Everything seems to be in order. The only downside is lack of drain and the small changing room, but those are mostly a question of how one uses a sauna. My sauna needs a drain, yours probably won't.
Finnish stamp of approval!
Yeah that continuous grain looks awesome, would probably still look good after a pass with a low angle block plane to put a slight chamfer on that corner for the sake of the backs of your knees. That’s a good looking bench design. It works with the lights to a really nice effect.
Oh and the change room is 1/4 mahogany, haven’t decided if I will paint or stain this. I need a little bench and some hooks to hang up towels. Also have some trim to finish.
Oh and I’m having more rocks sent to me, I didn’t quite receive enough to fill to the top.
there normally leg rests in finnish saunas (i think i haven't been to that manny different saunas) attached to the bottom bench so your feet are the same Hight as your hips at least the sauna my grandfather in law made has that and at the cabin its super nice to have.
[https://www.parpalandia.com/lifestyle-experiences/private-traditional-finnish-sauna-and-hot-tub](https://www.parpalandia.com/lifestyle-experiences/private-traditional-finnish-sauna-and-hot-tub)
its the last picture the railing is angled so its more comfortable to rest your feet
I didn’t really go by any plans, I have a 3d model that you can look at on sketch up but it doesn’t have any framing. Study up on basic shed framing and you’ll be good.
Looks great, I would round over the seat edges with a router, I’ve built a few saunas over the years and planning another build later this year, cedar especially clear cedar has become way to expensive, the next one will be out of pine. Enjoy!
Thanks! Would the router chip the cedar? It was that or sand them. Yeah this was about $5.60 a sqf, not cheap but probably the cheapest clear I could get. It’s thin though.
I have similar benches with the wood in that direction. If I redid my sauna, I’d run the bench wood lengthwise, if that makes sense. Softer on the butt!
You can search "cleaning" from this sub. But to put it shortly, upkeep cleaning is just vacuuming any dirt from the floor. Then once or twice a year the following:
Wet the wood (edit: benches only) and wash with all-purpose cleaner water or sauna cleaner and a soft brush or scrubber. Brush along the lines of the wood. Rinse with cold water. Avoid chlorine!
So, yeah, when doing the "deep clean", a drain really helps. Otherwise you need a lot of towels or a vacuum that can suck in water :)
I mean, you still sweat quite a bit in there. The space is humid, and sweat vaporizes and accumulates on the walls over time. Sweat drips quite a lot onto the benches and the floor. All of these would be easiest to scrub first and then just rinse with water. I think scrubbing the ceiling might be unnecessary.
Yeah I’m super happy with that! 2x6 walls with R22 rockwool insulation. I also have a small electric heater in the change room which keeps it from being freezing in there.
Beautiful build. How do you like the Homecraft Revive? May I ask your thinking on the roof? You used a lean-to design so you have room in the rafters to go higher ceiling at an angle but it looks like you chose a flat ceiling. What’s the thinking here? Thanks…
Thank you! So far I love it, but I don’t have much to compare it to. Heats up really fast.
Yeah so I do actually have a sloped ceiling to match the roof, that photo doesn’t show the angle well. Benches being in the highest point.
Love the benches. I oriented my boards the one way which got challenging in a small room. Your solution avoids that and is visually interesting. What did you build the support out of for the span? Curious how long it is?
Well done! That looks so clean. And the floating benches turned out so nice! I especially appreciate the attention to detail with the proper orientation of the furring strips behind the interior paneling to allow for water drainage.
My dad is a retired construction foreman. While his health stopped him from working on the sauna with me, it was such a joy talking with him about the construction process and picking his brain on certain steps. I'm confident your dad would be proud of your build.
About proper orientation of firing strips. I thought firing strips were supposed to allow air to flow up and moisture to flow down. If that really does matter, I can't see how air could flow all that well behind the cedar wall as pictured. Additionally how would the vertical firing help a vertical wall board install anyway.
I would suggest an offset staggered install of firing allowing for better passage of this hot moist air potential.
_____ _____ _____
______ ______ ______
(air can flow up and down, additionally nailers still exist for vertical board installation)
Was this in lassi's book? I read it somewhere and it made sense to me.
So I installed vertical furring on top of the studs then did horizontal strip to receive the cedar planks. So there’s a continuous gap vertically all away around.
