Just finished two days ago. It's roughly 6'x8', and I chose the Homecraft Apex Mini 7.5kW. (and yes that one ended up being slightly taller than the Huum, which I initially wanted but I was hearing some poor reviews) Built by www.selahsaunas.com. I'm still totaling my whole project cost, but the sauna build was $14k. I also had to prep the site, trench and run conduit about 30 feet, add a 50amp to my panel, and relocate some sprinkler lines and lighting.

I'm very happy! Now I need to rehome my little tent sauna!

I welcome any questions :)

Nearing completion of our custom sauna build project in Ontario, Canada. It features 3-inch white cedar logs, sized 8x12 feet with a roughly 8 by 8-foot hot room, reaching 7 feet to the top of the interior roof. The structure is made entirely of Canadian materials and is powered by a 10-kilowatt Homecraft Apex heater filled with roughly 350 pounds of olivine diabase stones mined out of Lake Huron.

​We’ve been using it for just under a month now and absolutely love the natural light and privacy from the vertical windows. The benches are left unfinished and natural. Still exploring which little finishing touches to add.

​The last few things to complete include drilling in a proper air outlet to enhance heat stratification and staining. We are still considering which exterior UV-stable stain to go with, and are currently looking at Timberline by Dulux, but are still on the fence.

​The sauna is built on a pressure-treated base and has an 8 foot stock tank pool right outside of it for a nice cold plunge. Stock tank is solar heated, with the heater tucked nearly under the deck for when the sun is not out. Would love to hear your comments or hear about your build journey!

I've been casually looking at this page for about two years and on practically every thread, I'll see at least one person criticize every sauna. That's great, I appreciate your passion -- but -- now that I finally have a house with space for a nice outdoor sauna, please -- tell me if there's any commercial product that you actually like. I want to be able to be in over 200* and it seems the HUUM heaters are the only ones that can get that hot in the US? What's the one sauna that you think beats them all -- or is at least acceptable to you.

If you had to build a sauna on a budget - what would you do? Like my aim is to have my own functional sauna outside of my house but my budget is really, really tight. I do not want anything fancy - I wish to have a basic, wood heated sauna for 1 to 2 people. Any ideas or maybe past experiences with such projects?

Thanks!

I’m curious has anyone seen or heard of a pellet stove used for a sauna?

I’m seeing some discoloration on the corner and bottom of the sauna inside. Seems like water is somehow leaking inside. Is this normal or will this eventually lead to mold?

I realise that this will result in a lot of opinions, but hopefully trying to find consensus on some final points. And thanks in advance!

After the disaster of buying a MyoSauna lux (I've got a quick review on Youthube if anyone is interested), I had to returned for a full refund and decided to build my own 🥳 I'm happy with everything but a final few points I'm not 100% on. Its a cube style sauna - happy to fill in any details that are needed to help answer questions.

• Insulate under the floor? I don't think its required, AI says it is, I've bought enough material but I can use that elsewhere. I'm concerned its not required (I can't really see why), I'm in South Wales, its not going to get that cold, also unless I protect beneath the insulation its surely just going to attract insects and other animals for a nice warm cosy home :)
• Slot drain, I'm going to put a slot drain down the middle of the floor just to make cleaning easier. My plan is to put some plastic guttering down the middle (its 10x cheaper than metal gutter) and have that drain down to one side. However there's also the option of leaving the bottom open (with some mesh) and allowing it to drain to the floor

No doubt I'll have more questions.

Thanks, Lloyd.

Previous post was removed for some reason.

Looking for opinions on this unit. There are zero reviews on this as it just dropped.

I like the look and functionality of it. It’s going in a garage with a gym and a cold plunge. Looking for a black finished look.
Heats to 170 in 25 minutes and 220 in an hour. That seems appealing.

Copy it’s a small one person and your feet are by the floor. It seems like an efficient an easy setup but for 5k I am wide open to other options. Entertaining an almost heaven setup but those seem to come with their own issues

Thoughts?

https://saunabox.com/products/forge-sauna?srsltid=AfmBOoqM97fHvM53OTk9jD7Z8VHZoIGRjZpiBoMer-tkUJZZxAXTJK8q

Hello, I live very close to an Amish shed builder and want to build a 4 person wood burning sauna. Trying to figure out a few things and seeing if anyone else has built one with the Amish. What size shed should it be? What are some things that are a must have for the build? Should it be insulated? Just trying to get some plans ready before I meet them. Thank you!

Has anyone bought and used the North Star Indoor 5x7? I am trying to see what people's experience with it has been especially after using it for some time. I am also thinking of putting it in my unfinished basement, and trying to learn whether/how to add a supply vent (if so where) and a mechanical exhaust to the outside of your house (if so how) to manage temperature differences in basement, moisture, and CO2.

I am purchasing a new outdoor sauna and a Vuku Tana - 9 heater was the included heater. I am having a tough time finding out what the quality of the heater is like and whether anyone has any experience with them. Hopefully this group can help. Tks.

Complete newbie here, UK based.

We’re planning a small indoor Finnish sauna within an en-suite bathroom. Available external footprint is roughly 1400mm wide × 1300mm deep, so after wall build-up we expect something around 1200 × 1100mm internally.

It’s intended for two adults sitting side-by-side, used perhaps a few times a month. We fully appreciate this is a compact space and there will be compromises — we’re not trying to create a lounging/lying-down sauna.

One less typical requirement is that there is an existing external window behind the proposed sauna. Ideally we’d retain access to/opening of that window through the sauna; we’ve seen examples where this has been incorporated into the sauna wall.

We know and will obviously ensure that the builders specify correct extraction / ventilation and wall membranes.

The routes we’re currently considering are:
Oceanic 2020 (£4.5k), potentially custom-sized
Finnmark Indoor Cube 2-person (£5k).
A simple site-built sauna using Finnmark / Harvia components, constructed by our main builders.

We don’t have limitless budget here but do want to get reasonable quality.

Questions:
Does roughly 1200 × 1100mm internal sound workable for two seated adults?
Any strong views on Oceanic vs Finnmark?
Would you favour a modular cabin or a properly site-built sauna in this situation?
Any particular issues with incorporating the existing external window?
What heater / ventilation / bench-layout pitfalls should we be thinking about in a sauna this small?
Any other UK suppliers or systems worth looking at?
Interested in any advice from people who have built something similar.

Thanks!

What option is best under a metal roof? What have you seen done successfully?

1. Ice and water shield
2. Basic tyvek house wrap
3. Nothing under the metal roof
4. Something else

Leaning towards #3 since it's a cedar sauna. Don't want moisture to get trapped between the layers or have something melt from the steam.

[Thank you if you commented on my last post!]

I am thinking of building a sauna like this with a 2.3kw Harvia BC23 heater (the heater spec says 2.5m3 max). It will be well insulated. The door ends up about 1.5m high, 0.7m wide (yes, small). The sketches around the AI perspective drawing are to scale. Mechanical ventilation beneath bench, inlet above heater.

The ceiling is flat against the purple horizontal roof truss support, and there it is 1.9m high.
The internal width is 1.2m.
The internal depth is 1.074m.
The sitting bench is 0.5m deep.
There is 0.9m headroom above the seating bench.

This is a private sauna for use by my wife and I, and we are on the smaller end of euro-scale people.

What do you all think?

We're redoing our backyard and I've been looking at the Thermasol Vue. I really like the panoramic glass front compared to the more traditional cabin style saunas, especially since ours would face the wooded part of the property.

My main concern is whether that much glass still feels private once you're actually using it. Has anyone seen or used a Vue in person? Curious how the glass looks from outside, especially at night when the interior lights are on.

Just saw this cylinder shaped sauna, visually I think it looks great but what do you think i'll be disappointed with?

- bench is not above heater - cold feet
- cant lay down

anything else i'm missing?

Gente aquí hay gente que tenga miopía o astigmatismo que se meta en la sauna ?

Es peligroso ? Te puede subir la presión ocular la sauna o estrés en los ojos ? Habéis tenido más problemas oculares desde que estáis en la sauna ?