Blind Area Around The House: How To Make It Right With Your Own Hands? Device, Processing Technology. Types And Sizes. What It Is?

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 12:09

The blind area around the house is not just a kind of decoration that allows you to complement the visual appearance of a residential building . And in general, it is used as an additional attribute not only in residential buildings, but also in industrial and office buildings.

What it is?

The blind area surrounding the house is located in the immediate vicinity of its foundation . Despite the fact that the foundation itself has a waterproofing layer of a decent quality, the latter is only able to partially protect the foundation from the constant destructive effects of moisture. But water after rain or melting snow continues to collect near the foundation, swelling the soil at the first frost, which is why it presses on the base of the structure and seeks to violate its integrity. The blind area technologically consists of several layers of various building materials.

By performing different functions, these layers help to achieve a single common goal - take water away from the foundation, do not let it come close in a short time, soak all the soil nearby … First of all, the expanded soil would affect the waterproofing - for example, when roofing material is used as it, it would be quickly torn into fragments. And through the breaks, the water would come to the foundation at the first thaw and with subsequent frosts, soaking it, would begin to destroy it.

The blind area does not allow water to penetrate close to the house in large quantities - even when the soil near the house becomes slightly damp, its destructive effect will be much less intense.

Primary requirements

According to GOST, the technological layers of the blind area should not allow the soil around the house to get wet … Moisture, even if it has penetrated the upper layers, must be completely removed from the bottommost layer of the blind area. Better yet, use waterproof and frost resistant layers. According to SNiP, the blind area should not be rigidly tied to the foundation .… Some craftsmen connect its frame with the frame of the foundation, but this is done only in exceptional cases, already at the very laying of it and not always.

Full compliance with the requirements of SNiP does not allow its construction in the year the house was built … It is necessary to let the house settle - shrinkage is typical for all types and varieties of buildings and structures. If the house is rigidly connected at the base to the blind area, then he can pull it down, try to push it in.

But this does not happen - the blind area will simply break off and shift, since the weight of the house is at least 20 times more than the mass of the blind area. The result is a distorted structure that needs to be repaired (to eliminate cracks and faults), but in most cases, the blind area will simply go for "uprooting". The width of the blind area is made no closer than 80 cm from the outer perimeter of the foundation. Its height should rise by at least 10 cm above the rest (adjacent) soil, and the outer surface should be located at a slight slope, for example, be tilted outward (not inward) by at least 2 degrees.

The latter condition will provide a very effective outflow, rolling of water, will not allow it to stagnate in the form of puddles nearby, which would eventually lead to the formation of moss, duckweed and mold on the surface of the blind area and the foundation itself.

It is impractical to make the dimensions of the path-blind area more than 120 cm, then the blind area can turn into a wide sidewalk in front of the house, or become a full-fledged platform.

Type overview

According to the hardness of the coating, the types of blind areas are divided into hard, semi-hard and soft . But the blind area also has varieties: purely concrete, concrete-slab, gravel, pebble (for example, from wild stone), brick-stone (broken brick, all kinds of rubble) and some others. The last of the listed is considered as a temporary option, which will later be replaced by a more thorough implementation. It is better to lay the blind area immediately in the most capital way - it is imperative to use reinforced concrete, which is the guarantor of durability (not less than 35 years). The pebble blind area is more of a temporary option: the stone can be easily removed, and instead of it, formwork is placed around the outer perimeter, the reinforcing cage is stretched, and the free space is poured with concrete.

A blind area for a house that stands on stilts is part of the foundation . It begins somewhere in the center of the territory under the house itself, forming a slope with a slope of 1 degree, preventing any accumulation of moisture under the building and its further freezing. But the house on stilts also has a drawback - the snow swept under it by the storm wind, sticking and freezing, destroys the foundation of the house. It doesn't matter what the walls of the house are made of. A universal solution will be a strip-monolithic foundation with a slab poured into the perimeter, repeating the house living space (according to the plan) . This means that for a wooden, panel-panel house, the capital blind area is performed according to the general scheme.

Hard

The rigid blind area traditionally includes the following layers:

• crushed stone layer;
• reinforced concrete layer;
• tiles on a cement screed (in this case, it is not always installed).

Crushed stone, being thoroughly rolled, remains compressed. Its hardness and density is not disturbed for many years. Reinforced concrete (reinforced concrete) is the first serious water-impermeable coating. It is extremely difficult to damage it - being a reinforced, in fact, monolith, it holds the blind area in its place as rigidly as simple concrete (slag concrete, sand concrete) would not do.

