wooden bath will last a long time and create a unique atmosphere. The tree perfectly retains heat and has a beneficial effect on the human condition. In such a room it will be easy to breathe and pleasant to be.

The MariSrub company offers dozens of turnkey log bath projects. In the catalog you will find projects with an attic, a terrace, a rest room. For you - baths of various sizes and layouts. We will carry out an individual project, taking into account the characteristics of the land plot and the wishes of the client.

From time immemorial, the Slavs had a tradition of building a bathhouse near their home. It has survived to this day, despite the fact that new, more modern washing devices have appeared. In order to independently make such a building for yourself, you need to know what materials will be needed for the construction of the bath. In this article, we will talk in more detail about this component of the entire creation process.

In addition to all this, a bath is a good investment, because it can increase the value of your property. Think for yourself, would you buy an ordinary house or with a steam room? That's right, of course, with your partner. And now we suggest you move on to a more detailed consideration of the required materials.

Construction materials

Important. A bathhouse as a structure is not an easy object.
Therefore, special requirements are imposed on it, which are even more stringent than those of residential buildings.
So, for example, the standards for electrical safety of baths should deserve special attention, because the steam room has high humidity and temperature.

Building materials for a bath are bought, depending on what its individual elements will be. In other words, the specification will depend on what and how the load-bearing structures and its individual elements will be manufactured.

We will consider construction issues:

• Stan;
• Ceiling;
• Selection of heat insulators;
• vapor barrier materials;
• Interior decoration.

Of course, these are not all questions, but only the most important ones, which we will consider later in this article.

Building materials for walls

The wall is the basis of any building, its quality will determine the life of the building and the comfortable conditions inside the premises.

Most often, the following materials are used to build a bath:

• Tree . This is the most traditional building material for a bath, which has already proven its suitability for many centuries. Basically, species of deciduous trees are used for construction - cedar, larch, etc. In specialized stores you can purchase the following beams: glued profiled, profiled, rectangular and solid or rounded logs;

Important. When buying wooden beams or logs, you should know that the quality of storage is of great importance.
If the humidity in the warehouse was high, then in the future the log will shrink a lot, and maybe even lead it.

• Arbolit. It is a mixture of organic aggregates and cement. Its characteristics are similar to foam concrete. It is made in the form of blocks, moreover, the technological process is so easy that it can be done directly at the construction site. The only significant drawback is the fear of moisture, so after the walls are erected, they must be faced;
• Foam concrete. It has good thermal insulation qualities, is lightweight and does not need a massive foundation. It is sold in the form of blocks, and the laying of walls from it is simple and can be done by hand. In addition, foam concrete has the ability to "breathe";
• Brick . It must be said that this material for the construction of a bath is far from optimal. Firstly, the walls built from it need massive thermal insulation. Secondly, the work of laying bricks itself is quite laborious and difficult. Thirdly, under such walls it is imperative to build an appropriate foundation;
• frame construction. The construction instructions indicate that the frame of the future building is first made using a wooden beam. Then the voids in the walls are filled with a heat insulator and a hydrobarrier is made, for example, with ecowool or foil mineral wool.

After that, the wall is sheathed with sheet materials from the inside and outside. Such construction will take much less time compared to the rest, and with the right materials, its price will please its owner.

Of what material is better to build a bath to decide, of course, you mainly need to rely on the construction budget. If there is not much money, then it is better to take foam concrete or brick, and if everything is in order with finances, then wood is better.

Vapor barrier and wall insulation

We have combined these two components into one section because they are related. Thermal insulation materials have only one main task - to retain heat in the room.

Experts believe that basalt analogues are the best insulator, because they have a good thermal conductivity, are fire resistant and environmentally friendly. In hardware stores, you can buy it both in a roll and in a plate.

In addition to it, you can install such insulating building materials for a bath: glass wool, mineral wool, ecowool, polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam and extruded polystyrene foam.

A vapor barrier is created in order to exclude the penetration of water vapor from, because, when wet, it loses its characteristics. To create it, special films like Isospan or Armofol will fit.

Ceiling

This structure must have the best thermal insulation properties, because large masses of hot steam are concentrated under it.

Possible in:

• Hemming. It is made by filing boards on beams that rest on the walls. A layer of vapor barrier, insulation and waterproofing is laid on top of the boards. Then they are sewn up with boards. The structure of such a ceiling is the same as that of the walls in a frame house, so the materials for it can be taken the same as for the walls;
• Grazing. The boards are laid on top of the beams, and steam and heat insulation is laid on them. The latter can be any loose insulation, and on top of such a design, basically, it can be sheathed with nothing. In such a ceiling, the floor beams are outside in the bath;
• Panel. If, after creating insulating layers, the beams are sheathed with special plates or panels, then this is a panel ceiling. Such sheathing is hard work, because the tiles are large in size and weight.

From what material it is better to build a bath in this case is difficult to answer, but the sheathed ceiling looks much better and more beautiful. If finances do not allow you to do this, then this can be done in the future, when finances appear.

Bath decoration

Finishing the bath directly affects the future atmosphere in it, its safety and comfort. In specialized stores there are many components for finishing work, but it must be said that only wood and even not all species are suitable for finishing.

For example, a steam room and a washing room can be lined with different types of wood, and what is suitable for a washing room is categorically not allowed in the steam room.

From what material to build a bath in this case? We answer, it is better from the lining, but again, special attention should be paid to the steam room. Due to the high temperature and its gradual drop, as well as humidity, the use of pine varieties is not allowed.

Firstly, they emit unpleasant odors that spoil the rest process, and secondly, when heated, resin accumulates on their surface, which heats up very much and, when touched, you can get burned.

It is better to take the wood of cedar, abashi, aspen, alder or linden for sheathing the steam room, they are dense in composition and thermally resistant. But even here, when buying them, you need to make sure that there are no knots on the boards, because they will get very hot.

The washing room needs to be finished with moisture-resistant varieties of wood; larch is well suited for these purposes. The lining made from it does not rot and has a long service life. As for the dressing room, it can be sheathed with any tree species, if you want to save a little, you can buy spruce and pine boards for these tasks.

