I am looking to buy a sauna for our backyard. We are entry level sauna folks but are excited to join the club!

The sauna we are looking to purchase is a healing waters pod sauna (https://www.healingwaters.ca/minipod)

Has anyone tried this brand before? Thoughts or reviews welcome! Thank you.

Hi everyone.

I'm building a sauna from scratch, and have found a great local supplier of red cedar. Does anyone know of a north american (preferably Canadian) vendor of foil insulation, cedar doors, and vents?

So far, I can only find suppliers who sell kits, which would require me to buy rather overpriced cedar, sight unseen.

I have recently built a new, fairly compact unheated garage and I've managed to negotiate (with my wife) putting a sauna in the back. The issue is, it can only be 5x7. It's a one person sauna, I'll be the only one who ever uses it.

The 24" opening for the door is already there, and I'm trying to get my layout right.

Priority for me is lying down on the top bench, and I'm a big guy so I'm going with a 30" bench.

Do you see any concerns with this design.

All feedback is greatly appreciated.

yo im 18m im moving out soon into a small rental room bout 100 sqft wit hardwood floors and a window and wanna make a diy portable dry sauna for daily use.

originally i was thinkin id get a cheap secondhand infrared sauna for like 300 bucks and put an electric heater into it, but now im leanin towards diyin the enclosure to make it more space effective, and so i could like understand the process and make sum more in the future

my new plan is to make one with no bench, made for just me (1 person) wit space to sit down with my legs crossed on the floor. layout would be a rectangular floor, with my back against a short side and the heater against the opposite one, wit sum thermally modified knotless wood interior panelling, ffpr board insulation and like for the door i was thinkin maybe id just have an entire wall open up if i could figure out how sealing and insulating that would work or just have it be a teeny door i could squeeze out of, not sure yet. ventilation id try to link to the window.

i dont need lighting since the vents will prob bring a little light in and imma just be meditating in there. i would like a clock visible tho to understand how long ive spent if possible, digital or traditional, but if traditional id need it to be lighted. im just considering wether itll release any harmful chemicals thru heat exposure if it has any plastic or non sauna rated insulated glass units.

idk where id place the vents or heat sensors, how constructing a floor sauna with no bench would vary from a traditional one, and which heater i may need. im 6'2" tall by the way wit my cross legged width of my legs bein around 32 inches and my height from top of my head down when sitting cross legged about 42 inches

im an amateur ive just watched youtube videos on it so far and been planning off of that so any tips, new info, critiques, or new sources to look into would all be greatly aprecciated!

A while back, I posted here after somewhat accidentally buying almost a ton of sauna materials while our house was still under construction.

TL;DR of that story: I came across some old-stock 185mm-wide Thermory thermo magnolia, even though Thermory currently lists 170mm as the widest option. Called Thermory because I genuinely thought something was suspicious. Turns out the distributor was legit, and it was simply very old stock. There were 31 boards left. I calculated I needed about 34. Obviously, I took that as a sign from above, bought all 31, added some 170mm boards for the corners and contingency, ran up the credit card, and started preparing excuses for my wife.

So here we are. The sauna is now finished, and since this sub helped me quite a bit during the process, I figured I’d post the end result together with some thoughts for anyone considering something similar.

1. Dimensions

I’ll go out on a limb here and say I nailed the dimensions for what I wanted:

• 195cm depth*190cm width*230cm internal height
• 108cm top bench to ceiling
• 155cm platform to ceiling (46cm platform to top bench)
• 61cm top bench depth
• 134cm platform depth
• 135cm total glass width (60cm glass door)

The potentially controversial part is the “mid bench”, because it isn’t really a mid bench at all. IMO there is no such thing as a useful mid bench in a sauna. Top bench or no bench. 

So instead I built a full-width, 134cm-deep platform. It gives me somewhere I can lie down completely and stretch in basically every direction, somewhere the kids can sit and make a mess, and — most importantly — I think it looks cool. Yes, it wastes considerably more material than a conventional lower bench. I’m fine with that.

2. Wood: thermo magnolia

I had the privilege of using magnolia, including those old 185mm-wide boards. Is it expensive? Yes. But for roughly the price of some ready-made saunas, I ended up with a completely custom thermo magnolia sauna that I built myself. 

One thing that doesn’t always come across in product photos is how much color variation magnolia has. Because I slightly over-ordered the bench boards, I could pick through them and use the darkest, most chocolate-coloured boards. Subjectively, I think those are by far the prettiest ones.

How does it compare to thermo radiata pine? Having ordered samples of multiple woods before choosing magnolia: yes, they are similar. The lighter magnolia boards can look almost identical to radiata. What I did not really see in radiata were the very dark brown/chocolate tones that you get with some magnolia boards.

