The Summer of Sawdust: Building a Sauna in Northern Minnesota

Some summers on the lake are measured in fish caught or rounds of golf played. Mine this year was measured in sawdust and sweat equity. Three months, give or take, went into building a sauna for a fellow thermal enthusiast here in Northern Minnesota. And like all sauna builds, this one taught me a few things worth passing along.

Three takeaways from my 13th sauna build

1. The ladder tax
At 62, with a rickety hockey knee, I’ve decided any task that involves climbing a ladder should be billed out at double time. Not because the work is twice as good (it isn’t), but because the recovery time is.

2. Cobbler’s kids and sauna books
I wrote what many have called the “go to book” on how to build a sauna—literally. And still, my build this summer felt a little like the cobbler’s kids with no shoes. The book was close by, and yes, most of it lives permanently in my cranium. But when you’re knee-deep in framing, cutting, and thinking three steps ahead, it’s funny how the obvious stuff sneaks up on you.

3. Next time: likely start with the shed
I’d say 7 or so of my previous sauna builds started at the shed stage. This one, I built from the ground up. I enjoyed the entire process, but there’s a “sweet spot” for hiring a shed builder to get your sauna off the ground. Beginning at the shed stage means less ladder work, fewer aches to knees, and a faster build overall. A sauna that might take 140 hours can come together in under 100. It’s the slow-is-smooth, smooth-is-fast principle in action. More windows of time for summer golf, fishing, and kid’s soccer practice.

Four field notes for sauna building fluidity

1. Roof lines and sparks flying
This build had a 5/12 roof pitch, framed with trusses. Metal roofing was the choice—durable, slick, and a little intimidating at first. There’s a learning curve: holding panels square, driving screws without over-tightening, and standing up there in the sun. The grinder was the MVP tool for trimming back overhangs. Sparks flying off the cut while balancing on a ladder is not for the faint of heart, but nothing beats the clean cut of a grinder when it’s time to tame steel edges.

2. Staining, sawing, and siding wisdom
Staining siding is best done flat, on sawhorses, instead of fighting with drips and streaks after it’s nailed up. For the inside, tongue-and-groove cedar remains the gold standard—worth the cost, worth the smell, worth the feel. As for tools: a table saw and compound miter saw can do serious damage, so measure twice, cut once, and respect the blade. Ordering material in lengths to minimize waste saves not only money but also trips back to the lumber yard.

3. Lights, drains, and the Kuuma beast
When it comes to wiring, 12v lighting is easier, safer, and more forgiving than 110v. Inside, I used my semi-patented sloped floor design: sleepers pitched gently toward a center drain, sealed with vinyl cement repair. The Kuuma stove—the beast—sits solid on patio blocks, ready to do its work.

4. Benches and bones
We finished with a 7’4” ceiling, benches set 44” down from the lid, 18” from the upper bench to the lower, and a tidy 7” step up. No cold feet in this sauna. Crocs, though? They’ll shrink if you leave them on the floor. This is what happens when you build a thermal envelope that drives heat into everything—wood, air, and bones alike.

And yet, here’s the real magic: the journey is every bit as rewarding as the destination. I averaged about 3.5 hours a day, 3.5 days a week. Enough to get into a groove, but not so much that I wore myself out. I’d stop each day right when the sawdust in my ears started to itch. And funny thing—just when you get tired of one phase of the build, you’re almost done with it.

So yes, there’s the ladder tax. And yes, the sauna build book is what many say is the best reference around, even for the guy who wrote it (shameless plug). But the bigger lesson is that building a sauna is less about clocking hours and more about savoring them. The build itself is as restorative as the first of thousands of steam session awaiting your arrival, within.

Sauna video tour, during process:

Sauna build tour, completed onsight: