The blind area around the house with their own hands - how to do

The blind area near the house, first of all, serves as a kind of protection along with a decorative function. It protects the foundation from precipitation or their effects. Install a blind area around the house with their own hands after the laying of the walls, when it comes time to exterior finish.

From the side of the blind area it looks like a wide band, hermetically adjacent to the outer part of the foundation, enveloping the house from all sides. It is this local area that is exposed to the greatest amount of precipitation that flows from the roof or walls of the building, so it must be reliable, waterproof, strong. In addition to its direct destination, the blind area “works” as a heater for the basement of the building.

As for the width of this protection band, the rule “the more - the better” works here. According to the SNiP, the minimum width of the blind area should be at least 80 cm, while the maximum can be any - at the discretion of the host.

There are certain requirements for the arrangement of this architectural element:

1. The width of the strip should not be equal to the level of the protrusion of the roof, and it should not already be this prominent edge.
2. The blind area around the house must be continuous.
3. Protection of the foundation of a building depends on the width of the strip.
4. Installation is carried out with a house slope of at least 1.5 °.

The blind area must be wide enough so that you can walk along it without touching the walls. The most optimal width is 1 meter.

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The blind area around the house

The blind area of ​​any type consists of two layers - the underlying and waterproof. The bottom layer is usually gravel, crushed stone or sand, and the top can be made of concrete, natural stone, paving slabs, asphalt.

The optimum slope from the house is 3-5 °, if the building is on ordinary ground, the blind area should be approximately 20-30 cm larger than the eaves. If your home is erected on subsiding or marshy ground, then the blind area around the house should be at least 90-110 cm.

It is worth mentioning that some types of foundations( for example, screw and pile) do not need a blind area at all. They require the installation of a protective coating only in places where water is drained from the roof.

If the house is on heaving soil, it is better to make a blind area with insulation - this is necessary so that the protection does not let moisture through. In winter, the water freezes, bursting the ground, therefore, expanded polystyrene laid in the blind area can prevent this factor. Extruded polystyrene foam not only does not pass water, but also is characterized by high insulating properties.

Expanded polystyrene is placed between the layers of the blind area( a crushed stone or gravel pad is located below), it is best to pour concrete on top or to lay tiles or cobblestones. This method of insulation is very effective, shows good results.

Consider the types of blind area around the house:

1. The simplest but practically unused material for the construction of a protective strip is clay. It is an excellent hydraulic lock for the base of the house. Now the use of clay is no longer relevant, as new modern materials confidently occupy a leading position in the construction market.
2. Concrete paving is the most common option for providing foundation protection. It is quickly installed, has a low cost at the price of spent building materials, has a long operational life, and is resistant to the manifestations of natural factors.
3. The blind area around the house is laid on a layer of sand. The tile is convenient because it can be matched to the exterior of the building or the decorative features of the summer cottage. This type of protective strip around the house is durable, easy to install.
4. Natural stone, laid around the house, looks very nice, has a long service life, but requires patience and accuracy when laying.
5. The asphalt coating of the protective strip is used infrequently, due to the lack of decoration, the specific smell when heated by sunlight and high cost.
6. The waterproofing around the house blind area is done only if there is a properly installed drainage system. In this case, a lot of attention is paid to the installation of drains from the roof, so that moisture is drained away at a considerable distance from the foundation of the building. Such protection around the house works more for decoration than for practicality.
7. One of the most expensive types of blind area is made of granite. Respectable appearance, quality, durability - the main criteria for this method of protection.

It will be ideal if a drainage system is equipped on the outside of the entire perimeter of the protective strip around the house( it is not necessary to make it very deep).This technique will protect the foundation from contact with moisture.

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How to make a blind area with your own hands around the house?

As mentioned above, the blind area consists of two structural layers - the underlying and the covering. The underlying layer provides an even, dense base for laying subsequent materials. In the role of "litter" sand, clay, crushed stone of small fraction acts. The thickness of the litter layer depends on the material to be covered with the blind area.

The coating fulfills its main purpose - protection against water and no matter what material it is made of.

As an example, consider the phased construction of a concrete blind area:

