A Swedish bath, also called bastu (from Swedish “badstuga” - “baths”), is one of the types of baths with special free air circulation. The main difference between bastu is the ventilation system, thanks to which the constant movement of air masses is observed. It is this circumstance that attracts those who are afraid of the heavy, standing atmosphere of the bathhouse - in the Swedish bastu, steamers feel absolutely relaxed and comfortable, they can breathe and move easily. This feature also provides the rooms with good ventilation. There is no dampness, smell of rot, or fungus in them, which often happens with baths that have poor ventilation.
Design Features
A Scandinavian-style bathhouse is distinguished by its good quality, naturalness and practicality. After all, Swedes love everything natural and convenient in everyday life. This is how they approach the construction of a bathhouse. Such structures are constructed according to the convection principle. There is constant air movement here, which makes breathing much easier while in the steam room. Its design resembles an inverted glass, where a warm stream flows from below. Rising to the ceiling, it displaces cold air.
Today, the designs of Swedish baths have changed a little, but have retained this “inverted glass” principle. They are distinguished by their simplicity and small size, which allows you to build a structure with your own hands in a few hours. It is easy to place it both in the green area of a summer cottage and indoors: on the veranda, on the first floor of a country house, in the gym, in the attic, or make it part of an interesting bath project.
Bastu is distinguished by its practicality and ease of operation. Just press one button and the entire sauna mechanism starts working.
Here everyone can take a steam bath to their pleasure. Indeed, in such baths there are two types of steaming - dry and steam. But you won’t be able to get real steam, like in a Russian bathhouse.
Features of Norwegian baths
In Norway, as in most northern countries, classic baths, which are free-standing, entirely wooden buildings, are popular. For their construction, special processed timber with wedge-shaped grooves cut into the logs is used. This allows for a reliable, high-quality connection, which improves the thermal efficiency of the walls. The erected structure is distinguished by its versatility, so it can be used not only as a bathhouse, but also as a temporary summer house in the country.
Features of the construction of a Norwegian bath:
- use of completely environmentally friendly materials;
- the walls are assembled from untreated logs with self-locking grooves;
- use of classic brick stoves.
The use of modern construction technologies makes it possible to significantly simplify and speed up the construction of a Norwegian bathhouse on a personal plot. All logs are processed using special equipment in the factory, and subsequent assembly of the entire structure takes two to three days.
Such a bathhouse does not require caulking, and all the homeowner will need to do is treat the wood with special impregnations to prevent rot and pests every few years.
Did you like the article? Subscribe to our Yandex.Zen channel
Possible designs for Scandinavian baths
Despite the fact that such structures are small in size and characterized by their compactness, they can be easily expanded by creating an individual project with additional rooms in the bathhouse. If we consider a Scandinavian-style sauna, its total area is divided into 4 zones:
Bathhouse project
- sauna with changing room;
- kitchen;
- restroom;
- bedroom.
If we add a summer terrace to this project, we will get an excellent chalet-style bathhouse. Such a structure will become not only an interesting idea for a suburban area, but a real work of art. An Alpine-style bathhouse is a sign of the hospitality and success of the owners.
Also, a Swedish sauna is installed in a frame bath. After insulating the walls and finishing the facade, the structure is designed in any style. For example, baths in the half-timbered style will ideally combine not only brevity, but also the functionality of the design. The variety of roof slopes, the presence of a swimming pool, interesting solutions in the interior of the rooms - all this can be ideally combined with a Swedish bath.
The Swedish sauna used to look different. It had slots above the surface of the earth for constant air movement. Despite modernization, its foundation has been preserved.
Creators of an extravagant sauna
The creative duo of 2 artists Bigert & Bergström created this sparkling golden egg with a hidden steam room inside. The extravagant Arctic project was commissioned by housing company Riksbyggen in 2020.
The creators’ goal was not so much to revive the landscape as to attract the attention of residents to discuss the future of their city. Due to the expansion of iron ore mining in these places, they plan to rebuild it and resettle the townspeople.
The “Sunny Egg” is a symbol of the opportunities opening up for citizens after the renovation of Kiruna. One of the architects behind Solar Egg, Bigert, said that their creation, which evokes unusual associations, is a single fragmented image of the landscape, city, sky, sun and snow.