Important. If you are thinking about how to build a bath from improvised materials, then you may need to think about using ordinary homemade building blocks.
At one time, self-made blocks called "saman" were in great demand among the population, which were made from ordinary clay, straw and other components.
But in this case, you should know that such a bath must have perfect vapor and waterproofing, and also that it will last a much shorter term than analogues.

Material selection and calculation

We think that it will not be a secret for you that more than half of the cost of construction is occupied by the construction of walls. Because here the volumes of work and materials are concentrated to the maximum. In this paragraph of our article, we want to give an example of calculating the amount of material that will be required to create walls.

Since the most optimal and preferred option for these works is a wooden beam, the calculation of materials for the construction of a bath will be performed for it.

Let's assume that you decide to take up the construction of a small bathhouse with dimensions of 3 by 4 meters and plan to purchase a beam with a size of 150 * 150 mm. In this case, our calculation will look like this:

| (3 + 4) * 2 * 0.15 * 2.5 | * 1.1 \u003d 6 m 3

Where:

• (3 + 4) - the width and height of the bearing walls;
• 2 - the second pair of walls;
• 0.15 - beam height, mm;
• 2.5 - ceiling height;
• 1.1 - 10% margin.

As a result, for a small bath, we need 6 cubes of material. If you are wondering what material it is cheaper to build a bath from, then you can multiply this figure in turn by the cost of timber, bricks, foam concrete blocks, and so on.

Conclusion

In this article, we examined the main points of construction, and discussed what material a bathhouse can be built from. It is best to use wood, but if the construction budget is small, then you can turn your attention to other materials. In the presented video in this article you will find additional information on this topic.

The relevance of a healthy lifestyle in the modern world is increasing every year, and against this background, many citizens tend to leave gassed megacities and settle closer to nature. Low-rise construction is increasing the volume of houses being built and the quality of buildings. During the construction of a fairly comfortable country house with the preservation of all the benefits of civilization, in particular engineering communications.

commitment to tradition

For a Russian person, the construction of a bathhouse on the site is a mandatory condition. Of course, it is convenient to wash in the shower or in the bath, but nothing can compare with the bath: the resinous smell of wood, the fragrant infusion of steamed birch or oak broom in the steam room, hot and gentle steam, and then an icy shower and strong herbal tea ... This is how it looks the dream of a bath for most of its lovers and connoisseurs. In order for the bath to bring only positive emotions, it is necessary to build it correctly and use it correctly. The easiest way is to order the construction of a bath to professionals who will take into account all the requirements and wishes of the customer. Which sizes to choose for each of the functional rooms, what is the best way to build a bath, how to determine its location and even the degree of deepening of the foundation. Most owners of a plot of land outside the city prefer to build a bathhouse on their own, which is much more economical in terms of finances and much more pleasant for pride. In the future, you can brag about the result and share your experience with the look of an expert on the issue.

Material selection

At the initial stage, each owner of a future bath has a lot of questions: what to build a bath from, what is better to make a foundation, what roofing materials to use, what materials for a bath can be used as interior decoration? The owner of the future bath must answer each of these questions on his own, depending on preferences and financial capabilities. Modern technologies provide a wide range of building materials and methods of building construction. The following types of materials can be used as a basis:

Each option is pre-calculated to determine the amount of material used and, accordingly, its cost. It is possible to use a combination of materials both for the construction of the main structure and for its decoration.

Preparatory calculations, design

Having decided what is better to build a bath from, we proceed to its design and planning on the ground. At this stage, it is necessary to pay special attention to the measures of safe operation. From the rest of the buildings, the bath should be at a distance of 5-7.5 m. If there is a natural source of water supply (well), the remoteness of the structure from it should be at least 15-18 meters - this will prevent runoff from entering the water, from a river or lake the maximum distance is 3-5 meters. must take into account the dimensions and materials for the construction of the bath. The areas of the steam room, dressing room and washing section of the bath are determined depending on the properties of the material used and the number of people who can be in it at the same time. Depending on what materials are used for the bath, the load on the foundation is calculated. Particular attention is paid to drainage and ventilation, which are planned depending on the operating mode and construction materials. The issue of warming the walls and roof of the bath is being carefully worked out - the quality of the steam, the duration and efficiency of use depend on this.

Construction stages

The place for the erection of the structure has been selected, we proceed to the construction. Before we clear and level the site chosen as the location of the bath.

Foundation - the basis of the structure

We choose the type of foundation - it depends on the weight of the structure and the type of soil. The best solution would be deepening by the amount of freezing. The least expensive way is with the preliminary replacement of part of the soil (a pillow of crushed stone of various fractions and sand). The pillars are located under the bearing walls and at the corners of the bath. So you can install this type of foundation around the entire perimeter.

For a site with closely spaced groundwater, a pile version is used. A prerequisite is the presence of a platform for the stove, which has a large mass (especially modifications with a water tank), and, accordingly, needs a solid support, and a separate foundation will ensure fire safety.

The foundation must stand for some time and gain strength. It must be treated with special means to protect against external influences. At the foundation construction phase, a system for draining wastewater and ventilation vents is equipped.

Walls

The erection of walls is carried out in parallel with the process of their insulation. The owner, who has decided on the question of what is better to build a bath from, at the design stage must take into account the need, quality and quantity of the insulation layer used. The final stage in the construction of walls is the construction of internal partitions and the division of the bath space into separate functional rooms. Partition walls can be made from the main building material or (most often) made from wooden boards of various widths. The final stage before finishing is a thorough waterproofing of the walls and ceiling of the bath.

Roofing and finishing

The construction of the roof will be the final stage in the construction of the bath. The design of the roof depends on climatic conditions: the simplest and most budgetary option is a gable roof. The attic will perform the function of retaining heat, if properly built, i.e. provide good waterproofing. The choice of material for sewing up the roof depends on the capabilities of the owner, as well as the structure of the crate. The roof from the inside is sheathed with waterproofing material and additionally insulated. You can start finishing interior work, which will once again return the owner to the question of what is better to build a bath from. Wall cladding inside each sector of the bath has several functions: protection against moisture, aesthetics of the room and functionality. It is important to remember about such a concept as “bath spirit” or steam, it directly depends on the interior decoration material.

