Posted: 12/22/2013 9:38:10 AM EDT
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Anyone here ever build their own sauna? I'm thinking about building my own and am curious about anyone's experience with this.
Thanks in advance. ERic |
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My father built one at every house we've lived in.
Personally I liked the wood fired ones that were separate from the house in their own cabin. They could generate a lot more heat and steam. And you could be a lot more bold throwing the water on the rocks as there was no electrical component to the heater, so no worries bout shorting out. You have to carefully select the rocks so they will take multiple heating/cooling cycles without cracking/exploding. His final one he built with an electric heater, in the basement. He built it in a room that conveniently also worked as a tornado/bomb shelter. He purchased his own wood and hit it with a blowtorch to age the wood before covering the walls and making the benches. Nice to have a changing room adjacent to the sauna, with a shower, so you can do all your sauna-ing, showering, and changing in one place. |
Very timely thread - I just built my own sauna this past fall. 
It was a lot of work, but not really inherently difficult. I'm certainly not super-skilled with my hands, but as long as you've got the right tools and take your time, it's no problem. That said, I should admit that I did hire an electrician to help  , in part because the heater requires a dedicated 240V circuit, and I didn't want to mess around with that.
I bought the materials from this place: http://superiorsaunas.com/#page=page-1. They sell the prefab kind of boxes, but if you are building it yourself, they will sell you a "custom kit" which includes all the planking (that you will have to cut to fit), and all the benches, hardware, doors, windows, vapor barrier, lights, etc. They are VERY helpful in terms of helping you with your design. They'll also send you samples of all the different wood and trim, to help you decide (I think they charge you $20, but they refund that if you order from them later). Here are some pics of mine: 
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Quoted: Very timely thread - I just built my own sauna this past fall. It was a lot of work, but not really inherently difficult. I'm certainly not super-skilled with my hands, but as long as you've got the right tools and take your time, it's no problem. That said, I should admit that I did hire an electrician to help , in part because the heater requires a dedicated 240V circuit, and I didn't want to mess around with that.I bought the materials from this place: http://superiorsaunas.com/#page=page-1. They sell the prefab kind of boxes, but if you are building it yourself, they will sell you a "custom kit" which includes all the planking (that you will have to cut to fit), and all the benches, hardware, doors, windows, vapor barrier, lights, etc. They are VERY helpful in terms of helping you with your design. They'll also send you samples of all the different wood and trim, to help you decide (I think they charge you $20, but they refund that if you order from them later). Here are some pics of mine: http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=59270 http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=59271 http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=59272 http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=59273 http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=59274 http://www.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=59275 Wow, that looks really nice. |
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If you're into saunas, PBS ran an excellent documentary a couple years ago called "Steam of Life", about all the different sauans people made out of odd items, and about the conversations people have in saunas. An excellent documentary, but I can't find it in a DVD region code that plays in the US.
Promo- 
One of the more humorous segments-
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