A blindfold around the house. How to do it and why?

The construction of a private house or villa is often accompanied by the creation of a blind area. What is it and why is it necessary? The blind around the house is a kind of foundation defense. From what? From moisture, of course. Excess water is dangerous because it erodes the ground under the foundation, because of what the latter "sits down". And because of its shrinkage, the whole house shrinks. Most often this is uneven. That's why many houses become squinting and a little crooked with time.

Before doing a blind area around the house, it is necessary to take a number of important steps to prepare:

• Determine the type of soil (shrinkage or not);
• Measure the width of the future area according to the type of soil (minimum 100 cm for the first type, 60 cm for the second type);
• Choose the underlying layer (crushed stone, sand, clay);
• Choose the type of coating (tiles, paving blocks and others);
• Dig out the first layer of soil under the blind (about 25 cm deep);
• Put the formwork.

Formwork can serve as a simple board, which will be given a form for covering. If the soil shrink, then you can not use a concrete solution for the blind area. It must be mobile. An important condition: the blind area around the house should be inclined. This is necessary in order that rainwater can flow down the slope from the foundation, without seeping into it.

In addition, there is no need to make a bundle of ditches and foundations. The fact is that these two objects carry a different load, and therefore do not need a binding. In order to prevent atmospheric precipitation from getting into the air holes of the house, you can make special "fungi" on the stage. They are pipes, closed on top with a special tent. The holes for air circulation, of course, remain.

The blind area around the house with sidewalk tiles will better fulfill its purpose if it is done not just under a slope, but also on a mobile basis. It's simple:

• All materials are stacked in layers;
• No need to pour concrete solution.

Required waterproofing material. Suitable roofing material or a dense oilcloth. Digging a hole under the blind area around the house, you need to lay a layer of clay, tightly ramming. Then a layer of waterproofing. After a small layer of sand that is not trampled. The crushed rock, which will be stacked from above, should be not too shallow, but not very large. After another layer of sand is made. Here it can be slightly damped.

If the use of paving slabs or pavers is desirable, it is driven exclusively by a rubber hammer into the sand. No mortar or concrete. The seams between the tiles wake up with dry fine sand.

Such a blind area around the house will protect the foundation not only from penetration of moisture, but also from cracks in winter. The fact is that this blind area is mobile, which means it allows moisture to penetrate inside and go into the ground, in the opposite direction from the house. Moreover, in the off-season the stage does not crack from freezing, thawing, expansion and narrowing of water. She's moving. All that is needed in the spring is to slightly tilt the tile, if it has moved.