We build baths from a bar

For many bath lovers, the question “What to build a bath from?” absolutely not relevant - only a tree, there can be no other opinion. This material has been used for many centuries: it is used for the construction of the Russian bath everywhere. Baths from a bar of any size are found on every second suburban area. A lot has been said about the positive characteristics of a tree used as a building material, but the conclusion is unambiguous - this is the best option for a bath. The only negative point is the short duration of operation, but with the current level of development of the chemical industry, wood processing from external influences increases the life and quality of service of any structure. The beam must be well dried and processed - only in this case the owner receives not only a magnificent appearance and pleasure from use, but also a great charge of vivacity and health. Various types of wood can be used for interior decoration, it all depends on the preferences and capabilities of the owner.

Use of frame technologies

When building a bath, the most budget option is to use frame technology. It is mastered in the vastness of our country very quickly, and from the pluses, in addition to low cost, one can name the speed of erecting a bathhouse.

The construction is light, does not require a strong foundation, and the possibilities of finishing both inside and outside are not limited. After the construction of the main frame, the walls are laid with insulation and hermetically sewn up. The internal microclimate can be formed by sheathing the walls with clapboard of any kind of wood. Exterior decoration with siding, wood and tiles will give an aesthetic look to such a structure as a frame bath (the photo will demonstrate this more clearly). One of the disadvantages of its operation is an increased level of humidity, but with proper use of the ventilation system and good hermetic plating, this drawback can be eliminated.

Construction of a bath from blocks

Many owners of suburban real estate, due to limited financial resources, have to save on the construction of a bath, but with the modern development of the construction market, the issue can be solved simply - we build a bath from blocks. This material has a relatively low cost, is practical, lightweight, has an additional heat-saving function due to the cavities, does not shrink, the construction time is much lower than when using other materials.

At the same time, it is possible to choose blocks, they are made of sand, cement, clay. There are several of expanded clay, cinder blocks, foam blocks, blocks of aerated concrete. It is necessary to dwell on one of the options, for example, we are building baths from foam blocks. Due to the qualities of this material, cost savings begin at the foundation laying phase, and the lightness of the material reduces the percentage of load on the foundation. Foam blocks are easily processed, which makes it possible to use any finishing materials. The negative aspects of using during construction include the cost of additional thermal insulation, a solution is used when fastening the blocks, the masonry must be even. The principle of building a bath is the same as when using bricks, but the weight of the structure is much lower and the number of rows of masonry is less. For a steam room, the walls are finished with wood after laying the sealant. Humidity is the main enemy of foam blocks, because due to the porous structure, the block quickly gains moisture, so special attention should be paid to the quality of the foam block and the sealing of the bath.

Bath ventilation is divided into general exchange and conservation. We call the drying of the bathhouse after water procedures a conservation ventilation. If in the bathroom and shower the main difficulty is drying towels and floor mats, then in baths it is most difficult to dry wood, especially on floors and in crevices.
Drying of baths, bathrooms and shower rooms is carried out by aerodynamic methods - dry ventilation air enters the area of ​​moistened materials, evaporating water. Water vapor enters the air. Humidified air is removed through the exhaust ventilation and fresh air enters. Thus, the drying process includes several stages and is far from being simple.

Let's make a reservation right away that if we consider the problem broadly, then we should not talk about drying, but about the normalization of wood. The fact is that in dry high-temperature saunas, wood sometimes does not get wet, but, on the contrary, dries out, and after the end of the bathing procedure it is again moistened due to equilibrium hygroscopicity. In steam and wet baths, wet wood must also be dried not to a completely dry state, but to a certain level of humidity. That is, conservation ventilation is not just drying wood, but drying, taking into account the specific bathing process, the characteristics of wood, its possible incidence and the possible consequences of overdrying (warping, cracking) and underdrying (rotting).

Moisturize - dry

With all its advantages, wood has many disadvantages, which makes it a problematic material for baths. Fire hazard, low hygiene and the ability to quickly rot - these are the main features on

natural wood, which at one time put an end to the prospect of using wood in urban public baths for hygienic purposes.

In individual baths, wood continues to be used in a periodic (episodic) mode with mandatory subsequent drying, despite the possible chemical treatment of wood.

Wet wood is subject to all three types of biological destruction - due to bacteria, fungi and insects, and dry wood only due to insects. If the wood rot is slimy with an unpleasant odor, it is most likely bacterial rot. If plaques, colors (spots of foreign color), mold with an earthy smell are formed on the wood, these are probably microscopic fungi (fungi, micromycetes). Bacteria and micromycetes are not so dangerous for suburban individual baths, which will stand for many years even with colors. But for representative and apartment baths, micromycetes are the number one scourge, as they spoil the appearance of the finish. But the most dangerous for baths are macromycetes - large, real mushrooms with characteristic fruit caps that live directly on wood (like mushrooms, tinder fungi, sponges). Many summer residents, surprised to notice brown fan-shaped mushroom caps sticking out of the floor in their bathhouse, at best, will only scrape them off and smear the place of growth with vitriol or hrompek, not realizing that these hats are just the fruiting bodies of a house wood-destroying fungus. The fungus itself is hidden in the floor, walls, foundation (both in wood and brick) in the form of a system of branching threads (single GIF - cords up to 1 cm in diameter), forming a mycelium several meters in size, so that the only way to stop the development of the fungus is antiseptic treatment of large areas. The normal temperature for the development of house mushrooms is 8 - 37 ° C, the relative humidity of wood is 25 - 70%. Under optimal conditions, the fungus destroys the bath in one season, forming a brown fissured rot, which breaks up into large prismatic pieces that are easily ground into powder.

