The construction of a bath without fail includes the question of which roof should be equipped for this building.
This article will talk about what a bath roof is, what types of bath roofs exist, and also how to build a bath roof on your own. 
When building on a suburban area, like a bathhouse, you should always pay close attention to the question of how to build a bathhouse roof with your own hands, and how to properly insulate it with heat and waterproofing, which roof to choose, etc.
The bath roof is fundamentally different from the roofs of other buildings and structures in that the main load on its supporting structure is created not from the outside, but from the inside of the room.
This is primarily due to the increase in temperature and humidity in the bath. The evaporation of a large amount of water in the steam room causes the penetration of significant masses of steam into the attic and the deposition of moisture on the supporting structure of the bath roof. The most preferred option in this case is a single-pitched bath roof.
Bath roof classification
When deciding how to build a bath roof, one should be guided by the architectural plan of the structure being built and various building codes. Choosing a specific type bath roofs (one-, two- or multi-slope) is carried out in accordance with the technical parameters of the future bath, as well as the type of area in which the construction will be carried out.
In accordance with the characteristics of the area, the following types of roofs for a bath are chosen:
- The simplest bath, located near a residential building, is most often built with a fairly strong and economical gable roof;
- In areas where heavy snowfalls occur in winter, the roof slope should be chosen large enough (up to 45 °), this allows snow to roll down the roof to the ground instead of stale on the roof;
- The minimum slope of the roof is chosen for forest-steppe and steppe regions with strong winds, which makes it possible to give the roof of the bathhouse the required aerodynamic properties, allowing the wind to go around it without creating strong loads;
- If the bathhouse is an extension to a residential building, the bathhouse roof is made single-pitched, and the angle of inclination is selected in accordance with the climatic conditions of the area and the technical characteristics of the house.
Roof organization options
The choice of how best to cover the roof of the bath determines its service life, reliability and complexity of the installation of the structure and laying the roof.
More complex supporting structures require more complex organization of various works on roof insulationproviding the overall reliability of the building under construction. The main advantage of complex multi-pitched roofs is their attractive appearance, which provides an original look for the entire building, which does not always justify the choice of a complex structure.
The roofs of baths are also divided into two types according to the presence of an attic: roofs with and without an attic. The construction of a roof with an attic provides, first of all, the organization of the floor for the attic.
In the case of erecting a bath roof without an attic, the roof and ceiling of the bath are combined, while the roof is most often made single-pitched, and the bath area does not exceed fifteen square meters. With a larger area of \u200b\u200bthe bath room, proper reliability is ensured only by a reinforced gable roof.
Benefits of various bath roof options
Both of the above types of bath roofs each have their own advantages:
- Building a bath roof with an attic provides a better appearance and more effective thermal insulation, which is especially useful given that the sauna is used most intensively in the winter season.
- Roofs without an attic are the best option for the so-called "summer" bath, which is most often settled in suburban areas.
The cost of their construction is much lower, in addition, such roofs can be used for various household needs as an additional area.
When deciding how to make a roof for a bath, it should also be borne in mind that its slope directly depends on what material the roof will be covered with. For a metal roof, a slope of around 20 degrees is required, for a slate roof - closer to 30 °, the roof slope with a roll coating can be 5 °.
If there is no attic on the roof, then its slope when laying any coating should not exceed 10 °.
Bath roof construction
Before you build the roof of the bath, you should organize for it the supporting structure of the rafters and the correct roof. The truss bearing structure consists of truss trusses arranged in the correct order, and the roof consists of well-equipped lathing and pre-selected roofing material for cladding.
The supporting structure of the roof of the bathhouse consists of floor beams located in the upper part of the piping of the bathhouse box, while it is also recommended to install a Mauerlat - a support beam designed to support the legs of the rafters.
Special nests are equipped in the walls of the bath, allowing you to accurately observe the horizontal position of the floor beams, which are released beyond the outer side of the walls of the bath building.
Important: the release of the overlapping beams is selected in accordance with the design of the building, if it exceeds 50 centimeters, the beams should be supported on the supporting pillars.
Roof trusses, made of wood of a certain thickness, are installed on the ceiling beams of the attic, and the distance between them should not be more than 1 meter.
Their fastening to the beams is carried out similarly to the fastening of trusses in the usual construction of a residential building. The connection of the rafter structure is made using a board or a ridge beam.
The construction of the lathing for the bath roof
If, when choosing how to cover the roof of the bath, preference is given to rolled material, then a continuous crate is made, and thinned out for all others. For its manufacture, a beam is used, the cross section of which is 50x50 mm or boards, the thickness of which should not be less than 40 mm.
