The choice of the door to the steam room. What is the best door to put in the bath? Structural sizing

From time immemorial, the bath was considered the main attribute of Russian culture. And in the modern world there is no more useful structure that would combine so many useful functions. To take a steam bath and have a good time, there are baths and saunas that must be built according to all safety rules. It is especially important to install high-quality doors both at the entrance and inside the premises. They must comply with all norms and requirements, so that in an emergency they do not become an obstacle for vacationers.

What should be?

As with any other door, there are a number of requirements for the design characteristics of door frames and bath sheets. They must be strong and secure so as not to pose a potential hazard to those in the steam room. For example, they should not have elements that can heat up at high temperatures.

Ordinary doors, which are ideal for installation in city apartments or office premises, are not appropriate here. In this case, special designs are needed, made according to certain technologies and from suitable materials.

Basic requirements for steam room doors:

They should keep the heat inside the room as much as possible and not let it into other rooms. Therefore, the canvas should not have any cracks and crevices and it should be closely mounted in the doorway.
The design must be airtight, and the leaf itself must be firmly inserted into the door frame.
The product must be made of a material that is not subject to deformation from constant high humidity and temperature changes.
The door frame in the Russian bath, in contrast to the standard sizes, should be somewhat lower. Usually it has a height of no more than 1.5-1.8 m, and its width is 0.60 m. Such dimensions ensure free movement between rooms and maintain high temperature in the steam room.
Interior products in confined spaces should be installed at a height of about 10 cm from the floor to allow ventilation between rooms. If a ventilation system is provided in the bath, then there is no need to leave a gap.
The street door should be especially strong. Its optimal height should be 180 cm in order to fit into international standards.

External door structures must comply with all safety rules, and therefore they must open outward without fail. This will help prevent a possible negative outcome of events, because in case of an emergency it is much easier to go outside through a door that opens from itself.

The materials from which the web and loops will be created should not repent and burn a person upon contact. And to provide additional security, it is necessary to make a window in the door that leads to the steam room.

Making bath sheets in compliance with all requirements will help to secure the structure and the people inside. The same rules apply to windows.

materials

The door to the bath or sauna must be strong and durable enough so that even after a few years it retains its original appearance. It must be resistant to moisture, temperature extremes and pressure. Among other things, it is important that it personifies reliability and safety. Therefore, for such complex requirements, only certain types of materials that can withstand the effects of bath conditions are suitable.

The real Russian bath is always built of wood. All elements in it are wooden, and therefore the door leaf is made of natural wood. It should be moisture-resistant and heat-resistant, have an attractive design and have a beneficial effect on people's health.

Wooden structures are an environmentally friendly product and therefore absolutely safe to use. They have low thermal conductivity, which helps to keep steam out of the steam room. A warm bath should hold a high temperature for a long time so that all visitors have time to take a good steam bath.

Traditional wooden products look beautiful and give off a pleasant aroma of wood, which allows you to relax and get a pleasant feeling.

But besides the numerous advantages, wood still has some disadvantages. For example, its constant presence in a humid environment can deform and shrink the structure, which will force the owners to change the damaged door. And the tree is often a breeding ground for insects and the formation of fungus. Therefore, it is very important to treat the door with a special compound before installation.

Most often, in the manufacture of wooden canvases for bath structures, they use linden. It has high performance characteristics, which are necessary for rooms with high humidity and frequent temperature changes. From linden and larch, the best products are obtained, which, moreover, have a low price.

Another suitable breed - aspen. The aspen box meets all requirements, does not dry out and does not crack over time. Alder has the same qualities.

To improve the human body, it is best to use cedar products. And if you want to slightly facilitate the visual perception of space, then it is better to use abash.

Of course, natural oak. It has a unique structure, and therefore costs many times more than other types of wood. Oak door frames look massive and solid.

Glass doors are made tempered glass which has high strength. It repels moisture well, endures high temperatures, does not deform or crack. Glass products are characterized by increased safety and at the same time have a low cost, which allows them to be installed in modern saunas. Glass is a material that does not need constant maintenance. It is enough to occasionally wipe them down with glass cleaner.

Combined designs combine glass and wood. This combination allows you to get a beautiful and comfortable product that meets all the necessary requirements. Such a canvas consists of a wooden frame and a glass insert, which can have absolutely any size.

metal doors are best installed at the entrance to the building. The metal has high strength and stability, and therefore is able to protect any room from drafts and other weather phenomena. By finishing the metal with a clapboard or an array and adding heat-insulating material, you can get a beautiful and functional product.

canvases from lining they are good because they are able to keep heat inside the room and at the same time not let external noise and sounds inside. If they are pre-treated with a special tool, they will be able to withstand moisture. The main advantage of lining is its affordable price, and the ability to paint it in any shade makes products from lining the most popular.

Steel structures have a high positive quality. They are stronger than iron products and are more resistant to external influences. A steel door should only be installed at the entrance to the bath, because it can get very hot and can burn people who are in the steam room.

In no case should plastic be used as the main material for this canvas. When heated, it is not only able to melt, but also release toxins that are harmful to the body.

As an alternative, it is possible to use foamed PVC. Such products are resistant to moisture and to the formation of mold and fungus. Many people use floorboard designs, which allows you to unify the interior of the room.

Given the numerous reviews, it is safe to say that an aspen, linden or oak door is better suited for bath facilities.

Constructions

Relatively recently, for the manufacture of bath doors, only wood was used, which has quality characteristics. Currently, other materials are used that allow you to create the perfect box.

According to the device, a paneled and panel door is distinguished. Paneled has a complex device and consists of four elements. But the switchboard is filled with wooden slats, veneer or MDF.

Wooden structures for a bath can be of two types: deaf and combined. The blind door consists entirely of wood, and the combined one is a door leaf with a glass window. Also, products can be input and interior. To enter, you need to select a massive and strong door with a metal box, but the inner canvases should be light.

For the bath space, you need to choose the right canvas that will be easy to open and close. It can be sliding or hinged doors. They are suitable for this facility according to all safety requirements. The main thing is that the hinged box with the seal must open outwards.

In door stores you can find the perfect model that will meet all the needs of the buyer. This applies to standard sizes, but non-standard products must be made to order.

Wedge blades are considered the best option, which can easily withstand changes in temperature and humidity. The wedges located on them allow the wood to retain its original appearance and prevent its deformation. With proper care, wedge products can last up to thirty years.

When choosing or making a door structure for entering the bath, you need to think about its insulation. This is important because most of Russia is in harsh climatic conditions.

It is very important to choose the right sheds, because inside the steam room there should not be elements that can cause harm. Therefore, it is best to pick up a box with hidden hinges inside the structure, and at the entrance you can purchase a door with absolutely any canopies.

The door structure in the bath building should be focused on complete sealing. Therefore, it should, at a minimum, release heat from the steam room when opened and protect the dressing room from cold air. To meet these requirements, the perimeter of the box must be upholstered with heat-insulating upholstery.

Features by room type

As a rule, a bathhouse consists of several rooms: a washing room, a steam room and a dressing room. Sometimes it can accommodate a pool. All these areas require doors that perform certain functions and comply with regulations.

So, the front door for a log bath should be reliable and strong enough so that neither burglars nor drafts can penetrate inside the room. Therefore, any box consisting of durable materials can be installed at the entrance of the building. The only thing is that metal doors will be warm from the inside, but cold from the outside. This nuance often causes inconvenience to people who like to run out into the street after a steam room.

A canvas made of natural solid wood has the best thermal insulation characteristics and is able to fit perfectly into the interior of a bath building. Many craftsmen may well build it with their own hands. The main thing is to treat the wood with an antiseptic and a paint and varnish agent at the end of the work.

To prevent possible deformation of wood, it is necessary to purchase a product framed by metal. Such a frame will securely fix the wooden canvas and help avoid problems with opening and closing the door. After all, often the wooden structure swells and makes it difficult for people to freely pass to the street.

A standard box can be installed in the washing room or dressing room. In these areas, heat retention is not so important, so narrow and low models are not needed. When installing wooden products, it is necessary to provide a gap of 2-5 mm between the canvas and the frame. This is important so that when the wood swells, it is possible to open and close the door without much effort.

For washing and dressing room it is good to install glass models. Heat-resistant glass does not deform, deteriorate or crack. Thick glass is able to withstand even very high temperatures and keep the heat inside the room.

Often, plastic models that imitate natural wood are selected for these functional areas. In this case, plastic copes well with its main tasks: protecting the space from the ingress of cold air and retaining heat inside.

Choosing a door to a steam bath or hammam is much more difficult than choosing a sink. This is due to the unstable temperature and humidity inside the steam room. For it, it is necessary to select a low and narrow door so that when the structure is opened, a minimum of heat leaves the room. In addition, it is necessary to set a high threshold, which will prevent drafts and cold air flows from entering the steam room. Its optimal height should be 15-20 cm.

When choosing the material for the manufacture of a product that will close the steam room, it is better to give preference to natural wood. If it does not reach a temperature above 85C, then conifers can be used. For other cases, only hardwoods are suitable.

It is also very important to install a good door on the pediment of the building. It is not subject to increased requirements, but it must have high strength. Its standard dimensions are 50 × 50 cm, which is quite enough to be placed under the roof.

Decor

Decorating bath doors is an important point in the design of the building. After all, not all decor methods are suitable for rooms with high humidity. For example, wallpaper or vinyl stickers will not be appropriate here, because after a short period of time they will simply peel off.

Iron and glass structures do not need additional decoration, because they themselves look very aesthetically pleasing. Yes, and it is difficult to decorate metal or glass without special equipment.

At home, it is possible to make a carved canvas. Two methods can be used for this: invoice and on the very surface of the tree.

With the overhead method, carved elements are used that are attached to the canvas with glue. This method is good in that it is not necessary to remove the product from the loops for it, and the patterns themselves can be bought ready-made.

Carving on the door leaf is a complex and painstaking work. You can use blind and slotted threads. Carved doors, as a rule, are installed at the entrance of the building to add a luxurious and solid look to it.

They will look very organically in the bath construction of semi-antique structures. Such a design will create a rustic atmosphere of past centuries, which will allow city visitors to feel like real villagers. You can age the tree yourself. This may require a stain or brushing technology.

Often, the owners of a bath building think about whether it is necessary to paint wooden door panels, because there is constant high humidity inside the building, which can damage the paint. Designers are advised to paint wood with a paint and varnish agent that can withstand any external influences.

In any case, wooden products need constant care. From time to time it is necessary to update the layer of varnish, and after a few years it will be necessary to completely restore the canvas. To do this, you will have to completely peel off all layers of paint or varnish and cover with a new product.

Examples

There are a huge number of different options for designing doorways in baths and saunas. Some people do not strive for originality and install standard boxes that do not stand out from the general background. But there are those who strive to make any room unique, and therefore come up with a variety of methods for decorating door structures.

Canvases with images of soaring people and even animals look original. The share of irony will be added by a chubby little man pouring himself from a jug. And a slender girl in a towel will add a sense of beauty to the space.

It is not necessary to install a rectangular door in the steam room. The glass model of an oval or zigzag shape looks very original. Of course, this option requires careful redevelopment, but it looks very impressive.

Often, the wooden canvas inside the structure is decorated with carvings. These can be unusual patterns or specific images. For example, the image of a steering wheel or a sea wave is very popular. The marine theme is more relevant than anywhere else for baths and saunas.

If glass is chosen as the main material for a door product, then you can choose a model with an unusual pattern. Stained glass and a mosaic of multi-colored pieces look very beautiful. The main thing is that the glass is strong enough and suitable for installation in rooms with a constant change in temperature and pressure.

Smooth canvases with inscriptions characterizing the purpose of the room look quite interesting. These can be simple words, or they can be phraseological phrases that suggest the purpose of specific zones.

Whatever doors to the bath are chosen, it is important that they consist of moisture-resistant and airtight materials that can withstand constant pressure. It is desirable that they have a minimum of steel elements that are prone to incandescence.

How to choose a door to the bath, see the next video.

It would seem: the entrance to the bath is not a steam room, the temperature and humidity should be normal, but no, humidity will be higher. And this factor in a certain way will affect which entrance door to put in the bathhouse, and which one to choose in the rest room. Regarding the entrance doors to the bath: there are not so many options. And each, of course, will have its pros and cons.

Entrance doors to the bath: what are they? What entrance door to put in the bath?

Well, here are the options themselves:

plastic entrance doors to the bath, with a reinforced profile;
entrance door to the bathhouse made of wood;
metal.

Of course, in a country house they usually put metal at the entrance. About how much cost-effective in the bath- read on.

Plastic entrance doors to the bath

The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to plastic is that it is easy to crack. Yes, this is a fair concern when it comes to, say, interior models from it. But the street ones are being made with reinforced profile, so there will be nothing easy in such a hack.

A little more: inside the case of such a model is inserted steel closed loop, the thickness of which is 2 mm. In addition to protection, it gives greater rigidity and prevents the structure from sagging during thermal expansion.

Advantages and disadvantages of entrance doors to the bath from the street, made of plastic

This is how a plastic outdoor door for a bath (with a mirrored double-glazed window) might look like

We list the main advantages of this type:

Temperature resistance- this plastic is designed for the fact that it will be cold outside and warm inside. they endure.
moisture resistance- plastic is not afraid of water, does not rot, does not rust.
tightness- an excellent property when it is necessary to protect the bath from "unauthorized" drafts that blow out heat.
Thermal protection- due to the air chambers inside, the heat transfer of plastic is very low.
Color variety - there are good ones in appearance tree imitation.

Flaws:

Relatively high price. it will cost much cheaper, and there are different metal ones, there are those that are many times cheaper.
PVC Linear Expansion- this is when plastic warps under the influence of high temperature. In the cold, compression occurs, which increases brittleness. There is also a seasonal change in linear dimensions during expansion or contraction. All this is “treated” by reinforcing the structure, in particular, by a closed profile.

CONCLUSION: high-quality plastic will be expensive, it makes no sense to install low-quality ones.

Useful video:

Despite the fact that the video is about a plastic door to the house, and even with glass, it’s also a double-leaf, the advice that is given by choice is sensible, you should listen to them.

Entrance door to the wooden bath

Wooden entrances and baths are much more common than from others. Here both tradition and value play a role. This variety is the cheapest.

Design could be the following:

panel board with solid array filling;
combined(with metal reinforcement).

We do not consider as options hollow frame- they are suitable only as interior. And variations of shield panels with solid filling are also thick grooved board(40-50 mm), and furniture board.

Experts recommend for those doors that are exposed to precipitation, do not use veneers(not dowels!) on the surface. Waterproof (not to be confused with moisture resistant) plywood veneer is better as a coating.

ADVICE! Protect the entrance visor, if there is no terrace. And from slanting rains, it is recommended to make an entrance to the bathhouse on south side.

Pros and cons of the front door for a street bath made of wood

pros obvious:

Low thermal conductivity wood that keeps the heat inside.
Ecologically pure material without emission of harmful substances.
Cheap compared to plastic and metal.

Minuses also visible:

Tree fuel.
exposed rotting, may be affected fungi, insects and rodents.
Changes overall dimensions under the influence of moisture (swells, does not climb into the opening).
deformed(warps).
Is drying up creating gaps and cracks.

Well, the entrance doors for the bathhouse from the street can be protected impregnations- from moisture, fungi, fire. And the tree is drying up improper drying, therefore, in the bath, you need a good and proper drying after the procedures (it dries wonderfully, but quickly cools). Dimensions from water does not change (almost does not change) Linden, but it is very soft, hardly suitable at the entrance - this is low wear resistance as well.

Entrance doors for a bath, metal

Since the door at the entrance has the main function preventing the penetration of strangers, then metal is best suited for this. On the other hand, why steal in the bath? Unless you fear that they will burn it inadvertently. So, it's a matter of priorities. Because metal has its drawbacks.

Video

What are the good and the bad metal doors at the entrance to the bath

About virtues we have already decided.

A real wooden bath is rightly considered not only a place for taking hygiene procedures - washing, but also an excellent tool for relieving psychological stress, recuperating after hard working days. However, in order to achieve this effect, it is necessary to create optimal conditions for maintaining a certain atmosphere in the premises - the desired temperature and humidity conditions.

Doors and windows are those elements of the structure through which cold air can penetrate into the premises, therefore, when choosing and installing them, you need to act very carefully and carefully. Making a door to the bathhouse with your own hands, step by step moving from one stage to another, is within the power of anyone who knows how to work with carpentry tools and has the opportunity to purchase suitable material.

It should be noted right away that to create the appropriate conditions in the bath, you will need not one door, but at least two. One of them is installed at the entrance to the building itself, and the second will separate the steam room from the dressing room. But if there are several rooms in the bath, in addition to the main ones, for example, a rest room, a shower room, a washing room, a bathroom, etc., then more doors will be required, since each room corresponds to a certain mode.

For installation in the bath, several types of doors are used. They are mainly divided according to the material of manufacture - these are glass, combined, consisting of wood and glass, euro-options, which have increased tightness, and traditional wooden ones, which can be called the most popular.

For the front door of the bath, if it is not the only one, almost any of the listed types will do. But each of them must be well insulated and ensure the maximum possible closing density of the opening.

glass doors

Glass doors, as a rule, are an attribute of saunas, separating a dry steam room from a dressing room or washing room. They are produced in various colors, the surfaces of some models are decorated with drawings. Glass can be transparent, translucent or frosted, installed in a frame or attached to a door frame using special fittings.

Do-it-yourself glass doors are quite difficult to make - you can only install them yourself. When choosing such a door for a sauna, you need to carefully consider the accessories that come with the product. Important criteria when choosing are the practicality, reliability and safety of these elements, and only then - their beauty.

Handles installed in the glass sheet should not burn hands, and canopies should securely hold it in the box.

Silicone seals are always attached to the glass doors for the sauna, which provide the necessary tightness when it is closed.

As latchproviding a good fixation of the door in the box when closing, a magnet is used that is installed in the handle and the door jamb. Such a lock is always functional and never jams.

Sometimes, instead of magnets, ball latches are installed on the doors. They are less reliable, as they begin to jam over time, so glass bath door magnets are the best option.

It is recommended to choose models with three hinged hinges, as they will not only more securely hold the canvas made of high-strength tempered glass with a thickness of 8 ÷ 10 mm, but also provide comfortable opening and fixation when closed.

The door frame for installing the glass sheet is usually made of an aluminum profile, into which it is convenient to install seals, and where the door itself fits perfectly. Thanks to these materials, a completely waterproof kit is obtained. Its only weak point will be seals, which wear out over time under the influence of high temperatures and high humidity, but these elements are easy to periodically replace with new ones.

Installation of glass doors

To install any door with high quality, it is necessary to calculate everything very accurately, and the glass version requires a special approach.

Glass doors are mounted in a box that does not have a threshold, and thus, a gap of 5 ÷ 7 mm is left between the floor and the leaf for free movement.
When installing the kit, it is very important to correctly install the door frame, since the glass door leaf cannot be adjusted to it. Therefore, the vertical and horizontal parts of the box must be located strictly at right angles to each other, otherwise the door may not enter the decorated opening or it will not fit snugly against the jamb.
The box is set to the building level and fastened to the wall with self-tapping screws. The box should be slightly smaller than the doorway, so that during installation it would be possible to align it and fix it in the desired position, spreading it with wooden wedges, through which the self-tapping screws will be screwed into the wall.
The gaps formed between the box and the wall are filled with mounting foam, and the excess that protrudes beyond its limits is cut off after solidification.
Further, a silicone sealant is placed in special grooves in the box.
If the box is installed securely and correctly, it will be easy to hang a glass door into it. Holes for mounting canopies are provided in the finished canvas - they will only need to be carefully fixed, not forgetting to install special silicone gaskets between metal and glass.
After that, the door is exposed and screwed to the jamb.
The next step is fixed handles with latches. This moment should not make it difficult - for them, as well as for awnings, special holes are provided.

As the last step, the foamed gaps between the wall and the box are closed with decorative platbands.

Today, glass doors are increasingly preferred to wooden or combined. They are used for different types of baths, but the only thing you need to be prepared for is a fairly high price for glass door panels.

Doors with double-glazed windows

For the entrance door to the bath, a metal-plastic door with insulation is also well suited. It is hermetically sealed and will not allow cold air to enter the premises; the sauna premises from the entrance side are not cooled.

Such a door is also suitable for a shower room, as well as for a rest room, but for a steam room, you can safely choose a wooden canvas with an installed double-glazed window.

Since the bath rooms have high humidity, a door made of oak, cedar or larch is chosen for them. This wood has a dense structure, so it almost does not absorb moisture, and with the right finish it becomes moisture resistant.

The modern wooden door, equipped with a double-glazed window, consists of a wooden frame, which is reinforced with aluminum inserts. One or more double-glazed windows can be installed in the canvas, which create additional lighting for the room.

Such a door does not need special care or periodic repairs, since wood processed using a special technology not only does not react to moisture and does not swell, but also does not dry out. Due to this, cracks do not form on it, and it does not require their sealing and periodic painting. The surface of the canvas needs only to be wiped with a soft cloth, and double-glazed windows - cleaning on both sides with window cleaner.

Such doors will last much longer than ordinary wooden ones, without bringing any worries.

Door installation

Installing a door frame with a double-glazed window is in many ways similar to installing a jamb for a glass door. It must also be level and level with wooden braces. But the box is often attached to the wall with special metal plates or through the “ears” fixed on the jambs of the box.

The cracks formed around the box during its installation are also sealed with mounting foam, and then closed with platbands, which should come with the door frame and leaf.

The door itself is mounted on the installed box - it is put on the scales. The convenience of this option lies in the fact that all the connecting elements are already fitted and fixed on the door and the frame, it remains only to combine them into a single structure.

Wooden door

Despite the appearance of modern designs, wooden doors for baths do not go out of fashion, as they are traditional for these buildings. They are made from larch and cedar, pine and oak, that is, from wood that resists high humidity well. Doors for a bath are made paneled, massive or frame multi-layered.

Massive doors are made of thick, moderately dried tongue-and-groove boards. For doors installed at the entrance to the steam room, the obligatory elements are transverse bars - the so-called dowels. They are necessary for reliable fastening of the boards of the shield, preventing its deformation. These crossbars are mounted in two places of the assembled canvas. Sometimes, if necessary, they are supplemented with a diagonal brace.

A paneled door is more difficult to manufacture, as it consists of several curly parts that must be assembled into a single canvas and fit perfectly to each other.

The paneled door is perfect for installation at the entrance to the bath, but it will not be very correct to install it in the steam room. Very significant temperature differences can adversely affect the interface of individual parts of this design.

Prices for grooved boards

grooved boards

Video: in detail - about the manufacture of a paneled wooden door

And this diagram clearly shows how a multilayer frame door to a steam room can be arranged. In this case, the door consists of:

Interior door trim.
Vapor barrier material.
Insulation - it can be polystyrene foam or mineral wool.
Door frame made of 50 mm thick timber.

It should be noted that the door, consisting of several layers, is more suitable for saunas, as they use dry steam for procedures. In the steam room of the Russian bath, it is recommended to install a massive one, assembled from thick boards.

Production of a massive door

It will be difficult to make a paneled door without work experience, but you can try a massive one, taking into account some recommendations and following the sequence of work.

Bath door size

During the construction of the bath, all actions should be aimed at maintaining the desired temperature in the premises. Important stages are high-quality insulation, vapor barrier, interior and exterior finishes. Of particular importance are the height of the ceiling and the dimensions of the doors and windows. In the bath door and window openings, usually, are made smaller than in residential buildings. So, the entrance to the steam room is usually limited to a height of 1600 ÷ 1700 mm. This is done so that the steam lingers longer inside the room and does not go outside when the door is opened. In the old Russian baths, the doors were even lower, the doorways were only 1450 ÷ 1500 mm high.

The width of the entrance to the steam room is 600 ÷ 750 mm, while the doorway in a residential building is mainly 800 mm.

The opening for entering the steam room of a Russian bath must necessarily have a high threshold, at least 150–200 mm. The size of the door will be counted from the threshold. If a passage to the sauna is performed, then it is not necessary to make a threshold, and a ventilation gap of 5 ÷ 10 mm is left between the door leaf and the floor.

Door materials

Depending on the choice of door design, different building materials may be required.

To make a solid wood door, you will need:

Beam for crossbar - dowel, section 50 × 45 mm.
Grooved floorboard with tongue and groove lock, 50 mm thick, its width must be a multiple of the width of the door.
Stainless metal hinges 3 pcs.
Wooden double-sided door handle.
Beam for the box, section 60 × 80 mm.

To make a prefabricated door, you need to prepare:

Beam for strapping and boxes, section 60 × 80 mm.
Grooved floorboard, section 36×120 mm.
Wooden lining, 12 × 96 mm in size.
Hanging hinges 3 pcs.
Door handle 2 pcs.
Pins for fastening furniture parts.

Choice of wood

Separately, it must be said about the choice of wood for the manufacture of doors, since the quality and durability depend on it. The type of wood was mentioned above, so only a few words about the quality of the material.

The optimal moisture content of wood for comfortable processing and its good "behavior" after the assembly of the structure is 12–15%. It is best to purchase lumber dried in a special chamber - such parts are definitely not deformed, and they will not lead.

Boards and beams need to be checked for evenness by laying them on a flat surface and trying to connect them together. They must not be wave-shaped or cranked in the form of a propeller.

Boards are selected with the desired thickness, which can vary from 25 to 50 mm. Before applying the material, it must be brought to a smooth state with a grinder or manually with fine-grained sandpaper. For convenience, sandpaper can be fixed on a piece of wooden block.

Woodworking Tools

To work with wood, you need to have the following tools at hand:

Electric jigsaw or saws with different tooth sizes.
The hammer is normal and rubber.
Screwdriver.
Plane.
Sander and sandpaper of different grits.
Clamps for compressing the glued shield.
Chisel.
Manual or stationary milling machine - this will greatly simplify a number of operations.
Building level.
Tape measure or folding rule.

Making a solid wood door

Getting started, you need to remember that the steam room door should only open outward - this is necessary to ensure safety. Hinged hinges and crossbars are located outside, in order to avoid exposure to high humidity and temperature.

Installing doors in a log cabin has a very important feature. When sawing the opening, the relationship between the logs of the log house is weakened, and this must be compensated in some way. The second feature is that a wooden frame gives a very significant shrinkage, and this process is very long and difficult to predict. Therefore, I always make the opening for the door much larger than the box itself and the canvas. It is considered optimal to leave at least 100 mm of margin.

To prevent the log house from rolling in the doorway, logs or beams must be tied with one common vertical piece. Here you can do it in two ways:

Select the material along the ends of the logs in the opening so that a spike (pos. 1) is obtained, on which the details of the door frame will be put on - a corresponding groove is prepared for this.

Cut a groove in the doorway (pos. 2), into which a beam (pos. 3) is inserted, which becomes a spike for installing a door frame on it. This method is considered more preferable and easier to implement.

In any case, the door frame is given a certain degree of freedom - it is not tightly attached to the logs of the log house, which will not allow the door structure to warp during shrinkage or wedge.

Video: how to install a door in a log cabin

Illustration	Brief description of the operation to be performed
	If the door will be mounted in a log bath, then before installing the door frame, a vertical groove is cut in the end part of the logs for laying a 50 × 60 mm beam into it, which is deepened into the logs by 30 mm. The beam should enter freely enough, so that it can move up and down, but not hang out in the groove. The beam is not fixed either on glue or on fasteners
	The protruding part of the beam will serve as a spike for installing jamb elements on it, in which U-shaped grooves are selected with a milling cutter.
	Grooves are also cut out in the threshold, into which the jamb beam is installed. Such a reliable fastening of the box to the ends of the walls will allow you to hang even the heaviest door on it.
	The door frame itself is made of timber with a section of 60 × 80 mm. A groove is cut along its wide side, which joins with a spike mounted in the end of the wall. Having prepared the elements of the box, it is fixed in the opening and the threshold set in advance. The gap between the upper jumper of the jamb and the opening is 100 mm.
	Since the door from the steam room should open outward, a strip 10 ÷ 12 mm thick is glued and screwed along the inner edge of the box. Its width is determined depending on the thickness of the door. Another, more complex option is milling a ledge along the entire length of the door frame parts.
	After that, the exact dimensions are taken from the outside of the box, according to which the door leaf will be made. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the gaps between the leaf and the door frame - they should be about 4 mm, since operation is expected in conditions of high humidity.
	Next, you can proceed to the manufacture of the door. The board prepared for the canvas is marked and sawn to the desired size.
	When assembling a shield from boards, you need to make sure that the structural pattern of annual rings is located in the same way.
	The boards are laid out on a flat workbench and assembled in one plane with wood glue. If necessary, they are knocked out with a rubber mallet - they must be tightly fitted to each other. After assembling the boards into a shield, on one side of the finished canvas, the remaining spike is carefully cut off, and the edge is processed. Then, in two or three places, the assembled shield is pressed with clamps and left to dry completely.
	Further, the entire surface must, if necessary, be leveled with an electric planer. Often, the shield is additionally trimmed with a milling cutter, achieving a perfectly flat surface of its edges.
	The finished shield must be fastened from the outside with crossbars - dowels that are made of timber. The length of the keys should be equal to the width of the finished shield. The diagram shows the shape and dimensions of such dowel bars. Usually they are made in the form of a straight prism with an isosceles trapezium in cross section.
	Having made the key, it is laid with a wide side on the surface of the shield and lines are drawn that are transferred to the amount of penetration of the part into the shield.
	Notches are made in the shield, first on one side, and then on the other, observing the angle of inclination of the side faces of the key. The depth of the shaped groove should be approximately 10 ÷ 15 mm. Next, carefully using a chisel, wood is removed from the groove. If you have a tool and work skills, it is more convenient to use a milling cutter instead of a chisel.
	Joiner's glue is applied to the finished groove, and then the key itself is hammered from the side. In order for it to go there easier, the bottom plane of the groove must be made as even as possible. Installing the key in the groove, it can be knocked out with a rubber mallet.
	This is how the door shield with installed jumpers - dowels will look like.
	Hanging loops are screwed onto the finished shield with installed crossbars. After that, a place for fixing the reciprocal parts of the hinges is marked on the door frame. To do this, you need to take the exact size between the hinges on the door and transfer them to the jamb of the box. Having determined the exact location, the hinges are fixed on the jamb, and then the finished door is hung on them.
	Finally, wooden handles are installed on the door on both sides.

Frame door manufacturing

This type of door differs from the one made of massive boards in that the cladding elements are mounted on a frame made of timber.

If you plan to make a door with a thickness of 50 mm, which will be sheathed with a wooden clapboard of 10 mm on both sides, then for the frame, respectively, you need to take a bar with a thickness of 30 mm. For ease of fastening, the width of the beam can vary from 60 to 80 mm, this is especially important for the extreme vertical bars.

The first step is preparing a timber for the manufacture of the frame. The simplest fastening of frame elements is a half-tree connection.

Half tree connection

To do this, grooves are cut out at the edges of the timber, with a length equal to the width of the timber, and a depth of half the thickness, in this case, 15 mm.

The connection of the timber is carried out with the help of glue and wooden dowels. To begin with, the frame parts are glued together, clamped with clamps. After the glue dries, through holes with a diameter of 10 mm are drilled into them, into which dowels are carefully driven onto the glue.

This figure shows in detail how the frame elements are connected in a “half-tree” way, and where the dowels are driven in.

Frames can have different designs, but the simplest one consists of a frame assembled from a bar with one or two transverse bandages.

This figure shows the types of trim for panel doors, but they can also be used as structures for the base of a frame door.

The frame must have a certain rigidity, and all its corners, both external and internal, must be aligned with a square. In addition, it is necessary to check the size of the diagonals - it must be the same.

If you plan to make a door with glass in a certain place, then this must be provided for in the frame. To install the glass, additional bars are installed inside the main frame, in the form of a frame. This makes the job a little more difficult.

For the door leading to the rest room, moisture resistant MDF sheets can be used for cladding instead of lining. The lining of such a door is mounted in the following sequence, starting from the bottom layer:

- The vapor barrier material is fixed to the frame first, since it is indispensable to protect the insulation in wet conditions.

- Then, an MDF sheet, sawn to its dimensions, is fixed to the frame beam.

- Next, insulation is laid between the frame bars. Here you can use expanded polystyrene, in this case, 30 mm thick, or mineral wool. In any case, the material should be placed as tightly as possible between the frame timber.

- Another one is fixed on top of the insulation vapor barrier layer.

Prices for MDF

Then the whole "pie" is closed with the top sheet M DF. But still, wooden lining is most often used for the bath door.

After lining the door with clapboard, handles are fixed to the door. These elements are usually made of wood or purchased ready-made.

After the door is ready, it is hung on the door frame, which is made and installed in the same way as described in the first option, if it is mounted in a log wall.

If the wall is built from a different material, then the box is made from a timber prepared in size. The box should be 30 ÷ 35 mm smaller than the doorway - this will make it possible to expose the box in person and fix it with wedges.

The exposed box is fixed to the walls through the wedges of the spacers, and the gaps between the wall and the box are filled with mounting foam.
Then hinges are mounted on the door system, and the door is hung in its place.
The last step is the installation of platbands, which will close the gaps and give the structure completeness.

Prices for lining

In conclusion, it should be noted that it is very difficult to make any door on your own, without experience in carpentry and knowledge of all the intricacies of calculations and manufacturing. In addition, in order for the door to look “professional”, special hand tools and carpentry electrical appliances will be required to work on it, which are quite expensive in themselves. It is unprofitable to purchase them only for the sake of making one door - it will be cheaper to order a finished design from an experienced craftsman.

Think about the doors in advance!

What kind of doors will be in the bath under construction - you need to decide at the stage of primary design. How the project is being drafted in general terms - is considered by example, in a special article on our portal.

In standard baths there are 2 doors: the entrance door and the door to the steam room.

If you decide to build or an older type, you should know that they also differ from the number of doors in the bath. For example, in a “white” bath, it is best to use a single-leaf door, and in a “black” bath, a double-leaf door is best. No less important is the height of the thresholds. It should be about 15 cm, sometimes even 20 cm. This is important when. Otherwise, you can just make more windows.

Naturally, it is better to make from wood. The usual size of the door in the bath is 80 centimeters wide and 150 centimeters high. The door frame is made in such a way that the door can open outward, and not inward.

For even better thermal insulation, the door is insulated with special modern thermal insulation materials. It is also recommended to insulate the ceiling of the bath - this will reduce heat loss. Doors need to be wide enough so that a lot of heat does not escape through them. Another useful property of the door is that it does not have to be bulky and massive, since the purpose of the door is good thermal insulation. Strength is also not very important, since in an accident it will not be so easily broken.

If glass doors are used, they must be made of heat-resistant glass (8 mm). For glass doors you need a high-quality box. For its manufacture, a technology is used that allows you to splice a tree using a special safe and heat-resistant glue "D4". Thanks to this glue, the service life of the glass door is significantly increased. Veneered or solid wood is not suitable for such a door, because the frame can be deformed due to high temperature.

The structure of windows and doors must meet the following requirements: 1. Do not heat up; 2. not be deformed due to temperature differences and high humidity.

To ensure that the doors fit as tightly as possible to the opening and retain heat, install combined doors (wooden with glass).

What is the bathroom door made of?

For the right choice, be guided by your needs, and the general requirements that are provided for. The best choice would be a wooden blind door made of linden, pine or cedar. Its wood perfectly retains heat, has a long service life, and does not respond to temperature changes.

What should be the door leading to the bath? Wooden deaf doors are made only from high-quality wood. It should be on the south side (so it will not be flooded with slanting rain), and should be on dowels. The door on keys differs in the special durability and small thermal conductivity. To give such doors shine and special beauty, you can paint them with varnish or drying oil, which now exists in different colors. A wooden door can be easily made by yourself.

Experts recommend choosing glass doors, as they retain much more heat in the steam room than any other doors. The design of such a door is very diverse. You can choose a door with a mirror or with a pattern. There are also silhouette doors in which you can see only the outline of the figure. Such a door makes it possible to look after children, but it will not work to peep through such a door.

