Chris, good question.  If speakers fail prematurely in the sauna, it’s still worth it.  Yet I’ve had a great pair of outdoor speakers in my backyard sauna for 8 years now, and they show no signs of breaking down.

• Use outdoor speakers – made for rougher conditions.
• Keep your speakers on the floor – out of the way under your benches.
• It’s actually not that hot or humid along the floor of a sauna – heat rises.
• Build a box around your sauna speakers  – use the same tongue and groove cedar for a nice look.
• Venting your sauna with a crack along the bottom of the sauna door is like a cool blow dryer – fresh air is good for the speakers.
• BONUS: consider playlists of 4-5 minute songs, allowing you to keep track, roughly, of how long you’ve been in the sauna.  I’ve been known to get wrapped up in a 20 minute Fela Kuti or John Coltrane song, and end up needing to be shoveled into bed at night.

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

Josh..

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:
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Josh

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:

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.

To get your sauna area ready, in your backyard:

1. Stake off the area. Mark off your 8′x12′ rectangle area with carpenter string.
2. Prep the area. Pull off the sod and try to level off the area as best as possible.  If your sauna is going to go on uneven ground, don’t worry about it, you can level the area with block.
3. Prep the perimeter. Dig around the perimeter, extended out a few inches from your perimeter.  Back fill the area with some gravel to assist drainage and to give your frame a nice resting area.
4. Use a level. With a long board, check your bedding to get it as level as possible.  Here is where you can use block to level out the ground where you’ll be building your sauna.

I suggest building your backyard Finnish sauna right on this grade.  If you move or want to drag your sauna to a sauna party, who knows, you may just want to back up a trailer and take it with you.  Chances are, you’ll fall in love with your own authentic Finnish sauna.

By popular demand, here is a complete list of what you’ll need to build your own sauna.   Life is short: you deserve your own authentic Finnish sauna!!

Step one: Go out to your backyard with some string and mark off an 8×12 space.  You can build your own sauna by sticking it against your garage, or tucking it in a quiet corner in your backyard.  When you choose the location for your backyard sauna, keep in mind that you may want to allow for a nice courtyard or patio space.  Bring a couple patio chairs and maybe a picnic bench to complete the simulation.

Step two: Before you build your own sauna, imagine what your own sauna party will be like.  Family, friends, business associates or the whole hockey team?  When you build your own sauna, consider inviting your sauna party friends to help frame it up.

Step three: Go for it, and start enjoying your own authentic Finnish sauna.  Click here to learn how to prep your area for the sauna

There is a hand made log sauna that sits amongst 80-100 year old red and white pines on Pine Island, Lake Vermilion, Minnesota.  As impressive as this sauna is, the story behind it is as compelling.

In 1992, Harland Siiro delivered $5,000 worth of cut cedar trees to the land: an aggressive stand at his dream of building his second hand made log sauna.  He considered this a family event, with plans to enlist his son Matt in the traditional build.  But the logs sat, and years past.   They sat, collecting ants and some early signs of decay. Harland Siiro had developed heart problems, then Diabetes a terrible illness that started cramping his legs, stifling his mobility.  It became hard for him to get to the cabin, let along move 200 pound cedar logs.   Building a hand made log sauna was way down on the priority list for his son Matt.  Matt looked at the pile of logs as nothing more than drudgery.

As Harlan’s health deteriorated, however, it became clear to Matt that building this sauna was something critical for his father.   Matt enlisted help from Scott Rodgers, a smart choice as Scott was a body builder, able to bench press 4 cylinder vehicles.  Scott eyed the 18′ and 24′ cedar logs and saw only branches.  With Scott’s help, Matt was actually making progress, scribing and setting a few rows of the cedar structure.

Back home, Matt was able to bring some bright news to his Dad, as progress being made on the hand made log sauna.   Even with Scott, scribing and laying each log was draining work.  The work not well suited for a busy guy with small windows of time at a cabin.  The demands on Matt during  sauna construction were many:  two small children, busy career with minimal vacation time, six hour drive to the cabin, and usually less than 48 hours at the cabin.  The work dragged on, one log at a time, one row at a time, spanning over many short visits to Lake Vermilion.  No fishing for Matt, just grinding work.

Then something terrible happened: his best friend and log hauler buddy Scott unexpectedly passed away.  Scott and his father were the key motivators for Matt to complete the sauna, and as an odd twist of fate, the unexpected one died first.  Instead of dragging out the log sauna construction, Matt applied more vigor.  The walls were completed in fall 2006.  The project became more passionate to Matt.  As his father’s health became worse, Matt applied more energy and sneaking in more valuable time at Lake Vermilion working on the log sauna.

The precious hours on Lake Vermilion took on feverish focus.  Fishing or relaxing with his wife and two children took even more of a back seat.  As Matt gained momentum, somewhere between the last course of logs and the roof, something else, unexpected crept into Matt: Joy.

Father Siiro, either by luck or design, had assigned his legacy to his son: a hand made cedar log sauna.  More than the sauna itself, though, Matt is able to look at his success and see the personality of his father and his best friend Scott.

FOOTNOTE:  Father Siiro was never able to experience his sauna.  He passed away around the same time that his son, Matt, was on the roof, shingling.  Rains fall from the heaven’s above, and two people dear to Matt’s heart have spirit within the warm cedar walls of this hand made log sauna.