1. Initially, the marking of the future protective strip is carried out, for arranging concrete protection we take as a basis a width of 1 meter.
2. Across the perimeter of the house( in accordance with the markings), remove the soil layer( 20-30 cm) and compact the base.
3. If there are plants under a layer of the removed soil, then their roots can be treated with herbicides so that later they do not begin to make their way under the pavement.
4. We make removable formwork from the boards.
5. We put a thin layer of clay on the compacted soil, and a sandy layer( about 10 cm) on top of it. Clay, sand must be properly compacted after laying, in the immediate vicinity of the foundation sand is rammed especially carefully.
6. We pour water over the sandy layer, but not very abundantly, since clay is below.
7. We lay crushed stone in a thin layer, about 6-8 cm.
8. In order for the future blind area of ​​the house to be strong, withstand the compressive and tensile loads, it must be reinforced. For this purpose, a reinforcing mesh with a step of 10 cm will be suitable.
9. In the place where the blind area is adjacent to the base you need to make a compensating seam, sometimes it is called thermal or deformation. This seam performs a kind of protection when settling the soil. It has a width of 1-2 cm. Thus, this gap between the base and the pavement is filled with sand and gravel or roofing material, it can also be poured with resin or filled with foamed polyethylene( tow) and sealant. Mandatory installation of expansion joints in all corners of the house.
10. How to fill the blind area at home? The construction of expansion joints is simply necessary when arranging the proper protective strip around the house. When pouring concrete mass every 2 or 3 meters, you need to install non-thick wooden boards, put an edge. For these purposes, the usual wooden slats are optimal, they should be put in such a way that the upper surface coincides with the level of the surface of the concrete mass, and always taking into account the slope! Wooden elements can be pre-treated with rot protection.
11. What kind of concrete is needed for the blind area around the house? Concrete, which is used to create it, should not be inferior in its frost-resistant characteristics to the road counterpart. Brand M250 or M300 fits perfectly, it is mixed with sand, fine gravel, water until a homogeneous mass. This mass is laid on top of the reinforcement mesh and wooden fins, compacted( by vibrating or sticking) and leveled with the help of the rule.
12. Concrete pavement around the house, made with your own hands, will be as strong as possible if you use the ironing method immediately after casting. There are two ways to do this construction - dry and wet. In the dry mode, dry cement is sprinkled onto a freshly leveled layer of concrete. It is sifted on a fine sieve. By tapping on this sieve, it is evenly distributed with a thin layer( 2-3 mm) over the entire surface of the blind area. After the manipulations, this layer is carefully compacted with a plastering blade. Dry cement draws moisture from wet concrete and, while freezing, forms additional reinforcing armor. In the case of wet ironing, sieved cement is mixed with water to a pasty consistency, applied to a dried concrete layer with a plastering blade. The thickness of this protection is also equal to 2-3 mm. Sometimes ceresite or liquid glass is added to such a solution, but in any case, the strength of the protective layer depends on the quality of the sealing and smoothing.
13. At the final stage, the concrete is covered with a wet cloth, it is periodically moistened with it - this protects the concrete layer from drying out until it finally hardens. After 7-10 days, your concrete blind area will be ready.

You can go an easier way - save time. This method is now very popular, as it has good protective qualities, gives the local area an attractive look.

To do this, after removing the layer of soil, sand is poured onto the bottom of the trench, filled with liquid glass mixed with a hardener on top. After solidification an attractive monolithic surface is obtained, which has high moisture-resistant characteristics.

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How to seal a crack in the blind area of ​​the house?

Cracks or damage to the concrete surface may also appear due to certain circumstances. Shallow cracks can be poured with cement slurry, larger ones are pre-cut to the full length of damage, cleaned of debris and dust. After cleansing the crack is filled with a mixture of bitumen, asbestos and sand.

Major damage can also be filled with a fresh concrete mass, pre-primed them. Next, the "latka" care as well as the usual screed - moisten the surface until the concrete hardens.

If the damage is serious, then additional reinforcement of the gaps is made, followed by pouring them with sand-cement mixture with the addition of rubble. After complete curing, the patches are treated with a primer.

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Soft blind area around the house

Soft blind area has no top hard coating, gravel of various colors is covered in place of it, or even grass soil is used. The soft blind area is not afraid of the deformation of the soil due to freezing and the subsequent thawing. When laying such a protective strip is not necessary to observe the angle of the slope. If a layer of polystyrene foam is provided at the base of the soft blind area, it will additionally help to reduce the depth of soil freezing in the area of ​​the foundation.

The blind area around the house is made of rubble:

1. A layer of soil is removed, compacted, then a layer of clay( 10 cm) is laid over the entire area of ​​the resulting trench. In order to avoid subsequent heaving, the clay must be absolutely pure, that is, it must not contain sand.
2. Clay is also rammed, a waterproofing film is laid on top of it( with a margin).If the circumstances are such that the blind area moves away from the foundation, then the film reserve will be able to compensate for the shortage of material. The film is fixed by overlapping directly on the foundation.
3. Sand is poured over the water barrier.
4. The next step is the laying of geotextiles over the entire area of ​​the future blind area.
5. Crushed stone is piled on geotextiles, the layer of embankment can be from 10 to 15 cm.
6. Geotextiles are re-laid, on which decorative crushed stone is poured.

Thus, any blind area around the house, made with our own hands, will help to significantly increase the operational resource of your home, will bring additional aesthetics and attractiveness.