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It is rare that someone in the country builds a capital shower from brick or cinder block. Usually its use is limited to three summer months, and then during the planting of the garden, as well as harvesting. For such a short period, it is enough to build a light booth from any sheet material. A good option is a polycarbonate garden shower with a dressing room, which is easy to design and manufacture on your own.
Why is it better to choose polycarbonate for shower cladding
Polycarbonate is not the only material for sheathing a country shower. For this case, corrugated board or lining is successfully suitable. Just today we decided to focus on this beautiful and durable material.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of using polycarbonate shower enclosures over other similar materials:
- From large sheets of polycarbonate, you can cut out solid fragments of a shower stall. This allows you to quickly sheathe the frame. If you omit the time for making the foundation, then the shower stall is easy to install in the country in one day.
- The flexibility of the sheets allows you to create shower cabins of various shapes from polycarbonate. A round or oval design will look aesthetically pleasing at their summer cottage.
- For sheathing the shower cubicle, opaque polycarbonate 6–10 mm thick is used. The material is characterized by increased strength. Such a shower will withstand even strong hurricanes. According to GOST, the strength of polycarbonate is five times greater than ordinary glass.
- Polycarbonate withstands a large temperature difference from -40 to +120о C. The weight of the sheet is several times less than that of other sheathing materials.
- The aesthetic side is also important. Polycarbonate is produced in different colors. If desired, in the country, you can build a beautiful shower from a combination of multi-colored sheets.
If the arguments for the advantages of polycarbonate have convinced you, we proceed to the next stage of building a shower for a summer residence.
A few important tips regarding the development of a country shower project with a dressing room
Even such a simple construction as a polycarbonate shower for a summer residence requires the creation of a project. Complex drawings do not need to be built, but a simple scheme can be sketched. Here you immediately need to decide for yourself what kind of shower you want to build. Very quickly, you can make a lightweight booth and just put it on the ground. It is more difficult to manufacture showers on a foundation with heated water, but this design will last longer. In addition, in the country shower you can swim in the cold.
So, let’s start developing the project on our own:
- The construction of a country shower begins with determining its location. It is important to note that water must be constantly added to the tank. Carrying it with buckets from afar is inconvenient and difficult. It is better to put a shower stall near the water intake.
- If a lot of people will bathe in the country shower, it should be located as close as possible to the cesspool or septic tank. The close installation of a country shower near the cesspool will save on laying sewer pipes, but it is advisable not to bring the cabin closer to the sewage collector closer than 3 m. On hot days, bad smells from the sewer will penetrate into the shower, creating an unpleasant atmosphere while bathing.
- The water in the summer shower tank is heated by the sun. The cabin should be placed in the sunniest place, where there is no shade from trees and tall buildings.
- Inside the shower cubicle and the polycarbonate changing room, lighting must be provided so that you can swim at night. Just keep in mind that the lights must have a high degree of protection against water ingress. It is optimal to place shower cabins in the country house on the back side of the house. Here, the nearest sewerage, water supply and not far to pull the electric cable for lighting.
- Having decided on the location of the country shower, they begin to draw up a diagram of the polycarbonate booth itself. Initially, it was decided that the country shower would be with a locker room. If the dimensions of the shower stall are 1x1x2,2 m, then the locker room will have to add a length of about 0,6 m. In this case, the width of the structure will be 1 m, and the length will be 1,6 m. If the owners are obese people, then the width of the shower stall with a locker room it is better to increase to 1,2 m.
- Inside the shower stall provide a distinction. The dressing room is separated by a threshold, as well as a canvas curtain. They will not let water wet clothes and shoes.
- If desired, a dressing room can be arranged in the dressing room. Then, additional racks are separately installed near the shower stall, on which polycarbonate sheets are attached. The dimensions of the dressing room depend on the preferences of the owner. Sometimes summer residents build large dressing rooms where, in addition to the locker room, they equip a resting place. Benches and a table are set inside.
- The total height of the shower cubicle from the ground to the roof is at least 2,2 m. Together with the tank, it can reach 2,5 m, and even higher. The height inside the shower stall will be smaller. Part of the space below will be taken by a wooden pallet, and a watering can with a crane will hang from above by at least 15 cm.