Design principles
The Swedes use synthetic elements both for construction and for insulating bathhouse walls. But coniferous wood is still considered the main building material, since its structure is more dense and practical. Thermal insulation of the bathhouse can be presented in the form of mineral fiber, but for the interior decoration of the walls they use wooden boards made of cedar or spruce. Cedar saunas practically do not emit resins and give a pleasant aroma. In addition, this material has high moisture resistance, which plays an important role in the operation of the bathhouse.
If the Swedes recognize synthetic materials as suitable for building a sauna, then for Russian baths this is generally not acceptable. For bastu, a wooden frame is not used, as for our Russian steam rooms. To protect the exterior finish, the wood is pre-treated. Inside the steam room, just like in a Russian bath, there are sun loungers that are made of aspen or African abaja wood. These materials have a porous structure, and therefore heat up slowly. This quality is simply irreplaceable in rooms with high temperatures, since bath loungers in a bathhouse are constantly in contact with the human body. The Swedes also exclude the use of a wreath in the steam room. But this in no way makes their sauna worse. Swedish baths are recognized as one of the best buildings of this type in the world.
Glass is used to install windows or porthole walls. But the main material for the construction of bastu is wood. Although Swedish baths are equipped with various bath accessories (thermometers, lamps, wooden barrels, etc.), the steam room does not have the large stone stove that is already familiar to us. Swedes prefer electric heating appliances with a steam generator. Thanks to the automation of electric furnaces, the operation of the heater is easy to program. But besides this, such heaters are practical to use. After all, in 30 minutes they can heat the premises, which you will never be able to achieve when installing a stone stove.
Many of us love the tradition of visiting a Russian bathhouse, and this has its advantages. But the Swedes preferred modern technologies. And no matter how nice a spacious steam room with a stone stove is, Swedish saunas are recognized as the most comfortable and practical baths in the world.
Bastu - national Swedish bath
19.11.2016
There is nothing more suitable for cleansing the body and soul than a good bath. Today, more than ever, the Finnish sauna is popular and in demand, about which you can hear and read a lot, as well as visit it. But not everyone knows that she has a very close relative, which is the Swedish bathhouse Bastu.
Swedish bath Bastu
The Swedes are distinguished by their special love for everything comfortable, high-quality, natural and pleasing to the eye. So Bastu is the embodiment of all this. One of the features that distinguishes the Swedish sauna from others is the ventilation in the sauna, which provides 100% free air circulation, which will allow you to breathe freely and easily while in the sauna.
Basic principles of Bastu design
Bastu is a convection bath in which there is a constant movement of air masses, which greatly facilitates breathing. The principle of ventilation and drying at the time of the founding of this bath was as follows. Its structure resembled an inverted glass and stood above the ground. There were gaps in its floor that opened onto the street. The air from below the steam room, passing through the stove, heated up and rose inside, filling the room, it displaced the cold through these cracks. The principle of the “inverted glass” is still relevant today, only in a more modernized version.
Materials used in assembling Bastu
The sauna itself is assembled from ready-made panels or timber. For the external cladding, insulation and lining are used. If in a Finnish sauna foil is often used as a heat-insulating material, then one of the features of Bastu is the use of special mineral fiber as a heat insulator. This particular material is used because it is generally accepted that foil dries out the wood greatly.
If in the manufacture of a Swedish bath such materials as glass were used in windows and portholes of walls and doors, then the dominant material of Bastu is still wood. The cabins are made of softwood, particularly spruce or cedar. Mainly slow-growing spruce trees are used. Since the structure of the materials obtained from them is more dense. The resulting wood is subjected to vacuum heat treatment. After this procedure, its humidity is no more than 7%.
The advantage of cedar is that it produces almost no resin. A cedar sauna is beautiful and cozy with a golden and slightly reddish tint to the walls. Cedar wood also has an exceptionally pleasant aroma that fills the steam room for a very long time. The peculiarity of such materials is that they are extremely light and moisture resistant.
