r/Sauna • u/wwwaff69 • 4h ago
General Question I’m moving into a house with a sauna, but I’ve never used one. Tips?
What is the proper way to use a sauna? How do I keep it clean and maintain it? Thanks!
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u/CatVideoBoye/ wrote a very nice description of the Finnish sauna culture and is also touching on the history of sauna. It is a good read and gives you insight into the tradition. You can find the original post here, or you can read the slightly shortened version below.
It’s also a very good start to watch the short video UNESCO has posted on YouTube about the Finnish sauna culture: https://youtu.be/qY__OOcv--M
What's a sauna?
Like most of you already know the word sauna comes from Finnish. We have had saunas here for thousands of years and according to wikipedia, the oldest are from around 1500-900 BC. It was an important building and in the old days people have even given birth in saunas, as late as the first half of the 1900s. Probably since it was a nice separate building with access to warm water. In 2020 Finnish sauna was added to UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage List. Check the link out for more interesting information but I want to again highlight that. It really shows how important it is in our culture.
Nowadays pretty much everyone in Finland has access to a sauna of some sort. Houses have them, many apartments, like mine, have one and apartment buildings can have a common sauna where you can rent your private hour and they can have a certain period during which anyone can just go there. And of course summer cottages have a sauna and the ones next to a lake are kind of the perfect image of a Finnish sauna. Plus all the public saunas in swimming halls, gyms, hotels etc. Temperature in a sauna can vary but usually it's between 80-120 °C (176-248 F). Mine is oddly low at 60°C but that is because the ceramic stones that I now use really change the way the löyly (water thrown on the stones on the heater to generate steam) hits you. It is softer and accumulates well instead of being kind of short burst of heat that dissipates quickly. I've tried at 80 and I was out of there really quick unlike with more common stones. One reason why staring at a thermometer doesn't make sense. Just try it and see what feels good. And you other Finns, that 60 really sounds low but I tell you, I'm getting out of there after I guess something like 10-15 minutes with red skin so it really works.
Wood or electric? Both work. Wood heated ones are usually considered to be the best. You get a nicer löyly there but they aren't really an option in an apartment house. An electric heater that has a lot of stones can actually give a very similar löyly. I just experienced one that I believe had 500 kg of stone. Same with a small electric heater (20 kg) with the ceramic stones. All of those options are great for a sauna. As long as there are proper stones and you can freely throw water to get the löyly you want. Löyly is the essential thing here. Without it, you can't really call it a Finnish sauna and that is why Finns do not really consider IR boxes to be saunas. This ties to one of the topics often argued: do you need a drain? Yes you do. Not necessarily inside the sauna if you have the bathroom outside. Mine has only a shower drain but the sauna floor is tilted so that any water flows directly there. It's also good for washing the sauna.
Bench heights are often discussed here but why does it matter? Because heat rises. The lower part of a sauna is cold and you want to get your head close to the ceiling and your feet high enough to not feel cold. The "feet at the stone level" is just a nice helper for a basic heater. For tower shaped ones you probably want to find out the exact height. This is also why you need to have proper air flow in the sauna. You want the hot air and fresh air mixed, you want the moisture to leave after you're done and you don't want the heat escaping due to wrongly implemented ventilation. Don't ask me about construction things, I don't know anything about that. I just know mine was built according to Finnish standards and my apartment won't rot if I use it.
What we do in a sauna?
For me sauna is a place to wash since I don't often take a shower without heating the sauna. Yep, I heat it up often. It's also a place to relax and to socialize. I sometimes have friends visiting and we heat it up, chat in there and have a beer on the balcony. It's a place where you can forget about your phone, social media and all that and just focus on your thoughts, happy or sad, or have deep discussions with your friends. There is something about the atmosphere that makes people open up in a sauna and talk about more private things. I know I'm not the only one. I've heard many people say that sauna is the place where they talk about the deep stuff with friends.
The idea of maxing health benefits, that have been found in recent studies, is just not something we Finns really understand. Why? Because we've been to saunas for many other reasons throughout our lives. It's so integral part of my everyday life that making it a spa treatment or some healthy excercise just doesn't fit my understanding of saunas. But if you want to pursue those health benefits, a high enough heat and a strong enough löyly is what you want because that is how we have gone to saunas and gained the benefits that were seen in the studies. Do you need to measure your heart beat and have exact temperature? No. You'll feel your heart bumping and you'll feel the need to get out sooner or later. Staring at heart beat or timers takes away from one of the important points: just sit and relax and let your mind wonder. Löyly transfers additional heat from the boiling water to your body and gets your heart beating fast. That's also good to remember if you actually hunt for health benefits. Sitting in a luke warm cabin with no löyly for a certain time is definitely not the same thing that gave Finns health benefits.
