Do-it-yourself sawdust concrete bathhouse - pros and cons

Disadvantages of sawdust concrete baths

Sawdust concrete is ideal for building saunas, but it has some limitations that should be taken into account. In any case, these include the following:

• If a multi-story building is planned, then sawdust concrete is a fragile material. It has some limitations on load-bearing capacity.
• Under no circumstances should the material become wet for a long time, so you need to look at the operating conditions. Also, you should not build the structure on days when it rains. Some characteristics may be lost.
• If there are small rodents on the site, then it is better not to use sawdust concrete.
• Sawdust concrete is a new material that has not yet been sufficiently studied.
• The market for the production and modernization of such material is quite unstable, so the blocks may be of poor quality and not with the characteristics specified in the instructions.
• To maintain low thermal conductivity, the creation of cold bridges must be avoided. This problem is solved when masonry mortar based on perlite is used. But this will complicate the construction process a little.

As you can see, there are many more positive characteristics than disadvantages. That is why many people are now purchasing sawdust concrete and remain satisfied for a long time.

Reviews

Evgeniy I built a sawdust concrete bathhouse entirely with my own hands: from creating the project to finishing. It is small and very cozy; in winter it warms up in 2 hours. I, my family and friends really enjoy this pastime. I am very glad that I did not make a log house, because building from sawdust concrete is much simpler and easier, although according to my calculations the cost is almost the same. The final decision was made after reading reviews on the Internet about this building material.

Olga My husband and I often gather with our friends to sit in the steam room. Previously, we always gathered in a real wooden Russian bathhouse, but now we visited new friends. The sensations were exactly the same as from a wooden one. But imagine my amazement when I found out that it was not made of wood, but of some kind of sawdust concrete: everything was sewn up with wood on top and inside, the smell of wood was the same as always.

Alexander Helped a friend build a bathhouse from sawdust concrete. This was my first time dealing with construction at all and I didn’t think it would be so easy. Thanks to the light weight and large size of the blocks, it only took us a few days to build the walls. Now I’m thinking about making a steam room for myself from this sawdust concrete - it all worked out very well and quickly.

Evgeniy I built both a house and a bathhouse from monolithic sawdust concrete. I think that there is no need to spend money where you can do everything yourself: after all, you need to buy blocks. To prevent the building from settling, I made a good foundation and carefully insulated the walls from water. It turned out very well.

Sergey I built a bathhouse not so long ago and I’ll tell you this: I won’t build anything else from sawdust concrete. After the fire, although the building did not burn down, there is no way to repair it. I’ll demolish everything and put up a stone bathhouse - after all, there is an increased risk of fires in this building, and there won’t be enough money to rebuild it every time.

Vladislav Built a bathhouse and several outbuildings from sawdust concrete. Judging by the reviews, it is better not to build residential buildings from this material if it is possible to use a more traditional building material.

A building material such as sawdust concrete can be used for the construction of residential and non-residential buildings. The best way to understand whether or not it is worth using this building material for the construction of specific buildings is to get feedback from their owners.

2016-03-23

Today, new building materials are almost always being developed. And such a component as sawdust concrete . It has many more names, but you still need to figure out why it is worth giving preference or not. If you want to build a bathhouse from such material, then you need to look at the pros and cons. At the same time, you need to take into account all aspects of using blocks specifically for this building.

Possible problems of an adobe bath

Of course, humidity will do its job over time and the lower rows of the adobe wall will begin to wash out. This is the problem with all bathhouses, be it a clay building or a log building.

In my bathhouse, the lower rims of the logs were turned into dust by ants and had to be replaced. Raise the bathhouse and change all the lower crowns.

In an adobe bathhouse there will be no such global construction costs. It is enough to start repairing damp adobe in time; it must be replaced with a new one.

The key to protecting an adobe bathhouse is a high-quality roof. The roof should cover the walls from rain as best as possible, that is, be low and wide. Therefore, if you do not have construction experience, it is better to entrust this part of the work to professionals...

People have been building from adobe for a long time; it is an affordable, natural, environmentally friendly material. Buildings made from it do not require the use of special tools, equipment or chemicals. All family members, young and old, can participate in this unusual construction!

Advantages and disadvantages

Properly using all the advantages and, if possible, leveling out the existing disadvantages - perhaps this is the main task of a person who undertakes the independent construction of a frame bathhouse. If you have studied the projects of bathhouses made of foam blocks and seen what shortcomings this material has, do not think that everything is so rosy with frame structures. Let's not mislead you: there are disadvantages in every business, and therefore the best way to deal with them is to carefully study them. Actually, let's start with them.

Flaws

• possible shrinkage of the bath over time;
• the need for high-quality insulation and the associated increase in costs;
• material and time costs for finishing - both internal and external;
• careful care and careful use.

It is no coincidence that we started with the minuses. So you will immediately see the pitfalls that the construction of a frame bath is associated with

And if, after getting to know them, they seem to you not like large cobblestones, but like small pebbles, then pay attention to the following advantages of the chosen type of construction

Advantages

• lightweight construction does not require grueling preparation of a solid foundation;
• retain heat well, but only with high-quality insulation;
• attractively cheap assembly;
• environmental friendliness and resistance to vibrations in the earth's crust;
• the ability to build a frame bathhouse in the shortest possible time, even in difficult weather conditions.

If the advantages still outweigh the possible disadvantages, and you still want to build a bathhouse of this type, then proceed to the next stage.

Pouring premises from sawdust concrete. Nuances

1 foundation.

It must be monolithic, tape. No separate pedestals and piles, as some do for wooden houses. A structure made of sawdust concrete requires a strong strip foundation with a good reinforcement frame. The foundation for such buildings does not have to be large. A sufficient height of 50-70 cm and a width of 35-50 cm. The main thing is not volume, but the right technology. A well-made cushion of sand and crushed stone, a strong reinforcement frame, and good waterproofing.