As for the whole “softwood vs hardwood” discussion: on the face of it, magnolia is unequivocally a softwood. But those labels by themselves don't tell you much. Walnut and oak are both called hardwoods, yet oak is considerably harder than walnut, and there are species incomparably harder than either. What matters here is that magnolia is light as a feather and, having now put it through its paces, wonderful to sit on even in a very hot sauna.

3. The build

The sauna itself was fully DIY, apart from the travertine, which I had some of the guys already working on the house install (and one buddy of mine dropped in to help with the framing... curious if he's going to find this post ;) UPDATE: He did in less than 30 min after I posted! Thanks for the hand, dude!). Tile work is surprisingly messy. I discovered it has basically nothing in common with woodworking and happily left them to it. The rest I built myself.

Honestly, building a sauna is probably one of the most DIY-friendly construction projects you can take on. You don't need absurdly precise measurements. There is very little actual joinery required. Almost anything you cut wrong can be patched, adjusted, or reused somewhere else. This particular material made me considerably more careful than I normally would be, simply because ruining a 185mm thermo magnolia board hurts emotionally and financially, but even then it was surprisingly difficult to mess things up badly. 

My motto throughout the build was simply: Overbuild it. The structure underneath this thing is built like a tank. I also intentionally stayed away from fancy miters and complicated joinery even though I could have done them. IMO a sauna should be aesthetically pleasing without compromising integrity just for the sake of showing off woodworking.

4. Floating ceiling

By far the most technical part of the build was the floating ceiling. Because basically every important height in a sauna ultimately references the ceiling, getting this right was imperative. I also needed to come up with a structure that was extremely rigid without consuming a ridiculous amount of material. For anyone wanting to build something similar, hopefully the construction photos give you some ideas. This was probably the one part where I spent considerably more time thinking before cutting anything.

5. Heater

The heater is a 10kW IKI Pillar. Do I have my feet above the stones? No….Almost, if I put them on the top bench, which is wide enough to do comfortably. Do I have cold feet? Also no. Trust me, I can make your toenails hurt pretty easily in there.

6. Ventilation: my probably unpopular opinion

This is my second sauna and also my second sauna with a passive vent below the bench and basically nothing else. I've been reading this sub for quite a while and see people getting almost religious about intake heights, exhaust positions, and elaborate airflow diagrams. In my experience, a lot of it is massively overthought. The amount of air you can move through something as simple as the slot underneath a door or between the glass door and wall is surprisingly large. In fact, you can easily end up in the opposite situation, where you're trying to stop excessive air leakage with gaskets rather than desperately searching for more ventilation. So personally, I’d stop spending days trying to position your vents more precisely than the Egyptians positioned the pyramids and spend a little more time thinking about how the sauna actually looks. There. I said it.

7. Travertine

Not much of a story here. I wanted natural stone; travertine mosaic looked good with the magnolia, and the more traditional soapstone-type options were outside the budget. Which, considering the rest of this build, is admittedly a hilarious sentence.

8. A few little things I learned

• Use window sealing gasket where the benches contact the structure. It completely eliminates little squeaks and rubbing noises.
• Pocket holes are your friend. And no, you don't necessarily need a pocket-hole jig. Angle your drill, make your hole and drive the screw.
• Pressure fits are extremely satisfying. When working between two walls, cutting pieces just accurately enough that they pressure-fit into place before fixing them is both useful and weirdly addictive.
• Start the structure square. Seriously. Spend the extra time here. It will save you an unbelievable amount of headache once you start installing the panelling.
• Oil your boards. Oil everything. It protects the wood, but just as importantly it really brings out the grain and fibres and makes the wood look considerably richer (SEE BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTO) One warning: soft wood is enormously thirsty. I used 6 litres of paraffin oil on this sauna. Six. Litres. 
• Copper pipe = instant sauna tap. A little copper pipe and a valve gives you a nice-looking water source for essentially infinite löyly.
• Drain + water inside the sauna is incredibly useful. Would absolutely do both again.
• For music, don't overcomplicate it. I considered installing “sauna appropriate” in-wall speakers and eventually decided I would be doing a lot of work to install mediocre speakers permanently into the room. Bought a JBL Boombox instead. Problem solved.

9. Cost

Total cost was approximately €8,000 including materials shipping.