Even the presence of plasticizers that increase frost resistance (less water penetrates inside, tending to freeze at the first frost, while tearing the concrete material), does not negate the ability of concrete to react to crack expansion. The sand concrete screed, on which the tiles are laid, is also a solid base. This list is completed by paving stones or any other paving slabs.

Semi-rigid

There are no reinforcing layers on a semi-rigid blind area. No concrete is used . Instead, simple hot asphalt, used in road construction and repairs, is laid on the crushed stone. Instead of asphalt, for example, concrete with crumb rubber can be used.

If it was not possible to get the crumb, and such a coating, due to its wear resistance, would be too expensive as a result, then we can advise putting tiles directly on the crushed stone.

The disadvantage of this solution is that the tile will need to be adjusted (if it is not fitted enough, it can begin to crumble).

Soft

The soft blind area is performed as follows:

• clean clay is poured onto a previously deepened trench;
• sand is laid on top;
• a tile is placed on it.

Crushed stone is not always needed here. Do not forget to put a layer of waterproofing under the sand so that the sand layer does not mix with the clay .… In some cases, crushed stone is poured instead of tiles. Gradually, in the course of operation, it is trampled down to a state in which its maximum possible compaction is achieved. The soft blind area refers to temporary - for revision, it can be partially disassembled.

But the blind area, whose top layer is made of wild stone, is not soft. But in soft coatings, rubber crumb can be used instead of tiles.

How to do it yourself?

Step by step to correctly make a durable blind area means to use the scheme of its laying, which guarantees this durability. The capital blind area can be laid according to the classical scheme, the execution of the step-by-step instructions for which is as follows.

• Free up the area around the house in places where the blind area will pass, from unnecessary objects, remove all debris and weeds, if any.
• Dig around the foundation a trench with a depth of about 30 cm .
• You can put it close to the wall waterproofing (roll materials are used) and insulation , for example, an additional layer of roofing material and foam (or polyethylene) with a height of about 35-40 cm. This layer will protect the base from freezing, and will also serve as an expansion joint in case of a slight movement of the soil during periods of heaving. Lay waterproofing underneath the first clay layer.
• Fill in a 10 cm layer of clay, tamp it down . To speed up the process, you can pour water so that the clay particles combine, and it sags as much as possible.
• Lay on trampled and leveled clay geotextile .
• Fill in a layer of sand of at least 10 cm , compact it thoroughly. Unsifted sand (quarry, uncleaned) can be used.
• Fill in a 10 cm layer of rubble , tamp it down.
• Install the formwork at the place of concrete pouring … The height is about 15 cm from the ground level at the site. It runs along the border of the trench, which is adjacent to the site. The trench, in turn, is filled with the underlying layers of building materials that you just filled in and tamped down.
• Install the mesh (reinforcement mesh) . Using pieces of brick or stones, raise it above the compacted rubble by 5 cm.
• Dissolve and pour concrete of a grade not lower than M-300 … For greater durability, concrete can be made with the composition of the M-400 brand, adding a plasticizer for its lesser ability to absorb moisture.
• During the pouring process, using a wide spatula or trowel, it is important to create a slight slope - at least 1 degree .
• After pouring, when, say, 6 hours have passed, and the concrete sets, hardens, water the poured blind area for 31 days - this will give the concrete its maximum strength.
• After waiting for the concrete to gain full strength, lay the tiles on a cement-sand mortar or a layer of sand concrete up to 3-5 cm thick … Use a trowel or a spatula to further give the blind area a slight slope, checking the hydrolevel and the protractor (goniometer): the layer of a kind of screed should be slightly thicker against the wall, and somewhat less thick away from it. To level the tiles downhill, also use a rubber mallet and a one meter (or one and a half meter) rule. Instead of a rule, any piece, for example, professional pipes, will do.

Smoothness, like the slope, are no less important - this will not allow puddles to stagnate on the tile (blind area), provide water with a quick and effective drain in places where drainpipes descend to the blind area along the walls, as well as in case of oblique showers falling under the roof overhang (rainwater, for example, runs down the siding).

How to treat against destruction?