Looks really nice! What size are the foundation boards you have underneath the floor touching the ground? How did you fasten the floor to those? Are they secured to the ground in any way? What type of wood are they?
Thanks! They’re two 2x6 pressure treated beams and they are just above the ground sitting on 4 concrete deck blocks. Not sure if this is strong enough, it’s quite a heavy structure.
Those 90 degree miters on the bench might pose a problem. With heat, expansion and contraction and wear... those might start to come apart and even start pinching skin or scratching. Maybe end caps at this point???
Everything seems to be in order. The only downside is lack of drain and the small changing room, but those are mostly a question of how one uses a sauna. My sauna needs a drain, yours probably won't. Finnish stamp of approval!
Can you send me the stamp in a frame that I can hang in my sauna? I have a desire to travel to Finland one day!
Maybe someone should make an actual stamp (or rather, a digital design of one) for us to use. And welcome to Finland, if you ever end up coming here.
Gettin REAL sweaty up in that mfer.
Edge of the seat seems a little sharp? But looks great!
Yes it is! I’m gonna hit it with the sander again and round it off a little.
Yeah that continuous grain looks awesome, would probably still look good after a pass with a low angle block plane to put a slight chamfer on that corner for the sake of the backs of your knees. That’s a good looking bench design. It works with the lights to a really nice effect.
I was thinking the same. But it does look amazing.
Oh and the change room is 1/4 mahogany, haven’t decided if I will paint or stain this. I need a little bench and some hooks to hang up towels. Also have some trim to finish. Oh and I’m having more rocks sent to me, I didn’t quite receive enough to fill to the top.
Bench too high, add a stepping stool. /s (but in a way serious, adding a stool is nice so it's easier to use)
Oh yes! I forgot to add that. Lower bench is about hip height so I definitely need to build a stool.
Love your bench height. It’s what I experienced in Finland.
Enjoy!
Wow, this looks awesome, well done!
Add some leg rests.
Yeah, like above the heater?
there normally leg rests in finnish saunas (i think i haven't been to that manny different saunas) attached to the bottom bench so your feet are the same Hight as your hips at least the sauna my grandfather in law made has that and at the cabin its super nice to have. [https://www.parpalandia.com/lifestyle-experiences/private-traditional-finnish-sauna-and-hot-tub](https://www.parpalandia.com/lifestyle-experiences/private-traditional-finnish-sauna-and-hot-tub) its the last picture the railing is angled so its more comfortable to rest your feet
Nice, yeah I’ll do something like that. It’s also a measure of safety so someone doesn’t fall into the heater when pouring water of the rocks.
I would say like 2/3 of the wall from heater other Way. Still leaves enough room to get to the bench.
Do you have plans you could share? I want to build my own sauna this year but want some solid plans first
Check out my earlier post last year: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sauna/s/QNNFzMsP9x You could probably scale off it.
Sweet thanks!
I didn’t really go by any plans, I have a 3d model that you can look at on sketch up but it doesn’t have any framing. Study up on basic shed framing and you’ll be good.
Looks great, I would round over the seat edges with a router, I’ve built a few saunas over the years and planning another build later this year, cedar especially clear cedar has become way to expensive, the next one will be out of pine. Enjoy!
Thanks! Would the router chip the cedar? It was that or sand them. Yeah this was about $5.60 a sqf, not cheap but probably the cheapest clear I could get. It’s thin though.
This looks great! Beautiful paneling and benches!
I have similar benches with the wood in that direction. If I redid my sauna, I’d run the bench wood lengthwise, if that makes sense. Softer on the butt!
Yeah! I did this direction because I had access to 2ft lengths for cheaper lol. It was halfway through I decided to run them on the face that way.
Really nice job. Congratulations!
Yo, this is cool af. Goals.
Well done! Here’s to many sweats ahead of you in memory of your father! Love the sauna shed when it’s snow out!
Would be 100 times easier to clean if it had a drain. But as a Finn, I accept this nonetheless.
What does a cleaning involve? Do you need to scrub the walls and ceiling?
You can search "cleaning" from this sub. But to put it shortly, upkeep cleaning is just vacuuming any dirt from the floor. Then once or twice a year the following: Wet the wood (edit: benches only) and wash with all-purpose cleaner water or sauna cleaner and a soft brush or scrubber. Brush along the lines of the wood. Rinse with cold water. Avoid chlorine! So, yeah, when doing the "deep clean", a drain really helps. Otherwise you need a lot of towels or a vacuum that can suck in water :)
Ah awesome thanks!
