Saunatimes was pleased to help Andrew White build is own backyard escape, a wood burning sauna by the shores of his stream in New Hampshire. Andrew contacted saunatimes several times over the past few months. Each inquiry was of specific nature: “what’s your opinion of taping the foil vapor wrap around doors and windows?”, and each time we rewarded his questions with specific answers, based upon my twenty years experience building and enjoying the authentic sauna experience.
Journey begins with the first step
Andrew did it right, he started with 50′ of carpenter string and four stakes in the ground. He got into his space. He conceptualized how is sauna will fit within his backyard: the location by the shore of his stream, the exposure relative to sun at different times of the day, wind direction, buffer, etc. All these points are probably obvious to the reader as we are deeper souled individuals than infrared sheep or sauna pant suckers. Once his location was decided upon, he was able to organize his building process.
Enjoying the journey as much as the destination
I enjoyed corresponding with Andrew. He did all the work himself, and paced out his sauna build without pressuring himself to complete quickly or have it all figured out from the start. Each step to the sauna building process can be met with decisions and frustrations, but these steps along the journey are what create the value of the work. The nice thing about building your own sauna is that it has all the fundamentals of building a house, yet everything is less: fewer building materials, shorter runs of electric, quicker stages. “honey, i’m going to go insulate, be back in a couple hours.”
The “Finnish” product
Andrew is digging his scene. We applaud his “Finnish” product.  On a chilly wet spring evening in New Hampshire, Andrew is able to experience a double dose of negative ions. As his wood burning sauna stove crackles away, he can hear the water rushing along the stream just outside his sauna window. Both of these sensations (wood burning and water rushing) are key sources of negative ions. Andrew has his own slice of health and wellness escape, thanks to:
- 50′ of carpenter string
- His own initiative
- A little help from saunatimes