The mobile sauna: January 1, 2010

I am excited to announce that the first mobile Finnish sauna will be idling warmly as part of the annual New Year’s Day polar plunge on Lake Minnetonka.  Click here for more videos and photos. (This guy needs a sauna):

Date:

Friday, January 1, 2010 @ 9:30 AM local time

Address:

Bayview Event Center
687 Excelsior Blvd
Excelsior, MN

Negative ion study from Japan

Thanks to Stephen Colmant for digging out this study on the effects of negative ions. Summary:  “The results suggest that negative ions may amplify the effects on humans of the sauna.”

It is wildly known that wood burning saunas create negative ions, akin to the experience of being close to a waterfall.  The technical explanation of this is most welcome, please comment.

Though I appreciate the study and hope to dive into it further, my view on this is somewhat like Bob Dylan’s when he wrote Subterranean Homesick Blues

“you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”

Build your own sauna door

Here’s part of an email with Josh, who is happily building his own sauna:

Josh..

build your own sauna door

Good question on the sauna door.  I make my own. Here’s what you can do:

  1. Frame and your interior wall, frame for about a 26″x6’5″ sauna door.
  2. Cut a piece of plywood sheathing 3/4″ less than your height and width.  This is the basis for your sauna door.
  3. tongue and groove panel the outside face of your plywood.
  4. Staple foil bubble wrap insulation to the inside face of your plywood.
  5. Tongue and groove cedar the inside of your door, on top of the foil wrap.  Tip: run your siding the opposite direction as your walls, it looks better.  If you really want to be resourceful, you may be able to use your cedar t&g cuts from your walls to make a really cool pattern.
  6. nail in a door stop to your door frame.
  7. Screw in some hinges and a funky wood door handle.
  8. Hang your door.
  9. Leave a slat towards the bottom for air flow. This is the best way to vent your sauna.
  10. Door window:  It’s easy to use a skill saw to cut out for a window.

The end result is that you have a nice solid 2″ door.  (5/8″ plywood, 2@ 5/8″ paneling).

Josh, you going with a Kuuma Stove from Tower?

g.

for more hot air, click here:
www.saunatimes.com



From: Josh Collins >
To: glenn auerbach <gra3512@yahoo.com>
Sent: Mon, December 7, 2009 10:37:58 AM
Subject: Re: Sauna Q’s

Hi Glenn,
I have started building the sauna and noticed that on the materials list there is not a door for in between the sauna room and the changing room, am I supposed to build one, or what would you recommend?  What do you think that the door’s dimensions should be?
Also, do I need to caulk around the durock to seal out moisture?  Is durock able to take moisture?
I am in Northern MN.
Thank you,

Josh

Wood heat vs. electric heat

Is there a difference?  Tell me your opinion.

Considering whether to build a wood burning sauna or an electric sauna?  You may want to read below.. I’ll post all comments.

Hotel sauna: Glendale Hilton with a cricket

Wow, what a pleasant surprise.

The Glendale Hilton has an acceptable outdoor pool, work out center, and a real sauna.  Quite a pleasant surprise to stumble upon a sauna in Los Angeles.   The sauna is electric, of course, and has a few token rocks tossed upon the electric coils, but there is a unique treat to this sauna.

As I sat quietly and presumably alone for my first round, I started hearing a curious chirping noise.  I thought maybe my weight on the sauna bench had created some sort of weird electrical squeak, so I moved a bit.  The noise stopped, then resumed a minute or so later.  Sure enough, a cricket had worked its way into the sauna and most likely realized that this climate is worth staying around.

The soft chirping noise was anything but an annoyance.  As I closed my eyes and relaxed further, I was treated to an authentic audible slice of nature.  Dreaming of being at my cabin by the lake or perhaps in a steamy jungle in the Philippines.

Thank you Mr. Cricket for an unexpected assistance to my sauna escape.

Backyard sauna: last outdoor shower of the season

The day after Thanksgiving, November 27th, 2009.

My outdoor backyard shower is  hooked up to my garden hose, and cost $15 in parts from any hardware store.   It hangs over a branch outside the door to my changing room.  It’s been a wonderful addition to our sauna experience, simulating jumping into a cool lake after a long sauna round.

Yesterday, I could tell that the shower season here in Minnesota was almost over.  As I turned on the shower, it started with a trickle and it took a couple minutes to push ice through the hose.. brrrrr made for an even more refreshing ‘splash’ cooling off under the rushing water.

