The sloping path that you see along the perimeter of the walls of any building is called the blind area.
The blind area of the house, first of all, is intended for high-quality removal of flood water from its walls and foundation. It also does not allow plants, trees, shrubs to grow near them, which have a negative impact on the foundation, which often leads to the formation of cracks on it and even to its subsidence.
Do-it-yourself blind area at home is carried out before the start of work on the facade and foundation cladding. As already mentioned, it is performed along the entire perimeter of the building with a slope of 1.5-2% (for 50 cm of a width of 10 mm). Its width depends on the protruding roof eaves and the type of soil. As a rule, the blind area of \u200b\u200bthe house has a width of 60-80 cm, provided that its width is 20 cm more than the protrusion of the roof eaves. If the building is located on subsiding soil, it is necessary to carry out its construction not only with a larger width, but also with a large degree of slope (5 °). When doing a slope, you do not need to overdo it, because whatthe more slope, the blind area of the house will be less beautiful and less comfortable. After all, it occupies not the last place in the overall design of the building and can also be used as a footpath.
There are many options for its implementation. We will focus on the two most common: this is the blind area of \u200b\u200bthe house using concrete and paving slabs. So, for the installation of a blind area of any kind, it is first necessary to remove a layer of soil that will prevent further work. We dig a ditch of the required depth, which depends on the type of soil, remove the remains of various roots. The use of special herbicides at this stage of construction will avoid further germination of vegetation in this place, which can lead to undermining the blind area. After the ditch is ready, all its layers are compacted by ramming (do not forget about the slope). The first will be the underlying layer, the components of which are clay and sand. The layers of these materials must be at least 10 cm in compacted form. The second is the drainage layer, which is made of crushed stone, the grain composition and fractions of which affect its thickness. It is also affected by the type of the next, third layer of blind area, which is called the finish.
According to the classics, because of the low cost, cement mortar is used as a finishing coating. It should be noted that when using it for the finishing layer, during the solidification of the solution, it is necessary to periodically moisten it.water. To do this, you can use moistened burlap, hay or wet straw. This is done in order to increase the strength of the blind area. In order to make it more efficient, it is necessary to build a drainage system around the entire perimeter, it can be an ordinary concrete recess (10-15 cm), which will serve to drain water from the blind area.
Piece materials are also used in the finishing layer. Paving slabs are one of the most common types of these building materials. Such a blind area around the house, the price of which will depend on the cost of paving slabs, will colorfully highlight the building and give it an aesthetic zest.