It is believed that the development of house fungus stops at a relative humidity of wood of the order of 18% and below. Considering the wood hygroscopicity curves from this point of view, several conclusions can be drawn. Firstly, in order to maintain wood moisture content of 18% or lower at all temperatures for the development of fungi (5-40°C), a relative air humidity of no more than 80% is required. Otherwise, even absolutely dry (but not treated with water-repellent compounds) wood will be moistened above this level by itself (without contact with room water) due to the absorption of moisture from the air. So in tropical countries there are more problems with wood than in the north. Secondly, considering the wood hygroscopicity curves in other coordinates (Fig. 1), it can be noted that wood, arbitrarily strongly moistened at a temperature of 30 ° C and absolute air humidity above 0.03 kg / m3 (that is, at the calculated relative humidity air 100% and higher relative to the wood temperature), dries at a temperature of 40°C to a moisture content of 11% (and only up to 11%!), and at a temperature of 80°C to a moisture content of 2.5% (and only up to 2.5%! ). All this is extremely unusual: non-porous materials in these conditions would dry out completely. For marble, metal and plastic, only two states are possible: when there is water on them (and no matter how much) and when there is no water on them at all.

In this regard, we recall how dry wood is moistened. If you splash water on a wooden board, it will gradually soak into the depths of the wood: first into the intercellular spaces (vessels, pores between the fibers), then into the thick (dried) cell cavities, then into the cell walls. All these pores are wettable capillaries. Due to the formation of concave menisci of water surfaces, the pressure of saturated vapor over water inside the wood is less than over water spilled over the surface. Therefore, not only water, moving along wettable surfaces, but also its vapors rush into capillaries (intercellular and cellular), moisten (and then dry quickly). The water in them is called free, its content in wood can reach 200%. Small capillaries (in the cell walls) are moistened (and then dry) slowly, the water in them is called bound (hygroscopic), its content in wood reaches up to 30% (it is shown in Fig. 1). Thus, a “dry”-looking board without water drops can contain 100% or more moisture, and this moisture is extracted from the wood in the form of water vapor during drying and can humidify the air. This effect is used not only when drying the bath, it is also used to create a condensation climate regime in the Russian steam bath, when due to the high relative humidity of the air near the ceiling (for example, when water is applied to hot stones), the ceiling (preferably a massive log) is first moistened. Then, in the periods between feedings, a high absolute humidity is created near the ceiling - above 0.05 kg/m3. Under these conditions, a metal ceiling would not just “drip” without retaining moisture in itself, it could only create a quite certain relative humidity of the air near its surface, equal to 100%. A wooden ceiling (like any porous one) can, in principle, create only a well-defined relative humidity of air near its surface, and at a fixed moisture content of wood (due to the massiveness of the walls, for example), the relative humidity of the air not only near the ceiling, but also in the room can be maintained also almost constant regardless of how the room temperature changes. The effect of stabilizing the relative humidity of the air in wooden residential buildings (in brick and plastered ones too) is associated in everyday life with the property of wood to "breathe", take moisture from the air and release it into the air in the form of water vapor. So a plastic bath and a wooden bath, even with the same steam generator, give different climatic conditions. Indeed, imagine that the sauna is completely dry at a temperature of 20°C and at a normal relative humidity of 60% (that is, at an absolute humidity of 0.01 kg/m3). In accordance with fig. 1 relative humidity of wood under these conditions is 12%. Now let's hypothetically heat up this sauna (without ventilation and without humidification) to a temperature of 70°C. The bold dotted horizontal arrow in fig. 1 shows that the absolute humidity in the sauna jumps up to 0.14 kg/m3, it's time to take a steam bath with a broom! Where did the water come from! The wood began to dry and moistened the air. By the way, it is the water vapor coming out of the wood that “pulls” the “wood smells” that are so valued in apartment saunas. This phenomenon serves as another additional reason for the need to ventilate even dry apartment saunas, so that they do not unexpectedly become steamy. And if the sauna is ventilated during heating with fresh air of the same absolute humidity of 0.01 kg/m3, then the air in the sauna will remain dry, and the moisture content of the wood in the sauna will decrease and sooner or later drop to 1% (see the vertical bold dotted arrow). in Fig. 1), that is, as they say in everyday life, the boards will “cry out”. And then, after the end of the bathing procedure, they will again be moistened due to the sorption of air moisture to a humidity of 12%. In the language of meteorologists, "wood tries to keep (maintain) a constant relative humidity of the air." Indeed, in the wooden sauna considered above, the wood “kept” the relative humidity of the air in the bath at the level of 60%, which can be achieved under conditions of temperature rise only by moistening the air with wood. Nothing like this can happen in a plastic bath: when it is heated, the absolute humidity of the air remains constant, and the relative humidity drops. It is glass, sheet metal and plastic that are ideal materials for dry physiotherapy and apartment saunas. And if you use wood, then only thin, specially treated to prevent hygroscopic absorption of moisture from the air. The craze for decorative wooden finishing of baths (not always justified) leads to the fact that even bath hygrometers are sometimes made in wooden cases (!), “Keeping” the relative humidity inside them constant, regardless of the temperature and true humidity in the bath. By the way, we recall that the measuring thread of the hygrometer, located inside the case, stretches when moistened (like an ordinary woolen thread) and thus shows how wet it is. And it is moistened hygroscopically (due to its porosity) according to the same laws as wood. That is, the thread is moistened and elongated mainly only when the relative humidity of the air changes. This is the basis of the principle of operation of natural filament hygrometers. By the way, wood fibers stretch and shrink only when the relative humidity of the air changes. In rural life, the simplest, but very accurate "hygrometers" in the form of a thin sanded and dried bifurcating wooden branch are well known. A thick mustache (the main branch about 1 cm thick) is cut 10 cm above and below the fork and nailed vertically to the wall (baths, houses, cellars). A thin mustache (a shoot about 0.3 cm thick and 0.5 m long) goes up parallel to the wall. In dry weather, a long thin branch leans, moves away from a thick one (“bulges out” with an increase in the acute angle of the fork), and if it rains, it approaches the thick one. If there is a certified industrial hygrometer, then this home-made hygrometer can be calibrated with marks on the wall opposite the location of the tip of a thin mustache at various relative air humidity. The principle of operation of such a hygrometer is that when dried, the underlying wood fibers of the main branch shorten and pull the shoot down (from the trunk of the main branch).

