Sauna in an apartment with your own hands: communications and equipment

Recommendation points

• Plumbing laying
• Electric installation work
• Heating devices
• Drainage system
• Ventilation
• Shelves, scaffolds and ladders
• Installation of finishing plumbing and additional equipment

The technical and functional equipment of the sauna is a subject for a separate discussion. In this article we will tell you what safety requirements a sauna in an apartment should meet and how it should be equipped and communications should be separated so that the use is comfortable and beneficial to health..

Earlier we told you about how you can create a sauna in your apartment and the possibilities of its finishing in the article “Sauna in an apartment with your own hands: construction and decoration”. Now we will talk about the utilities of the sauna in the apartment.

It is understood that the construction of the enclosing walls and the frame for the cladding is made in accordance with the recommendations that were proposed in the first part. In addition, at the time of the start of work with engineering equipment, a sewage system, hot and cold water had already been brought into the room, and the electrical input cable was connected to the group panel.

Plumbing laying

The first stage of work is carried out immediately after the installation of a wooden frame. At the point of entry of water pipes, they are removed from the walls by 50 mm in order to put at least one layer of insulation under the junction. The inlets should also be placed as low as possible and preferably in the corner of the room so that the entire block with shut-off valves can be enclosed in a box, enclosing it with 2-3 boards.

Horizontal pipe routing is carried out close to the wall, only perpendicular branch pipes of the water points pass through the insulation. Pipes from the water intake points are reduced to the input ones, so that all the valves are in one place. There may not be a collector unit in primitive saunas, but at least two ball valves – for cold and hot water – must be mounted.

Electric installation work

With the electrical wiring, everything is somewhat simpler. It is advisable to lay the wiring in a corrugated pipe, but not only for fire safety reasons. The fact is that all passages of pipes and cables through the polyamide film must be sealed. Corrugation is inexpensive and will definitely not be superfluous, and the place of its passage is easily sealed with ordinary tape. Wiring is carried out along the shortest distance with fastening to the ceiling and walls with nylon clips every 50-60 cm.

There are at least four consumer groups in an apartment sauna: lighting, heater, forced ventilation and wall heating. The latter, in principle, is not necessary, but with a low installed connection power, such a move allows you to well compensate for the residual heat outflow through the walls and get by with a more economical stove.

It is enough to simply cover the electrical panel with insulation on all sides and completely hide it under the casing, providing access through the revision door. After laying all the rough communications, when the actual locations of the terminals are known, the insulation is laid and the polyamide is glued. Electrical fittings can be used either of a non-flush type, or the boxes for false walls can be embedded in the wooden sheathing: thick insulation allows you to push it to the required depth without damaging the hydro-barrier. For lighting, waterproof and heat-resistant surface-mounted lamps are used, their installation is quite standard.

Heating devices

Electric heaters are traditionally used as the main heating source. It is quite easy to pick them up according to the heated area specified by the manufacturer, especially since there will be no unexpected leaks with such a thermal insulation circuit. To connect the oven, it is recommended to use not a plug connection, but leave a longer cable outlet and lead it to the power terminals of the device.

Heating the walls helps not only to save electricity, but also contributes to a more uniform and comfortable heating. An ordinary infrared film is used for these purposes, with a standard power of 150-200 W / m² will be enough. The film is simply glued on top of the polyamide, with a lathing step of 60–80 cm, two belts will be enough – conditionally in the second and third rows from the floor. To connect the film, regular crocodiles and insulating linings made of raw rubber are used.

Drainage system

The sewage system in the sauna is realized with 50 mm pipes, which are led behind the frame beams. At the joints, you can poke the plaster a little with a perforator, this is differently better than using a 32 mm assortment of PP pipes. Drain points are led out of the walls at a height of 25–40 cm, thus guaranteeing a slope margin. Leads are made with two bends at 45 ° with undercut in the skin of the oval hole.

The drainage of the floor drain, if any, is removed from the tee at the zero bottom point and follows with a slope of 3-4 cm / m towards the center of the quarter of the floor on which the sewage is introduced into the sauna. The sub-floor section with a drain siphon is strictly horizontal, each of the three remaining quarters is performed with a slope. In the future, the relief and slope of the floor are being finalized when laying tiles..

Ventilation

The sauna, as a rule, has forced exhaust ventilation, the intake opening for which is located 40–60 cm from the floor and, as a rule, is hidden under the sun loungers. The space in the wall frame is quite enough for laying flat ventilation ducts, although most often you can do without them at all – just a through hole into the next room and a compact duct fan.

However, if the sauna is larger than 10-12 m², this exchange of air will not effectively heat a large volume of air. In these cases, they resort to installing a recuperative exchanger – a device that transfers most of the heat from the extract air to the supply air. In general, the mechanical and electrical installation is quite ordinary, it is recommended to save some raw rubber from the heating films to isolate the joints.

Shelves, scaffolds and ladders

The entire open floor in the sauna should be paved with two or three wooden ladders made of thin calibrated beams and boards, preferably glued. Before assembly, the wooden parts are carefully sanded, the longitudinal edges are chamfered.

Practice shows that the best option for shelves is home-made wooden tables. The legs are made of boards knocked down perpendicularly 25×80 and are fixed to the floor with metal corners from the inside. At the bottom and top, the legs are joined together by a single board of the same size.

This whole structure is covered with a type-setting tabletop, which is also attached to the wall. If you wish, you can strengthen the frame with bevels and assemble two and three-tiered loungers of any complexity. Leave only rectangular cells in the front walls: you just need to insert a wooden grate into them, so there will be enough space under the shelves to store bath utensils.

Installation of finishing plumbing and additional equipment

Since all the shut-off valves of the water supply system have already been installed, the pipe leads can only be turned in the right direction and terminated with an MPH coupling. The connection to the washstand is done with Eco-Flex hoses, they are the most resistant to changes in humidity and temperature. The mixers can be mounted directly on the wall, it is enough to bring out the MPH couplings at the required distance in advance and provide them at the point of permanent attachment of pipes to the wall.

Difficulties may arise with the installation of heavy installations. Under the stove, the floor frame can be reinforced, attachments should be attached either to the frame beams or to special embedded elements provided in advance.