Build Your Own Home Sauna
Having a home sauna is something that many people aspire to and, with self assembly sauna kits, building one need not be as challenging as it might first appear.
In simple terms all that you need for a home sauna is a free room, or some space within another room like a bathroom or utility room (e.
g.
5 feet by 3 feet is fine for a 2 person sauna).
To create the sauna enclosure you then need to line the room with a dense waterproof material that will keep the heat and any generated humidity within the sauna enclosure.
The obvious material for this application is wood which has been traditionally used in Finnish saunas for centuries.
Several different hard woods are suitable.
To make the sauna function you then need two further components.
The first is seating, typically in a bench style, and again timber lends itself to this application perfectly.
i.
e.
It is resistant to water vapour and will not get uncomfortably hot.
The second is a heat source and sauna heaters come in a range of styles, heat outputs and energy consumption options.
For most small (i.
e.
1 to 6 person) home saunas, either a low energy electric stove or an electric infrared heater will be ideal.
Both are cheap to run, easy to install and require no flue or special extractor.
The electric stoves heat rocks that sit on top of (or within) the stove and these in turn produce the heat by warming the air within the sauna.
This kind of heater warms the air within the sauna space to create a hot and dry environment.
Infrared heaters radiate heat directly to the skin and, although they do not warm up the air within the sauna, they create a similar sensation on the skin.
Knowing what you need to make a sauna is one thing, but building it is another and this is where sauna kits can save time and money.
Sauna kits come in a range of sizes from small one and two person kits to much larger assemblies that can hold several people and require considerable space.
What all kits have in common is the materials, fixings and instructions necessary to assemble a fully working home sauna - and one that will last for years if not decades.
Sauna kits come in two generic forms known as "material only" and "prefabricated" kits.
Both contain the sauna room lining materials, the seating, the heater/stove and any other specified components (e.
g.
a door).
The difference between these two kit types lays in the degree of self assembly required to build them.
A "materials" kit is composed of all of the timber pieces required to make the sauna room, but they need to be cut to the length, height and depth of the sauna and then fixed to the walls.
This DIY task will take between 2 and 4 days to complete and will require some basic carpentry skills.
In simple terms all that you need for a home sauna is a free room, or some space within another room like a bathroom or utility room (e.
g.
5 feet by 3 feet is fine for a 2 person sauna).
To create the sauna enclosure you then need to line the room with a dense waterproof material that will keep the heat and any generated humidity within the sauna enclosure.
The obvious material for this application is wood which has been traditionally used in Finnish saunas for centuries.
Several different hard woods are suitable.
To make the sauna function you then need two further components.
The first is seating, typically in a bench style, and again timber lends itself to this application perfectly.
i.
e.
It is resistant to water vapour and will not get uncomfortably hot.
The second is a heat source and sauna heaters come in a range of styles, heat outputs and energy consumption options.
For most small (i.
e.
1 to 6 person) home saunas, either a low energy electric stove or an electric infrared heater will be ideal.
Both are cheap to run, easy to install and require no flue or special extractor.
The electric stoves heat rocks that sit on top of (or within) the stove and these in turn produce the heat by warming the air within the sauna.
This kind of heater warms the air within the sauna space to create a hot and dry environment.
Infrared heaters radiate heat directly to the skin and, although they do not warm up the air within the sauna, they create a similar sensation on the skin.
Knowing what you need to make a sauna is one thing, but building it is another and this is where sauna kits can save time and money.
Sauna kits come in a range of sizes from small one and two person kits to much larger assemblies that can hold several people and require considerable space.
What all kits have in common is the materials, fixings and instructions necessary to assemble a fully working home sauna - and one that will last for years if not decades.
Sauna kits come in two generic forms known as "material only" and "prefabricated" kits.
Both contain the sauna room lining materials, the seating, the heater/stove and any other specified components (e.
g.
a door).
The difference between these two kit types lays in the degree of self assembly required to build them.
A "materials" kit is composed of all of the timber pieces required to make the sauna room, but they need to be cut to the length, height and depth of the sauna and then fixed to the walls.
This DIY task will take between 2 and 4 days to complete and will require some basic carpentry skills.
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