For waterproofing, it is better to immediately buy plastic film. And lay out a trench for it under the foundation, before pouring. This film, firstly, protects well from moisture, and secondly, it ensures concrete-ground sliding. It would also be good to buy 3-5cm polystyrene foam. and place the sheets between the film and the outer wall of the trench under the foundation. the foam is cut into pieces ranging in size from the bottom of the trench to the top level of the ground approximately. Insulating the foundation in this way is a huge plus.

Well, then we mix the solution with crushed stone so that it is not liquid but like dough (since excess liquid makes the solution weak.) If you have M400 cement, then mix ONE to TWO (one part of cement to two parts of sand) and crushed stone until it is filled. Many may start arguing - they say one to two is too much, extra expenses. They say you need one in three, etc., etc. To which I will answer - based on my experience, I realized that good cement was only available during the union. And now he's shit. And only the one to two proportion of M400 makes the foundation really strong. Well, or as an alternative - Order a mixer. The cement mortar is usually good there.

2 Waterproofing sawdust concrete walls.

Waterproofing sawdust concrete is a very important component of construction. Because this material does not like moisture. He doesn’t like him very much - this is practically one of his main disadvantages.

This is how I understand sawdust concrete waterproofing technology.

It should be double. We fill the foundation and coat the top with bitumen. liquid to soak in. Better yet, use special primers and then coat them thickly with bitumen. Lay roofing material on the bitumen, at least two layers, coating each layer with bitumen. Nuances: You can take the cheapest bitumen, in a bag. You cannot melt it in a container, for example, in an old bucket (it’s easier to throw the bucket away than to clean it) over an open fire. Needed by email. tiles When the bitumen melts, you need to slowly add waste oil to it and stir. And when you boil the bitumen with oil, it is ready for use, since it will no longer harden. For us this is the very thing. (I also make a composition for filling the bottom of car interiors when I do anticorrosive and noise-resistant materials) We also take the cheapest roofing material, because it is not the price that is important, but the right technology. The first layer of waterproofing is ready. After this, we begin to fill the walls, fill the first 20-30 cm (up to 50) without sawdust, 1x3 or 1x4, that is, four buckets of sand per bucket of cement. This will be a type of base. After filling the base, we waterproof it again, and also coat it well with roofing material in one or two layers. And after that we proceed to the main pouring of sawdust concrete walls.

Nuances of construction

Since the material chosen for building a house is special, it is necessary to approach working with it responsibly, following all the rules and recommendations. Any deviations from the recipe for preparing the basic composition or failure to follow the sequence of work can lead to various troubles during the operation of the building. When it comes to the foundation, the characteristics of sawdust concrete do not allow it to be used for the construction of a foundation. Concrete, metal (in the case of a pile option), stone, and brick should be used for it. Besides:

1. The foundation must be raised above ground level so that soil water cannot reach the walls. Its waterproofing on all sides must be done flawlessly.
2. The corners of the building must be reinforced, the walls themselves are desirable. The ideal option is to install concrete or wooden pillars at the corners of the house.
3. Window and door openings also need to be framed with a reinforcement frame, and a lintel installed on top.
4. In the frameless version of the construction of external walls, after completing this procedure, it is necessary to construct the upper frame in the form of a monolithic reinforced concrete belt. It is needed to securely support the roof structures. If a frame method is chosen for construction, and sawdust concrete serves as filling between the posts, then the framing is made from natural or laminated timber.
5. The roof should have a wide overhang so that rain and melt water does not fall on the walls. It is necessary to construct a reliable drainage system with their discharge into an equally reliable drainage system or storm sewer.

Sawdust concrete buildings need to be protected from the outside in the right ways. Due to the high hygroscopicity of the material, the external finish must be continuous and absolutely waterproof. A thick “fur coat” or panel cladding is suitable for this.

Proportions of sawdust and concrete

In this article we talked about the proportions that are adopted when making blocks (bricks made from sawdust and cement).

However, these proportions are designed for the construction of load-bearing walls of houses with 2-3 floors and concrete floors, therefore such blocks have excess strength and high thermal conductivity.

For a house 1–2 floors high with wooden floors, the proportions can be changed, so due to the loss of excess strength, the thermal insulation properties of sawdust concrete can be improved.

The ratio of sand and cement should always be 2:1 because they form a binder and provide strength to the hardened concrete.

The ratio of sawdust and lime should be from 10:1 to 2:1. The more lime, the more durable and less sensitive to rot and mold the block is, but also the worse its thermal insulation properties, so the maximum ratio is rarely used.

The ratio of cement-sand mortar to sawdust is made from 3:1 to 1:4, but the optimal proportion is 1:2.

In this proportion, the strength of sawdust concrete is sufficient to build a 2-story house with wooden floors, and a wall thickness of 30 cm (if it has insulating voids) is sufficient even for places where the temperature in winter sometimes drops below 15 degrees below zero.

If severe frosts often occur in winter, then simply increasing the amount of sawdust will not solve the problem; you will have to change the shape of the block or wall.

Tip: if you reduce the amount of water to 0.5–0.6 by weight of cement and add a superplasticizer to the mixture, you will get more durable sawdust concrete. After all, the more water in the solution, the lower the strength of concrete.

If the water is slightly less than necessary, then the strength after hardening increases by 1.2–1.5 times.

Classification

• intended for laying internal and external walls;
• partition parts are used only for the construction of partitions.

• hollow - have through holes that are formed during the manufacturing process (this is done in order to give the block the necessary performance characteristics);
• solid - partition or wall parts that do not have internal voids.

• in accordance with the above GOST, bricks for laying walls can be of the following sizes: 288x138x138 mm, 288x288x138 mm, 290x190x188 mm, 390x190x188 mm, 90x190x188 mm and 190x190x188 mm;
• dimensions of the partition parts: 390x90x188 mm, 590x90x188 mm and 190x90x188 mm.

It is also possible to produce blocks and other required sizes.

We suggest you read: What is harmful about stone wool?

Source of the article: https://101studio.ru/uteplenie/sten-opilkobetonom-2.html

House made of monolithic sawdust concrete

It is worth noting that we will consider the shortest and simplest scheme of work, but it is not universal! In your specific situation, there may be a lot of nuances that will require you to do something completely differently than in the instructions published below.

