You can build a bath without troubles: invite professionals and with satisfaction to observe how its walls are erected quickly. But if the head and hands are in place, then you can save on labor and build a bath yourself. True, if the experience in this area is not enough, then a lot of questions may arise in the course of construction work.
Everyone knows that the initial stage of any construction project is the laying of the foundation. But the foundations are different. How to choose such an option to put the bathhouse reliably, but at the same time not to throw the money down the wind and not tear your back, making excess
work?
The study of soil
Guided by an argument: my neighbor put a bathhouse on the bricks, and she has served him correctly for several years – in no case can not. The main emphasis when choosing a foundation is made on the structural characterization of the soil, and it can quite significantly vary even in neighboring areas. Therefore, the first thing to do is to study the soil on the area allocated for construction. To do this, you need to dig the soil before detecting groundwater and carefully study its structure.
Foundation for solid soils
If it consists of gravel, rocky debris or coarse sand, you can assume that you are lucky. For a lightweight design of a wooden bath, a columnar foundation is quite enough on such soil: concrete, brick, stone or even wooden. This option is the most economical both financially, and in terms of labor costs. If the bathhouse is very small, then in such areas it can be installed on the bricks laid in several rows.
Foundation for soft soils
But if in the study you find that the soil in your area is too soft: clay, earthen or fine -sand, then it will be wiser to lay the strip foundation of a monolithic structure.
The block-morning strip foundation, of course, will cost cheaper, and it is easier to install it than monolithic, but on soft soil it will not provide the very reliability that every owner dreams of.
Foundation for viscous, marshy soils
In the swampy or regularly flooded in the spring of the area, the best foundation option is pile. The tile foundation for such soil is also not bad, but its cost may exceed expenses for the entire design of the bath. And if the soil is completely hopeless, then deeply driven (or screwed, if they are screw) piles are the only right option, if you exclude, of course, good drainage, which is also quite laborious and expensive.
When laying the foundation, you need to take into account another aspect. Of course, this is obvious, but it is still worth mentioning it. Whatever the foundation you choose, it is best to lay it in the summer, early autumn or late spring. In winter, it is very difficult to conduct excavation on their own, except to contact specialists with powerful equipment. And in the rainy autumn season or during the melting of snow, you just get into the mud.