All about arbolite baths

Having prepared the necessary materials and tools, you can make a personal bath with your own hands. This is an ideal option for owners of private homes. Your own steam room - a wonderful place for a pleasant pastime and recuperation.

To build a bathhouse, various construction materials are used. Each of them has certain technical characteristics and properties. Recently, baths made of arbolite have been gaining popularity. It is used by both professional builders and ordinary buyers. To understand the properties of this product in more detail, it is recommended to get acquainted with the advantages and disadvantages of arbolite.

It has many advantages.

• As the main advantage they note the excellent thermal insulation. This is an important characteristic for steam rooms and other similar premises. Baths made of arbolite quickly heats up to the desired temperature and retains heat, maintaining the right microclimate.
• This material is great for the construction of the bath, as it has a high fire safety. Arbolite does not support the combustion process. This parameter will be especially useful if you are going to heat the sauna with wood.
• Arbolite is not afraid of high humidity. Even with prolonged exposure to moisture, the product retains its practicality and other characteristics.
• Quality material is not afraid of rot, mold and various bacteria. Commercial brands offer modern options that are not subject to attacks from pests.
• Significant budget savings. A relatively new product on the construction market has attracted the attention of buyers due to its affordable price and economical consumption.
• When using arbolite, you can opt for a lightweight foundation. This makes it possible to make the overall construction as cheap as possible. In this case, the building will have the necessary strength and reliability.
• The material is relatively lightweight, which simplifies the installation procedure and construction. Transportation is also simplified. If you are going to build a compact building, you can do it alone. Arbolite is a concrete product that is easy to work with, even with manual labor.

Having told about the advantages, it is necessary to give time to the disadvantages of the product.

• As the main drawback, experts note the vapor permeability. Although arbolite retains its shape and all the stated characteristics even with prolonged exposure to moisture, it has the property to absorb water. In this case, the liquid can be absorbed in large quantities. When using this material, it is strongly recommended to perform a vapor barrier of the room, and this is an additional time and expense.

• For the boards to last a long time, it is necessary to dry the room every time. To do this, the stove is half-loaded with wood and stoked again.

Despite the fact that arbolite is a relatively new product, it has already found great demand among buyers. Manufacturers offer 2 types of material: block and monolithic arbolite. Both of these options are in demand and have characteristic features.

A bath made of arbolite blocks is much easier and faster to build. Block building material has a simple structure. Its composition includes 4 main elements, each of which has certain properties.

• The core are wood chips. Their sizes may vary. The average value is 4X1X0,5 cm. When making the product with your own hands, it is highly discouraged to mix this component with straw and sawdust.
• Do not do without special chemical additives. Their main task is to extend the wear resistance of the blocks and reduce water permeability. Most often the following chemicals are used: lime, calcium chloride, alumina.
• To make the blocks have the desired strength and stability, cement is added. A quality product is made with the addition of grade 500. Cement grade 400 is also the best option.
• Another important element is water. It is needed to dissolve the chemical components and cement.

When choosing monolithic slabs, it is necessary to take into account the fact that they have less strength compared to the block type. The fact is that in the manufacture of a monolithic product it is not possible to strongly compress the mixture. In this case, the construction has fragile corners.

An additional difficulty is the pouring of the bath. This process will be more expensive and time-consuming compared to using block arbolite. At the same time, this material has certain advantages. Many experienced builders note that monolithic baths retain heat better, maintaining the desired temperature inside the room.

Such a characteristic is due to the absence of seams. It is through them that the maximum heat loss occurs. A monolithic bath will be warmer than a block bath, but will cost more. If you decide to choose in favor of such a variant, it is necessary to observe 2 important nuances.

• All mixes used in the construction must be prepared in advance.
• Take into account that the creation of a monolithic bath - a complex and time-consuming process, so one should not take up this case. In the absence of proper skills, it is recommended to use the services of professionals.

The first step on the way to build your own bathhouse is to choose a suitable project. The plan must clearly indicate the size and layout of all the necessary rooms: steam room, washing room, rest room, anteroom and other necessary rooms. Also, it is necessary to determine the location of the stove. This is an important part of the bath. Most often for her choose a central location for heating all rooms.

When choosing or drawing up a project, you need to keep in mind several factors.

• Area. When calculating it, you need to take into account the number of rooms, the amount of consumables, the size of the land area. Also consider how many people will simultaneously use the bath.
• The next parameter is the layout and communications. If you want to make the bath as cheap as possible, it should not be designed as a separate building, and as an extension. This way you will save significantly on the foundation and building material.
• The last decisive parameter - the type of furnace. Recently, gas and wood-burning stoves are actively used. A separate foundation must be prepared for the sauna heater, which must be 10 cm from the main foundation. If the stove is heated with wood, it is necessary to arrange a chimney. For the gas model it is necessary to install a gas flue.

If you are going to build a bathhouse from arbolite with your own hands, read the recommendations.

• The first stage with which you need to start - the choice of the project. Before this, it is necessary to determine exactly the parameters: the amount of materials, dimensions, layout, and so on.
• When making arbolite with your own hands, you should strictly follow the step-by-step instructions and use only high-quality components.
• When ordering a finished product, carefully study its composition and technical characteristics.
• It is possible to build a bathhouse out of blocks yourself. They do not weigh much and are compact in size. If you use monolithic slabs, be sure to take into account that you will need a team of several people.
• Buy consumables and construction materials with a reserve, since the products may vary in size depending on the batch.

To accurately decide whether to use this building material or not, it is advisable to read the real reviews of the owners. Most reviews about this building material are positive. As the main advantage, consumers note the affordable cost and excellent technical characteristics. The product has all the qualities that construction materials for baths should have.

Many designated a simple installation process and the possibility of making the blocks with their own hands. In this case, people are confident in the quality of the boards and the composition. If you decide to buy a ready-made product, given its popularity, it will not be difficult to find it in any store or order over the Internet.

At the same time, some builders note the disadvantages of arbolite. The main ones are insufficient reliability and the fact that the material absorbs moisture. After each use of the bath will have to carefully ventilate and additionally heat the room. Otherwise, the material will quickly deteriorate.

About the construction of the bath from arbolite, see the following video.