Thus, the processes of moistening and drying of wood occur in the bath not only on the floors due to compact water and are associated not only with bath procedures. If wood can be moistened with both compact water and water vapor, then it can be dried only by removing water vapor from it. The drying process takes place in several stages. First, water evaporates on the wood surface, then free water in large capillaries of intercellular and intracellular spaces, then water in small capillaries of cell walls. The latter, as we have established above, determines the hygroscopic moisture content of wood, which exists and changes even in a dry unheated bath. Therefore, the drying of cell walls can actually be controlled in the greenhouse conditions of dry built-in saunas, although bound water can in principle support the processes of wood decay, especially, as we noted, in warm and humid climatic conditions.

The phased drying process is also characteristic of other porous materials, including bricks, plasters and soils (earth). Their drying is also important for the bath, if they are part of it. In this regard, let us recall the fundamental, although only indirectly related to the topic of the article, the question of the mechanical deformation of porous bodies during the primary removal of bound water from them. It is known that warping and cracking of freshly cut wood occurs during the drying process, mainly in the last final stage when hygroscopic moisture is removed from the cell walls. If, during the initial drying, the board is nailed or clamped in a vise, then it will retain the shape given to it (for example, arcs), and the better, the better the wood dries. Under conditions of primary natural atmospheric drying at 20 - 30 ° C, wood is dried only to a moisture content of 10 - 15% (after 2-3 years of drying), and with stone high-temperature drying at 100 - 150 ° C (including in a bath ) can be dried to a moisture content of 1 - 2 96. With such a significant dehydration, especially at high temperatures, irreversible changes occur in the cell walls, and the wood actually ceases to be wood and begins to exhibit the properties of an inanimate material. Similarly, clay soaked in water, during drying and heat treatment, first loses its plasticity, then cracks, and then becomes a brick, which subsequently does not change its shape and properties upon contact with water. Particularly good results are achieved during the primary drying of wood with superheated water vapor, and also by immersion in a hot anhydrous coolant (paraffin, oil products).

The mechanism of primary drying of freshly cut wood differs in that the walls of its cells have not yet been destroyed, the vapor and water permeability of the membranes is low and the wood dries for a long time, deforming during the destruction of the integrity of the membranes of the cell walls (and they, in fact, are wood - a combination of cellulose, lignin and hemicelluloses). During subsequent drying, the wood dries faster and behaves as if it were "lifeless", since the cell walls have already been torn. At the same time, dry wood as a porous material has specific features that distinguish it from other materials, in particular, the anisotropy of properties, secondary warping, etc.

Drying dynamics

Water spilled on the surface of wood evaporates in the same way as water poured into a bath or pool. Recall that there are two opposite modes of evaporation - kinetic and diffusion. In the kinetic regime, the fastest molecules, overcoming an energy barrier equal to the latent heat of evaporation (condensation) of 539 cal./g, fly out from the surface of compact (liquid) water and are irretrievably removed. The kinetic regime is realized during evaporation in vacuum. Due to the high rate of the primary act of vaporization (escape of water molecules from the surface of compact water), which at bath temperatures is thousands of kilograms of water per hour from 1 m2, there is a strong cooling of the water (since only slow molecules remain in it) until it turns into ice, which is used in freeze drying industry. In the diffusion mode, the primary act of vaporization remains the same and just as strongly depends on temperature. But the outgoing water molecules enter the air (a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen molecules) and, as a result of frequent collisions, only very slowly move away (diffuse) from the surface of the water, experiencing strong resistance from the air. As a result, the vast majority of the ejected molecules “fly” into the water again (condense). Thus, in the diffusion mode, tons of water turn into steam and immediately condense (which we do not feel at all), and only a very small amount of water (kilograms) evaporates completely. It is this diffusion mode of evaporation that takes place in the bath: both when sweat evaporates from the human body, and when water evaporates from the shelf. It becomes clear that if the concentration of water vapor molecules is equal everywhere in the bath (including near the surface of the human body), then no evaporation processes are possible (homeothermal regime). But at the same time, it becomes clear that if tons of water per hour evaporate and condense simultaneously in the bath, then we can assume that this should someday manifest itself. Indeed, if the air in the bath is dried, then the rate of evaporation of water will increase. If the water surface is blown with dried air, then the evaporation rate will increase even more, since those water vapor molecules that previously condensed are removed by the air flow. For orientation, we indicate that at a relative humidity of 5096, the rate of evaporation of water at a temperature of 30 ° C is approximately 0.1 kg / m2 / hour. When air moves at a speed of 1 m / s, the evaporation rate approximately doubles, however, it should be noted that the air velocity in the room is always much greater than directly above the water surface, and any quantitative indicators are extremely approximate. For estimates, one can use experimental formulas for basins. In any case, the characteristic speed of drying floors in baths of 0.1-1 mm/hour (0.1-1 kg/m2/hour) increases with increasing floor temperature and decreasing air temperature (that is, with decreasing absolute air humidity). So, for example, in open pools at a constant water temperature, evaporation is maximum not at all during the day, but at night in cold air, as well as in winter. In the daytime, in hot weather, evaporation can stop, and even water vapor can condense from the air onto the surface of the pool, just like water condenses on human skin in a condensation-type steam bath in a mode above homeothermal. For any pool with a certain water temperature, any floor, wall and ceiling, each bath has its own “homo-thermal” curve that separates the modes of water evaporation and water vapor condensation, summing up the above-mentioned evaporation and condensation processes on the water surface. Let's call it conditionally condensation. In the language of condensation curves, drying is as follows. On fig. 2 shows the condensation curves for the floor at 20°C (curve 1) and for the ceiling of the steam bath at 40°C (curve 2). The modes below the curve correspond to the evaporation of water, the modes above the curve correspond to the condensation of water vapor on the surface of a given temperature. Thus, if the air in the bath has a temperature of 40 ° C and a relative humidity of 6096 (and it does not matter whether the air in the bath is still, whether it circulates or enters from the outside in the form of ventilation), then in this mode (point 3) the ceiling is dried and the floor is moistened . In other words, air with such parameters transfers water from the ceiling to the floor, but even if the ceiling were dry, the floor would still take moisture from the air, that is, dry it (in this case, to a relative humidity of 40%). The floor can be dried only if either the air temperature or its relative humidity, or better both, is reduced so that the air characteristics are below curve 1, for example, if the mode corresponding to point 4 is realized. The fact of possible air movement (blowing the floor) does not change the qualitative picture, but only affects the rate of evaporation or condensation. By the way, it is this mechanism that works in case of catastrophic moistening of the undergrounds of a residential building, to which a bathhouse with leaking floors is attached. Warm moist air from hot water drained to the ground spreads over long distances and releases condensate on cold subfloors and the foundation of the entire residential building.