It makes sense to independently cover the blind area from further destruction in the case when decorative tiles are not additionally placed … Despite the presence of a plasticizer in concrete, some coating is really needed. If there is often no one to walk on the blind area (for example, the owner of a country house lives alone), and no impact is expected, then you can act simply and unpretentiously - paint the concrete with paint, cover it with bitumen (in this case, it resembles asphalt, which retains its structure and protective function up to half a century from the date of completion of work on the blind area).

However, impregnation with bitumen is not good for health: like heated asphalt, in the summer heat it evaporates, decomposing into lighter volatile hydrocarbon compounds.

Decorative finishing

In addition to painting, coating with bitumen, any decorative tile is used. Paving stones are more expensive, but more durable, looks respectable, speaks of the solidity and prosperity of the owner of a country cottage or a private house in the city. A simpler paving slab - vibrated or vibro-pressed - is made in a symmetrical and / or easily assembled form: one element - a single or prefabricated block, from which the sidewalk is laid out. A full-fledged blind area is lined in the form of a sidewalk covering, as in a park or on any of the streets in the city center. An alternative to tiles is a rubber coating. With the help of crumb rubber, the blind area becomes the most durable.

It is recommended to use crumb, which, if possible, consists of high-quality synthetic or natural rubber, with additives that strengthen its structure . There are frequent cases when the crumb crushed to the consistency of river sand is introduced into the poured concrete as a plasticizer. If you are not satisfied with the rubber coating of the path around (along the perimeter) of the house, which is the capital blind area, then an artificial turf can be used for protection. Natural, with the growth of lawn grass, in turn, can undergo stagnation of moisture, washout by rainstorms - as well as destruction of concrete by roots. Therefore, the option of arranging a lawn can not be considered seriously - use other places on the site for the lawn.

Errors during creation

The most common mistake is trying to weld the blind area frame to the foundation frame . But such a decision makes no sense: nobody canceled the heaving of the soil during its freezing. In the north of Russia, as well as beyond the Urals, where the depth of its freezing reaches 2, 2 m, and in some places it even merges with a layer of permafrost, the experience of private and multi-apartment developers forces them to build a full-fledged basement floor. But this does not save the adjacent territory from freezing: prolonged frosts will freeze everything under the blind area, including itself. Special engineering surveys will be required. In any cases, the blind area should not be rigidly connected to the foundation - to close the expansion joint, use materials based on plastic, rubber, all kinds of composite layers: the expansion joint must be present, it serves as a technological gap.

Don't neglect waterproofing and geotextiles … The waterproofer fences off the "under-drainage" soil, lying below, from moisture sweating, creates a barrier for it, and also deprives the roots of weeds, which suddenly crawled under the house, of air for breathing. As an example, any building material that tightly covered any place on the site, for example, galvanized iron: where there is no light and air, the earth is clean from weeds. Geotextile, allowing moisture to pass through, helps to remove it from the clay. It is not recommended to use asphalt in a private residential area: like a bituminous coating, it evaporates all the same oil products decomposing in the sun. Frequent inhalation is fraught with health problems after a few years.

The ideal option is to use materials made of natural and artificial stone that do not contain artificial additives. The exception is geotextile and roofing felt, but they are protected from the fumes of volatile substances by the fact that they are actually buried in the blind area.

Beautiful examples

As examples, there are several options

The tiled blind area is decorated with a border along the outer perimeter . The foundation for it is laid even at the stage of filling in sand and gravel. Curb stones (curb) are strengthened using a special pouring, which is performed before the main stage of pouring the blind area with a frame.

If glossy tiles are used, then grout the joints with a white decorative grout compound . Or, using a thin brush, paint over simple cement-sand joints with white paint. Accidental spills of paint and cement are removed by grouting and painting. Dark tiles create a sharp contrast to white or light seams. A drainage system is being built nearby - for example, a storm sewer with a decorative lattice.

For tiles that are specially made for the purpose of laying out blind areas, some edges are made rounded and massive . They resemble a border - which, in turn, does not need to be laid out additionally.

The blind area next to the lawn also does not require a curb component … As a rule, most owners of private houses have their lawn almost at the same level, just a couple of centimeters below the level of the path. There is no sharp difference in height here, which means that the tile will not move: it is laid on a reliable base. After installing the tiles, sliding of the track to the side is completely excluded.

Choosing the right decor is a matter of taste for everyone. But the capital blind area must comply with all state norms and building rules, which have been tested for decades and millions of successful (and not very) specific projects, embodied in reality.

Subject to all manufacturing technologies, the device of a high-quality blind area can be made independently.