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Foundation for shower and toilet. Do-it-yourself shower for your dacha. The best step-by-step instructions. Summer shower at your dacha

When setting up a shower in a country house, different foundations are used. The bases are standard structures of a smaller version without the elements that provide the strength of large structures.

The type of foundation depends on the volume of the load. It is necessary to take into account the lining material and the weight of the tank filled with water. The foundation of a summer cabin can be columnar, strip, or slab.

Anyone can build a foundation with their own hands. It is important for a summer resident to have a little knowledge of the construction process and basic information about earthworks. Based on the chosen type of foundation, the order of work on the site differs.

Required tool:

  • Concrete mixer (can be replaced with a regular container);
  • Shovel;
  • Level;
  • Hacksaw;
  • Rope;
  • Drill;
  • Master OK.

Prepare yourself for pouring the foundation. The main thing is to maintain certain proportions. It is advisable to measure the components in buckets. In the absence of a concrete mixer, it is most convenient to mix the solution in a basin with a hoe.

Sand (about two buckets) and a bucket of cement are poured into the container. The components need to be mixed. Add water little by little, the volume of liquid does not exceed two buckets. The mixture should become homogeneous. Crushed stone completes the batch. The dry component is added in small portions.

Work on equipping the foundation is carried out with the following materials:

  • Metal pipes;
  • Beam;
  • Fasteners;
  • Formwork boards.

When choosing the best location for your shower, there are a few things to consider. The first is the ability to supply clean water and remove dirty water. Locating the shower close to the well is a good option; during installation you won’t have to pull the hose or pipe far.

The water must be drained into a drain or septic tank. If this is not done, the flowing water will fall into the aquifer, from which the well is fed.

Most summer residents prefer that the water in the tank is heated by the sun. It is necessary to install the shower foundation on the sunny side, well protected from the wind. It is undesirable to locate the shower stall close to the boundaries of the summer cottage.

Water drainage

To ensure that water flows freely from the site, moistening the vegetation planted near the cabin, the summer shower is made on an elevated surface. It is chosen based on the terrain features of the site, or it is done with your own hands by adding soil.

An important stage in building a foundation is to create a drainage system for used water. If the drainage is not organized correctly, rot may form in the shower stall due to high humidity. It will not look aesthetically pleasing, and an unpleasant odor will appear in the room.

The easiest option for drainage equipment is drainage. It should be done in the shade at a short distance from the booth.

The drainage will require a hole that can accommodate two ten-liter buckets. A pipe from the shower is installed into the hole; water will flow through it. A standard sewer pipe is suitable for transportation. Then the hole will need to be completely filled with crushed stone. Water will seep through it, being absorbed by the soil.

To mask the drainage, or sow the area with lawn grass. It will be necessary to fill the hole with crushed stone not completely, leaving twenty centimeters of agrofibre and soil.

Ribbon view

This foundation is in little demand. When laying, it is necessary to observe the recommended depth of the monolith tape - it should not exceed thirty centimeters. This value is ideal to ensure maximum strength of the base.

The disadvantage of a belt-type base is its labor intensity and high cost.

The first stage of work includes a detailed breakdown of the base with precise fixation of turning points using reinforcement or pillars. The quality of the future structure directly depends on compliance with the form. Carefully measure each side by checking the diagonals of the rectangle.

A rope is stretched between the marker posts. After this, they begin digging a trench, along the edges of which formwork will then be installed. The prepared trench is filled with concrete. After the mixture has hardened, the horizontalness of the surface is measured with a hydraulic level.

Piles

The most popular type of equipment for a shower house is a pile foundation. It's easy to do it yourself. You need to mark the corners of the rectangle. You need to drill deep holes in the corners (about one and a half meters). Pipes made of asbestos cement or metal are inserted into the recesses so that they rise above the ground.

The preferred pipe diameter is ten centimeters. An anchor pin equipped with a screw thread is mounted on top of each pile.

Pipe piping is made from rolled metal or wooden beams. Holes are made in advance for fastening to piles. After this, the harness is placed in the desired position and secured with a washer and nut. Next, work is carried out on installing the frame, installing the cabin roof and internal lining.

When building this foundation, you will need to dig four square holes for the pillars. The depth of the pits should be at least 50 and the size should be 20*20 centimeters. Sand should be poured into the recesses so that it covers the bottom of the hole. Then you should put a waterproofing layer and treat the walls with roofing felt.

To concrete the upper parts of the pillars, which will be above ground level, formwork is installed.

Cement mortar is poured into the pits; small crushed stone or crushed brick can be used. Before pouring concrete, it is recommended to strengthen the reliability of the foundation pillars using reinforcement bars by inserting them into the recesses.

Requires strapping. You need to place a threaded pin in the center of the post so that it is sunk two-thirds into the solution. After this, they make the strapping and begin installing the cabin structure.

Detailed construction instructions are given in the video:

By observing the recommended parameters and technical standards, a strong, durable structure is obtained. A shower with a foundation built by yourself will be an excellent solution for a summer cottage and a budget-friendly way to create a place for hygiene procedures in a summer cottage.

The vast majority of summer residents at the stage of arranging their plot were faced with the issue of organizing a shower. Some limited themselves to the summer option, as the simplest, others went further and started arranging a full-fledged shower that can be used not only in the summer. In addition to the differences in the design of the above-ground part, the optimal design of the base for different types of shower is also very different.

Influence of design on the type of base

The foundation for a country shower is selected based on the weight of the structure and the degree of capital construction. Therefore, you should first figure out what kind of shower can be installed on a summer cottage, and only then move on to building the foundation.

In general, one of the following types of shower can be used in the country:

  • shower-treadmill - the simplest option. In this case, a container with water (which can be installed at ground level) and a symbolic frame are sufficient; it is sheathed with wooden planks or simply curtained with an opaque film. There is simply no point in talking about any kind of foundation, the weight of the frame does not exceed 10-20 kg, and the main drawback of the design is its dependence on the weather, suitable only for periodic visits to the dacha;

Note!
The shower got its name - trampler - because the necessary pressure is created through human efforts; the principle of operation is similar to car pumps.

  • shower on a counter - the main difference from the previous option is that the water supply can be organized either from a water supply or from a water tank installed on the roof of the shower stall. If the water supply is organized from a water supply system, then you can do without a serious foundation, but in the second case you can’t do without it. The soil may not be able to support the weight of the water tank, the cabin will warp and collapse;

  • a foundation for a shower in a country house is also considered mandatory if the shower is built from brick. Of course, you will have to tinker, but you can use it not only on a hot summer day.

Types of foundations

  • columnar;

Note!
A columnar foundation is often confused with a pile foundation; their design is very similar, but it is not entirely correct to identify these concepts.
The fact is that piles can be used on weak soils, but the columnar version is used only on soils with good bearing capacity.
But a country shower is a simple design, so such inaccuracy is forgivable.

  • columnar with concrete grillage;
  • tape;
  • solid - used quite rarely.

As for the columnar foundation, you can imagine it as several concrete pillars placed around the perimeter of the shower stall. You can simply fasten a wooden beam on top (analogous to the bottom frame in frame construction) and only then proceed to the construction of the above-ground part.

It is allowed to combine the pillars on top with a concrete grillage. This design will be much simpler and quite capable of withstanding the load from the brick walls of a permanent building.

Due to the larger area of ​​the base, a do-it-yourself strip foundation for a shower is suitable for weak soils. The main disadvantage can be considered the increased volume of excavation work compared to a columnar foundation.

Technology for constructing foundations of various types

The procedure for constructing foundations of different types is quite different, as well as the labor costs for their construction. Therefore, the construction technology of each of the mentioned types will be considered separately.

Pile and column foundations

Even before you start constructing the base, you need to draw out the contours of the shower from the project into nature. Typically, the dimensions of the structure do not exceed 2.0 x 2.0 m, so this can be done using ordinary twine and tape measure, and mark the corners with metal pins.

The step between individual piles can be 1.0 - 1.5 m, so depending on the size of the future cabin, it may be necessary to either install them only in the corners, because 1 more pile will be placed in the center of each wall.

To facilitate the work, it is very convenient to use ordinary asbestos-cement pipes as permanent formwork. In this case, it will be much more convenient and practical to carry out excavation work using not a shovel, but a hand drill, which will literally “drill” holes in the ground for pipes.

Further instructions for performing work will look like this:

  • At the bottom of each hole, it would be a good idea to lay a sand and gravel cushion (a layer of sand and a layer of crushed stone on top). With a pit depth of about 1.1-1.5 m, the thickness of each layer can be 10-15 cm. Each layer must be thoroughly compacted, first moistened with water;

Note!
A piece of ordinary roofing felt or other waterproofing material is laid on top of the crushed stone layer; this is necessary to ensure that the water from the concrete mixture does not leave too quickly.

  • then formwork (asbestos-cement pipes) is installed in the prepared pits and fixed so that it does not warp when pouring concrete;

  • you also need to remember about the reinforcement frame, and it’s not enough to just stick a couple of metal pins in, you need to build a full-fledged frame. Considering that we plan to build a regular shower, we will give preference to a knitted frame. For a pile diameter of about 20 cm, 6 reinforcing bars with a diameter of 12 mm will be enough; we combine them into one whole, tying them with ordinary wire (hence the name);

  • After this, you can already pour concrete into the pipes; using large crushed stone is not recommended - it can get stuck between the reinforcing bars.

If you plan to lay a wooden beam on top of the piles (bottom frame), then a short reinforcing bar needs to be fixed in the upper part of the pile so that part of it (about 10-15 cm) rises above the concrete surface. It will be useful when laying beams; you can drill a hole in them and literally string it on it, the strength of the connection is guaranteed.

In the case where the foundation of the summer shower is planned to be columnar, the order of work remains almost the same. The difference is that the holes will definitely have to be dug by hand.

The foundation itself consists of separate pillars (ordinary brickwork can be used for their construction). To reduce material consumption, it can have a stepped shape, that is, the lower part has large dimensions in plan (for a more even distribution of loads on the base).

At the bottom of the pits under the pillars, a gravel-sand cushion is placed in the same way, and when installing the pillars themselves, reinforcing outlets are left for attaching the strapping beams. Separately, it is worth highlighting foundations that use a concrete grillage. This design can be used, for example, in the construction of a brick shower.

In this case, the work is carried out in 2 stages:

  • first, the piles themselves are concreted, and reinforcement outlets for all frame rods must be provided;
  • then wooden formwork is constructed and the grillage is concreted. This type of foundation is more reliable, but it is also more labor intensive, so it can only be recommended for a major shower.

Strip foundation

If you do not take into account the larger volume of excavation work, then it can be considered the best option for a capital building made of brick or concrete blocks.

Do-it-yourself strip foundation for a summer shower is arranged in the following sequence:

  • the contour of the shower is taken out into reality and a pit is dug around the perimeter with a width slightly larger than the width of the future wall. As for the depth, you need to exceed the soil freezing depth for a given region, usually 1.0 m is enough;

  • More serious reinforcement cage will be required. In the lower part (stretched zone) it is recommended to use A-III reinforcement with a diameter of 12 mm; the remaining rods will not experience serious loads, so a smaller diameter can be used;

  • along the edges of the dug trench, formwork is installed from wooden boards approximately 30-40 cm high. The edge of the foundation should rise above the ground surface;
  • Concreting is done in one go; the ideal option would be to additionally compact the mixture with a vibrator, but not everyone has this tool. Therefore, it can be recommended to simply not use too coarse aggregate so that voids do not form in the foundation during concreting.

Slab foundation

In fact, this type of foundation is used mainly in the construction of houses, when a large load needs to be distributed over a large area. For installing a shower in a country house, this option cannot be called recommended.

The main difference is that the entire area that the shower will occupy will be concreted.

The main steps remain the same:

  • the contours of the shower are brought out;
  • a pit is being dug. Its depth does not have to be below the freezing depth. The thickness of the slab will be approximately 15-20 cm; it is also necessary to provide 2 layers of sand and crushed stone of approximately the same thickness. So, taking into account the sand and gravel cushion, the thickness will be approximately 60 cm;

  • Reinforcing bars must be laid in front. The lower part will work in tension, so reinforcement is very important here.

In terms of labor costs, this type of foundation far exceeds all of the above. That is why it is used relatively rarely under the shower.

In conclusion

Any building requires a reliable and solid foundation. In the proposed material, the main emphasis is on the foundation for a more or less capital shower; simplified options, such as digging in wooden pillars, were not considered due to their fragility.

The video in this article discusses the features of different types of foundations. And although the review in the video is made in relation to the construction of houses, the design of the foundation does not change when it is used for a shower.

The best rest after hard work at your dacha is a pleasant, warm, relaxing shower, which will not only have a calming effect, but will also relieve the nervous tension that has accumulated throughout the day.

To install the shower, epoxy resin is used, for the manufacture of which special fillers for resins are used.

Therefore, many gardeners equip their plots with summer showers.

Summer shower at your dacha

An outdoor shower stall is perhaps one of the most important structures on the property. With its help, you can not only wash your body after a whole day of working on your site, but also refresh yourself in the summer heat.

Before installing a shower stall on your site, you need to choose the optimal location for it. The shower should be located a short distance from the main building, most often behind the house.

Once the owner of the site has decided on the area for the shower and the size of the shower stall, he can begin installation. This room must be at least 1 sq.m. in area, but preferably a little larger.

If a shower dressing room is planned, in order to undress and hang dry things, the area of ​​the building doubles. The height of the structure is usually approximately 2.5 meters.

In general, the dimensions of our cabin are equal to 1.0x2.0x2.5 m, this is the best option. If the cabin is planned to be installed from wood, then it is necessary to mount the frame using wooden beams or metal corners.

For the best method of ventilation, the walls in the shower stall should be twenty centimeters away from the ceiling and floor. They can be constructed from materials left over from the main construction of a personal home.

Shower equipment with water supply

When installing a shower stall on your summer cottage, the owner must think in advance about how to equip the water supply and drainage. Since the drainage and supply system is installed at the time of laying the foundation of the future shower cabin.

Water in the shower stall is often supplied from a source located at a remote distance. Such a source can be a well drilled on the site, or a standard water supply.

Nowadays, due to the presence of small-diameter plastic pipes, connecting the cabin to the main source of water supply is not difficult. What is advantageous about these pipes is that they are more durable and do not become subject to rust and various erosions, like metal pipes.

They are sold in coils, and there is no particular hassle when laying a pipe for water supply; you only need to ensure a connection to the main source, which can be done using a small, rubber piece of hose.

You can also easily connect a plastic pipe to a shower storage tank. The advantage of such pipes is that if they were not completely installed, they can be easily removed from the site for the winter.

Draining the shower

Draining water after washing can be done in various ways. Some owners of summer cottages do not drain the water at all.

One of the most normal ways is to drain water into a centralized sewer system, but, unfortunately, not every owner of a summer cottage has this opportunity.

The best way, of course, then remains a waste and drainage pit. This is inexpensive and allows wastewater to go deep into the ground. A pit for drainage water can be located under the shower stall, or in close proximity to it.

It is dug to a depth of no more than 50-60 cm, the size of the sides is 1.0 x 1.0 m. After the hole is dug, the soil in it is compacted tightly and it is covered with crushed stone or broken brick.

A plastic, steel or wooden pallet is placed on top of the filled hole.

After this, the shower stall is installed. If a wastewater pit is located nearby, it is best to make a drainage pipe from a plastic sewer pipe to it.

Photos of ideas on how to make a summer shower in the country

As Ostap Bender would say, a shower for a dacha is not a luxury, but a means of hygiene. Moreover, a remedy of paramount importance: according to medical statistics, people who put off washing after a weekend at the dacha until they arrive home consult doctors about skin and gastrointestinal diseases 12% more often than others; There are no similar data for other types of health disorders.

You can buy a simple country shower, designed only for summer weather, for 10,000 rubles. By spending 2-3 times less, or even using scrap materials, you can build a warm shower with your own hands, suitable for bathing procedures from the beginning to the end of the summer season. In this case, a full range of amateur products is revealed - from a slimy kennel, the dream of a greedy dermatologist (there will be a lot of patients, they will start giving money) through completely functional, hygienic and even almost not spoiling the appearance of the building site, to structures made from, for example, construction waste, at the sight of which an experienced designer nods his head in understanding, see fig.

But, characteristically, there is no medical correlation with the type of shower - purchased, of different price categories, or homemade. A “super-duper company” for 70-100 rubles, with automation and touch-remote control, can turn out to be a breeding ground for infection, and a shower concocted from the dacha in the country will faithfully stand guard over the cleanliness and health of the owners for many years and decades.

Do-it-yourselfers and manufacturers are not to blame here; both of them do not lack effort, skill and consideration. It’s simple - no one really knows how to make it, a country shower. If there are any regulatory rules for its construction, then neither the builders, nor the plumbers, nor the orderlies know anything about them. It is clear that you need to do a country shower correctly in essence, i.e. so that it washes, and does not contaminate, and so that the contents of wastewater do not kill the earth and spoil the harvest, but how? It’s dark here, like in a Khrushchev bathroom when the plugs were knocked out.

For example, the minimum volume of a cesspool is 2 cubic meters. m, but this is with the standard volume of runoff, and at the dacha it is several times less. The biochemistry of the cesspool is disgusting, but well balanced; the pit should neither overflow nor dry out. Modern (dry toilets) allow you to reduce the volume of the cesspool and the frequency of calls to the cesspool, but fundamentally the processes in the cesspool do not change. What volume and design do you need for an outdoor shower? I have no idea, as Barack Obama would say. The same applies to other components and structural elements. In fact, those who want to make a country shower competently pull according to the norm, first from here, then from there, and then maybe they will all come together. Or maybe they’ll separate and things will go wrong.

Well, let’s try to include what Mother Nature has so far deprived the American president of so far, in order to say at the end: “Well, at least I’ve found a good ideal!” We will design a summer shower for ourselves based on the principles:

  • Hygiene - neither the shower itself nor the water for it should cause harm to those washing, only benefit.
  • Environmental friendliness - shower drainage should not harm the environment either in the short term (in the form of compliance of the harvest from the site with sanitary standards) or in the long term (in the form of water quality from local water supply sources) perspective, in space and time.
  • Practicality, which is also functionality - it should be not only possible, but pleasant and useful not only to freshen up in the heat, but also to wash in any weather from the first to the last trip to the dacha.
  • Aesthetics - a shower cabin for a dacha should, at a minimum, not spoil the landscape design of the site, but, preferably, fit organically into it. An alternative is an invisible shower, dismountable or not conspicuous.
  • Cost-effective – building a shower should require a minimum of labor, materials and financial costs, without compromising any of the previous qualities.

We will use existing norms and rules, but for verification purposes, so as not to invent nonsense. And we also use a good bit of knowledge about physical and chemical processes in nature and the soul. The data in the regulatory documents is the tip of the iceberg and, since there is no single set of data for country showers, we will have to turn to the basics. To build a shower correctly, let's go from one critical node to another; what is in the middle will then be easier. Actually, in this order:

  1. Base.
  2. Drain and sump.
  3. Choice of design.
  4. Possibility of combining functions (shower combined with toilet, etc.)
  5. Floor, pallet and platform.
  6. Cabin - frame, walls, etc.
  7. Diffuser (watering can), pipelines, shut-off valves.
  8. Additional equipment – ​​water heater, cabin heating, pumping.

What does all-weather mean?

Item 3 of the list above is especially important for medical reasons. When it is violated, it no longer smells of itchy ankles and shoulders, but of things like pneumonia. A heated shower means more than just hot or warm water.

Let’s say it’s +13 outside, but you need to wash. The cabin has cooled down to the same temperature: insulation will only be useful (let the readers forgive the involuntary pun) if there are heat sources inside the washroom. Without them, you will have to tremble and cower for 2-5 minutes until the warmth of the spray from the watering can warms up the booth. In the meantime, the hot water may run out; the tank is not a vat tank.

So, you need to heat not only the water in the tank, but also the air in the shower. It is highly desirable to create a warm island in a light cabin with large gaps at the bottom and top. We'll see how to achieve this when it comes to additional equipment; For now, as they say, let’s tie a knot.

Children's question

Why is there a separate shower? In the apartment he is together. Because the dacha plots are not equipped with sewerage. Here it is appropriate to remember the rule: the cesspool must be located at least 15 m away from residential buildings. The point is not only in the miasma, but also in the fact that the filtrate from the cesspool can wash away the foundation of the house with all that it entails. It is still possible to install a shower in a country house. Then, if the house is heated, then the shower will be all-season.

Note: a bioseptic tank that produces almost no harmful fumes can, under certain conditions, be moved 4-5 m closer to the house. But this topic already relates to the construction of country toilets.

Country shower device

Base

When zero is not needed

There is no need for a zero cycle of dacha-shower work in the following cases, see fig. below:

  • When using a compact portable shower, on the left in Fig.
  • If the shower with adjacent outbuildings is ready-made modular, in the center in Fig.
  • If the cabin is on a frame made of plastic pipes (propylene or PVC) with soft lining, it’s on the right there.

A compact shower in a suitcase (there is a large selection on sale) is used in any random place, but is inconvenient in terms of heating water; It is difficult to adapt a water heater to it, and compactness and mobility are immediately lost. Container - rinse for one or two people. This does not require a shower or a cesspool - there is not enough water in the tank, and no matter who and how they wash, the local ecology will digest such a volley of emissions.

Modular showers are designed to be installed directly on the ground. They are equipped with adjustable legs, which, when installed permanently, allows them to compensate for current soil movements. Modular public spaces are more familiar to citizens from public dry toilets, but in addition to them and modular showers, they also produce kitchens, shelters, etc., so that you can assemble a full-fledged utility unit from the modules. This pleasure is by no means cheap; more modules are used to organize the convenience of professional field teams. A cesspool is not required, you only need to promptly change the filler of the built-in septic tank.

The frames of soft showers are placed on stakes made of reinforcing bars driven into the ground. If the frame is made of PP water pipes, then it is assembled using standard connectors, but one size larger, and not by soldering, but with self-tapping screws. The cabin turns out to be collapsible and quite reliable, because The frame is lightly loaded and absolutely repairable. The covering is most often made of colored tarpaulin: in hot weather the cabin is less parky, in cool weather it is warmer, and tarpaulin, unlike film, does not stick unpleasantly to a wet body. This design will withstand a 12-magnitude earthquake, as long as the earth itself does not disappear from under the shower. A cesspool is needed, so soft showers are not particularly popular: if you dig a hole, then it’s better to make a foundation, and put something more substantial and more attractive on it.

Under plastic

It is possible to build a shower stall from light, elastic and chemically resistant materials with rigid cladding (see below) without a foundation, even on very heaving soil. To prevent it from tipping over, in this case, 30-40 cm of a non-fluffy pillow is enough. Specifically, sand and gravel backfill in layers of equal thickness. The thickness of the cushion is approximate; in fact, the upper humus layer of the soil is removed to the underlying rock: loam, sandy loam. Dacha plots do not stand out on meter-thick chernozems, so you won’t have to dig very deep, but still – 30 cm, of which 15 sand and 15 gravel, this is the minimum. What if it becomes warped after winter, you can move the booth, straighten the cushion, and put it back as it was.

Note: The plastic shower is attached to the ground with the lower ends of the pipes, placed on fittings driven into the ground, just like a soft shower. But there is a difference - since the structure is permanent, the stakes are driven into the ground at least 0.35 m below the bottom of the pillow, and better, if local conditions allow, to the freezing depth, then seasonal distortions are excluded.

Under the tree

In principle, a wooden shower can also be placed simply on a pillow, but double impregnation of wood with a water-polymer emulsion, biocides and then treatment with hot bitumen will protect the supporting frame and floor from rotting for 3-10 years, depending on local conditions. Wood treated in this way can maintain its strength for 30-40 years, but mold fungi and bacteria will get to where they put their feet and where their bodies rub much faster. Therefore, a shower cabin made of natural lumber should be raised above the ground by at least 20-25 cm, and for a hygienic cesspool (see below) - by 35-40 cm.

An example of the implementation of a foundation for a country shower

The means to ensure these requirements have been known for a long time - a columnar or pile foundation. For such a light and freely “acting out” wooden structure, for reasons of economy, the second one is preferable. There is no need to buy expensive ones; it is better to make do with homemade ones. Simply - sections of pipes with a diameter of 60-150 mm (according to availability) with ends flattened into a spear. Next - a sledgehammer or a homemade woman (it’s much easier to work with it), and - to the calculated freezing depth for the given area.

The location of the piles is 1 per corner and every full or incomplete 1.5 m of the contour. After trimming the protruding ends with a grinder using a hose level, anchor bolts (M12 - M16) are welded to the piles; The lower support frame - grillage - is placed on them and tightened with nuts and washers 40-60 mm in diameter.

An alternative option, again, depending on the availability of materials, is drilled piles made from asbestos-cement pipes. The wells are drilled to the same freezing depth using a hand drill. It is very good if there is a camouflage attachment for it, with which you can drill wells under a strip-pile foundation on heaving soils. Reinforcement of piles and pouring them with concrete are also similar to the above case. Asbestos-cement piles are cut to height using a grinder with a circle on the stone before reinforcement and pouring. Anchor bolts are walled up to a depth of 120 mm.

Metal look

The foundation for a shower on a metal frame is the same as for a wooden one: If wood rots, then metal rusts. In this case, driven metal piles are preferable, and a 50-80 mm channel grillage is welded to them.

Under the brick

A brick shower in a country house is a rarity, labor-intensive and expensive. But it has a valuable advantage - it is easy to heat. It is enough to pass the return from the tank to the water heater through an old thin-walled heating radiator (see below), and in a closet with half-brick walls, insulation with 30 mm packaging foam, dimensions 1.2x1.2 m in plan and ceiling height 2.2 m at +8 outside in 4-5 hours it will be +22.

Brick buildings are not elastic, they are heavy, and therefore The foundation for a brick shower needs to be strong and stable. Since the structure in this case is small, a slab monolithic foundation turns out to be optimal in terms of labor intensity and costs. Its construction is simple: a solid (required!) reinforced concrete slab with a thickness of 170-300 mm is placed on the non-heaving cushion described above and with a projection of 0.3-0.5 m beyond the contour of the building, this will be a blind area.

The brand of concrete does not matter much, M150 is enough. Reinforcement - a cage with a mesh (150-200) x (300-400) mm made of 12 mm rod. If you plan to equip the compact cesspool described below, then it is better to cast the slab on site, surrounding the recess for the barrel with formwork.

cesspool

As already mentioned, in order to maintain the biochemistry in the sewer pit necessary for the disposal of wastewater to a naturally processed level of pollution, the moisture content in it must be kept within certain limits. For example, the instructions for branded fillers for septic tanks clearly indicate: do not fill, it will sour and stink. Don’t let it dry out, the microflora will die and stop working altogether.

It is obvious that the drain from the shower is too liquid for a general cesspool at the dacha. But its chemical composition also matters: there is practically no household organic matter, a breeding ground for beneficial bacteria in the pit. Unless someone will use the shower, like Poligraf Poligrafych Sharikov from “Heart of a Dog,” using the toilet. But there is an excess of alkalis that are harmful to them (from soap) and detergents (surfactants, surfactants), from shampoos, gels, etc.

Therefore, discharging wastewater from the shower and toilet in a dacha into a common pit is a gross mistake from a biochemical point of view. The kitchen can also be used together with the toilet, but the shower needs to be placed separately in a special pit. In a city apartment, the situation is different: there, until the wastewater reaches the treatment plant, everything will mix and react so much that only the percentage composition of simple compounds and elements will matter. In any case, it is impossible to build a separate sewer system for the bathroom and toilet in the city.

Note: What kind of abominations do researchers sometimes have to delve into, eh? But it’s something necessary and useful.

Here the question arises: should we take out the extra 2 cubic meters of soil? Since the septic tank does not recycle the shower drain? And one hundred square meters of land is lost: from the harvest from the vicinity of a simple pit, the consumer supervision department will shriek and shy away when the analysis is done.

This is not at all necessary, if you take into account the time of heating the water, the subsequent maximum frequency of using the country shower and the volume of water in the tank (there can be no more one-time flow). That is, we are faced with 2 tasks: the first is to release the runoff into the ground little by little, so that organic acids from the soil have time to neutralize alkalis and decompose detergents. The second is to bring them into the soil below the fertile layer so as not to kill soil micro-living creatures. And organic acids, a product of its vital activity, will leak from above.

Calculations, which, unfortunately, there is no space to describe here, show that a drain of 100 l/hour or 50 l in one gulp (for a country shower for normal users, this is, as they say, above the roof), must be discharged into the ground at a depth of no less than 2 thickness of the humus layer. Conclusion: a regular 200-liter barrel with a height of 850 mm will help us out. A fertile layer of 40 cm is not a dacha, it is Eldorado. A smaller plastic barrel will also work, as long as its volume is not less than a one-time discharge (let’s take the tank’s capacity for this), and its height is at least 2 times the thickness of humus.

Note: if you feel sorry for the barrel, the shell of the pit can be made from old tires. Only then will it be necessary to periodically add bleach to the pit; in the resulting side cavities, with frequent use, wastewater will stagnate.

From theory to practice

It is not difficult to make a compact and cheap cesspool for a shower from a barrel. First, we dig a pit according to the diagram in Fig. to a depth equal to the height of the barrel. The distance from the siphon spout to the neck of the barrel is not critical; a plastic corrugated hose will reach. Then we cut off the bottom and the lid with the neck from the barrel. The bottom will no longer be needed, and we cut off a segment from the lid to create an inspection hatch; it will need a tight lid.

We install the barrel in the pit and fill it back with soil. Next is the filter. Pour fine crushed stone into the cesspool in a layer of 15-20 cm. In a bucket of water, stir 1-1.5 kg of any clay until it becomes “milk”, and pour the backfill evenly in a thin stream until the clay milk covers it. After a day or two, when the water has gone and the clay has dried, we stir up the filter layer, often piercing it thickly with a pointed reinforcement. All that remains is to weld the lid, and after building the shower, insert the siphon spout into the neck and seal it with construction foam. You can insert a tee into the neck and supply drainage from the kitchen here; in terms of bio-chemistry and simple chemistry, it is more similar to a shower than to a toilet.

Note: If there is construction going on nearby and the concrete mixer is free, you can mix porous concrete, from which filters are made when building wells. Then backfill with clay impregnation is not needed - 2-3 buckets of the porous mixture are simply dumped into a cesspool and leveled.

Odor is excluded from such a cesspool by design. It is convenient to inspect and, if necessary, clean it, and the cost of labor and money is nothing at all; The useful area, except for that under the shower, is not withdrawn from economic use. At the author of the article’s dacha, a shower cesspool made from a barrel has been working properly for almost 20 years. There was no need to clean it even once (they go to the dacha on weekends and spend their holidays there). The inside of the barrel was covered with a dense layer of some chemical compounds, but was not rusted through. Fruits from plants in the immediate vicinity of the pit were repeatedly submitted for analysis to the sanitary station, which invariably showed their complete suitability for food. For testing, they drilled a water well 5 m from the pit - the water turned out to be good.

More about shower and toilet

A shower with a cesspool of this type can be placed in a block with a toilet. For the latter, by the way, if the dacha is summer, it is not at all necessary to make a rather complex and expensive septic tank, not to mention an antediluvian two-cube pit. You can do without a toilet cesspool altogether by installing a powder closet. More precisely, a powder toilet, because... This is a French idea. Sortie in French exit; toilet, respectively - latrine. The powder closet can only be used in the warm season, but it was the study of the processes in it that led to the invention of dry closets. However, this is again about country toilets, which require a separate analysis.

What will the shower be like?

Now that we know how much work is needed to arrange a shower area, and in what cases we can do without it, it’s time to decide - what kind of shower will we make? Or buy? In general, the choice is:

  • Compact portable shower.
  • Street extension to the house.
  • Garden cabin.
  • Capital shower.
  • Household complex in shower.
  • Shower room in the house.

Compact - not compact

You don’t have to take a portable shower with you everywhere. Nobody bothers you to use it constantly in one place. In the same way, no one bothers you to fill a waterskin with hot water, heated over a fire or in a stove, immediately before washing. The only additional thing required is fencing.

Shower enclosures for mobile showers are sold complete with the shower itself or as an option. But, frankly speaking, it’s not worth the candle - it’s easier to make a shower fence yourself. The simplest, but very convenient option is a semicircular guide attached to the wall of the house, see figure, and a curtain. It is not necessary to bend a stainless steel pipe; you can get by with a propylene water pipe, put on the same pins made of reinforcing bars. Then the fence will be completely collapsible. It is better to sew the curtain from colored tarpaulin (propylene is also preferable); why - stated above.

Cabin on the street

Users of “permanent” showers sooner or later come to the conclusion that the waterskin needs to be replaced with a tank: 6-12 liters is not enough for one, but definitely not enough for a family. Now we have an outdoor shower stall, and the problem of drainage has arisen. This is usually solved by draining water down a slope or gutter into a flowerbed, on the assumption that the flowers are not eaten. But from the point of view of caring for nature, this is, of course, wrong. And the soil, if the shower is used frequently, may turn sour, and then the entire flowerbed will disappear. It’s better to choose the time, at the lower edge of the sewer slope (usually the blind area of ​​a house) to mold a catch socket out of cement, and bury a 40-mm PVC sewer pipe to the sewer pit in the ground. For the one described above, one 3-m pipe is enough; its slope needs to be 4-10 cm/m.

If you want to quickly and easily replace the curtain with something more impressive, then the same arched pipe on the wall will help out. How a simple rigid-sheathed booth is made from a booth with a curtain is shown schematically in Fig. Within the simplified blind area of ​​the building, which is only 60 cm wide, we get a fairly comfortable (45 cm aisles, semicircular washing area 60x120 cm in plan) and completely invisible booth. Sheathing and fence material can be any material that is sufficiently rigid and allows some bending. Polycarbonate is best; we will talk about it later. In this case, the fence of the labyrinthine entrance can be curved, resulting in a quite elegant extension.

Shower in the garden

However, there is no need to rush to dig and build: there is another simple option - a garden shower. This is a cabin on a light frame with soft opaque lining, see fig. Its highlight is that the cabin is placed in a new place on each visit, or rearranged once a week. It is enough to move it 2-3 m away from the previous one, and the local ecology will fully tolerate the increased flow.

Capital

A capital shower differs from a simple cabin not only in that it stands on a foundation; as we will see below, it may not exist. A major shower must have a changing room, although exhibitionism in certain circles is now, if not the norm, then certainly fashionable. However, when washing, there is no need to demonstrate swimsuit models with graceful forms or a sculpted torso, as shown in advertising photographs.

Washing completely without clothes is necessary primarily for sanitary and hygienic reasons. The reason is dust in the fabric and hems of clothing. Having become limp, and even in contact with a wet body, it can cause skin diseases exactly in those places where you least want them. According to the rules of field work in countries that widely use seasonal migrant agricultural workers, i.e. Unaccustomed to digging in the ground, after a shift, after washing, be sure to put on clean underwear. Outerwear can be left to work, but underwear can only be fresh. In any case, it is uncivilized to be like the ancient nomads, for whom dirt up to a centimeter thick is not yet dirt, and then it falls off on its own.

How a shower with a changing room should be arranged is shown in Fig. dimensions - in cm. Clothes are protected from splashes by a curtain, and shoes are protected from getting wet by a grille, wooden or made of propylene pipes with self-tapping screws, see below. In this case, a curtain made of film is more suitable - a tarpaulin, not blown by the wind, will take a long time to dry, and if it is not propylene, but cotton, it can resist.

Note: for people of average height and build, so that when bending over dropped soap they don’t knock down the door or break the walls with their fifth point, the dimensions of the washing room in plan can be reduced to 80x100 cm. Then the entrance, where the curtain hangs, will be on the larger side.

All in one

The change house at the dacha does not play the same role as at construction sites and field work. In any case, the cesspool must be located as far from housing as the conditions on the site allow. And having a meal, once you’ve escaped the bustle of the city, is more pleasant and healthier in the open air. Therefore, a dacha cabin often includes a kitchen with a veranda along with a shower and toilet.

The ultimate, so to speak, design diagrams for country cabins are shown in Fig. The left one is the simplest, 1.8 x 1 m, on concrete blocks without a foundation. Toilet – powder closet or bio; the dressing room can be used as a shelter in case of bad weather. Purpose – temporary, for the period of construction of the house.

On the right is a permanent change house. The foundation is slab, see above. The walls are made of aerated concrete 75 mm + 12 mm on each side for finishing. The roof is a flat slate slate. If there are a lot of people, a large shower can also be used as a refuge; The size of the kitchen allows you to build or install a wood stove. It can be built, with the average skill of a craftsman and the presence of a helper, over a weekend, not counting the technological break for gaining concrete strength and time for finishing work.

Note, joke: Don’t rush to build something like this, otherwise who knows when you’ll get around to a real house.

In the house

A country shower in a house, since it is in a residential area, must meet all sanitation and hygiene requirements. This is a separate topic; we will discuss some features in relation to the dacha further along the course of the presentation.

Floor, tray, grate

Floor

The floor in the country shower is made of wood; capital, as in a big house, is too labor-intensive and expensive. In a cabin measuring up to 1.5 x 1.5 m, if a tongue-and-groove board is used for the flooring, logs are not needed. If the cabin is not square, cut the decking boards to the size of the short side, this will be stronger.

To prevent the wood from rotting from moisture, it, of course, needs to be treated. Nowadays, this can be done without complex and time-consuming operations such as scalding with bitumen, two-layer painting with zinc oil or titanium white, etc. Preparation of boards for the cabin floor is reduced, after sawing to size, to double treatment with a water-polymer emulsion; The second treatment can be done an hour after the first.

Then - drying. At temperatures above 22 in the shade and drying in direct sunlight, the boards will be ready for further use in the evening if they were processed in the morning; at 15 degrees and drying in the shade - by the next morning.

After drying, the wood is impregnated with any wood biocide. You just need to read on the packaging to see if the product is intended for impregnation under pressure; this is not suitable. It is advisable to carry out impregnation in the sun in warm weather, allowing the boards to warm up for an hour or two.

3-4 hours after impregnation, you can apply acrylic varnish in 2 layers. The first one will dry out in the evening, then you can varnish it a second time. The next morning the floor can be laid. Thus, if you choose a nice day, you can finish a floor that will last at least 10 years in a weekend, and still have time left.

Pallet

Shower trays, if you don't already know, come in low and high varieties. The first ones are placed in a cutout or recess in the floor, and the second ones are actually a standing bathtub: they are installed on legs and equipped with a screen. Both come in sizes from 800x800 to 1580x1580 mm, straight and angular, round or faceted, as well as round, oval and complex shapes. Made from acrylic or enameled sheet steel. The former are more expensive and more durable; the latter are cheaper.

For a cottage with a separate shower on the premises, a straight, low shower tray is needed, see figure on the right. The most popular size and material is steel 1000x1000 mm. Its advantages:

  • Easy installation and sealing: a sausage of construction foam is applied along the contour of the cutout and a pallet is placed immediately before it hardens; the squeezed-out excess foam is removed.
  • Saving wood and work: by making the cabin support frame (see below) the inside width of the outer size of the pallet bath, we get rid of most of the flooring. It is enough to cover the top of the frame with scraps of boards so that the pallet does not end up in the hole.
  • Cheap: with a relatively low intensity of use of a country shower, a steel tray with careful use will last at least 15 years.
  • Durability in dacha conditions: acrylic pallets in dachas do not withstand the design service life, because... They are afraid of abrasive wear by sand, which cannot be avoided outside the city.

Note: if there is a shower with a dressing room, you can take a tray 800x1000, see above. If there are people at the dacha with above average corpulence, then the best would be a 1200x1200 pallet

A country shower in a house requires a high tray. The reason is that the cutout will weaken the floor, unless it is formed according to the complete pattern. And even then, the slotting and concrete work will take a lot of time and effort, plus cutting a channel for the sewer pipe. If the house has not yet been built, there is also no need to include a low pallet in a project with a wooden floor: the installation step of the joists turns out to be too large for a flooring of this size.

It is more profitable to purchase a high tray complete with a cabin and screen. Then it is better to take a corner shower: a shower corner of the same overall dimensions takes up much less usable space in a small room and turns out to be even more convenient than a straight shower.

As for installation, it is advisable to do it yourself. Firstly, it will be too expensive for the master to travel out of town, he wastes a day, and in a day he can install up to 3 cabins, if not more. Secondly, the water supply and drainage at the dacha are almost always non-standard, which will be even more expensive. Therefore, how to install a shower cabin with a high tray yourself, see the video below.

Video: self-assembly and installation of a shower cabin

And the following is about the subtleties of the corners:

In addition, before purchasing, you will need to read the original instructions, because The installation methods for showers from different manufacturers are somewhat different.

Lattice

In the locker room, a grate under your feet is a must to prevent your shoes from getting wet. In a washing room with a low tray, a grate above it is highly desirable, because... due to the lack of a threshold, the danger of slipping and falling when entering the pallet is increased.

Usually the lattice is made of wood from slats from 30x30 to boards 100x40. The preparation of wood is the same as for the floor, but it is advisable to cover the grate instead of varnishing, if funds allow, with an acrylic compound for repairing bathtubs, then its resistance to wear by shoe soles will increase significantly. And for the floor, coating with a compound will not be superfluous; In this case, the pan may not be sealed with foam; the thick mixture will close the gap.

The best, and if you take into account the prices for varnish, even cheaper, grille is obtained from PP pipes assembled with self-tapping screws. Pipes need 1/2″; installation step – 1.5 outer diameter. The pitch of the crossbars from the same pipe is 300-400 mm. There is a little trick here: after assembling the grille, a little polyurethane foam is poured into all the gaping ends so that the grille inside does not become sour from dampness.

Tank

A shower tank for a dacha must be equipped with a sanitary drainage with a shut-off valve, indicated in brown in Fig. It is placed at the lowest point of the vessel, and the source is made flush with the bottom. Before a long break in use (at least a week), the tank is completely emptied through drainage. It is advisable to drain the sediment regularly, with the same frequency, even with constant use. Please note that at the dacha the probability of spores and eggs of unwanted microorganisms getting into the tank is many times higher - orders of magnitude higher than in a city apartment. The author knows of a case where... crucian carp snouts were found in the shower tank. They obviously ate mosquito larvae that swarmed there.

The second condition is that the selection pipe must be placed higher so that clean water, and not sludge, splashes from the watering can. Finally, if the water is heated in the tank, its thermosiphon circulation must also occur, otherwise most of the heater’s power will go to waste. That is, the hot water supply pipe should be as high as possible.

If the tank is powered from a water supply system, then it requires a float valve and an overflow with a clearing area of ​​at least 2 times that of the supply pipe. There needs to be enough clearance above the float so that it does not rest against the tank lid, completely blocking the water supply. For such a case, a tank diagram with recommended dimensions is shown on the left in Fig.

For a manually filled tank, the pipe layout changes, because... The water level in it decreases during use. Its diagram is shown on the right in Fig. An indispensable condition is that the hot water supply must be located at least a little (5-7 mm at least) above the outlet source, and the mouth of the supply pipe must be located further away from the outlet source; Selective is located approximately in the middle between them. It is advisable to drain the sediment from such a tank immediately after each emptying so that the sediment does not clog the water heater.

What is it made of?

Ready-made tanks for showers of different sizes, containers fully equipped with fittings, are available for sale in a wide range. But, since our task is to implement everything entirely with our own hands, then we will see how to make the tank ourselves.

The most common tanks for country showers are made from barrels laid on their sides; then it is convenient to place a drainage system, and the loss of water into sediment becomes minimal. In this case, a wide filling and inspection hatch is cut out of a 200-liter steel barrel and through it, after welding the pipes, the inside of the container is painted with yacht acrylic enamel or the same compound for repairing bathtubs. The outdated long-term method is to prime with a rust primer and paint with red lead and oil.

Plastic barrels do not require preparation from the inside, but the problem of sealing the connections arises: almost nothing sticks to polyethylene and polypropylene, and they cannot be connected by soldering, like water pipes. Fortunately, plastic barrels are produced with wide necks, through which it is possible to install M12-M16 threaded fittings with a flange and a rubber gasket, and on the outside - also with a gasket and washer; everything is tightened with a nut. To prevent the pipe from being torn out by thermal deformations, the diameter of the flange and washer must be from 3 outer diameters of the fitting, but not less than 40 mm.

Note: the alternative method - sealing with silicone - does not justify itself; after 2-3 seasons the joints begin to leak.

About a tank from an old washing machine

It's no secret that many country showers have tanks from unusable old washing machines. Their capacity is small, for 2-3 washes quickly, but otherwise they are very good: they do not rust, drainage is automatically obtained from the previous drain pipe, and the input and output of the rest is easy to carry out through the opening for the activator, there is already a stamping for the gasket and holes for fasteners By covering such a tank with glass on silicone (preferably acrylic), we will obtain effective solar heating of water (see below), because, repeatedly reflected from the internal shiny walls, the radiation of the Sun will be almost completely absorbed by the water.

Cabin

Grillage

The supporting frame of the cabin is most often made of wood; under dacha conditions, it loses strength more slowly than a thin-walled (1.5-2.5 mm) metal profile. The channel, of course, will last longer, but will cost more. It is more suitable for welded structures, see above.

As for wood, timber of 100x100 or even 60x60 is suitable for a light cabin, and 150x150 for heavy-duty showers. Wood processing is generally the same as for flooring, but instead of varnishing, it is impregnated twice or thrice with heated bitumen mastic. In combination with a water-polymer emulsion, this will ensure durability of at least 12 years; EPE, penetrating deeply into the pores of wood, makes them unsuitable for the germination of mold spores.

How high?

The rise of the grillage above the ground, and the corresponding protrusion of the foundation piles, is calculated as the sum of 200-250 mm for ventilation, plus the depth of the tray, plus the technological height of the siphon and another 50-70 mm of reserve. So, for a low pallet this will be 320-450 mm, i.e. 2-3 more steps are needed at the entrance.

Frame

A wooden shower is assembled, just like - on load-bearing poles, only the problems of the roof disappear: there is either no roof at all, or it is simply sloping. The wall frames are reinforced with diagonal braces, one per side, from a 100x40 board or the same board, spread in half lengthwise, i.e. 50x40, and installed flat. The latter option saves material, but takes up space inside the cabin.

A metal frame usually uses a corrugated pipe from 25x25x1.5 to 40x40x2. The profile frame is assembled by welding, primed and painted. Thin-walled galvanized profiles are cheaper and easier to assemble - using self-tapping screws - but they do not last long; this material is not intended for external use at all.

The best material for a shower frame is 1/2″ and 3/4″ propylene water pipes. The assembly diagram is the same as for wood: frame and diagonal. In this case, there is no need to solder the plastic; it is enough to select standard connectors so that the pipe fits into them more tightly, and assemble them with self-tapping screws. Phosphated (black) ones hold up better in the shower. The diameter of the screws is 4.2 mm; length - 1-1.5 mm shorter than the outer diameter of the connector, so that the tip does not stick out or get scratched.

sheathing

In general, any sheet finishing materials for external use are suitable for covering a shower: corrugated sheets, plastic lining, siding, polycarbonate, the top row in Fig. they can be attached to any frame either with standard fasteners, or, if the frame is propylene, with brackets and clamps.

Of all the cladding materials, polycarbonate stands out. Its main advantage is that the polycarbonate shower is self-heating. The peculiarities of the interaction of cellular polycarbonate with sunlight are such that an increased energy density of infrared (thermal, IR) radiation is created inside the cabin. Simply put, a kind of warm cocoon appears, even if the shower is without a roof and with a wide ventilation gap below. Cellular polycarbonate was originally developed for covering greenhouses and greenhouses.

The shower cabin is lined on all sides, cramped, i.e. Its glazing area is large relative to its volume, and tomatoes are not grown in it in winter. Therefore, the cheapest sheet of structure 2R with a thickness of 4 mm from the most alternative manufacturer is suitable for covering the shower. There is no need to be afraid of peeking: milky, non-translucent polycarbonate is produced specifically for showers.

The second important factor is that the honeycomb sheet, if oriented vertically with internal channels and bent, acquires the properties of a prestressed structure (PSS): high strength and rigidity. That is, a very durable and lightweight round cabin can be made on a frame from just 2 hoops bent from PP pipe, upper and lower. The hoops will also be pre-stressed and will add a fair amount of overall strength.

Finally, by tightly wrapping the sheet to a curved template and heating it for 20-30 hours to 70-80 degrees, the bend of the sheet can be fixed. This technique is often used by designers; in particular for original showers without frame, see fig. on right.

Good old wood is also widely used for showers, pre-treated as for flooring, or even raw, at least in the form of wattle, the bottom row in Fig. higher. Its advantages are accessibility, ease of processing, and for large showers under the roof - wood retains heat well. Heat loss through wooden cladding made of forty-size boards is less than through brick cladding made of half a brick.

Note: It is undesirable to use layered and modified wood materials - plywood, fiberboard, chipboard, MDF - for shower cladding; they delaminate.

Armature

What distinguishes a country garden shower from a regular shower is, first of all, the shower head (spout, diffuser): its design includes an adjusting valve, see fig. If the dacha has separate hot water, then this is not suitable - there are no diffusers with a standard two-way valve on sale. However, it is not difficult to make a watering can with a valve yourself; it does not have any fundamental features. Other shut-off valves are any ordinary ones, but it is easier and cheaper to make pipelines flexible, from a reinforced garden hose.

Heating and warming

Now let’s finally understand what a warm shower is. In capital showers, as mentioned above, heating the washing area will ensure that the return flow from the tank to the water heater passes through the heating register, see fig. For constant heating of residential premises, this scheme is a complete heresy, but in the shower it is quite workable without loss of overall efficiency.

The cheapest and fastest water heating is provided by a low-power flow-through gas boiler or, if bottled gas, an electric boiler. Let's leave both of them, because... it is impossible to make them in accordance with safety requirements outside industrial conditions: a heating element with grounding is only the basis, you also need automatic temperature control, emergency protection against boiling, emptying, overheating of the heating element due to scale fouling or sediment entrainment, and some other necessary little things.

Without heat exchanger

The easiest way, which summer residents have been using since time immemorial, is to heat the water with the Sun. But the well-known tank covered in bitumen is not the best solution; The fact is that bitumen or simple black (non-selective) paint is black only in visible light, but reflects IR quite well.

2 methods of primitive solar water heating are shown in Fig. on right. The first (left position) uses the fact that water itself actively absorbs IR and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The latter carries a lot of energy, but you need a well-transmitting UV tank, i.e. expensive acrylic. In the other, which is on the right pos. The hose’s own heat capacity is used: when the water flows, it gives off the accumulated heat to it, so it is possible to obtain more warm water than was originally in the volume of the pipe.

With register and potty

Direct heating of water is bad because it depends on the weather and time of year: clouds have rolled in - the water is cold, and you can only get hot water in the very heat, when a little warm is enough. To heat water well, not only in warm weather and not only in clear weather, a water heater for a shower must, firstly, somehow collect solar radiation, the energy density of which is relatively low, and transfer it to water, the heat capacity of which is relatively high. An indispensable condition in order to “sew together” these requirements is thermosiphon or forced circulation of water in the system, i.e. a heat exchanger is needed, but how to heat it is a second matter.

A simple heat exchange register is a coil (on the left in the figure) or a U-shaped elbow made of copper or aluminum thin-walled tube. It can be laid flat with a slope, in the middle there; then the hot side must be raised above the cold side by no less than the internal diameter of the tube, otherwise internal convection, boiling and rupture may develop even with a relatively small influx of energy.

In some cases, it is more convenient to use a heat exchanger in the form of a sealed vessel, on the right in Fig. The principle of “theromosyphon” is observed here in that the outlet (hot) pipe is located as high as possible from the cold one. In this case, complete sealing is needed, without the slightest leak!

From the stove

A water heating register can be built into a country heating and cooking stove, but this is already a question of the design of the stoves, and where the hot water goes afterwards, the stove, by and large, doesn’t care. A solar oven looks much more interesting in terms of heating water for showers. In our latitudes it is not suitable for cooking, but a shower will provide hot water and the simplest (see figure) in spring and autumn in cloudy weather.

The pattern of such a stove is shown in the following. rice. Material – any foil, even cardboard. Please note that the reflector must be metal; it reflects the entire spectrum of radiation, while household mirrors reflect only the visible part. For IR clouds are much more transparent, while UV clouds carry a lot of energy even in small quantities.

The diagram of a stationary solar oven, more complicated, but much more efficient, is shown in the following. rice. The reflector is assembled from pieces (can be scraps) of galvanized silicone. The reflector fragments are installed one by one, adjusting (adjusting) so that the light spot lies on the bottom of the heated vessel; The already installed and adjusted mirrors are still covered with something. For this stove and the one described before it, a compact heat exchanger is needed; it is installed instead of cooking utensils.