The main conclusion is that conservation ventilation is not just a change of air in the room of a damp bath. It is necessary to supply air with as low a temperature and relative humidity as possible, more specifically with as low an absolute humidity as possible. In addition, it is necessary to keep the surfaces to be dried as warm as possible, and the higher the absolute humidity of the air, the higher the temperature of the surface to be dried. This means that it is necessary to heat not the air, but the floor of the bath, for example, with infrared radiation. And if you still manage to warm up only the air, then it must be dried, as is done in washing machines and dishwashers. Note that the sometimes recommended methods of drying the bath with the release of hot moist air through the floor into the underground lead only to additional moistening of the cold (and therefore the most problematic) elements of the bath. It is better to release hot moist air through the upper vents, in which condensation is not possible. In fact, in almost all baths for conservative drying of the interior, general exchange ventilation is used.

With complete evaporation of water from the surface of non-porous materials, drying can be considered complete. But when we are dealing with wood, it is also necessary to remove the internal water. If the wood is treated with water-repellent compounds, then the walls of the pores are not wetted by water, which means that the pressure of water vapor in the pores is greater than on the surface of the wood. This leads to "evaporation" of water from the pores to the surface of the wood in the form of droplets, which then evaporate again as described above.

Water that fills pores with wetted walls, including unimpregnated wood, evaporates in the diffusion mode, and the removal of steam is extremely difficult. Although wood contains 50 - 90% of voids, the tortuosity of the pores leads to the fact that the actual path of removal of water molecules can be several times larger than the characteristic dimensions (thickness) of a wood product. In this case, possible air flows, even very small ones, can greatly affect the drying rate. The "blowing" of materials is characterized by a parameter called vapor permeability, equal, for example, for mineral wool 8 - 17, for pine along the fibers - 10, pine across the fibers - 2, brick - 2, concrete - 1 in units of 10 "6 kg / m / sec/atm Thus, with characteristic static pressure drops due to wind of 104 atm, the actual values ​​of the drying rates of porous materials 10 cm thick at 20°C are less than 1 g/m2/day for vapor-insulating materials (hydraulic concrete, asbestos cement, extruded polystyrene foam ), 1-20 g/m2/day for vapor-permeable materials (wood, brick, plaster), more than 20 g/m2/day for vapor-permeable materials (mineral wool), more than 1000 g/m2 per day for super-diffusion materials (perforated membranes ) The drying rate increases with the increase in the temperature of the wood, with a decrease in the temperature and humidity of the blown air, just as in the case of evaporation of water from the surface. experimentally depending on the degree of humidity and the time of year, but the temperature of the internal elements of the bath has a much greater influence. It would be possible to continue the analysis of wood drying issues and consider the most reasonable solutions for conservation ventilation. But it makes no sense to deceive: the centuries-old experience of operating wooden baths shows that no matter how dry the wooden floors are, there are still no guarantees for the quality of drying, they still rot. Indeed, if 1 m2 of a wooden floor absorbs conditionally 1 kg of water, then drying it at a rate of 20 g/m2 will last 50 days. Therefore, wood is covered with roofs and awnings wherever possible (and not only in baths), but even in this case it is able to moisten. condensate from the air (for example, under iron roofs) and rot (brown, darken, crumble), especially in poorly ventilated places. The presence of air vents, that is, holes and slots larger than 3-5 mm, is an indispensable condition for the preservation of unheated areas of wooden structures. Air ducts smaller than 1-3 mm, on the contrary, are stagnant, poorly ventilated areas, the moisture from them evaporates slowly, which creates conditions for rapid decay, especially when in contact with vapor-tight materials, and even more so with constantly moistened ones. The question is not about how to properly dry the wood, but about how to generally remove it from the bath or reduce its wetting and reduce the rate of decay. This is typical not only for wood, but also for all porous mineral materials (brick, foam concrete, gypsum) and rusting steel. After all, no one makes foam concrete floors and then makes incredible efforts to dry it. So rusting steel is painted, and they do not try to quickly dry it after every rain. In modern baths, all wood that may come into contact with water must be impregnated with water-repellent compounds (preferably under pressure, as is done in the case of railway sleepers and ship masts), and protected from above with waterproof paint and varnish coatings, as well as shelters, not to mention antiseptic and fire fighting. Wood in a bath is a problematic material, and the prevailing opinion that a bath is good only because it is wooden and there should not be any “chemistry” in it is absolutely groundless. Of course, in the conditions of a built-in amusing sauna, operated in a greenhouse environment of an apartment corridor, untreated wood is acceptable even on the floors, but even there it is only in the form of a removable drying grate.

CEILING VAPOR PROOF

Methodically more difficult is the question of ventilation of the wood of the upper parts of the walls and ceiling. The task of conservation ventilation here, too, is to supply dry air to moistened zones to dry them. Therefore, in each specific case, it is necessary to clarify what and how can be humidified, and only then decide where and how to supply ventilation air.