Remember this.

We will not describe the structure of the foundation, because there are many types of this structure and which one you should use is a topic for a separate discussion.

Let's assume that in our case this is the most common option - a strip base and we will only analyze how to fill the walls with sawdust concrete.

Strip foundation

Let's begin.

Installation of formwork and installation of a frame made of reinforcement

Walls, in fact, are made very simply - exactly the same as from any other concrete.

A frame made of reinforcement is mounted, formwork panels are installed on both sides of it, and all free space is filled with concrete.

This is what the structure of wall formwork looks like

Everything is done approximately in this order (let’s look at the example of assembling one wall):

The reinforcement bars are cut to the required length. If metal has not been released vertically from the foundation in advance, then you need to drill holes in the concrete and hammer reinforcement bars into them vertically (to the height of the future wall). The distance between them should be approximately half a meter

If the foundation is very strong and you can’t make holes, then pay attention to such a service as diamond drilling of holes in concrete - in theory, you can drill everything using a professional tool. If the reinforcement is installed vertically, then you need to attach transverse horizontal rods to it. So that you get a kind of grid with a cell size of approximately 50 by 50 cm.

Vertically installed fittings

If everything is done, then you can begin assembling the formwork. This is done very simply.

On both sides of the previously installed vertical frame made of reinforcement, you need to install (on edge) wooden sheets, plywood, for example. To keep the formwork vertical and not fall, it is usually supported by triangular posts made of timber.

After this, they begin directly to concrete work.

Pouring sawdust concrete

This is exactly the simplest stage.

The mixture is prepared (or delivered on a mixer) and the entire mass is poured into the space between the sheets.

It is very important to prevent the formation of voids. Therefore, you need to try to compact the entire poured mixture very carefully - this can be done even with an ordinary hoe

In addition, if the pouring does not happen “at once,” then remember one rule: the “joining” of hardened concrete and fresh concrete cannot be done vertically. It is better to lay the mixture in horizontal rows - this will make the walls more durable.

In principle, if the walls are poured, then after the mortar has dried and the formwork has been removed, you can begin installing the roof. It is done in the same way as on any other house.

Monolithic walls

That's all. Let's summarize.

Main stages of work

Table of characteristics of materials for wall insulation.
To ensure good thermal insulation of walls in country houses and outbuildings (bathhouses), sawdust diluted with lime is actively used. This substance acts as an excellent antiseptic and is unattractive to rodents. The prepared composition is poured onto the waterproofing layer little by little, after which it is well rolled. The result is an excellent community with high-quality thermal insulation.

The insulation of walls with sawdust is associated with their finishing with plywood or lining. Glassine is placed under them. The outside is covered with edged boards or moisture-resistant plywood. After this, a ventilation system is installed. It is done as follows: take a beam with a cross-section of 40×40 mm, which helps to create the appropriate gap. Insulation of the walls from the outside is completed by cladding with siding or block house.

Insulation for the ceiling in a bathhouse: which material is best suited

Previously, it was customary to use natural raw materials such as moss, clay, sawdust, straw or earth.

Now people have begun to use the most effective coatings. They make all the work easier, even if you are not a professional builder. For example, it is widely used:

• basalt wool;
• expanded clay;
• penoizol;
• ecowool and others.

You can also use polystyrene foam and glass wool. But when heated, the former emits harmful gases and can ignite. A good protective suit is recommended for working with fiberglass.

The question is whether or not to insulate the entire building only inside or on both sides. There are many opinions on this matter, but the truth is in the middle. There are many additional factors you need to know:

• this is a Russian bath or sauna;
• what material is the bathhouse built from?
• what kind of stove does it cost?

To keep the steam inside and not escape outside, you need to achieve a “thermos” effect. Insulation must be both inside and outside the building. To achieve this effect, you will need insulation for the ceiling in the bathhouse. There are different options:

• waterproofing film;
• expanded clay;
• mineral wool or others.

What materials are used to insulate the ceiling?

The old-fashioned method has been proven over the years. This composition has excellent thermal insulation properties.

It can be used in several ways:

1. Preparation of a liquid solution. Take 2 buckets of clay and the same amount of sawdust, add water and mix the solution until it becomes thick sour cream. This mixture is poured onto the insulating material in a layer of up to 10-15 cm, dried for 1 month, forming a monolithic mixture that is fireproof. Possible slight leakage through the ceiling.
2. The preparation of the mixture is the same, but it dries somewhere on a flat surface, then it is cut into briquettes, which are used to insulate the ceiling.
3. A 5-7 cm layer of sawdust is poured onto the insulating material, and a similar layer of clay is placed on top.

One of the most common types of thermal insulation today:

When laying sheets of mineral wool, it is necessary already at the stage of installation of ceiling beams

The distance between them should be equal to the width of the insulation layers to make it easier to lay them. It is important to seal the joints of the isolon well so that the mineral wool does not spill onto the ceiling, in which case it will fall on those steaming. It is better to choose insulation with impregnation that prevents it from crumbling. It is advisable to cover the top layer of mineral wool with a layer of waterproofing.

Insulation with expanded clay

When using this insulation, it is important to consider that it absorbs moisture well, so it is important to make the ceiling very durable and able to withstand heavy weight. It is better to cover the top with a layer of waterproofing. Insulation with sawdust and cement

Take 5 buckets of sawdust, half a bucket of cement, half a bucket of lime, 2 tablespoons of copper sulfate as a fire retardant. Cement, sawdust, and lime are mixed in a container or concrete mixer. Vitriol is diluted in a bucket of water and added to the mixture. Then add water until the consistency of thick porridge is obtained. This mixture is evenly applied to the covered isolon. Insulation with leaves and clay. In the fall, foliage is collected, applied in a layer of more than 25 cm, and 5 cm of clay is placed on top. After a few months, the layer will be about 10 cm.

