"We enjoyed every part of our sauna build project, but making our own sauna benches was especially rewarding." The itch to build more things came a year or so after completing their sauna project. "My wife encouraged me to just keep going. I mean, we love the look and feel of our cedar sauna benches" he says, as he hands me 2x4 cedar boards from the back of his vehicle. Then, he turns to me with a knowing smile: "Besides, building things can be kind of cathartic." Though he prefers to remain anonymous, he's a kindred spirit to most of us. He built his own wood burning sauna. He and his family deeply appreciate the "sanctity of sauna". And like many of us, as he sits on his sauna bench and looks around, he's prone to start … [Read more...]
Custom Mobile Saunas wants you to have your own authentic sauna
When I first met Eric Bongard five or so years ago, he was elbow deep in building ice houses. What struck me about Eric is the quality of his craftsmanship as well as his entire command of the building process, from the chassis on up. Fast forward to a few months ago, and Eric and I began collaborating on his business shift to building quality mobile saunas. Working hard to make great mobile saunas Eric and I have had countless exchanges back and forth, discussing the many nuances of sauna building and design. We have had countless phone conversations, where we have hatched out such things as hot room size, stove location, sauna bench layout, proper drainage, lighting, window and door placements. Eric wants to make excellent AUTHENTIC … [Read more...]
Let’s review options for our new sauna hot room and changing room floor
Should you insulate the floor? You don’t have to insulate your sauna building floor, but why not do it? With a new sauna build, I would insulate the subfloor with 2” rigid foam ripped on a table saw to widths to fit between your floor joists flush up to your subfloor. The rigid foam can rest between the floor joist cavities via 2x2 or 1x2 strips screwed into your joists 2” down from the top. Rigid foam has an R-5 value per inch. R10 in the floor is adequate. This is the stage at which one would install sleepers on the insides of floor joists and lay down rigid foam: I’m not a fan of batting in floors. Rodents. And if there’s a leak, which will happen if someone tips over a 5 gallon bucket of water, batting becomes a soggy … [Read more...]
Where do I get sauna rocks? Landscape centers!, Landscape centers!, Landscape centers!
So, we are approaching the "Finnish line" of our authentic sauna build. We've followed along with every step of the way of the DIY ebook. We've cured our sauna stove with a good long burn, burning off the factory paint. We've put some finishing touches in place, like attaching our towel hooks and our hot room door hardware. We've checked the calendar and have now invited our friends over for inaugural Friday sauna. We're all set to go, but wait! "gasp! panic!" "I need sauna rocks!!" Well, a quick trip to the shores of Lake Superior is out of the question. And despite the metaphor of a million grains of sand, there's a guilt that comes with dragging a 5 gallon pickle bucket out to the beach shoreline to collect free range organic … [Read more...]
A cabin blueprint that is ‘sauna forward’
As sauna is becoming more and more popular, architects are being asked to incorporate sauna within the design of a house, cabin, or cottage. Sauna isn't for everyone, but in this case, the homeowner is an authentic sauna enthusiast, not satisfied with a small electro-closet model, tucked into a corner or under stairs. For this homeowner, sauna is not akin to a laundry room or linen closet. For this homeowner, sauna is an integral part of living well. This sauna is wood burning and front and center. This sauna recycles the heat back into the cabin. The chimney stack is in the center of the cabin. The function not only radiates heat throughout the entire building but allows the chimney stack to share a primary fireplace glowing … [Read more...]
Could LED dimmable rope lighting be the next big sauna building game changer?
Every sauna built from today forward shall have this lighting configuration: LED rope light extended underneath the upper bench. Two sconce lights, one on either side of the hot room door. Both light systems shall be controlled by dimmer switches via a dual switch box installed at a convenient height outside the hot room door, opposite of hinge side. ADVANTAGES: Lighting underneath upper bench casts indirect light, a pleasant vibe for sauna bathers. This light helps illuminate the path from the upper bench down to the floor, and out the door. What was once the dark dim underbelly of the sauna hot room now becomes a soft, glowing, appealing space, making our hot rooms feel that much larger. Thanks to the dimmer switch, … [Read more...]
Figuring out how much paneling you will need for your sauna hot room
Whether a wood fired sauna or an electric sauna, when it comes to building our own sauna, lots of folks get tripped up about how much material they'll need to panel their hot rooms. We get our pencils out and start writing down some numbers. We scratch our left ear, do some calculations, then we scratch our forehead. "board feet, lineal feet, square feet, oh, my! I'm not a total idiot here, but why is this so hard?" I've built a bunch of saunas and still, I get tripped up on this. Let's walk through how to do it: What is the square feet of your sauna hot room? Add up the length of all four walls. Take that number and multiply it by height of your sauna hot room. This number is the square feet of your walls. But you … [Read more...]
If our sauna walls could talk: insulate with vapor barrier or let them breathe?
There are a couple schools of thought regarding sauna construction and sauna walls: Insulate, foil vapor barrier and tape the seams well. Don't do anything, let the walls breathe. Those that prescribe to #1 (insulating and sealing our sauna walls with vapor barrier) believe that we need to keep heat and moisture away from our wall cavities (and nowhere near the inside). Those that prescribe to #2 (letting their sauna walls breathe) believe that heat and moisture want to escape and permeate through the building (and out the other side). This casual sauna builder is very much a proponent of #1. Why? 3 reasons: Log sauna goodness: Most agree that traditional log saunas feel the best. Sitting on the sauna bench, solid … [Read more...]
Who keeps the rodents out? squeek, squeek, squeek squeek.
For those who are building their saunas in areas known for mice and other rodents, it's important that we prep our build to keep these critters from nesting under our sauna buildings. Further, there's a tribe of sauna enthusiasts who are building their saunas with decking as their hot room floors, thin pencil width spacing between their 5/4" round or 2x decking material. This method is certainly doable, but if one is building their hot room floors with an opening to the world below, AND their locale is home to mice and other rodents, we have to take care to isolate our buildings from any infultration. Thanks to Bill, who is just now completing his sauna build. He has information for us and here it is: Enter Bill: Hope that you … [Read more...]
Ice fish house manufacturer transitions his business to building mobile saunas
Minneapolis, MN, July 24 2018 Maybe it started back in 2015, when Saunatimes visited Eric Bongard, founder of Custom Cottages. Always impressed with DIY manufacturing, we are even more impressed with folks who produce quality from the ground up. Fast forward to today, and we find Eric immersed in the production of quality mobile saunas. Key features of Eric's saunas include longevity of the unit light weight, all welded and glued, never fail, nothing to pull loose, no fasteners to fail, rock solid frame, epoxy to hold to the studs 1000 psi per inch pull off strength to the substrate siding to Studs. Everything is built in a jig to ensure perfection and squareness in each unit. More photos to follow. The AUTHENTIC … [Read more...]