Panels

Solar panels are not that complicated and do not require any adjustment. These are, strictly speaking, flat boxes or other containers blackened from the inside and glazed, in which a strong greenhouse effect is created; A coil is installed inside such a mini-greenhouse, the diagram on the left in Fig. Modern solar panels use truly space-age technologies, and some models in winter, on a cloudy day at -20 outside, release water into the system with a temperature of +70.

We don’t need such super-efficiency; we just need to heat 50-100 liters of water from +15 to +40 in 2-4 hours. Even the simplest design like those shown in the following can cope with this task. poses of the same fig. And in Fig. Below (at the top position - with an installation diagram and a use case for heating a house) are drawings of homemade solar panels, comparable in efficiency to individual industrial designs. The first panel is completely homemade; the heat exchanger is soldered from a copper tube. In the one below, it was used with a radiator from an old, unusable refrigerator; The dimensions of the box are adjusted to fit the cash.

And in the dark?

If the kitchen at the dacha is gasified, no matter from the main line or a cylinder, then you can heat water for the shower for free at any time of the year in any weather, day or night. How? Due to waste heat (essentially its own heat loss) from the gas stove. To do this, a copper coil from a 6-10 mm tube is used to circle the burners, as shown in Fig. This method was invented back in Stalin’s times, when people heard that somewhere at the top, a wonder had appeared - hot water in the tap.

To tilt the heat exchanger, pieces of soft wire are wound around its hot tube, and their whiskers are used either as legs or as hooks. Remember: the heating is intense, without tilting the coil will boil and burst instantly! It is also necessary to maintain other dimensions so as not to burn or dry out the flexible hoses connecting the coil to the tank. What else you need to remember is that the slope of the hot tube should be greater than the cold one, and the coil heats well only if the burning burners are occupied by cooking utensils. That is, there is no point in burning gas idle; you need to heat the water during cooking. As a rule, within an hour of preparing dinner, a 50-liter tank heats up to 40-45 degrees.

Finally

Finally, let’s mention one curiosity – the supposedly hydromassage shower. In Fig. the simplest model is shown on the right (the price, by the way, is not simple - about 300 euros), but installations with 6 and even 10 diffusers are produced, loudly called nozzles in advertising brochures.

Such perfumes are just a tribute to fashion, if not the fabrications of marketers in a consumer society; simply - wiring. For real hydromassage, it is necessary to reduce muscle tone under conditions of hydro-weightlessness, which cannot happen without a bath with water.

An outdoor shower is a simple structure on a country plot that will not leave any person indifferent. Agree, it’s nice to cool off on a hot summer day or after working in the garden. For the sake of such pleasure, you can spend a little time and make a simple shower in the country.

The design of a summer shower is simple. It consists of a cabin and a water tank. Traditionally, the container is placed above the booth, but there are other options, but more on that later. A shower nozzle and a faucet are installed in the bottom of the container.

The operation of the shower is very simple. In the sun, the container heats up, transferring heat to the water. During the day, the water temperature can rise to 40 degrees. To take a shower, just open the tap on the tank.



Fig.1.

To build a summer shower, you need to solve three problems: build a cabin, install a container with water and organize the water supply, and solve the issue of draining water from the shower.

Foundation for a summer shower

The outdoor shower is not a large structure and its weight is not great. However, so that the building does not warp after winter and the shower does not collapse under the weight of the water tank, it is advisable to make a foundation for its installation.

Pile foundation

A pile foundation is very easy to make. To do this, holes are made in the ground at the corners of the building with a diameter of 13–15 cm and a depth of about 1 meter. You can make holes with a garden auger or an ice auger (although you will have to sharpen the knives later). You can do without a drill and just dig holes.

An asbestos-cement pipe is placed in a hole in the ground and filled with concrete. It is possible to use steel pipes. The pipe should protrude no more than 10–15 cm above the ground surface.

Slab foundation

This foundation is good for a small shower stall. To install it, you need to dig up 10-15 cm of soil. Install formwork from boards. Use sand as a cushion. The sand should be poured in such a way that the concrete pour is 5 - 7 cm thick. Next, fill it with concrete. You can make concrete with your own hands at the rate of 1 part cement to 3 parts sand.


Fig.2.

In my opinion, a slab foundation is more functional and easier to manufacture. In addition, it is suitable for installing any type of booth made of any material. Having a slab foundation makes it easier to organize water drainage from a summer shower. To do this, it is enough to make a groove to collect water when pouring.

Shower drainage

An important point in the construction of a summer shower is the drainage of used water. The fact is that if you do not organize a drain, an unpleasant odor may appear, and the shower stall will rot from excess humidity.

The simplest solution for draining water from the cabin is to make a drainage. To install drainage at a short distance from the shower, preferably in the shade, you need to dig a hole the size of two ten-liter buckets. Next, run a pipe from the shower to transport water; a regular sewer pipe will do. The hole should be filled with crushed stone. This way, water from the shower will seep through the crushed stone and be absorbed by the soil.

Drainage can be disguised, for example, with grass or flowers. To do this, crushed stone is poured 10–20 cm below ground level. Agrofibre is laid on top of it and covered with earth.

How to make a booth

For a summer shower, a cabin measuring 1x1 m is sufficient. Three sides are sewn up, and an entrance is made on one. To make a more convenient option with a wardrobe compartment, the size of the cubicle can be made 1x1.6 m. The height of the cubicle depends on the height of the user. In most cases, 2 m is sufficient.

The cabin for a summer shower can be made of wood or metal.

The easiest way to assemble a booth with a metal frame is by welding, however, you can use bolted connections of the elements, but this is more labor-intensive. For booth racks, a square pipe with a cross section of 40x40 mm or a round pipe of a similar diameter is well suited. Cross members can be made from an angle or pipe, but of a smaller cross-section.



Fig.3.

It is easier to make a cabin for a summer shower from wood, since no welding is required. For racks, timber with a cross section from 60x80 to 100x100 mm is well suited. For transverse beams, you can use timber of a smaller cross-section.



Fig.4.

It is advisable to make the floor in the cabin similar to the floor in the bathhouse, i.e. from boards. Crossbars are installed on the walls of the booth perpendicular to the entrance; boards will be laid on them. The boards are laid with a gap of 5 mm to quickly remove water.


Fig.5.

If the foundation of the cabin is made of slabs, then you can lay paving or ceramic tiles.

The booth can be covered with any material. For a cabin on a metal frame, siding and profiled sheets are well suited. For a cabin made of a wooden frame, it is advisable to use wood. It is important that the wood must be treated with a special antiseptic to prevent rotting.

Installing a tank and supplying water to the shower

There are two options for organizing water supply: install a tank on the roof of the cabin or use a pump.

If the first option is chosen, then it is necessary to provide a special gander for filling the tank. After all, the tank will be very high and it will be simply impossible to bring the hose to it.

Installing the tank on top of the cabin is the simplest option and does not require additional equipment. The disadvantage is the lack of access to the contents of the tank, as well as control of the water level and cleaning of the tank.

The second option completely solves the described problems, although it requires additional costs.

A barrel of water can be placed next to the shower stall on the ground. To supply water to the shower, you can install a submersible pump in the barrel, and install a waterproof switch with IP 56 protection into the stall to turn the pump on and off.

As you can see from the description, making a summer shower at your summer cottage is very simple. The construction of a summer shower comes down to assembling the cabin and installing a water supply and drainage system. You can make the booth and drainage yourself without any problems. For water supply, you can purchase a specialized container. Containers for summer showers are available in a huge range on any construction market.