Doors are usually made with vapor barrier, frame (70˟140 cm) and insulated with foam, felt, tow or mineral wool. The frame on both sides must be sheathed with planed fitted boards. The gaps between the jambs and doors are lined with a special rubber tube, which is nailed to the jambs with small nails around the entire perimeter. If the gap is still large, the tube is nailed to both the door and the jamb.

For such a door you need:

Planed boards 4-5 cm thick.
On the edge of the boards, make a selection of a quarter or a groove.
The boards must be laid strictly in one row, tightly compressed and leveled.
Mark grooves. The grooves must be made in the form of truncated cones. Acceptable depth is ½ or ¼ of the board. The base of the grooves needs 50 mm, and their upper parts - no more than 35 mm.
The grooves should be selected in this way: according to the marks made with a saw - an award at an angle of 45˚, make 2 cuts with a depth of 0.25-0.50 of the thickness of the boards.
To maintain the same angle of cut, fasten blocks cut at 45˚ near the grooves.
Remove the tree between the cuts with a chisel. When sampling grooves, you need to make a very flat bottom.
Keys can be used at once of several types: ordinary, trapezoidal or influx. For the manufacture of dowels, bars are often used, which will be equal to the thickness of the board used to produce the canvas, and 10-15 cm longer in length. It is better to use thick dowels, they will warp less during operation.
Type the dowels on the boards, but not completely in order to outline and check the protrusions.
Eliminate all imperfections and remove the dowels.
Now you can finally cut all the ends into a cone.
The next step is to cut the doors along the square.
Turn the door over and very carefully plan the surface.
Use waterproof glue, or nail the veneers to the board. This will increase the life of the door and ensure high reliability of fasteners.

Block doors

You can also make a block door. It can be solid or lattice, it all depends on the purpose. For their manufacture, bars are needed, which are fastened together with a planed side with special glue. Then you need to align the front sides. For finishing use plywood or fiberboard.

A cobbled door will become more reliable if pins are used along with glue to fasten the beams. But you need to take into account that the holes for the dowel must be drilled (strictly 10-15 mm). The dowels are made from solid wood. Length - shorter than the hole by 5 mm. For a stronger hold, use wood glue specifically designed for this purpose.

Paneled doors

You can make a paneled door with your own hands. For it, use a simple bar, on which you need to select a chamfer and a mold. The selection of the moulding can be carried out both on a separate bar and on the strapping. The depth of the grooves during the selection of the mold is 1.5-2 mm, then a panel is inserted into it. To make the door reliable and strong, use a panel up to 5 cm thick, and for the inner door - 8-22 cm.

For the manufacture of doors, plywood, board, chipboard or wood-fiber sheet are sometimes used.

Bath doors

For external doors, a 44-50 mm thickness floating panel can be used. Or thick or thin boards.

Between the layers it is recommended to lay insulating material (as well as on the floor). In order to fix the panel in the harness, you need to select grooves and ridges along the edge. The surfacing is carried out according to the wishes of the owner: from one, or from two sides. The panel can be inserted into the frame, and then this frame is mounted in the harness. So the door is given more originality and unusualness.

A panel with a figure (figuratively planed ends) is made from shields that are obtained by gluing boards with a width of 40-50 cm to each other. After that, the shape of the panel for bath doors is marked, and such a shield is carefully planed. These marks are used for trimming. Before inserting into the harness, you need to bevel the edges of the panel.

The panels are produced at less than 2 mm distance between the grooves due to the fact that the wood will inevitably dry out over time. For door upholstery from panels, it is necessary to take a bar 54x110 mm. The bars are marked and carefully planed. If you plan to glaze the doors, then you need to take into account the placement of the rebate. And after that, you can already start cutting out the lugs and spikes, and selecting the groove and fold.

Bath accessories

Locks and door handles are best made of wood (at least indoors) to reduce the risk of burns. Sometimes handles are made of plastic, then it becomes dangerous because it can melt. For their manufacture, small bars left after the manufacture of doors are ideal. Having shown imagination, the pen can be given a different interesting shape and design by cutting or burning something out of it. Instead of wood, you can use bones or deer antlers, for example. At the bottom, you can install a metal hook, and on top of the lock - the valve must be made of wood. It is strictly forbidden to put an English self-locking lock in the bath. Logically, the risk of being locked in a room where the temperature is very high will decrease.

Door hinges should be made of stainless material (ideally brass). Usually the doors are mounted on 2 hinges. But if the doors are made of thick and heavy wood, you can try to install them on 3 or even 4 hinges.

Doors made of modern materials

Now use heat-resistant plastic or glass. They do not require special care, are also durable and do not lend themselves to temperature extremes. Doors made of such materials are distinguished by a wide range of colors, and a variety of patterns and finishes. But their disadvantage is that they do not contain any beneficial properties for the human body. Of course, it is impossible to make such a door with your own hands. It is more realistic to order the manufacture of a door, or to buy a ready-made one. The door to order has the advantage that you can choose the color, shape and complete set of doors yourself.

Do not forget that absolutely all doors in the bath must be treated with a moisture-resistant mixture and an antiseptic designed specifically for treating saunas and baths. Now more is known about what the doors to the bath consist of.

When carrying out work on installing the door, you need to remember that over time the door will undergo a draft. In order for the door to open as well as at first, you need to leave a 3-4 cm gap between the walls of the house and the door frames, the emptiness of which should be insulated.

The door for the bath is a fairly simple design. At the same time, it needs to be done really competently so that the heat does not leave the steam room while you are taking water procedures.

Materials for the manufacture of doors - a brief overview

In Russia, door structures for baths have always been made of wood. It is wood that has a complete set of properties that are ideal for making doors to a room where there are always temperature changes, as well as high humidity. It has a beautiful appearance, is simply processed, and is characterized by impeccable environmental cleanliness.

Having decided to make the doors to the bathhouse with your own hands, choosing wood as the material, keep in mind that not all of its species are suitable for these purposes. Experts advise using wood from aspen, birch, oak, durable and strong exotic trees. Such material during operation practically does not dry out and does not deform, guarantees reliable protection of the bath from drafts, creates a special atmosphere in the steam room, which makes washing very pleasant for a person. Pine wood is allowed. But only for the manufacture of entrance doors.