Standing under the brisk shower, I said out loud “‘thanks shower, see you in Spring!”, my wife shaking her head with a smile on her face.

Link to how to make your own outdoor shower.

8'x12' sauna blueprints

Here is a sketch of my ideal sauna, drawn in ideal conditions

on scratch paper in a dimly lit changing room, with a couple beers, taking a sauna with an architect and contractor friend, while at my island lake cabin:

8'x12'sauna blueprints

  1. Compact: 8′x12′ overall dimensions.  Most building codes don’t require a building permit for structures less than 100 sq. ft.
  2. Efficient: a 6′x8′ hot room is a nice size.  Big enough to accommodate as a one person sauna to a six person sauna, yet small enough to heat quickly and efficiently.
  3. Divine proportion: the golden ratio of architecture, harmony within nature, plus all your building materials come in dimensions that offer minimal cutting and waste (to burn in your sauna stove).
  4. Two rooms: Critical in cold climates.  Just as grocery stores have double doors as an energy saver, your sauna should have a changing room.  It’s impossible to have an efficient sauna if the door from the hot room opens to the outside.  Close the door!
  5. Dual benches: Consider pushing your internal wall a few inches, 6’4″ bench length is a magic dimension.  One person can stretch out, laying on the sauna bench or three people can sit comfortably.  Duel benches allow for good flow.  One can alter the two bench plan, and there is a good argument that having an “L” bench instead, modesty, privacy wise.
  6. Versatile: A great sauna party by night can also be a nice home office escape or kids play area by day.  Storage above your hot room, and allow yourself to make a cabin style patio, that flows out from your changing room.  Turn your 8×12 sauna into a backyard escape.
  7. Odds & Ends: A few tips to consider:
  • Put a dimmer light in your hot room.
  • 7′ internal ceiling in hot room, never higher.  Less unneeded cube mass to heat.
  • Before cedar paneling your sauna/changing room, wire for sound and Ovi/Nokia mobile device technology.  Plus, I’m a fan of music in the sauna.

Dog herding sheep

Which one are you?

The sheep dog: active, motivated, happy, challenged, independent thinker.

The sheep: reactive, reluctant, frightened if on the outer edge, bothered, happier in the pack.

Advice: find your pasture, where you can be the dog, not one of the sheep.

I am a sheep in traffic, on an airplane, or at a shopping mall and a sheep dog at my cabin or taking a sauna.

Minnesota sauna

I get sauna inquiries well beyond Minnesota.

Estonia, Canada, Finland, even some guy named Apou from India, oh, wait, scratch that one, he was trying to sell me Viagara really cheap.  What is exciting is how a centuries old tradition from a relatively small country, Finland, has spread and blossomed to far reaches of the world.

Saunas in Minnesota are a logical thing:

  • Minnesota has a big Finnish population. Daryl Lamppa is a third generation Finnish sauna stove maker.  He personally welds and inspects EVERY sauna he makes in his Northern Minnesota factory.  His craftsmanship is a jewel to Minnesota, and the sauna tradition.  Here’s his website.
  • Minnesota shares a climate ideal for saunas. Saunas evolved out of necessity.  In a climate below freezing 5 months of the year, with no running water, inventive Finns learned how to bathe and recreate, creating the sauna experience.  Here in Minnesota, some think we have two seasons: winter and July 4th.
  • Minnesota has over 10,000 lakes to jump into after a sauna round. In the movie “Bucket List”, Jack Nicholson convinces Morgan Freeman to skydive.  If Nicholson’s last name was Hankkennnen or similar, I think he’d have jumping through a hole in the ice on his bucket list.

If you live in Minnesota, a Finnish sauna is probably not too far away.  This winter, 2009-10,  click here for an up to date schedule of where you can experience my first mobile Finnish sauna at an event near you!

If you don’t live in Minnesota and want to experience an authentic Finnish sauna, I have a great idea for you: click here for how to build your own Finnish sauna.

Notice the fabulous

Great quote from Seth Godin:

Not only do I notice more fabulous, but it sure seems as though the creators of it are more engaged, dedicated and yes, joyful, than I can remember. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do work that matters, this is it. You can’t say, “but I need to make a fortune instead,” because that’s not happening right now. So you might as well join the people who can say, “I love doing this.”

Fabulous.   my mission statement.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/11/fabulous.html