backyard sauna build

[itsnotrequired]

01/17/14 update

cedar tongue and groove, hanging out in my living room. like the siding, no real good spot to store it. i went with the 'nicer' 16' pieces and also got from a legit lumber yard. a bit better quality than the local big box stores. took a while to add up all the cuts i would need to determine how many pieces to get. this stuff is expensive and i didn't want any more scrap than was absolutely necessary:

 

[RevKev]

i believe most of it has to do with listing agencies. some european equipment is built to standards/testing that isn't recognized here in the states. the equipment would likely pass the american standards/tests but would require the manufacturer to pay for the analysis, tests, etc. i suspect for many manufacturers that the costs just aren't worth it.

there are cheaper heaters out there than the tylo but i really liked the features of it and it is made in sweden.

You are absolutely correct in assuming that's why they don't enter the marketplace.

Even for things such as RO water systems, there is a Canadian company who is just finally breaking into the US market as they could finally justify the permits and certifications to sell in the US, let alone setting up marketing and bases of operations. (Even though Canadian code sometimes is more stringent than US)..

 

[itsnotrequired]

01/18/14 update

framing out the grille for the sauna vent. the upper bench in the hot room is opposite this wall. idea is to have a wood 'duct' underneath that upper bench, with an intake at the end opposite this grille in the photos. the intake will be in the opposite corner of the hot room as the heater. air from the changing room will be drawn into the hot room through the vent below the heater. the heater will heat the air and push it up to the ceiling. as it cools, it will fall in the corner opposite the heater, go through the intake under the bench, through the duct under the bench and out through the grille into the changing room, sort of a natural convection. the blue conduit is for speaker wire, intent is to mount speakers under the bench and use the duct as a wireway:

underlayment in the changing room, no more walking on the crappy treated plywood. underlayment screwed into the floor joists below:

i went with luxury vinyl sheeting in the changing room. i debated porcelain tile but it seemed like a lot of work for such a small area. test fitting for cutting:

 

[itsnotrequired]

01/19/14 update

flooring glued down:

note the dairy heater in the foreground. even with the insulation up, it still gets cold in there:

hot room work. for the hot room floor, i went with painted exterior vinyl. i didn't want vinyl sheeting due to the heat and none of the other products seemed worth it to me. no drain either, intent is to have a dry sauna, a little sweat/water won't hurt. so i painted the floor and then put down some heavy paper to protect it while i worked in the room. the wood strip you see is treated 1x2 that the tongue and groove will rest upon. my thoughts was that if any water does pool up for some reason, i didn't want it messing with the cedar:

now the fun begins, first piece of t&g installed! i graded all the t&g, selected the knottier pieces to use under the benches:

blurry photo but the stuff goes up pretty quickly. time consuming effort is getting the damn wood out there. i didn't have a good way to set anything up outside (bunch of snow on the ground) so i cut a few pieces in the garage and carry them out there for nailing:

some changing room progress:

corner of the changing room, a bench will go here. intent is to not have any corner trim on the walls, the t&g butts tight. actually not tight, there is a small gap for expansion. the bulk of the gap is covered up by the end of the piece that butts up against it:

small pieces fill in the short wall sections. i butted these ends tight against the door frame, with a slight gap at the corner that gets covered up by the piece on the adjacent wall:

wall in changing room opposite the bench, where the electrical panel is installed:

close up of a receptacle:

where the grille will be installed for the air return. pieces on the left don't match up exactly, that will be covered with door trim. and note that the insulation facing has been removed. i didn't realize it at first but with foil vapor barrier on the hot room side and faced insulation on the changing room side, that common wall had become an 'insulation sandwich'. any moisture that finds its way into the wall cavity will have a hard time getting out. so i took off the facing in the changing room:

some corner work in the hot room, with intake vent installed:

 

[itsnotrequired]

01/25/14 update

wtf, broken window. came out this morning to find the exterior half-lite window spider-webbed. it is double pane glass and it was the inside pane that broke. made no sense, there were no tools that could have fallen against it, i didn't bump it, no idea. so i had to order a replacement:

undeterred by the broken window, i pressed on. paneling the ceiling:

 

[Kharnynb]

likely didn't have enough "play" between the window and the building when the water in the wood expanded during frost.