• The application of isolon as a waterproofing material is end-to-end, which allows the insulation to flow through the ceiling.
• Insulation with sawdust and clay or sawdust and cement with a large addition of water will flood the entire ceiling and the insulation will take even longer to dry.
• Izolon as a waterproofing material must be overlapped by 15-20 cm onto the frame.
• Damp foliage is used as insulation; it will rot or rot.
• Many people do not use top waterproofing.

The main advantages of sawdust insulation include:

1. Economical.
2. Availability of material to families of any income.
3. Easy to install.
4. Durability.

Insulating the walls of a frame bath with sawdust

You can insulate the box on the outer surface with materials based on gypsum, cement, clay or lime. The best option is a mixture of sawdust, grated clay and lime. Proportions 2:3 in volumetric measures with the addition of one part slaked lime for every 10 parts of sawdust-clay mass. Steam the sawdust in hot water, drain the liquid, add lime and mix thoroughly until smooth.

External view of the external insulation of the walls of the bathhouse after removing the formwork

To insulate the bathhouse, we select large sawdust obtained from using a planer or jointer. The sawdust mass after processing wood with a high-speed tool will turn out to be too fine, the insulation will be heavy, with a high thermal conductivity coefficient.

Laying of sawdust insulation is carried out according to the following scheme:

• We assemble a frame from timber;
• We sew waterproofing on both sides of the future wall; it is best to use polyethylene or roofing felt;
• We sew sheets of plywood onto the vertical timber posts; the height of the formwork should not be more than a meter;
• We fill the mold cavity with sawdust, press down the material first by hand, then with a tamper.

After a day, the formwork can be removed, the insulation can be removed and defects can be eliminated if any appear due to uneven drying of the bathhouse wall insulation. Most of the moisture will go into the lower layers, so the upper part needs to be covered with film so that the insulation dries evenly. After the thermal insulation has dried, the surface is rubbed with clay and whitened with lime.

Straw can be added to the wall grout material

Features of wood concrete

The basis of wood concrete (or in other words lightweight concrete, wood concrete, sawdust concrete) are chemical additives and organic, cement-binding fillers, presented in large quantities. Wood concrete is produced in the form of ready-made building blocks and slabs.

The filler is mineralized with liquid glass, calcium chloride and nitrate, aluminum sulfate and other substances that can effectively combat the negative effects of organic compounds on the hardening of the cement mass. The following are usually used as organic matter: wood chips, woody parts of stems - flax and hemp, chopped straw and stems of cotton plants.

An important advantage of wood concrete is its amazing strength. Structural types are able to withstand even very strong loads and deformations, and have the valuable property of self-healing after temporarily exceeding the maximum load.

Excellent sound absorption, environmental friendliness, low thermal conductivity, combustion resistance, low cost, convenience and ease of processing - all these qualities make lightweight concrete indispensable in the construction of low-rise buildings for any purpose (houses, bathhouses, garages, shops, cafes, industrial buildings, etc. .).

It is also ideal for the construction of internal partitions and non-permanent walls of buildings; it is often used as a material for thermal and sound insulation of ceilings, walls, etc.

Background

Before the advent of modern technology, sawdust was used as a floor insulation agent. To do this, they were usually mixed with clay and other materials. Wood waste has been used in this form for centuries.

In the Soviet Union in the sixties of the last century, engineers developed a new building material for construction based on wood and cement waste - wood concrete, sometimes called sawdust concrete or wood concrete.

Then it was standardized and ready-made blocks began to be produced en masse. There were about 100 factories specializing in wood concrete in the country. The great advantage of the material was its significant low cost, because the country had a large woodworking industry and large mountains of waste in the form of shavings and sawdust.

Physicochemical characteristics

In terms of specific gravity and thermal conductivity, sawdust concrete is close to such materials as:

• foam concrete;
• expanded clay concrete;
• polystyrene concrete.

Like these materials, sawdust concrete has a low load-bearing capacity, so it cannot be used to build load-bearing walls of buildings 3 or more floors high.

If the building has at least one concrete floor, then the maximum height is 2 floors. However, it can be used as a wall material in houses with reinforced concrete frames.

Due to high vapor permeability, the rooms of houses made of sawdust concrete always have a dry microclimate, because excess moisture passes through the walls and goes into the atmosphere.

Another significant advantage of the material is its high resistance to open fire.

Sawdust concrete begins to smolder at a temperature of 150–200 degrees, but for combustion it requires long-term (1–2 hours) exposure to a temperature of 300 degrees or more or 0.5–1 hour of exposure to open fire.

After the cessation of exposure to open fire or high temperature, sawdust concrete quickly goes out, because the amount of pyrolysis gases released is not enough to maintain the pyrolysis process, without which combustion is impossible.

Read more about wood combustion and the pyrolysis process here Pyrolysis gas and its application.

Sawdust preparation process

Sawdust from coniferous trees is most suitable for the production of sawdust concrete; they contain practically no sugary substances, and soaking further reduces their content. It is undesirable to use hardwood sawdust with a high content of sugary substances soluble in water; they have a bad effect on the cement setting process and adhesion, and, accordingly, on the degree of compression of the finished material and the final strength. To reduce the effect of water-soluble organic substances on cement, sawdust is subjected to physical or chemical treatment. The simplest way is to oxidize the organic substances of sawdust in air and sun. Under the influence of sunlight, some substances are oxidized and absorbed by wood cells, others, with the help of bacteria that cause fermentation, are oxidized and, to some extent, crystallize, taking on an insoluble form. However, this method has a serious drawback - the process takes a long time, at least 2 months for softwood sawdust and 6 months for hardwood sawdust. Another way is to soak sawdust in water. Wood exposed to atmospheric precipitation for a long time contains significantly less water-soluble substances than dry wood. A good result can be achieved by soaking sawdust in special solutions: liquid glass or lime mortar. To prepare the most common lime mortar, take 150-200 liters of water and 2.5 kilograms of lime per 1 m3 of sawdust. Soaking is carried out for 15 days.

Raw materials for the production of sawdust concrete

In addition to sawdust, the material includes:

• lime;
• cement;
• sand;
• water.