The ceiling (or rather, the ceiling) can be moistened by precipitation during emergency roof leaks and during steam condensation. Previously, moisture was predominant due to trivial leaks, since until the 19th century in cities and until the 20th century in villages there were no bath roofs, except for wooden (tes, slit-shingles), straw and reed roofs. Log walls and ceilings could absorb hundreds of liters of water in the rain if the roof malfunctioned. Therefore, there was no need to talk about any possibility of their periodic drying after constant leaks, although the wooden roof itself worked precisely in this mode of constant moistening and drying (as a result of which the wooden roof was made thinner so that it got less wet). The task was simple: to prevent leaks, but if they accidentally arose, then the walls and ceiling had to be dried sooner or later, but be sure to dry. This was achieved by constantly ventilating the attic space, organizing where possible vents, gaps and cracks in log and plank structures, that is, the same techniques were used as in the natural drying of firewood in logs, but, of course, while maintaining the heat-insulating ability of walls and ceiling.

Currently, individual developers do not take leaks seriously, relying on the reliability of steel and slate roofs, although the issue remains serious, and the consequences are the most dangerous. So what happened, as a result of which everyone around began to talk about the indispensable need for vapor barrier of the walls and ceilings of the bath as the most important thing? Indeed, for centuries in log black, and then in white steam baths, they did not know about any vapor barrier, and steam moistening is so insignificant compared to leaks that they cannot create a dangerous level of wood moisture content above 18 percent for a long time (especially in dry built-in saunas ).

We note right away that the issue of vapor protection of wood and insulation first arose in baths in connection with the appearance in everyday life of soft waterproofing roofing materials (which, moreover, are often used for other than their intended purpose), and dangerous levels of wood moisture have acquired an exclusively local long-term character. However, before turning to this issue, let us consider the general features of wood moistening with condensing steam.

Usually, in the literature, the moistening process is described briefly and simply: moist air is filtered through porous wood from the inside to the outside, and where the temperature of the wood drops to the dew point of humid bath air of 40 ° C, local vapor condensation occurs and the wood is moistened only at this point. In fact, the process is more complex. Firstly, wood is a wettable porous material, so the released condensate is absorbed by the wood and is distributed along the wetted pore walls over a large volume of wood (blotter effect). By the way, l<е самое происходит и в других смачивающихся пористых материалах: кирпичных, гипсовых, пенобетонных. Во-вторых, древесина является непросто смачивающимся пористым материалом, она имеет и мелкопористую составляющую, обуславливающую гигроскопичность материала (способность впитывать пары воды из воздуха). Для таких материалов характерно отсутствие четкой точки конденсации. На рисунке 3 изображена еще раз перестроенная в иных координатах кривая равновесной гигроскопичности древесины в зависимости от температуры. Это фактически график влажности древесины по срезу стены бани, имеющей температуру внутренней поверхности стены - 100°С (справа) и температуру наружной поверхности стены - 0°С (слева), при условии движения влажного воздуха изнутри наружу (справа налево). Мы видим, что при влажности воздуха, например, 0,05 кг/м3 (точка росы 40°С) равновесная влажность древесины на внутренней стороне стены равна 2 процента, затем по мере углубления в стену влажность древесины плавно, но быстро повышается и по мере приближения к точке росы 40°С резко возрастает до бесконечности. Это означает начало конденсации в крупных порах, но вся вода из воздуха в этой точке росы отнюдь не выделяется. Несколько осушившись, воздух продолжает перемещаться влево, непрерывно и постепенно отдавая воду уже при новых пониженных точках росы (например при влажности 0,017 кг/м3. Таким образом, увлажняется довольно протяженная зона, причем находящаяся у внешней стороны стены, которая впоследствии высыхает с выделением водяных паров наружу, но которая отнюдь не прогревается горячим воздухом при сушке интерьера бани. Так что очень большое значение имеет не столько температура воздуха в бане при ее сушке, сколько сухость этого воздуха, а также направление движения воздуха, фильтрующегося через стенку.

If the wall material is not finely porous (for example, like mineral wool, which practically does not have capillaries) or if the material is treated internally with a water-repellent preparation and is not wetted, then the wood moisture curve is transformed into a vertical dotted line at a dew point of 40 ° C, that is, at temperatures above dew point, such a non-hygroscopic material does not absorb moisture from the air at all, and at temperatures equal to the dew point and below, there is a constant condensation of moisture from the air in the same way as described above. However, if the inner surfaces of the porous material are not wettable, the released condensate cannot be distributed over large volumes of walls (that is, it cannot be absorbed) and inevitably accumulates in separate zones, forming droplets as well. When using mineral wool, drops of condensate flow in streams onto the lower elements of building structures, for example, onto wooden beams, logs, crowns, strongly moistening them. In any case, in vapor-permeable (breathable) walls, it is desirable to make ventilation ducts (air ducts) in areas near the dew point, as well as near load-bearing wooden elements. In particular, a good solution is to upholster the log house with wood (boards, clapboard, siding) inside and out so that the gap between the boards and logs plays the role of steam channels (ventilating facade).

Needless to say, there has always been a desire to prevent water from entering the walls at all.