Given all these nuances, a diagram of a shower with a polycarbonate locker room is sketched on a piece of paper, after which they begin to build it.
Arrangement of the foundation and drain
A country shower with a dressing room is considered a more complex structure than a traditional 1×1 m cabin. For such a building, it is desirable to make a foundation. Polycarbonate is a very light material, but you need to take into account the weight of the tank. A container with 100-200 liters of water will create a strong pressure on the foundation, and it must withstand it.
There are many types of foundations, but if a summer shower for a summer residence is made of polycarbonate, then it is enough to drive piles in the corners where the cabin will stand. To do this, four pits 1–1,5 m deep are drilled with a drill. Pieces of a metal or asbestos pipe with a diameter of 100 mm are lowered into the holes. The space around the pipes and inside is filled with concrete, and before pouring, an anchor rod is installed inside each pipe. In the future, the frame of the shower stall will be fixed to this hairpin.
Now it’s time to equip the drain. If the soil is loose in the country, and few people will bathe in the shower, then it is easier to make a drainage pit. Right in the shower, a layer of soil 50 cm deep is selected. The pit is covered with any stone, and on top with small gravel. A wooden pallet with large slots is placed under the feet. Waste water from the pallet will pass through the layers of stone and soak into the ground.
A full drain from the shower will serve more effectively. To make it into the floor, you will have to concrete the sewer pipe from the bends. Moreover, the entire plane of the floor is made with a slight slope towards the waste funnel. The sewer pipe is connected to the general country sewerage system or led to a drainage well.
It will be easier and more aesthetically pleasing to organize a drain from a country shower using an acrylic tray. The finished product is simply installed on the floor inside the shower stall, and the drain is connected to the sewer.
We make a cabin of a country shower with a dressing room
So, if we build a shower without a dressing room for a summer cottage, but with an internal dressing room, then we make a solid frame. It should be noted right away that a wooden beam for a polycarbonate shower will not work. In addition to the fact that wood quickly rots, it tends to “play” from changes in humidity and temperature levels. Similarly, polycarbonate “plays” from temperature fluctuations. The result is a country shower with wrinkled trim.
For the manufacture of a shower frame, it is optimal to take a profile with a section of 40×60 mm. A metal corner will also work, but with a minimum shelf width of 25 mm. The frame of the soul is welded separately from the foundation. The main racks are placed in the corners, and two additional ones in front for hanging doors. The sash frame is also welded from the profile. It is attached to the door post with hinges.
On top of the frame, two additional jumpers are welded to install the tank. Here you can use a little trick. If you buy a square-shaped shower tank in the store, you can fix it on the frame instead of the roof. Thus, it will turn out to save a little on the arrangement of the roof of a summer shower made of polycarbonate. In the photo you can see an example of a finished shower stall.
The welded shower frame is installed on a pile foundation. Here it is time to remember the left anchor studs. Holes are drilled in the profile of the lower trim of the frame, the metal structure is installed on the studs and tightened with nuts. Now the frame of the summer shower is securely in place, and you can proceed to the polycarbonate sheathing.
A large sheet of polycarbonate is cut into fragments according to the size of the shower walls. Sawing is better with a jigsaw. Holes for hardware are drilled in polycarbonate and metal profiles, and the diameter of the hole on the sheathing material should be 1 mm larger than the thickness of the self-tapping screw. Polycarbonate is attached to the frame using special hardware with a sealing ring.
When joints occur between two sheets of polycarbonate, a profile is used to connect. The tightness of the joint inside the profile is ensured by the embedded silicone.
When the skin is finished, the protective film is removed from the polycarbonate. By the way, we must not forget to put plugs on all ends. They will not allow dirt to accumulate in the polycarbonate cells.
The end of the construction of a country shower with a dressing room is the installation of a tank. It is better to use a factory-made plastic container with heating. For a family of five, a tank with a capacity of 100 liters is more than enough.
The video talks about a summer shower made of polycarbonate:
A self-made summer shower with a polycarbonate locker room will serve the owners for at least 20 years. It is only necessary to remember to drain the water from the tank for the winter.