Sometimes craftsmen improve this composition by adding clay to it. Because of this, the strength and thermal conductivity of houses built from sawdust concrete increases.

The density of the material depends on the amount of sand, cement and sawdust used. Sand plays a significant role. The more of it, the denser the structure of sawdust concrete. If it is less, the house increases its thermal conductivity.

It is worth considering that a certain amount of raw materials can ensure frost resistance and water resistance of sawdust concrete. At the same time, the reinforcing masonry is also protected, which, under the influence of moisture, undergoes corrosion and destroys its structure.

This is what a sawdust concrete block looks like

When producing sawdust concrete for construction, the following technical characteristics of houses are taken into account:

• thickness of the walls of the future house;
• number of load-bearing walls;
• number of interior partitions;
• number of floors of the cottage.

Block composition

For the production of wood concrete, wood waste, as a rule, is taken from coniferous species - they are less susceptible to biological destruction. Cement is used as a binder (sometimes, to reduce the cost, part of it is replaced with clay and lime). There are quite a lot of recipes, but as a rule, they take an amount of cement with water equal in weight to the weight of dry aggregate.

To increase the strength of chip concrete, sand is added to it, but one should take into account the fact that with an increase in the amount of sand, the weight of the wood concrete increases and its thermal insulation properties decrease.

Also, the composition of chip concrete (and other materials with wood waste) necessarily includes special salts that make wood waste non-flammable, and they are practically not affected by fungi and bacteria.

Advantages and disadvantages of ceiling insulation with clay

Clay as a heat insulator for floors has become popular due to the following qualities:

• Low cost. The raw material has no competitors among analogues used for these purposes. You can always get it with minimal effort. In rural areas, the rock is often dug up and brought in independently.
• Clay is a fireproof material; it does not burn and does not contribute to the spread of fire. It can be safely laid near chimneys.
• Rodents and insects do not live in the thickness of the coating.
• The ceiling solution is prepared from a base and light fillers, which significantly reduces the load on the walls.
• There are no harmful impurities in its composition, so the ceiling is environmentally friendly.
• It’s easy to master insulation technology; you can do everything yourself.
• Clay and lumber interact well with each other. The wood remains in its original form for many years, and the insulating layer does not lose its qualities for a long time.
• If necessary, the already dried mixture removed for some reason can be reused, for which it is enough to wet it. This way, waste can be avoided after construction.
• After adding water, the rock becomes plastic and is able to fill any voids, which allows it to be applied to complex surfaces.
• Once the moisture evaporates, it becomes hard, so it is not necessary to install walk-on decking on the attic floor.

However, the material has practically been replaced by modern heat insulators. There are several reasons for this:

• This method of insulation is far from the most effective. In most cases, clay is used as an addition to the main heat insulator.
• To prepare the solution, it is necessary to carefully maintain the proportions, otherwise the insulating layer will crumble or simply not perform its functions.
• The finished batches are quite heavy, so the floors must be designed for heavy loads.

Step-by-step technology

When all the materials have been purchased, and the tools have been collected in a pile and humbly waiting in the wings, it’s time to move on to practical actions. And it’s worth starting with the project. You should build a frame bath only after you have decided on the layout. If you want to arrange, for example, a bathhouse with a veranda and a barbecue under one roof, then reflect this desire in your working design.

• What size plot do you have?
• Do you want to separate the steam room and sink?
• Are you ready to sacrifice a rest room for the sake of extra meters in the dressing room and vestibule?

Find the answers to all these questions - and then it will be easier for you to decide on the design of your frame bathhouse. In addition, the Internet is now full of ready-made projects and drawings. All that remains is to adjust the scale and take the tools into your own hands. However, do not forget that you are based on the size of the area at your disposal. And it goes without saying that for complete comfort you should take care of a certain usable area around the building. And in case of frequent use of the bathhouse in the winter season, you should even ask about the veranda.

Work on the foundation

1. we drive pegs around the perimeter of the proposed frame bath and make a ditch approximately 0.6 meters deep, the width can be determined in each individual case, but not less than 0.4 meters;
2. fill the vacated space with sand to approximately 1/3 of the entire depth and fill it with water on top, after which we compact it thoroughly;
3. we fill in the prepared gravel, and on top - a layer of sand, which is then leveled with soil using a building level;
4. we make formwork from reinforcement and fill everything with concrete;
5. The final touch is insulation with roofing felt; a thin layer of it is enough.

Leave your frame bath foundation for at least a week - during this period it will settle well and “gain strength”.

Walling

If we are building a frame bathhouse, after the foundation is prepared, we can begin building the walls. Before doing this, make sure that the wood is well dried. The type of wood used is not particularly important, with the exception of birch, since it will quickly rot. The main thing is that the wood has low thermal conductivity.

Selection of building materials

If you decide to build a building made of wood, then you will need the following materials:

1. A square beam with a standard size of 15x15 cm or 18x18 cm. Also suitable with dimensions of 20x20 cm.
2. Floor covering board with parameters 15x5 cm, length – 4 m.
3. Cladding board for arranging ceilings and walls. A lining with a width of 10 cm and a thickness of 2 cm is suitable.
4. Vapor barrier material. Films are usually used. They come in two types: polyethylene and polypropylene. They are also divided into single-layer and multi-layer. It’s up to you to decide which type to use in building a bathhouse.
5. Waterproofing material. The rolled variety is suitable for baths. For example, roofing felt.
6. Insulation for the ceiling. This can be basalt or glass wool, slag wool, ecowool, expanded clay, sawdust, sprayed polyurethane foam, cork boards, extruded polystyrene foam. Mineral wool is considered one of the most common options.
7. Sheet asbestos. It will be needed to sheathe wooden walls next to the stove structure and chimney. Thanks to this, high temperatures will not be able to destroy the wood.
8. Cement, crushed stone, sand and water are all that is needed to build a reliable foundation.
9. Material for roof installation. The choice depends on personal preferences, financial capabilities and the need to maintain a certain style. For roofing, you can use slate or euro slate, metal tiles, flexible bitumen shingles, rolled material, shingles, polycarbonate and even straw. The main thing is that the finished roof fits into the overall appearance of the site.
10. Insulation for the space between the rows: jute, tow, moss.