For a steam room, it is still better to use other tree species, which accumulate moisture much more slowly and serve for many decades. However, now there are many special compounds - antiseptics designed to process the inside of the doors. Such compounds significantly extend the life of wooden door structures. Also nowadays, doors are made from less traditional materials. Previously, they were not used for baths. But times have changed, and now it is not so rare to see baths with entrance structures made of metal, glass or plastic.

Doors made of heat-resistant special glass perfectly tolerate high temperatures and require minimal personal care. Such designs are especially popular in Turkish baths. But in Russian steam rooms, they have not yet “taken root”. For all their advantages, glass products have two “minuses”: their cost is quite high; it is unrealistic to make such doors at home on your own.

Remarkable performance indicators are characterized by products made of thermoplastic - a modern material that is not afraid of temperature changes and water. Plastic is durable and strong. But in the Russian bath, it is worth noting that the designs from it look “unnatural”. It doesn’t help that the plastic surface in the steam room can be made “under the wood”. Visually, it looks like wood, but it does not provide lovers of bathing procedures with that “natural” warmth that natural wood structures are so famous for.

Reliable doors for a bath with your own hands can be made of metal. It is difficult to find a more durable and durable material. Metal structures are suitable for installation at the entrance. And in the steam room itself it is better to install wooden doors.

What should be the bath door?

As can be seen from our short review, it is best to use wood for the manufacture of entrance structures to the steam room and to the entrance of the bath. She fits all criteria. Next, we will figure out exactly how to make a high-quality door to the bathhouse with our own hands, using natural wood. But first, let's look at the special requirements that apply to door structures leading to the steam room and other bath areas.

First of all, doors for the rooms we are interested in must withstand high temperatures and constant humidity without any problems. Wood species that meet this requirement have been listed above. Note that, among other things, wood products have an excellent healing effect on the human body. Unfortunately, the most valuable types of wood can be expensive. Not everyone can afford to buy them.

In order to reduce the cost of natural materials and at the same time make your bath ideal for receiving wellness treatments, it is recommended to make the door leaf from less expensive wood, and then line it with valuable wood clapboard. You should also take care of the fittings that will be used. For these purposes, it is necessary to select products that are highly resistant to moisture and characterized by a low thermal conductivity.

In other words, on the door to the steam room, for example, you can not put heck and metal handles. They will absolutely cause you to get burned when the bath is heated. It is optimal when the fittings on the door are taken wooden. Wood door hinges are difficult to make. Therefore, it is recommended to make them from brass alloys that are not afraid of moisture. Metal hinges are also allowed. But they must be treated with a special paint with anti-corrosion properties.

In terms of geometric dimensions, the door for a bath is always made smaller than for ordinary residential buildings, so that it can retain maximum heat. The recommended parameters of door bath structures are as follows:

width - no more than 0.7 m;
height - no more than 1.7 m (standard - 1.5 m).

It is desirable to provide outward-opening, single leaf doors that open and close easily and quickly. Having found out all the features of bath doors, we can begin to describe the process of their manufacture on our own.

We make our own wooden doors

We begin work with the creation of a door leaf at the entrance to. A similar door can be made both in the steam room and in the relaxation room, if any. We use sheet pile boards 4-5 cm thick. They need to be cut to the required length. At the same time, keep in mind that the total height of your door structure will include the heights of the strapping bars and the leaf itself. That is, the length of the latter is always taken less (143 cm with a total door height of 150 cm).

Having prepared the boards, we make the canvas in the steam room according to the scheme below:

We cut off the spike on one board and remove all irregularities from its surface (on both sides). We should get the most even plane. As a rule, it is enough to remove a couple of millimeters from the surface to get a quality material for the door to the steam room. Align other boards in the same way.
We assemble a canvas from leveled wood. We connect (as tightly as possible) the boards with each other, inserting the spike of one product into the groove of the next board. The result of these works will be the door leaf. Its width usually turns out to be a little more than planned (you will not be able to fit the boards too tightly together). It's not a problem. We will simply cut off the extra centimeters from the two extreme boards using a circular saw.
We mark on the assembled canvas (it is still a “draft” version of the design) the size of our future door, subtracting 7 centimeters from it. We cut off, as was said, the excess width from the extreme boards (be careful - do not remove the side with the groove on the last board, and with the spike on the first).
Making the final canvas. On a workbench or a flat table, we lay out the finished wooden elements and connect them according to the already known scheme (thorn in the groove). It would be better to grease the grooves from the inside with PVA glue. Be sure to use a mallet with soft blows to knock out the boards to be joined. This way they will stick together as tightly as possible.
We leave the finished structure for several days. At the same time, it should be firmly fixed on the workbench so that the canvas does not lead when the glue dries.

After a couple of days, we check the completed structure for bumps, small gaps and other minor flaws. Using a planer, we smooth out the irregularities found, and with a mixture of ordinary sawdust and PVA we close up the existing gaps.

Door trim and fittings - how to do it?

Bolts and handles on the door to the steam room and other compartments, as well as strapping, we will also make ourselves. We take wooden bars, cut them to the required length. Vertical bars for strapping must correspond in length to the total height of the door, horizontal - to the width of the input structure. Important point! The length of the extreme horizontal bars (bottom and top) is taken less than 7 cm (53 cm with a door width of 60 cm).

In the bars you will need to choose a groove. This is done in two stages: a narrow groove is selected with a depth of about 2.5 cm and a width of 2.6 cm; the second groove is selected (on top of the first) with a depth of about 1 cm and a width of 5 cm. The need for two grooves arises if you want to sheathe the door. In one "groove" the lining will fit, in the other - directly grooved boards.

The grooves are selected with an end mill. It is also necessary to make a stepped tenon on horizontal bars, which must fit exactly into the groove. Now we only need to assemble the strapping made into one piece and check it with a square for the accuracy of the corners. If the corners are not perfectly straight, you will need to slightly grind the groove.

Bolts on the door, as well as handles, I think you will do without any problems. They can be cut with a simple hacksaw according to your own sketch. If you don't want to mess around with small work, just buy ready-made wood fittings from the store. You just have to make a box for the door and install the self-made structure in the opening.