The construction of the crate begins with the fastening of a ridge board or timber. Next, the remaining elements of the crate are nailed at the same distance from each other with the obligatory closing of the ridge with galvanized sheet steel or special asbestos-cement templates.
You should also sew up the end parts of the bath roof with dense building material, such as boards. When choosing how to make the roof of the bath, it should be taken into account that in order to avoid the accumulation of steam and moisture condensation, the ceiling of the steam room must be made using high-quality vapor-tight heat-resistant materials, such as lining treated with a special solution.
Bath roof construction
For the manufacture of the supporting structure of the roof for the bath, it is necessary to prepare in advance the required amount of wood timber, the cross section of which is 50x50 mm.
If the width of the bath does not exceed three meters, you should first prepare six bars 370 cm long, which will be used as floor beams. Next, twelve bars are prepared, the length of which is 230 cm as a material for the rafter system.
Useful: since the length of a standard wooden beam is 6 meters, this lathing system allows the most efficient use of the available material, since the length of the floor beam and the length of the rafters add up to just the length of the purchased bar (370 + 230 = 600).
After the preparations are completed, the finished structure is laid out from the overlapping beams and rafter bars, after which the excess parts of the bars are cut off. The necessary marks are made on them, they are adjusted to the exact required dimensions, after which they are fastened together with nails.
Similar actions are performed with all truss trusses, while remembering the need for high-quality bath roof insulation.
Important: the greatest reliability of truss trusses is achieved by fastening all joints on both sides with wooden plates.
Next, the production of front rafters is carried out, for which it is necessary to build special window frames, as well as frames for the door leading to the attic room, if any. The attic room in the bath is rarely used, but it allows you to more comfortably inspect the rafter system for its strength and fire safety, so it is better to equip the door to the attic.
Before fixing the truss trusses directly in place, you should check their identity, for which you can simply fold them in one even pile on top of each other. In the event that any trusses protrude beyond the stacked stack, they should be redone or corrected, since such elements may violate the overall reliability of the truss system.
Further markings are made on the Mauerlat or overlapping beams, and reliability can be increased by nailing the trimmings of the bars so that the supporting parts of the legs of the rafters can be installed in the space remaining between the trimmings. This also allows you to slightly speed up the installation of the truss system and avoid various miscalculations in the location and size of the truss trusses.
Front truss trusses are installed at a slight angle to the center of the roof, this additional precaution allows the supporting structure to be as rigid as possible, able to withstand the strongest wind blows.
The remaining rafter trusses should be installed at the same distance from each other, which is 1 meter, after which they are stitched with a ridge board. Next, the crate is made, the type of which is selected depending on what material will be used to cover the roof.
The choice of roofing material
The standard question, if necessary, to cover the roof of the bath - what is the best way to do this? The answer to it depends on the climatic conditions of the area where the bath is being built.During its construction on a site where a residential building has already been built, all the required indicators should already be known to the developer.
Important: in the case of using roll materials for roofing, the crate should be made continuous, consisting of two main layers.
When laying roofing material in the form of rolls, the first strip should be fixed as evenly as possible, this will subsequently directly affect the quality of laying all subsequent strips. If slate is used to cover the roof, then it is necessary to lay a layer of roofing material under it as a waterproofing.
Useful: in order to lay the roofing material most evenly, it is laid so that the edges protrude slightly beyond the crate. After all the strips of roofing material have been fixed, the protruding ends are cut off and the laying of slate or other material for roofing begins.
Bath roof insulation
When talking about how to build a roof for a bath, you should definitely talk about its thermal insulation, since the bath roof is constantly exposed to elevated temperatures from the steam room. Without high-quality insulation equipment, in winter, condensation occurs, causing irreparable damage to the roof.
Insulation materials are used as thermal insulation, for the installation of which three main methods are used, according to which the insulation is fixed under the rafter system, on the rafter system or in the gaps between trusses. The third method is not only the easiest to perform, but also requires the least amount of time.
During the construction of the bath, it is imperative to pay increased attention to the insulation of the roof, since the integrity of the wood materials used in the construction directly depends on this. The fastening of the insulation material should be carried out close to any planes of the truss system, the formation of cracks is not allowed.
The most common material for insulation is mineral wool, which, in addition to excellent thermal insulation, is notable for its low cost and is recognized as the most environmentally friendly building material. In addition to mineral wool, foam plastic can be used as a heater, which differs for the worse only in its environmental qualities.
In addition to thermal insulation, when arranging a bath roof, one should also remember about hydro and vapor barrier, which allows the attic room of the bath to “breathe”.
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