There is no need to purchase materials in advance. If stored improperly, timber can deteriorate: mold, rot, and fungus will appear. It is better to purchase it immediately before starting work.

What is sawdust concrete and is it worth making a bathhouse out of it?

In fact, sawdust concrete (aka wood concrete) is not a new material - it was invented during the Soviet Union, but has not yet been used very widely.

Essentially, this concrete consists of cement, sand, lime and sawdust. It comes in the form of ready-made blocks and in the form of a mixture.

Wood concrete structure

The more sawdust there is in the composition of such concrete, the better its thermal insulation qualities. However, if there is a lot of sawdust and little sand, then the overall strength of the material decreases - this should always be remembered.

This material is used for the following purposes:

for the construction of load-bearing walls and partitions in low-rise construction;

Wood concrete walls

• for the construction of fences and gazebos;
• for pouring concrete pillars;
• for insulation of foundations and floors.

As for the specific properties of sawdust concrete, there is definitely something to think about.

As you can see, there are many more advantages than disadvantages. So the conclusion here is very simple - it is quite possible to build small houses from the material. By the way, it is quite possible to build a bathhouse made of sawdust concrete with your own hands from such a mixture, it will be cheap, and the heat inside will be retained perfectly.

Construction of a bathhouse from sawdust concrete

What is wood concrete?

Sawdust concrete is a material that is made from cement, sand, water and sawdust in a certain proportion. It is made mainly at home, using it as a composition for monolithic construction, or individual blocks are poured.

Necessary tools and forms

Not only experienced builders, but also novice craftsmen are increasingly deciding to make sawdust concrete with their own hands. Manufacturing technology involves the presence of formwork panels. They must be measured correctly so that the blocks are as even as possible. It is desirable that the boards for the shield have a thickness of 38 mm. Sawdust must be sifted to remove accumulated debris and stones. When the chips and bark are sorted, you need to add prepared wood shavings to them. This way you can increase the final strength of the material several times.

The solution can be laid in two types of forms:

• Small blocks. Such forms are compact in size, and up to 9 sawdust blocks can be made at a time.
• Dimensional blocks. For such material it is necessary to prepare spacious boxes made of boards. It is worth noting that most often they are collapsible, as this speeds up the process of removing the finished material.

Experts say that it is necessary to start laying the prepared solution immediately, since after a few hours it will begin to harden. It must be remembered that before use, the internal parts of the formwork must be moistened with plain water.

After four days, the formwork must be carefully removed (but only if the solution has completely hardened). But it is advisable to leave the sawdust blocks to dry for another four days. This is done in order to increase the final strength of the material. It is also worth considering that for drying the blocks being made, it is best to use the area where there are drafts so that the solution hardens evenly. There must be a gap between each sawdust block. If it is going to rain, then the material must be covered with film to prevent it from getting wet.

d) Fire resistance (fire safety).

Arbolite does not support combustion. It would seem that it consists of 60% sawdust, which is a flammable material, but this material was made using a certain technology. Namely: the cement-sand wall reliably covers all wooden sawdust, in other words, each wood plate is hermetically packed in a cement shell.

As a result, when the material is heated, organic fibers self-extinguish. The fire resistance limit, at a temperature of 1100-1200 C, is more than two and a half hours, and the load-bearing capacity is maintained even after more than three hours of exposure to high temperature.

Wood concrete is significantly superior in fire resistance to the popular building material expanded polystyrene concrete, which meets fire resistance requirements. The expanded polystyrene concrete filler is foam balls. Cement-sand walls protect the foam from fire, but in case of prolonged temperature, what do you think will burn “better” - foam balls or sawdust?

Conclusion: although wood concrete contains a large amount of sawdust (about 60%) it is a non-combustible material, thanks to the production technology. The use of wood concrete is appropriate in the construction of any object. The fire resistance of wood concrete is higher than some modern building materials.

Health safety

Blocks made from sawdust and concrete allow you to build environmentally friendly, clean and safe buildings, since the basis is natural materials. The main advantages of such buildings are:

• fire resistance - blocks cannot self-ignite and cannot sustain combustion;
• vapor permeability - allows you to keep the room warm and dry.

Thanks to these qualities, the material is often used in the construction of garages, basements and bathhouses. A house or cottage built using this technology is able to maintain a neutral climate. This occurs due to the ability of sawdust concrete to remove excess moisture. In order not to interfere with this process, it is worth selecting materials for interior and exterior decoration with the same properties.

The relevance of using sawdust for thermal insulation

Current insulating materials are constantly being improved; moreover, more and more new thermal insulators appear on the market every year. But technological progress inevitably leads to rising prices. Often people save money for many years to repair their home (including insulation) or even take out a loan from a bank. And if we remember what materials our ancestors used to insulate walls and roofs, we can come to the conclusion that the “old-fashioned” methods are still relevant and effective. At the same time, it is difficult to predict what the condition of, say, polyurethane foam will be after 20 years of operation. But the sawdust has successfully passed the test of time.

Using sawdust as insulation

So, the main advantages of insulating the ceiling with sawdust include:

• widespread dissemination of this material;
• symbolic price;
• environmental cleanliness;
• extreme ease of installation;
• long service life.

Moreover, the savings here consist not only in reducing capital investments, but also in caring for natural resources, which contributes to a significant improvement in the environment and a reduction in the cost of heating a home.

Sawdust prices

sawdust

How to make sawdust

Modern thermal insulation materials

Table. Prices for popular insulation materials.

It turns out that insulation with sawdust will cost almost free. In fact, wood companies can even deliver sawdust to your home for a small fee. But here it should be clarified: not all varieties of this material are suitable for thermal insulation.

Manufacturing process

Since our brief introduction to the material is complete, let’s figure out how sawdust concrete is made at home.

