What You Need to Know About Building an Outdoor Sauna (2026) Leave a comment

Final winter, my husband and I obtained a Solar House Luminar 5-Individual Sauna to check. I reside in grey and wet Portland, Oregon, which has a fairly strong sauna tradition to fight the February blahs.

Not solely was I ecstatic, however nearly everybody I knew was too. For the a number of weeks that I had the Solar House field in my driveway, I obtained a continuing stream of texts from pals. “Do you’ve a sauna?” all of them requested, hoping to get invited over quickly.

Since then, I’ve had a number of pals construct their very own yard saunas, and I notice my expertise might have been atypical. Nonetheless, I gleaned a couple of helpful learnings which you can take away in case you’re seeking to set up considered one of your individual. In case you’re contemplating dropping a number of grand on an outside sauna, right here are some things you may take into account.

Lesson #1: Select Your Sauna Kind

There are a number of sorts of saunas. Conventional Finnish saunas use a wooden range and stones to warmth the inside.

In case you’re taking a look at fashionable electric-powered saunas, there are two varieties right here. You’ll be able to both select an electrical sauna, which has a single electrical warmth supply, or an infrared (IR) sauna, which makes use of gentle panels to warmth the physique. In case you go for a sauna with an electrical heater, you can too select a dry or moist mannequin. Pouring water over the heated rocks creates what the Finns name “löyly,” the steam that may assist make a scorching room extra snug.

Devotees of 1 or the opposite can argue forwards and backwards without end. Conventional wood-burning saunas usually tend to catch on hearth. A dry sauna is extra sanitary and due to this fact simpler to take care of. The well being advantages of a standard sauna have been extra extensively studied, and so forth.

Most individuals I do know who’ve chosen to put in saunas have opted for an electrical moist mannequin. That is essentially the most much like the general public sauna that you simply may discover at a gymnasium. An IR sauna is normally cheaper. Nonetheless, you may discover a number of heat-emitting gentle panels extra uncomfortable than a single warmth supply, the place you’ll be able to keep away from direct contact extra simply.

Lesson #2: Select Your Location Properly

In relation to deciding the place to put in a sauna, there are a couple of common sense nonnegotiables. Solar House particulars these in its set up guide (which has been revised since I examined the sauna). You want a tile, concrete, carpet, laminated, or wooden floor; relying on which sauna you choose from Solar House, it should be capable to assist 870 or 1,270 kilos.

You could rent an electrician to switch your 240-volt, 30-amp energy provide and use a NEMA L6-30P outlet; changing it your self will void the guarantee. The corporate now notes that it must also be put in in a dry, weather-protected space, though I’ve a number of pals who’ve put in outside saunas on graveled areas that aren’t beneath cowl.

In sum: Though it’s marketed as an outside sauna, you need to deal with it as in case you’re putting in an indoor sauna.