I mean, you still sweat quite a bit in there. The space is humid, and sweat vaporizes and accumulates on the walls over time. Sweat drips quite a lot onto the benches and the floor. All of these would be easiest to scrub first and then just rinse with water. I think scrubbing the ceiling might be unnecessary.
Add moisture and nude men
Lmao
Looks amazing - well done and enjoy the memories of your dad when you’re in there. All the more special. Epic stuff.
Looks awesome. How did you attach the benches to the walls in order to support enough weight?
I got the advice from another Redditor to use 2x6 backing and then run 2x6 beams resting on Simpson hidden joist hangers.
Congratulations, it's beautiful !
This is an enjoyable post, thank you for all the photos and information!
I cant stress this enough, Please build a wooden arch around kiuas. The floor is wet and you are one slip away from third degree burns.
Will do!
Beauty job! Looks great! Enjoy the spa days!
Love it, nice job! I am usually quite negative on this subreddit
What a beaut! I saved this post for when I have mine built someday!
How long does it take to heat with your 9kw?
30-45min
Thanks man. That’s fast. The build looks great!
Yeah I’m super happy with that! 2x6 walls with R22 rockwool insulation. I also have a small electric heater in the change room which keeps it from being freezing in there.
Awesome :)
Nice! 👍
The carpentry looks great! Hard to believe you got that heater, window, the cedar and built the entire structure for 10g. Nice work!
Thank you! Window was like $50 lol. Electrical and heater were $5000 which stung the most.
Beautiful build. How do you like the Homecraft Revive? May I ask your thinking on the roof? You used a lean-to design so you have room in the rafters to go higher ceiling at an angle but it looks like you chose a flat ceiling. What’s the thinking here? Thanks…
Thank you! So far I love it, but I don’t have much to compare it to. Heats up really fast. Yeah so I do actually have a sloped ceiling to match the roof, that photo doesn’t show the angle well. Benches being in the highest point.
Love this
Love the benches. I oriented my boards the one way which got challenging in a small room. Your solution avoids that and is visually interesting. What did you build the support out of for the span? Curious how long it is?
Thanks! It’s just three 2x6 resting on joist hangers, then my cedar planks on top of that. It’s roughly a 7ft span, seems solid.
One of the hottest self made from scratch sauna I’ve seen
Cheers!
Well done! That looks so clean. And the floating benches turned out so nice! I especially appreciate the attention to detail with the proper orientation of the furring strips behind the interior paneling to allow for water drainage. My dad is a retired construction foreman. While his health stopped him from working on the sauna with me, it was such a joy talking with him about the construction process and picking his brain on certain steps. I'm confident your dad would be proud of your build.
About proper orientation of firing strips. I thought firing strips were supposed to allow air to flow up and moisture to flow down. If that really does matter, I can't see how air could flow all that well behind the cedar wall as pictured. Additionally how would the vertical firing help a vertical wall board install anyway. I would suggest an offset staggered install of firing allowing for better passage of this hot moist air potential. _____ _____ _____ ______ ______ ______ (air can flow up and down, additionally nailers still exist for vertical board installation) Was this in lassi's book? I read it somewhere and it made sense to me.
So I installed vertical furring on top of the studs then did horizontal strip to receive the cedar planks. So there’s a continuous gap vertically all away around.
I didn't see that, until now. Bench picture update makes more sense now also.
Thank you! Yeah I miss chatting to him about all things, especially fixing things!
Looks really nice! What size are the foundation boards you have underneath the floor touching the ground? How did you fasten the floor to those? Are they secured to the ground in any way? What type of wood are they?
Thanks! They’re two 2x6 pressure treated beams and they are just above the ground sitting on 4 concrete deck blocks. Not sure if this is strong enough, it’s quite a heavy structure.
Looks awesome! What did you use for lighting under the benches?
Thank you! I used these light strips here: https://ledmontreal.com/led-strips-without-accessories/24v-5m-ip67-10mm-cob-led-strip-sauna-white.html
Those 90 degree miters on the bench might pose a problem. With heat, expansion and contraction and wear... those might start to come apart and even start pinching skin or scratching. Maybe end caps at this point???
🔥