Purchase of raw materials and selection of necessary equipment

Before starting the production process, you will have to purchase the necessary raw materials and equipment.

Here are some tips to follow when purchasing components for preparing the solution:

The cement must be of a high grade: M400 or M500. The higher this value, the greater your chances of getting the most durable products. You should not purchase expired materials, especially the above-mentioned cement. If you want to save money, you can try to find someone willing to give you sawdust for free, because after all, this is a waste product from wood production

Therefore, it is quite possible to try to contact the owners of sawmills. It is worth purchasing chemical components for preparing sawdust - this way you can improve the quality of the finished material and reduce its setting time. If you need to purchase a relatively large amount of raw materials, you should pay attention to wholesale suppliers and buy everything at once in one place. This way you will have a better chance of getting a good discount, and thereby reducing the cost of the material.

The production of sawdust concrete at home requires a minimum set of equipment, which is a set of molds and a concrete mixer. You can also purchase a vibropress, which helps to better compact the concrete during molding.

Using this unit, the ability to produce more durable products increases.

You can also make your own molds. Often sheets of plywood are used for this. It is best to build 10-20 molds at once so that the production process does not stop, because the products must dry for about 3-4 days before stripping.

Making your own mold, photo

The video in this article will show how you can build molds for a sawdust concrete block yourself.

Technological stages

The technology for manufacturing sawdust concrete is not too complicated and consists of several stages.

The instructions look like this:

First of all, you need to mix the solution. The sawdust is first prepared and sifted through a sieve. In fact, components can be loaded in any order. The most common option is the following: mix cement and water, then add sand, lime and sawdust. All ingredients are mixed until a homogeneous mass is formed for the required period of time. The readiness of the solution can be easily checked in a fairly primitive way: squeeze a little of the prepared mixture in your fist, no water should be released.

And when you unclench your fist, the mixture should not lose its shape. The next stage will be the molding of the products. The forms are filled and the mixture is compacted. If there is a vibropress, molding occurs using it. Next, the blocks should dry. You can also check their readiness: run a nail along the surface of the product and pay attention to the mark. If it is shallow, then the blocks are ready for removal and further drying. At the end of the manufacturing process, the sawdust concrete block is sent for drying until it reaches brand strength.

Particular attention should be paid to monolithic sawdust concrete, because the material is used not only in the form of blocks, but also in liquid form when pouring various structures. In order to fill, you must:

In order to fill, you must:

• Mixer for mixing;
• The raw materials included in the composition must be within walking distance;
• Construction containers in the form of a tub;
• Tamping beam with a pointed end.

Using monolithic material, you can fill up to 2 cubes of the mixture per day. The main advantage of monolithic construction is the absence of the process of producing blocks and, accordingly, masonry work.

Among the disadvantages, it is worth highlighting the extremely long development of strength, which does not allow you to quickly remove the formwork and continue construction.

Application of monolithic sawdust concrete

If you decide to make sawdust concrete with your own hands, the video will help you with the work.

The advantages of this method of insulation

At first glance this seems absurd. In modern conditions, there is an abundance of artificial materials and insulation for every taste and budget, to resort to ancient methods of insulating roofs and ceilings, to use old “old-fashioned” methods? However, not everything is so obvious, because everything new is often well forgotten old, and some technologies of the past remain relevant to this day, and the method of insulating the ceiling of a bathhouse with earth has not sunk into oblivion.

Regular exposure of the bathhouse ceiling to hot air and water vapor requires a special approach to the issue of its insulation, both from the inside and from the outside (attic).

All methods of thermal insulation of roofs and ceilings can be divided into:

1. By type of materials used:
   using natural materials;

hemmed (the ceiling is made from the inside, fastened to the floor beams);

For frequent use, other requirements for thermal insulation are met: the use of vapor barrier membranes, heat-reflecting foil, etc. These materials have their undeniable advantages: long service life, they are not subject to rotting, inedible for rodents, unsuitable for insects, quite light and durable, insulate from noise, easy and convenient to work with, increased fire resistance.

The most popular way to insulate the roof of a bathhouse was considered to be clay coating with the addition of sawdust. This mixture was used to cover the ceiling of the bathhouse from the attic side, and then additionally covered it with a layer of peat, sawdust, moss, tow, a mixture of these materials with sand, etc.

The advantages are the availability of materials, almost free of charge, environmental friendliness, etc.

1. There is an attic space.

In this case, the ceiling insulation consists of the standard technology described above using natural materials. The method is not expensive, but requires physical labor and time. The ceiling is made of boards at least 4 cm thick, with them attached to the floor beams or continuous flooring. The work is carried out from the outside, attic side!

The second stage is to seal the seams between the boards with thick clay without additives. When the seams are dry, the entire surface of the ceiling is covered with a mixture of clay and some other natural material - sawdust, for example. The layer must be at least 5 cm thick. After drying, a layer of earth of 10 centimeters or more is poured on top.

You may be surprised, but the method described above for insulating the ceiling of a bathhouse with earth can also be used... in the absence of a roof as such! A ceiling with a layer of earth will itself act as a roof, and moreover, in addition to its useful function, it will also perform a decorative function. We are talking about Scandinavian green roofs, on which strawberries are grown, grass and even small shrubs grow.

The main difference between such a “roofing cake” installed over a bathhouse will be the additional layers of waterproofing, because Precipitation passing through the ground should not be absorbed into the clay. Despite the fact that a layer of soil of 10 cm is enough to absorb rainfall, average rainfall does not always occur.

To create a grass-covered roof, waterproofing is laid over a layer of dried clay mixture. Then a layer of geotextile is desirable (previously tree bark and birch bark were used for these purposes), and at least 20 cm of soil is poured. Warmed from the inside and moistened by rain from the outside, the soil on the roof of your bathhouse will quickly be overgrown with grass or moss and will become a wonderful decoration for the site.