So, in particular, in stone (brick) city baths, the walls remained moist for years, despite ventilation. Therefore, the internal surfaces of the walls, wherever possible, were protected by ceramic tiles, paintwork, natural stone. Of great importance was the introduction into everyday life of cheap soft roll waterproofing vapor-proof materials, including roofing materials (first - roofing felt based on wood or coal tar, then - roofing material and glassine based on bitumen-rubber mastics, synthetic polymer films and metal sheet foil). They began to be widely used in individual rural baths, first for their intended purpose - as a roof covering, and then to protect the outer sides of ceilings and walls from rain and wind, especially frame ones, insulated with non-waterproof materials (moss, paper, shavings, wood-fiber boards, wood concrete, sectional straw wetted with glass wool). It is quite natural to want to cover, for example, a layer of shavings lying on top of the ceiling with something non-leaking, or to upholster the plank walls of the bath from the outside with roofing material to protect against wind and rain. As a result, the shavings, which were previously moistened only with rare leaks, and when moistened under the influence of steam penetrating from the bath, immediately dried out, under a layer of roofing material lost the ability to dry out after any moistening. More precisely, shavings under the roofing material can dry out only when moisture is removed back into the bath, which is very difficult. Therefore, between the shavings and the roofing material, it is necessary to make a ventilated gap (air) or make punctures in the roofing material for ventilation. Instead of roofing material, special rolled materials, called windproof, were developed for these purposes. They do not let compact water (raindrops) through due to non-wetting and at the same time slightly let air with water vapor due to porosity or perforation, but protect against gusts of wind. It should be noted that gusts of wind create pressure drops up to 10 "atm., which exceed pressure drops due to heating the air in the bath 10 5 atm. is passed in a very limited amount. The fact is that the gas-dynamic resistance of the windproof material is much less than the gas-dynamic resistance of the protected wall made of logs. Therefore, the logs practically "do not feel" the windproof material. At the same time, if the wall is not made of logs, but of an easily blown insulation , then here the wind protection plays a decisive role, limiting the speed of the air flow through the wall. The simplest windproof is the traditional upholstery of the walls with clapboard (boards), so that the upholstery can play not only a purely decorative and hygienic role.

At the same time, windproof materials cannot completely solve the problem of moisture. Indeed, by covering the chips on the ceiling with windproof material, we will only be sure that an accidental leak of the roof will not moisten the chips, and if it does get wet (in any way), it will dry out sooner or later anyway. But if the temperature of the wind protection layer is below the dew point, then moisture will condense on this layer, which cannot pass through the wind protection in a liquid state. Since moisture enters the windproof material in the form of steam in the air flow from the inside to the outside, it is advisable to protect the ceiling from the inside with a vapor barrier layer (airtight film). Such a sandwich-type structure with three layers (wind protection - insulation - vapor barrier) is the basis of modern enclosing structures. A general technical requirement is to lay a vapor barrier in areas with a temperature above the dew point. If the vapor barrier is made in the form of wall cladding (plastic, steel, ceramic), then there are usually no questions about its installation. But what if the vapor barrier film is laid inside the walls? For example, is it necessary to make a gap between aluminum foil and decorative lining? The answer is simple: if there can be compact water, then a ventilated gap is necessary. For example, it is very difficult to make a gap on the ceiling. And if you open the ceiling of the steam bath after several years of operation, you will see that where there was no water (in the center of the ceiling), the back (upper) side of the lining is absolutely fresh. And closer to the walls, where there could be water, there are dark spots of damaged wood.

The vapor barrier prevents the penetration of steam into the wall, but at the same time stops the through blowing of the walls and, thereby, makes it difficult for them to dry out when the roof leaks. Therefore, having prevented the penetration of steam, it is still desirable to restore the possibility of blowing the wall through the organization of air vents on the outside, and preferably on the inside of the vapor barrier, although the role of the conservation ventilation of the inside can be assumed by the general exchange ventilation of the room. At the same time, the supply and exhaust openings of the vents should go outside or the premises adjacent to the bath (dressing room, vestibule). To assess the required dimensions of the vents, consider a log bath with a volume of 10 m3 and an area of ​​enclosing structures of 25 m2. The degree of emergency humidification will be taken equal to 20 kg of water. Based on the characteristic vapor permeability of log walls at the level of 20 g / m2-day, the duration of natural drying in diffusion mode at wall temperatures of 10 - 20 ° C will not exceed 40 days (the value is quite large). In the presence of a vapor barrier of logs, such a drying time of the walls can be achieved at a wall ventilation rate of 1 m3 / h, which is significantly lower than the ventilation rates of the bath rooms - 10 m3 / h or more. Such a speed can be provided by air supply and exhaust openings between logs and vapor barrier, with a total cross-sectional area of ​​​​10-50 cm2, that is, in fact, slots (along the entire perimeter of the bath), less than 1 mm wide, which is ensured by inaccuracies in the mechanical processing of wood and assembly of structures .

In log walls, wood plays the role of both windproof, heat-insulating, and load-bearing material. The modern design of construction, including multi-storey buildings, implies the development of insulating materials for highly specialized functions and only sometimes combined functions. So, for example, waterproofing, windproofing, vapor barrier, heat-insulating materials are, as a rule, completely different materials. At the same time, specialized film (roll) and tubular (cord) moisture-removing materials that can be laid inside walls and which, playing the role of air vents, could remove moisture from hard-to-reach most critical places in any form (in the form of compact water or in the form of steam). It is these drainage materials that will apparently become the basis of progressive solutions for the conservation ventilation of walls in the future. Indeed, how to dry (or keep dry) the massive brick walls that have been in a wet state for years, the walls of urban public baths, laundries, and swimming pools? Neither elevated bath temperatures nor maintaining a relative humidity of 40 to 60 percent in laundries and swimming pools can keep walls completely dry, even if they are protected by ceramic tiles. Recently, hollow building materials (slotted bricks and concrete blocks with cavities, foam materials) have become widely used, but these voids in the walls must somehow be interconnected and connected to centralized supply and exhaust devices that regulate the speed of conservation ventilation within the required limits. This role will be assumed by new ventilating materials, primarily in ventilated facades and roofs.

One way or another, using ultra-modern or traditional materials and designs, it is necessary to provide air vents (ventilation ducts) in all places of walls and ceilings where compact water can appear. The transverse size of the vents (slots - 1 mm or holes with a diameter of 3 - 10 mm) is not so important, the main thing is that the vents cover all the problematic parts of the walls (especially load-bearing structures) and are ventilated exclusively with external air under the influence of wind pressure. With a large size of air ducts, it is desirable to close the ventilation ducts to local supply and exhaust openings, the flow sections of which, if necessary, can be adjusted. It is not advisable to combine the supply and exhaust ventilation of the bath room with the wall ventilation system due to the possible increased moistening of the walls with humid bath air.

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