 

[wyowolf]

Very nice!

 

[cod3ck]

likely didn't have enough "play" between the window and the building when the water in the wood expanded during frost.

OP -- great thread!

Kharnynb has a good point. Did another window bust when temperatures warmed up?

 

[itsnotrequired]

likely didn't have enough "play" between the window and the building when the water in the wood expanded during frost.

Kharnynb has a good point. Did another window bust when temperatures warmed up?

door is not too tight, in my opinion. it operates smoothly, is level/square, i used low-expanding foam between the frame and rough openings (specific for doors/windows), etc. jumping ahead here a bit but i replaced this window in early 2014 and here it is 2017 with no issues. sauna has been used about 275 times in that period, from 70 degree f on a warm summer evening to -10 degree f in the middle of january. seems more like a manufacturing defect than anything else.

 

[itsnotrequired]

01/26/14 update

ceiling complete, getting ready for the last few rows on the walls:

my trusty tools. i used the piece of t&g to hold boards in place while nailing and used the 4' level to periodically check levelness. every once in a while i would get a slightly warped piece of wood and need to make a correction:

more progress in the changing room:

the blasted broken window, getting replaced in my living room. as soon as it broke, i ordered a new one because i wanted to get it replaced asap. soon after, i reached out to the company to inquire about warranty issues. sure enough, glass breakage isn't covered but in a good faith effort, they offered to send me a replacement window. sweet! i told them i already ordered a replacement and asked if i could get a credit or a refund or whatever. they said sorry, 'we don't do that'. so now i figure i will be stuck with an extra replacement window whn it dawned on me: return the one i ordered. i said it didn't fit but because it was a special order, i was charged a $25 restocking fee. well, better than paying for a full window i didn't need:

 

[itsnotrequired]

this was a good thread until photobucket decided to charge $400/yr to hotlink photos. wtf...

 

[pantherburn]

this was a good thread until photobucket decided to charge $400/yr to hotlink photos. wtf...

Agree - very interesting thread. I appreciate the author posting it. Too bad about the pb issue. I was looking forward to the rest of the build.

 

[Kharnynb]

why not grab a homebrew account, you can just put the pics here

 

[itsnotrequired]

why not grab a homebrew account, you can just put the pics here

i could but i would still need to edit all the posts. my thinking was homebrewtalk could shut down tomorrow and i'd have to reload everything so i went with one of the more popular hosting sites, one that has been around for 15 years. looks like the joke is on me!:fro:

this thread wouldn't be too bad to fix, i only have about 150 photos in it. my brewery build thread is another animal, about 800 photos in that one, would take forever to correct. i'm riding out the storm right now, with the hopes photobucket will go back to free or if pay, at least something more reasonable.

 

[ericbw]

Can you just post a few pics of the finished project? That's what I was waiting for!

 

[Kharnynb]

Can you just post a few pics of the finished project? That's what I was waiting for!

same, really wondering how it turned out....

 

[boasist]

I use imgur for hosting, so far, so good.

 

[Jason Stein]

wow.. that's a huge work. I watched the process because such things inspire me deeply. I don't have an opportunity to build my own real sauna now, but I made my dream (part of it, actually) come true by building a near infrared portable sauna, a few years ago. Now I use it in our bathroom, which is very small. I prop it up against the bathroom door once it’s closed. I then sit on my Squatty Potty and face the lamps. I rotate every 5 minutes or so in an effort to get my whole torso exposed. I sweat quite a bit just this way, but if I really want to sweat, I will also plug in a space heater and heat the bathroom up more so I can get more sweating in. I also do infrared with my CEs, but I use my single lamp unit and clamp it on the drawer next to the sink and lay underneath it.. Portable saunas are cool, definitely recommend to everyone.

 

[itsnotrequired]

looks like photobucket allows hotlinking of photos again, albeit with a watermark on it. no matter, i'm finishing off this build thread!

