We decided - we are building a Russian bath. Difficult project choice, construction problems, fulfillment of desires
The story about the embodiment of my desires "to have a bathhouse in the suburbs" I began with the article "Dreams come true - desires ripening».
Before starting the construction of a bath, you need to decide what kind of bath to build, you must answer your question and decide which steam room in the bath will be: Russian or Finnish. I already wrote in detail about choosing a bath. For me, the answer was, of course, unequivocal, only Russian. What is the difference between a Finnish sauna and a Russian one, except for technical conditions, which cannot be ignored when designing a sauna? I love steam and a broom, which means a Russian bath. You should not argue with nature, and even more so follow fashion trends, i.e. do not give in to fashion trends and make a Finnish sauna.
If you decide to build a bathhouse, then build the one that your body is allowed to do. For me it is a sauna with a Russian steam room, with soft steam and the smell of birch brooms. And even more so, for living in the suburbs, a Russian bathhouse is a tradition. In the end, if the steam room is done correctly, then it is quite simple to create the conditions for a Finnish sauna, but to make a Russian out of a Finnish - I have not seen this.
It was allowed to make a bath separately or build a new house with a bath only after long discussions, as politicians like to say - after long consultations, in favor of building a bath house.
Now the second important point that must be taken into account when designing and building a house with a bath is the size of the steam room. After studying the topic, I learned a lot of useful things, for example: that a steam room in a Russian bath cannot be less than 6 square meters, and the cubic capacity of a steam room room must not be less than 12 cubic meters. It is ideal, of course, to fold the stove directly in the steam room, but in this case, the steam room itself increases in size, and this is at least its size should be from 9 square meters, which, in my understanding, for our family, too. Yes, and dirty from the stove, no matter how you fold it and decorate it with tiles. Yes, and stove-makers cannot be found today, and if you do, they will be either charlatans with bricks, or the cost of the stove will exceed the cost of the whole house. Therefore, we abandoned the traditional Russian sauna stove in the new house. This means that the stove will be purchased, but with a heater, since today there is plenty to choose from.
We decided and summed up the results of our research, how we see the future home. What should be in the house and what size. This is important when choosing a project further.
1. Steam room - from 6 sq.m. Cubic capacity not less than 12 cubic meters m.
2. Shower room.
3. Dressing room. Even if it is being built, then already with all the sanitary apartments.
4. Boiler room, it is also a boiler room. By the way, after consulting with independent experts, the boiler room in any house cannot be less than 5 sq.m. it due to both equipment (storage boiler, heating boiler, wiring, boilers) and fire home security.
5. A rest room, where, after the steam room, you can drink tea and take a nap on the sofa, looking at the TV with one eye, which is still about 10 meters.
Now add up all sq.m. together, it turns out that without rest rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms, at a minimum, the area of a bathhouse is from 27-30 sq.m.
Immediately I guess the question, why, if it is already under construction, not to build a house on two floors. The answer is simple enough. First, when I’m 70, I’m going up the stairs to the bedroom on the second floor, somehow not getting high. And second, calculate the costs of house maintenance, electricity, cleaning, and in a dozen years, when the property tax increases, will your pension be enough to settle with the state? That's right, why take the risk.
With such arguments, I convinced my household members that we would build a one-story bathhouse, where there should be full functionality, and for whom there are not enough meters in the new house, then the plot is large - construction is possible continue.
Since everyone agreed that this would be a bathhouse, then we add to the minimum required bath area and those included in the list of mandatory technical premises, at least two tiny bedrooms of 9 sq.m. and a large kitchen-living room, where all life will pass before sleep, after the bath and in the morning after breakfast.
The size of the kitchen in a new home is entirely up to you. Personally, I am tired of cubicle kitchens where every step turns into a bruise on my thigh. And when friends sit down at the table to have a snack and talk, then you stick to the chair for a long time, realizing that in order to leave the kitchen and return, you will have to lift everyone from the table, which is not comfortable. Therefore, my kitchen was defined as 28-30 sq.m. The kitchen can serve as a dining room and living room in a new home.
And we were "infected" with the idea of construction, now it was already difficult for us to stop.
On long winter evenings in the city, when there is a cold outside the window, we are haunted by dreams of summer and the fantasies of having a cozy sauna in the garden. Our dreams seemed to us more attainable, because there was already an old house on the site, but for the rest to be complete, we needed a bathhouse. Imagine a winter vacation at your site…. A cozy bathhouse, tea from a samovar, a steamed traditional white glass. What could be better and healthier as a rest than rest in your own territory in a personal bath. From year to year, the desire to have a bathhouse overcame me and my household more and more, and there is no longer any possibility to endure.
It is in the city apartment that the first stage of the fulfillment of desires begins, this is the stage of the painful choice of the project of the future house.
Project selection is the most important part of your project. So that later you do not regret what you have done, i.e. do not grieve in a newly built, but problematic house, choose what to build in relation to your financial capabilities. It is necessary to choose a project for the price, "looking back" on the existing finances, and with an aim at the money that you can still earn and invest in your dream. Pumping money into the house does not end with construction and decoration. This must be learned for yourself unequivocally. The house will require investment for about five years from the beginning of construction.
If you finally decide to build a new structure on the site, such as a bathhouse, then after reading my articles on the channel "Derevensky Moskvich", you can not only save money, but also build what you dreamed of without losing your nerves later, money, time. Consider the mistakes of others, including ours.
The main thing is that what you do build fully satisfies what you dreamed of, although you don’t know a damn thing about this.
What kind of house to build is a complex topic. Of course, it all depends on financial capabilities. But I, already having experience, can advise something. The main thing in determining the size of the future structure is not the cost of building the object itself, so that you don’t come up with it, but the main costs will be in the subsequent stages, starting from finishing, installation of communications and life support equipment at home.
Engineering communications, such as: life support of the house (heat, sewage, water) - what is for a house 6X6, that for a 10X12 house, the difference in costs is not significant, and can make a difference in costs of about 10-15 %. But interior decoration will gobble up more than all construction, communications and any other unforeseen costs. And add contingency to your calculations. It is not without reason that during the Soviet construction period from 8 to 15% of the construction budget was allocated for unforeseen expenses. This must be taken into account.
Therefore, to look for a project of a bathhouse, a house and determine the size of a structure, one must start precisely with the restriction in the size of the house and fantasies in decoration. Finishing is a purely personal matter, and does not require everything to be done in the first three years of operation of a new house. Therefore, focus on the home project that you can afford today. Be sure, when selecting a project, include some functional areas that are missing in your old house: a guest part in the house, rest rooms, a shower room, a toilet, a boiler room, a kitchen, a smithy, a place for livestock. In short, when choosing a project, include in the dimensions of a new house something without which a full-fledged rest outside the city will no longer be comfortable for you. Keep in mind that the season should not end with summer breaks and vacations.
In our case, when choosing a project, the main functionality of a new house is a steam room, a shower room, a warm toilet, a relaxation space and a guest room.
How we started construction, how we were deceived, and we through the courts sued an amount three times higher than the costs already incurred, I will tell in another article, which I will publish soon.