Anyone built themselves an outdoor sauna

[Adsibob]

Stayed at a hotel this weekend which had an outdoor sauna. It was basically a simple shed, made of shiplap, with a sauna heater inside, complete with coals (not sure if they were fake or real, probably just volcanic stone heated up by an electric coil heater). A very narrow strip of wall not more than 50cm wide, behind and a small amount of the ceiling above the heater, about 50cm by 60cm, were clad with a small amount of fireproof board, maybe cement board or fireproof plasterboard, but it was really very simple. 
No insulation as far as I could see, yet the heater was keeping the Sauna at 81C. Wondered if it was really that simple to build and why it wasn’t insulated?

Anyone have any experience of building a Sauna in a garden? 

Edited April 29 by Adsibob

[SteamyTea]

I have built saunas, probably a few hundred of them.

 

There is nothing clever about them, sounds like the ones you were in was panel construction, though log saunas are usually used outside.

The heaters are just resistance heaters from 3 kW upwards, they usually change to 3 phase once they hit 9 kW.

The 'coals' are just lumps of granite.  They protect the electrical elements from direct contact when the water is poured on.

There is be a temperature sensor/thermal fuse hidden away somewhere in the cabin that is wired back to a controller.  That controller also has a timer in it that limits the amount of time the sauna can run (this was a safety feature introduced back in the 1990s).

Lighting was ultra low voltage, 24V usually, but that has probably gone LED now.

 

As you observed, they are just sheds with large heaters in them.

Our panel saunas were insulated, the log ones were not, except for the roof.

[Andehh]

On my bucket list to do one day!!! Even better a steam room, but they seem more involved.

[LA3222]

I've put both a steam room and sauna into my Build- did them myself and they are easy enough. Steam room is just tanked and tiled all around, sauna is foil lined all around and then clad. They both quite big, I have 3ph so used 3ph 9kW heaters for both - sauna one sits in the sauna, steam one in the loft. Both take about 20mns to get to temp - all in they generally run for about an hour a time and use about 5kW.

[garrymartin]

18 minutes ago, LA3222 said:

I've put both a steam room and sauna into my Build...

Are you in an airtight build? If you are, what have you done for venting?

[SimonD]

Yes, thet are really that simple for an outdoor one. If you want to go a bit more energy efficient, then you can use either Kingspan Sauna Satu insulation or Finffoam Sauna insulation within the frame - if I was going to the cost of making a sauna with resistance heating, that's what I would use. I'm putting in a sauna in my house and decided against the outdoor version because as I'm of Swedish heritage, you should be naked and have at the very least a cold shower just outside the sauna so that you have intermittent cold showers while using the thing. Indoors, I highly recommend using the insulation and making sure there is a vent directly to outdoors.

 

Personally, I've chosen to go the route of an IR sauna that just gets delivered as a self assembly pod that you can plug into a standard wall socket and will be just next to a shower room.

[Adsibob]

1 hour ago, SimonD said:

decided against the outdoor version because as I'm of Swedish heritage, you should be naked and have at the very least a cold shower just outside the sauna so that you have intermittent cold showers while using the thing.

So my potential plan is to have it externally at the back of the garden next to a cold water shower and possibly a cold water plunge pool (though the plunge pool adds some complexity I imagine, given I'm not keen on chlorine so would need to investigate other ways of keeping it germ free). The pool and shower would have privacy screening made from evergreen bamboo planting, so the nudity factor will definitely be possible. Though don't let @Pocster know.

 

The Sauna insulation material you mention looks cheap enough, though I guess the real cost factor is the implication of having to build in a cavity to hold the insulation, more or less doubling the materials required for the shed. Just wondering if it is worth it. The Sauna won't be huge, I was thinking a footprint of about 2m by 3m, and 2.1m tall. And it will be used at most for 5 or 6 hours a week, in a London garden that even in winter rarely gets below -2C. Is the difference in heating cost between an insulated Sauna and an uninsulated one, for such few hours a week enough to justify insulating it?

 

 

[Pocster]

46 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

So my potential plan is to have it externally at the back of the garden next to a cold water shower and possibly a cold water plunge pool (though the plunge pool adds some complexity I imagine, given I'm not keen on chlorine so would need to investigate other ways of keeping it germ free). The pool and shower would have privacy screening made from evergreen bamboo planting, so the nudity factor will definitely be possible. Though don't let @Pocster know.

 

The Sauna insulation material you mention looks cheap enough, though I guess the real cost factor is the implication of having to build in a cavity to hold the insulation, more or less doubling the materials required for the shed. Just wondering if it is worth it. The Sauna won't be huge, I was thinking a footprint of about 2m by 3m, and 2.1m tall. And it will be used at most for 5 or 6 hours a week, in a London garden that even in winter rarely gets below -2C. Is the difference in heating cost between an insulated Sauna and an uninsulated one, for such few hours a week enough to justify insulating it?

 

 

“Sauna “ , “plunge pool “ , “bamboo “ ….

yeah yeah . Might as well just say SEX DUNGEON!

[SimonD]

2 hours ago, Adsibob said:

The Sauna insulation material you mention looks cheap enough, though I guess the real cost factor is the implication of having to build in a cavity to hold the insulation, more or less doubling the materials required for the shed.

 

So is your current design going to be just a normal shed with visible studs to the inside? By the time you've built up seating and decent back rests so you're not leaning against a stud or the exterior wall, I'm not sure it's going to double the materials. Also, you'll get a lot more condensation if you just have shed like cladding and you're going to have difficulty making it reasonably airtight, which means less overall control over the temperature environment. If you had say 38mm slotted timbers to make the building, it might be a different matter entirely.