02/01/14 update

with the interior walls/ceiling complete, time for benches. it took a while to pick through the piles at menards to find 2x4 pieces that didn't have knots in them. i couldn't find totally clear pieces but took it as far as i could. a pile of lumber in the living room:

changing room bench constructed and resting against the wall:

and installed. note the 2x4 underneath supporting it. i debated making the bench able to slide for cleaning removal but decided to screw it to the wall anyway. support edges needed to extend beyond the edge of the bench to attach to a wall stud:

 

[itsnotrequired]

02/02/14 update

time for the hot room benches, same construction technique as the changing room bench. bench frame is 2x4s on edge and the bench seat is 2x4s flat. 2x4s were ripped down to 2" for the intermediate supports. my very professional kitchen assembly area (bench is upside down):

here it is resting on the support rails. this is the lower bench so having this one moveable for cleaning seems like a good idea:

top bench in place. i saved the best pieces for that one, no need to set your bare bottom on a hot knot! one of the pieces i got was super dark so i alternated that with lighter pieces, sort of created a butcher block effect:

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Awesome build.
I cant believe you did all that work and money and built it on CCA directly on the dirt. It will rot in time. Should have used a concrete footing

 

[itsnotrequired]

Awesome build.
I cant believe you did all that work and money and built it on CCA directly on the dirt. It will rot in time. Should have used a concrete footing

i'm sure it will rot in time but i'll be long gone by then. the grade timbers are uc4b, the heavy duty stuff, rated for permanent wood foundations. soil is all compacted sand with excellent drainage, i have no concerns.

 

[itsnotrequired]

02/03/14 update

top bench on adjacent wall installed, getting ready to install bottom bench:

 

[itsnotrequired]

02/05/14 update:

i realized i never took any pics of the corner bench supports during the build so i grabbed a couple yesterday (12/3/18). i ended up scrapping the sliding bench option in favor of installing a more rugged support at the bench corners:

okay, quite a bit going on in the above photos. the support on the left is a 4x4 (cedar, of course). hard to tell from the angle but it is located on the joint between the two lower benches. it extends down to the floor, resting directly above a floor joist. the support on the right is really for the upper benches. similar to the lower support, it is located at the intersection of the two upper benches. it extends down to the lower bench where it is 'broken', transferring load through the bench to another 4x4 below. the lower support didn't quite line up with a floor joist so i laid a 4x4 across the floor, spanning two joists. this thing is rock solid.

you can also see the vent in the far back corner. this is adjustable and allows hot air to travel the 'chase' beneath the upper bench to the changing room. this is the exhaust for the hot room, with the intake between the hot room and changing room located at the floor near the heater.

i also got the window installed between the hot room and changing room:

a view from the inside. note the hot room door is installed as well:

another shot of the door, with the hot room light installed:

i ordered the door per-manufactured, rather than building my own. it is really nice, all clear cedar. stainless hinges as well:

this was a busy day, moving on to the heater install:

heater mounted and wired up. the haze you see isn't a bad photo but rather manufacturing oils burning off during the first fire:

we have heat!:

 

[itsnotrequired]

02/09/14 update:

bad contrast in the photo but building some duckboards. these are removable floor 'panels' located in the hot room, in the area in front of the benches. nicer to stand on that than painted plywood. they are made of 1x3 cedar boards on 1x2 cedar sleepers:

duckboards installed. not the timer and thermometer/hydrometer installed on the wall:

sitting on the top bench, looking out through the hot room window and exterior door window to the backyard:

some towel/clothing hooks by the exterior door:

exterior view. snow is pretty deep and the sauna is operational at this point so the final siding/trim work will need to wait until spring:

 

[itsnotrequired]

06/08/14 update

finally got around to putting up the last bit of siding and trim. i also put some pavers in front, was dragging way too much grass/sand/leaves into the sauna:

 

[itsnotrequired]

06/06/15 update:

its been a year and the siding is (predictably) showing signs of fading. a new coat of stain and this should be good to go for several years. i probably should have put something on the pavers, you can see a bunch of stain spilled on them:

 

[itsnotrequired]

08/15/15 update:

finally got around to putting a shower on this thing. to date, warm-weather sauna sessions involved walking over to the hose and spraying myself off. it wasn't until i set the spray head in the playground jungle gym and let the hose shower me that i realized i needed this all the time. so nothing fancy here, just a shower head with an iron pipe riser and a shutoff valve. it is still hose-powered and connects at the bottom (i bought a separate hose just for this and leave it coiled up at the side of the sauna). we have an in-ground sprinkler system so i try and time my sauna to when that is running, so i can hook the hose up to the irrigation pump and get clean well water, as opposed to chlorinated from the hose bib on the side of the house:

and one more mini project, i took some of the old t&g that got ripped down for the top wall pieces and made back/head rests out of them. the sides are leftover 2x6 from trimming the exterior corners:

 

[pantherburn]

Beautiful work, thanks for sharing!