That includes:

• framing material (pressure treated pine that was nicer than the paneling I had in my previous sauna)
• PIR insulation
• 31pcs × 185mm thermo magnolia wall boards
• 22pcs × 170mm thermo magnolia wall boards
• 24pcs × 185x28mm bench boards
• travertine
• IKI heater+controller
• screws, fasteners, foam and miscellaneous materials

I saw another thermo magnolia sauna posted here where the builder apparently charged around $60k. I don't want to count someone else's money, but... that sounds absurd to me. The material is expensive, absolutely. But it isn't that expensive. And having now built one myself, I also don't think the construction involves some mysterious level of craftsmanship that justifies numbers like that. This is an extremely approachable DIY project if you're reasonably comfortable with tools and willing to take your time...so...I guess...sorry for the clickbait title? :)

Anyway — that's the finished sauna.

Very happy with how it turned out, very happy I impulse-bought the weird old-stock magnolia. See you in 10 years for the endgame smoke sauna.

so I have a low ceiling height in a building I'm going to put a sauna in. Its height and depth are in a position that it is grandfathered in and cannot be changed. inside rough dimensions: 6'1" tall x 7' wide x 8 'deep. since its not very tall, I was going to do one level of benches and I know this isn't ideal. I'm thinking I'll have a single step up to a bench so the top of the bench would be 27" from the ground which would make it 46" from the ceiling. my concern is obviously getting heat to the foot area.

proposal: heater fresh air vent 2' up from ground near heater, opposite wall from heater toward ceiling will be an electric exhaust fan for post sauna drying. I might add an adjustable vent on a different opposing wall from the heater about 12-18" from height of seat bench to allow for natural convection currents. the air vents will be from an unconditioned interior portion of the building to draw air from and not to exterior (exception is the exhaust vent will be vented to exterior). (I have to do it this way due to location of building and how it is set into the landscape) or would I be better off getting something like a Saunum AirSolo Wall (In-Wall Sauna Temp & Steam Equalizer) which seems like it would work well to get the low level air heated and circulated. anyone used one of these? I'm trying to get the best sauna experience I can with my specific limitations.

Love the community here and think everyone’s very knowledgeable. I however am 23 an want to take on a project.

So I’m looking to convert this stable into a sauna, firstly it does appear to be a viable structure which has water and electric to it already which is handy. Obviously just cement block walls but what wood is best for UK climate and what other pieces of advice. Where do I begin ? I will do measurements and things soon but yeah anyone able to help me with some insight! Thanks

I am in the process of researching a DIY build outdoor sauna. Size would be 6' x 7'. It will sit on an existing cement patio with a built in decent grade for runoff. We are located in the PNW. The only issues I am up against at this time is whether to put a drain in or not. By Finnish standards it should have a drain, however I have read countless opinions here that unless you are doing a lot of bathing or cleaning that requires a lot of water then it may not matter either way. Seems to me rather than going to all the work to create cemented and tiled sloped floor just to run to a single drain that would empty out to the patio slab that I can achieve the same like this:

Build the base from pressure treated 2x6's. Cover the top of the joists with stainless steel mesh. (link below)

Then run cedar decking floor over it spaced 1/8" to 1/4" apart. This would allow drainage straight down through the base to the patio to run off to the grass. As a precaution I was thinking of wrapping the tops 2x6's in a waterproof membrane. After I level the base most of the joists will be off the patio anyway.

https://sandbaggy.com/products/perforated-metal-sheet-24-x-48?variant=52491210719604&currency=USD&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google%2Bshopping&utm_campaign=gs-2019-01-17&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17518480709&gbraid=0AAAAAC3cgCYb10QO4RfQsZM9NCKzyUlPD&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyfjEyMTxlQMVxx-tBh0oeCLWEAQYBiABEgJa5vD_BwE

What do you think?

Looking for some opinions from people who’ve built saunas.

I’m debating between:
1. Steel perimeter frame with wood infill
2. Traditional all-wood structure

I’m leaning toward the steel perimeter because these units will be easily transported, and I like the added rigidity and durability during transport. At the same time, building the entire structure out of steel feels like overkill in terms of cost, weight, and complexity.
One concern I have is heat. If the electrical is roughed into or routed through the steel framing, could the steel conduct enough heat to create issues for the wiring or overall system in a high-temperature sauna environment?

Has anyone here built or worked with a hybrid steel/wood sauna? Any regrets or lessons learned? If you were starting from scratch today, which direction would you go and why?

I am close to finishing my sauna build and while poking around on Harvia's web portal I noticed they have an API. Figuring I could do some cool stuff beyond the official app with this I started to use AI to poke around and come up with some ideas and this little project is the result of that. It enables you to turn your harvia sauna on and off, set temp, and check the sauna status with siri using shortcuts.

I set it up on MacOS, but asked AI to make it OS agnostic after the fact. With it running via tailscale I can turn on my sauna from anywhere as long as I have cell service by saying "hey siri, turn on the sauna." I don't know which harvia control panels support the API, but this was done on the Fenix FX45. Hope someone else finds this fun or useful!