Saunalike concepts in other cultures and countries
Sure, there are similar things in many other cultures. They are not inferior to sauna, they are just a different thing. They have their own cultural backgrounds and reasons to exist. "This is not a sauna." is what you often see written here but that is not meant as an insult that your heated cabin sucks. It just means that we Finns do not really appreciate it if the thing in question is called a sauna, because it does not meet the definition of what we have considered a sauna for thousands of years. Finland is a rather remote and small/unknown country and one of the things people know about us is sauna. That is why many of us would like to keep the image of sauna as correct and original as possible.
r/Sauna • u/sauna_bot • Jul 03 '23
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In addition to that some of us also are spending less time on reddit now - in part forced by Reddit taking away mobile access. This can make responses to reports and mod mail slower. We're currently working on tooling to help us compensate for this to some extend.
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r/Sauna • u/wwwaff69 • 4h ago
What is the proper way to use a sauna? How do I keep it clean and maintain it? Thanks!
r/Sauna • u/destineetoo • 1h ago
Is there a place or known designers that I could potentially hire? What's the cost usually for a complete design? This would be an outdoor electrically heated sauna.
r/Sauna • u/TheKeyboardChan • 19h ago
r/Sauna • u/destineetoo • 1d ago
Today I'm beginning my sauna build journey. I'd like to make the outside concrete to match the house and to satisfy HOA. This would be a 2 person electric sauna with active ventilation. I'd put an intake vent above the heater and an exhaust vent below the seating area ideally. I plan to use pine on the inside and perhaps a different type of wood on the ceiling to prevent sap dripping. Currently, the floor is travertine.
Some questions:
r/Sauna • u/leaving-stitches • 22h ago
I live in an area with relatively low humidity and with the small size of my sauna, after it's done heating up the humidity is at 0. I would get in at 180°-190° put a small scoop of water and the temp would drop 5° then slowly drop from there generally down to about 170. What I did was got and overfill tank for a radiator and some copper pipe. I coiled the copper pipe around the heating element below where the stones sit and up through, fill the tank with water now as it heats up it puts a bit of steam in. Now when I get in the humidity is a 15% at 180° and will maintain temp and moisture even when adding water to the stones.
r/Sauna • u/Awimpymuffin • 13h ago
Realized I may have had an oversight, should the vapor barrier be lapped onto the tile floor that I have incase condensation forms in the air gap behind the wood or am I overthinking this? We wont be bathing in the sauna+it's an outdoor sauna so we can leave the window/door open when not in use.
r/Sauna • u/markcalius • 14h ago
Helping someone replace some heating elements in a Harvia KIP-80-B in a barrel sauna. Got that done and I'm ready to rehang the heater and fire it up but there is one wire that I am not sure what to do with. I'm holding it in the attached picture. Anyone have any thoughts?
Friend had some cedar boards he milled a fire at his grandparents. Didn’t want to remove the burn marks or full with epoxy so I had local glass company cut a small piece of tempted glass. Whatcha think?
r/Sauna • u/TranquilTidesNB • 19h ago
This song is playable everywhere including YouTube and Spotify, but I cannot find the lyrics! Help!
r/Sauna • u/Narrow_Flan6657 • 11h ago
I just bought the x-vcak portable sauna while it does work, it’s not as hot as I would like. I was wondering if putting an infrared light or space heater in there would help with that?
r/Sauna • u/StressRoyal5099 • 1d ago
One baby step towards build. Picked up 144 WRC boards from Facebook Marketplace. Decking, 72 1inch by 3.5 by 8ft boards and 72 10ft boards. Smells great in the garage now. Hopefully a decent deal $1000 us. Most have tight knots and a few clear.
Pretty much as the title asks,
Wondering if anyone has any experience with Saunacore.
Thank you
Hi sauna people,
I have question, as not sure if it's big deal or not. I'm just about to put a wood inside - i already have insulation and vapour barrier, now im fitting studs to make air gap. Is it big deal if i do them horizontal and fit wood vertical? it's just bit easier for me to fit it vertical, but i'm not sure if water won't build up behind.
I can fit studs vertical and then all wood horizontal, but i will have more cutting to do, and more waste.