 

[Boilinginsc]

That is a great build!
We have been thinking of adding one and your step by step is very helpful.

 

[Skippari]

Cool project and nice traditional looking sauna. That heater looked quite small and was there only small amount of stones on purpose? I see the elements in open space there and it looks wrong.. Swedes are not to best experts on sauna, so maybe it was supposed to be like that, but in a "real sauna" you fill the heater full with the stones so the heat moves from the elements to the stones evenly. Wood heated is always better in my opinion as it makes the air change quickly, though you can make a decent sauna with electric heater also as long as you take care of the ventilation.. I have made few saunas and the next will be some sort of a cave sauna with huge heater and hundreds of kilograms of stones. My previous electric sauna had some 120kg (264 pounds) stones in it.. more stones smoother the steam. Here is a photo of the Sauna I built to our apartment where you can see the heater in the background.

 

[Boilinginsc]

Great looking sauna projects in this thread!

 

[itsnotrequired]

Cool project and nice traditional looking sauna. That heater looked quite small and was there only small amount of stones on purpose? I see the elements in open space there and it looks wrong.. Swedes are not to best experts on sauna, so maybe it was supposed to be like that, but in a "real sauna" you fill the heater full with the stones so the heat moves from the elements to the stones evenly. Wood heated is always better in my opinion as it makes the air change quickly, though you can make a decent sauna with electric heater also as long as you take care of the ventilation.. I have made few saunas and the next will be some sort of a cave sauna with huge heater and hundreds of kilograms of stones. My previous electric sauna had some 120kg (264 pounds) stones in it.. more stones smoother the steam. Here is a photo of the Sauna I built to our apartment where you can see the heater in the background.View attachment 619025

the tylo heater has three vertical 'chambers', with the middle one filled with stones and the two outer ones as 'open'. idea is that the heat from the exposed elements in the open chambers send all their energy into the air, rather than first heating cold stones. thought is that it will heat the sauna faster. likely a marketing gimmick more than anything else but i don't have any complaints. i spent a lot of time researching heaters and the tylo seemed to be quality product. i think there are 46 lbs of stone, certainly on the light side compared to a big wood burner but on par with other electric heaters that are completely full of rocks. the heater is a few inches wider than a 'typical' electric heater so it isn't like it is sacrificing a lot of stone volume for the open chambers. yes, there are high-end electric heaters out there with much more stone but those were out of my price range.

ventilation was another item i thought quite a bit about. fresh air intake is near the bottom of the heater, with the exhaust on the opposite corner of the hot room. the heater creates a natural chimney effect and readily draws in fresh air and it travels across the entire space to the exhaust.

 

[Skippari]

Yeah, you see I'm a Finn so it is mandatory for me to question a Swedish sauna heater Anyways on thing common here is to have fresh air coming in somewhere above the electric heater so it mixes with the hot air that rises from the heater. If done in such way it needs some fan to push the cold air in.

Still I would say your sauna looks just great.. much like traditional Finnish saunas are. Saunas are big thing here, almost every apartment has one, even the small ones.

The sauna I plan to build next to my cabin will be something special. I already have a wood heated sauna there in the cabin, but I would like to turn it to a small bedroom and build a separate sauna closer to the lake. There is an ideal spot, but would require me to build it underground next to a rock wall... If I manage to make it.. well it will be quite cool thing..

I might make it in similar way as this firm is doing them:
http://www.holvisaunat.fi
sorry that is only in Finnish, but you see the photos and get the idea.

 

[wyowolf]

interesting, I had no idea they were Finnish...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauna

Yeah, you see I'm a Finn so it is mandatory for me to question a Swedish sauna heater Anyways on thing common here is to have fresh air coming in somewhere above the electric heater so it mixes with the hot air that rises from the heater. If done in such way it needs some fan to push the cold air in.