It is no coincidence that the use of clay is so popular. This method of insulation has a number of advantages compared to other methods:

• proven and reliable technology: it has been developed over the centuries, it has long proven its effectiveness;
• environmental friendliness: the material is completely safe for the health of people, animals, and the environment;
• this method of insulation does not significantly load the floors and foundation;
• all work can be done with your own hands, even without much experience in construction;
• the material does not attract rodents and insects;
• fire safety: clay does not burn, so it can be safely used for insulation near pipes, stoves and other heating devices;
• cheap: you can even dig up the clay yourself, i.e. for free.

c) The quality of the screed from personal experience.

In 2008, a screed was made in the house with the addition of sawdust (arbolit). By mistake it was poured in a room with a heated floor (water) seven centimeters thick from the bottom of the pipe. After complete drying, we turned on the heated floor and, to our amazement, the floor temperature did not change.

They raised the temperature on the boiler to 70 degrees, there were practically no changes, after which they stopped the experiments and, while the customer was not in the know, they began to quickly disassemble the sawdust screed. The surprises continued, the screed turned out to be strong enough, they disassembled it using a hammer drill. The screed took a lot more time to disassemble than we thought.

Production of sawdust concrete

As has been noted more than once in the article, the material is easy to produce. Most of the tools you will need to make blocks from shavings and cement are inexpensive, and some can even be made yourself. But first, it’s worth talking about the solution.

We suggest you familiarize yourself with Where to get stones for a bath

Composition of sawdust concrete

To make a building mixture you need: cement, sand, lime and organic filler in the form of sawdust. To obtain 1 m3 of finished material, the proportions of sawdust concrete will be as follows, depending on the required grade:

• Thermal insulation material with strength grade M5: 50 kg of cement grade M400, 50 kg of sand, 200 kg of slaked lime, 200 kg of sawdust. The finished product will have a density of about 500 kg/m3;
• Grade M10, suitable for enclosing and load-bearing walls of ancillary buildings: 100 kg of M400 grade cement, 200 kg of sand, 150 kg of slaked lime, 200 kg of sawdust. The finished product will have a density of approximately 650 kg/m3;
• for the more durable M15, used as M10, but also suitable for the construction of one-story residential buildings: 150 kg of M400 cement, 350 kg of sand, 100 kg of slaked lime, 200 kg of sawdust. The finished product will have a density of about 800 kg/m3;
• Structural sawdust concrete with strength grade M25, suitable for the construction of load-bearing walls of residential buildings up to three floors high: 200 kg of M400 grade cement, 500 kg of sand, 50 kg of slaked lime, 200 kg of sawdust. The finished product will have a density of approximately 950 kg/m3.
• To accelerate the hardening of sawdust concrete, calcium nitrate, liquid glass or ammonium sulfate are mixed into the mixture. These additives have no other effect on sawdust blocks.

First, cement is diluted in water, then the required amount of sawdust, sand and lime is mixed into it. The sawdust in the container for preparing the solution is mixed with lime, then cement and sand are added to them, the resulting mixture is mixed with the required amount of water. Both sequences are used equally.

The resulting solution is placed in molds. They can be put together from boards or bought ready-made. Equipment for casting cinder blocks is optimally suited. Depending on the available tool, the method of manual or mechanical compaction of the composition in the mold is used. Sealing pins are often used to remove voids.

d) Formula of higher strength wood concrete M-50, D-1100 kg/m3. For making blocks.

— Cement (M 400) 20 kg/16.6 l; -(1 bucket).

— Sand (Mk 2.0 2.5) 59 kg/39.3 l; - (2.4 buckets).

— Softwood sawdust 20 kg/80 l; -(4.8 buckets).

— Calcium chloride and other additives 500 g/0.45 l.

— Water about 10 liters (depending on the moisture content of the materials used).

The method of volumetric vibrocompression using high-quality equipment ensures significant compaction of the material.

Example: for the construction of residential buildings - one-story, two-story - we mainly use Crimean shell rock grade 35. All buildings are frameless. The floors - reinforced concrete round-hollow slabs - are laid on a reinforced concrete belt, and under it is shell rock (M-35), which perfectly supports the load of the slabs and overlying structures.

If you are far from Crimea and it is too expensive to bring shell rock, you can completely use wood concrete blocks. They are also warm, like shell rock, and have a higher grade (M-50).

Perhaps there is a production of such blocks near you, because sawdust is found almost everywhere. Feel free to purchase. Since sawdust costs pennies, the price of such blocks should also be low.

Soon there will be a new article with objective criticism of the cinder block, if you don’t want to miss it, subscribe to the free newsletter in the upper right corner of the BEST SUBSCRIBERS, or at the end of the article.

Conclusions and recommendations

If we talk about the construction of bathhouses or other structures, then when purchasing you need to look only at high-quality ready-made blocks. This will ensure the durability of the building, as well as minimal operating costs. In addition, you need to look at the integrity of such blocks and take them from the same batch. A separate point is that it is necessary to correctly calculate the number of blocks for construction before purchasing. In addition, you should make a reserve that will allow you to avoid purchasing additional material in the future. Before use, you should carefully study all the characteristics, and only after that buy sawdust concrete.

In any case, now new materials are replacing familiar and traditional ones, so it’s worth paying attention to them. And sawdust concrete is a worthy replacement for many other components

When purchasing, take into account all the nuances, and only after that make the final choice in favor of the purchase.

general information

Now sawdust concrete is a lightweight concrete that has a rough structure . In addition, it has several varieties, which differ from each other in what components they contain. But in any case, most often it consists of sawdust, sand, binder, and water. In addition, it is considered one of the best wall materials.

The density will depend on how much sawdust and sand there is . Now there are several options for preparing the mixture. But it’s better to read about this in the standards. If you prepare sawdust concrete manually, it is a labor-intensive process. Very rarely a homogeneous thick mass is obtained. If possible, it is better to use mixers that will ensure homogeneity.

Sawdust concrete is most often sawn and cut with an ax. Fresh sawdust can be used without treatment, but old sawdust is best treated with lime milk or liquid glass. In addition, before use, you should still consider the main pros and cons of using such a material. Only after this can you really find out whether this material can be used for a bath.