 

To me, if you're going to do something like this, you may as well do it properly and make it an environment you really want to spend your time in.

 

 

[SteamyTea]

9 hours ago, Andehh said:

Even better a steam room, but they seem more involved

Not really, see above.

We used Vapac steam generators, quite reliable even in a hard water area.

 

As a general bit of advice, fit a decent floor drain in both, it makes cleaning easy.

[LA3222]

8 hours ago, garrymartin said:

Are you in an airtight build? If you are, what have you done for venting?

The sauna has a vent that extracts into the bathroom pretty much next to the mvhr extract, nothing in the steam room - just leave the door open once done and the moisture dissappears in short order with the MVHR on boost. There is a floor drain in there too.

Edited April 30 by LA3222

[SteamyTea]

4 hours ago, Pocster said:

Might as well just say SEX DUNGEON!

There were two clubs in North London when I worked in the industry, Rio and Rio 2. Both were brothels, but gave the impression that they were Health Spas. The owner  Trevor, put on the best parties ever, much better than the ones in the film Sexy Beast.

[SteamyTea]

2 hours ago, SimonD said:

If you had say 38mm slotted timbers to make the building,

I would not install a panel sauna outside, always a log one.

We never insulated log saunas, just fit a larger stove to reduce heat up times.

Even at today's electric prices, probably only a couple of quid an hour to run a small one.

[Pocster]

13 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

when I worked in the industry,

You selling yourself ?

[SteamyTea]

48 minutes ago, Pocster said:

You selling yourself ?

Best tail in town.

[SimonD]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

I would not install a panel sauna outside, always a log one.

 Definitely not talking about a panel sauna. Neither would I. You can get the slotted 'logs' at a minimum of 38mm like these, which is what I was referring to:

 

[SteamyTea]

2 minutes ago, SimonD said:

You can get the slotted 'logs' at a minimum of 38mm like these, which is what I was referring to:

What I was referring to as well.

[Adsibob]

I am very tempted to do this, as @SimonD says:

 

8 hours ago, SimonD said:

do it properly and make it an environment you really want to spend your time in

And very happy with a log sauna, if I understand that correctly. Is this a log sauna, for example:

 

https://www.polhus.co.uk/sauna-olli-p-1170

 

I note that this design doesn't have any cavities for insulation, but does have the option to increase the thickness of the "logs" from the standard 44mm thick to 70mm or even 90mm thick. Presumably 7cm or 9cm thickness of spruce is quite decent at retaining heat? Though probably not as good as the one photographed by @SimonD which does tend to suggest there is going to be a decent cavity for some insulation.

 

Curious as to what you see as the disadvantages of buying a pre-fabricated DIY kit like this versus designing something better from scratch. If it's only going to be used an hour at a time at most, what good is the cavity design with insulation vs a 7cm or 9cm single spruce log design?

[Adsibob]

I think I may have to read this book before embarrassing myself further: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Finnish-Sauna-Design/dp/1683150260/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1H9X9CX5ZOZTZ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.yEU2bwLmDjJ--0ts9h64UnbtZft2D8JVGUtM1gyGhX0KjDCvOmp3RXoc4NuxVjkaf6hC1QWbWgkL0zywYuinVjlLj7KfDLtskHHrD8rWXMr3c464IrvmmS1B-gLuNR-2DKhS7OIcSLZGVPwarepXNKZ6acP-Gy6wctm8rPneIY-LbN2Qx4Sxaht1ueMezvk2da-sRfxDeHOziIssyB3vqiaojyVsjwNRoNMdkqaXgPo.qtskqQQXJ3b3GGvenUVWSvRByoNWJeDbSwPri6-xxHo&dib_tag=se&keywords=sauna+design&qid=1714517017&s=books&sprefix=sauna+design%2Cstripbooks%2C80&sr=1-1

 

Clearly lots to think about...

[SimonD]

16 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Curious as to what you see as the disadvantages of buying a pre-fabricated DIY kit like this versus designing something better from scratch. If it's only going to be used an hour at a time at most, what good is the cavity design with insulation vs a 7cm or 9cm single spruce log design?

 

It's more down to whether the kit comes with pre-fabricated panels like cheap sheds.

 

Here are some good examples available off the shelf from a company that started just up the road from where we had a summer house in Sweden when I was a kid.

 

https://www.polhus.co.uk/sauna

[Pocster]

3 hours ago, SimonD said:

 

It's more down to whether the kit comes with pre-fabricated panels like cheap sheds.

 

Here are some good examples available off the shelf from a company that started just up the road from where we had a summer house in Sweden when I was a kid.

 

https://www.polhus.co.uk/sauna

Do these ‘finish’ sheds come with …

 

 

[joe90]

The slotted log type is what my new garage is made of, I would have thought thick wood was more than enough for the short periods used for a sauna. The log “look” is great IMO and very substantial.

[SimonD]

3 hours ago, Pocster said:

Do these ‘finish’ sheds come with …

 

 

 

Must be getting a bit hot under the collar..... You're the wrong side of the Baltic Sea!

 

Maybe these instead?

 

 

 

Or even ?

 

[Nickfromwales]

On 30/04/2024 at 09:17, SimonD said:

If you want to go a bit more energy efficient, then

...don't have a sauna and steam room?  

[Nickfromwales]

9 minutes ago, SimonD said:

 

Must be getting a bit hot under the collar..... You're the wrong side of the Baltic Sea!

 

Maybe these instead?

 

 

 

Or even ?

 

Our 1st 18+ post lol. Utter filth.

 

Which one is Barbara, and who crucified her?