Swedish sauna installed in the bathroom of the house
Prefabricated Swedish baths, just like Finnish ones, are very convenient. They are assembled within a few hours. Recently, Bastu made from spruce logs has become very popular, which gives the sauna an exceptional color and pristine appearance. In addition to the types of wood described above, Canadian hemlock and alder are also used in the construction of a Swedish bath.
The rest of the interior decoration is also made of wood, but of a different species, which has a porous structure and heats up rather slowly. Which is simply irreplaceable in the manufacture of products whose surfaces are constantly in contact with the body. This is the African abah tree. Also in our homeland there grows a tree that is not inferior to abacha in moisture resistance and beauty. One can even say that in these qualities it leaves the “foreigner” behind. This tree is aspen. Benches, cornices, buckets, lamps, thermometers, flooring and all interior decoration are made from such wood inside Bastu. You can also complement the sauna with comfortable wooden chairs - sun loungers and a swimming pool, also made of wood. Aspen is simply irreplaceable if the Finnish sauna operates in the Russian steam room mode.
About 90% of bath and sauna technology experts consider the principles of building Swedish baths to be the most effective and best among all others in the world. There are indisputable facts about this. Despite the fact that the word “sunnah” came from the Finnish language, in ancient times the palaces of the Vatican and the Principality of Monaco were equipped with saunas built according to the Bastu principle. In fact, it boasts a fairly significant list of advantages that distinguish this type of bathhouse from others that are equally popular.
One of the main advantages is considered to be the prostate control of such a sauna. In order to launch Basta, you only need to press a few buttons. Also an undeniable advantage is the mobility of this bathhouse and its rather small size. Thanks to this, Basta can easily be installed in almost any room, including even in the bathroom or attic. But the room for placing a Swedish sauna must be heated.
Stoves for Swedish saunas
The Swedes use the stoves used in Bastu as heaters. These are special electric stoves designed for installation in saunas. They are quite easy to use and very practical. Using such stoves, you can warm up the entire sauna room in just 30 minutes. This is much easier than using wood-burning stoves in Russian baths, which not everyone can light, or any other stoves that run on liquid or solid fuel, since they require cleaning, and some require constant support for the fire to burn.
Heater for saunas and baths
Conclusion!
The Swedes preferred modern technologies, and in particular programmable heaters, which are practically autonomous. No one should have any difficulties when working with this technique. The electronic heater system is programmed to turn on and off independently. This allows you to set sauna operating modes, which may include continuous operation of Bastu throughout the day or week. In this case, the heaters operate in standby mode, remaining constantly warmed up.
: 1 330
The oven is a symbol
The entire interior of the sauna is made of fragrant pine. The wall cladding repeats the polygons of the exterior, the floor is laid out in the form of equal segments of a circle, the aspen two-tier shelves are also divided into trapezoidal sectors to follow the circle, but be combined with the “irregularity” of the cladding.
The basis of the sauna is a wood-burning stove - a symbol of warmth. It is made of metal and bricks and follows the anatomical shape of the human heart, entangled with blood vessels.
The stove is located in the center of the circle and heats up to +75…+85°C. There is an equal distance from her to all the people sitting on the shelves.
When all visitors (no more than 8 people) enter the “Sunny Egg”, a shimmering “golden” staircase with 8 steps rises and becomes a door.
The main advantages of saunas
Tylö's prefabricated saunas are a complete steam room complex, the assembly of which takes only a few hours.
Among the main advantages of Tylo ready-made saunas:
- elegant, modern design. The buyer is offered various finishing and filling options;
- compactness. The smallest models can be installed on only 1.3 square meters of area! Therefore, you can easily turn even a standard bathroom in a city apartment into a home SPA complex;
- Absolutely environmentally friendly. Natural wood is used for interior decoration - spruce, birch, alder, oak. All plastic components are vacuum formed under strict control. Tylö guarantees that both production technologies and finished products comply with all environmental requirements;
- comfortable and safe operation. Intuitive controls add to the enjoyment of using Tylo products;
- a wide range of models that can satisfy the needs of any buyer. There are both budget options and spacious premium spa complexes on sale. Regardless of the model you choose, using it will give you maximum pleasure and comfort.