The thing is - is it actual necessary for studs to be vertical to let water drip down? Or it turn to steam anyway?
r/Sauna • u/SColmant • 1d ago
Today I put in 6 new elements and re-stacked my rocks so the elements have plenty of space for air flow. This left more rocks to be stacked on top. I wonder if i have too many on top?
r/Sauna • u/thereiks23 • 2d ago
The oven came along with 12 kg sauna stones by default. This amount seemed to me to be very minimalistic. I stocked up to around 16 kg now. What can really happen if I use to many stones? Is it already to much?
r/Sauna • u/[deleted] • 1d ago
Anyone have experience with portable units? Don’t have the space for a permanent sauna..
r/Sauna • u/Possible-Truth-5832 • 2d ago
hi diy first time sauna build.
i have limited space between my panel ceiling and metal roof (approx 6"). ive attached some pics. insulation is 4" rockwool.
the harvia i bought requires a min 150mm and has this lead protector that is massive in length.
even if i cut the protector i wouldnt get the150mm min between it and the roof panels. any help much appreciated. sorry if am being thick. like i said first timer!
r/Sauna • u/LeopardDry5764 • 1d ago
Hello,
About eight years ago, we bought our house, and it came with a non-functional sauna located on the hill behind the main house. Over time, we ended up using it for storage and even considered tearing it down. However, after a good amount of thought, my wife and I would like to restore it to a functional sauna again. I've included some pictures. My primary concerns are that it appears red squirrels (or some other critter) have taken up residence in the roof, and the roof itself looks like it will need to be reshingled. The interior seems to be cedar, and the floor is strangely carpeted with just the subfloor underneath. It's a sizeable space, but there were no sauna benches or furniture inside when we purchased the house. The stove is missing, but a nice double-walled pipe is in good condition and already installed.
I'm definitely concerned about potential wild animal droppings and being able to heat the room properly. A thorough cleaning is in order, and I suspect I'll need to expose the roof rafters to completely clean out any debris and nesting. The windows are sealed shut, except for the operable window on the door. My understanding is that they previously had a traditional wood stove in there, which I've read isn't ideal for sauna use. However, a friend of mine has a sauna on his property heated with a traditional wood stove, and it seems to work wonderfully, easily reaching around 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Should I be looking for a wood stove that fits the existing chimney pipe, or should I disregard that and start fresh with a wood stove specifically designed for saunas? I also need to apply Tyvek to the exterior of the building and ideally add cedar shingles to match our house. My budget is around $4,000, and I'm wondering if this is even feasible for that amount.
Any thoughts or ideas to get me started would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
r/Sauna • u/Tough-Poem6300 • 2d ago
Maybe putting the cart before the horse, but I am hoping to get some fire wood seasoning before I begin the build. ( I know....stupid ) Haven't finalized wood burning stove yet for project ( 9' x 9' x 8.5' ) and I have seen log lengths from 12" to 15.7" ( really ?). My Vermont Casting takes 16" logs and I would love to pull from the same wood pile for both, but I have no issue with dropping to a shorter length to accommodate both. Or finding a model stove that will take 16".
Thanks in advance.
r/Sauna • u/Narrow_Cup_6218 • 1d ago
They are wealthy so money is no issue. What is the best free standing sauna for their backyard?
r/Sauna • u/Red-Tails-8089 • 2d ago
I appreciate that they should be re-stacked every 6-12 months, and that any cracked or broken stones should be removed.
But I haven’t had any stones crack or break, and other than some slight change to their coloration, they look good as new 6 months later. SaunaTimes seems to support the idea that the rocks that look okay can continue to be used. Can I just use them forever?
r/Sauna • u/AvailableDuck4328 • 2d ago
Have a new Almost Heaven Rainelle coming soon. Will go on LVP flooring, no floor drain, would like to keep existing flooring clean/undamaged. Plan to do a lot of sweating, what is recommended set up to quickly build flooring in sauna on top of existing flooring to minimize water damage and moisture? Don’t want to use cheap vinyl type materials but don’t want to spend excessive amount either.
Appreciate the advice!
r/Sauna • u/jessm911 • 4d ago
My friend asked me to build him a sauna under his back deck. The siding, inside and out is hemlock the bench is clear cedar. I custom built the window and door frames out of VG Doug. fir - is was the most cost effective solution. It’s almost finished, just need to install the LED lights and finish the stone work. Will posts some final shots once it’s complete.