Still I would say your sauna looks just great.. much like traditional Finnish saunas are. Saunas are big thing here, almost every apartment has one, even the small ones.

The sauna I plan to build next to my cabin will be something special. I already have a wood heated sauna there in the cabin, but I would like to turn it to a small bedroom and build a separate sauna closer to the lake. There is an ideal spot, but would require me to build it underground next to a rock wall... If I manage to make it.. well it will be quite cool thing..

I might make it in similar way as this firm is doing them:
http://www.holvisaunat.fi
sorry that is only in Finnish, but you see the photos and get the idea.

 

[Skippari]

interesting, I had no idea they were Finnish...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauna

Now that you mention it, yes at least so they say, though as the wiki mentions there has been some versions of saunas in quite many cultures.

BTW I have to totally disagree with the start of this topic "Sauna not really related to brewing but...", because it is:
1: in modern Finnish there is a term "sauna beer", which means usually a cold beer you take when you go out of the sauna, sit and cool down a little. Quite many also drink beer in sauna. I do it every time and most my friends do the same. Sometimes quite a few beers as the sauna can go on for hours.
2: In historical times sauna was even more important part of Finnish life. As sauna is almost sterile due the hot moist air that kills bacteria and the similar properties of the wooden seats, women gave birth in sauna. Also the sick were taken to sauna and even the dead who were washed before they were buried. So the life of a Finn started and ended in sauna. Not only that, but beer was made in sauna. Yes beer was made in sauna and there are even special words in old Finnish for it. The old style "beer" that I am talking about was called Sahti and there was a place in the sauna for the beer barrels that you could call "beer bench". The seat in sauna in called laude in finnish so the place for the beer was Sahti laude. = it was important thing as it has it's own special word. The heat of the sauna, which I think was not as hot as in modern days, was used to create the beer. I do not know the specifics, but some people here still make Sahti, though maybe not in sauna. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahti

Now few tips related to sauna and beer:
1: Koozie (thing I learned in US) with a can is good in sauna, a broken bottle in not
2: if you have such heater you throw water on it, then try adding a little beer in the spoon of water and then throw it on the stones. The smell is amazing. (lager, not dark beer. have never drank or tested dark beer in sauna)

So if you guys ever visit Europe and the far corners of it, then you might end up in Finland. If you do, then I guess you should check out some saunas I'm heading to my cabin in 2 days and going to heat the sauna there, maybe you wont make it, but maybe the next time. It's there, you can't miss it, close to the arctic circle and only few miles from Russia

 

[Kharnynb]

as @Skippari said, Here in finland we take our sauna very seriously, we have 2, one at home and one at our cottage, both wood fired, my parents and my mother-in-law both have an electric sauna at home, but my father-in-law has 2 at his place, both wood and an "instant" electric one.

 

[pantherburn]

I love getting in the sauna at my gym after workout. It is just a basic electric element heater with the rocks on top. My question is what are your temperature preferences and time spent in the sauna?

I think I’ll sneak a beer in sometime - great idea!

 

[Kharnynb]

a good sauna is betwen 85-100 degrees celcius, more depending on the specific sauna than anything else, some can be great at lower end while some need a bit more heat.

the personal "heat" preference is more based on how much water you throw on the rocks.

 

[Skippari]

a good sauna is betwen 85-100 degrees celcius, more depending on the specific sauna than anything else, some can be great at lower end while some need a bit more heat.

the personal "heat" preference is more based on how much water you throw on the rocks.

True, I would say with really good sauna with large amount of stones it can start from as low as 60 (140F) and go to 100 celsius (212F). You just control the amount of water in the air and make it feel good. Most important thing is that the best temperature it the one that feels the best to you

Sometimes I like to just relax in low temperature and lie there for long times and sometimes I enjoy really hot and sharp steam, though 100 c is a bit too much for me.

There are even gods and goddesses linked to the steam that rises from the stones in Finnish mythology
Auteretar is a goddess, a spirit of löyly(the steam from sauna stones)
https://finnish-mythology.fandom.com/wiki/Auteretar