Howdy,

I'm in the early planning stages of a medium sauna and looking for any suggestions or experiences from other folks.
The frame could be Sitka spruce, Alaska yellow cedar, or western red cedar--a little harder to come by.
I'm not opposed to hiding the frame from the interior, although it would be a shame. Any thoughts on how the heat and steam of a sauna would affect the frame?

Thanks,

Zach

Hi,

I cannot actually recomend having the structural part of the frame exposed. Of course saunas are made of wood but they are used for several years and then renovated - all wood from inside of sauna is usually replaced.

The firing point of wood is around 270 °C (518 °F) so you will never reach that limit. However, heat and humidity will cause jutting out of the hard rings and most likely lead in separation of early and late wood in couple years. I saw that many times since I used to run small bussiness building saunas...

Best,
Michal Zajic

perhaps you could show the frame on the outside instead?
we have a sauna with 1/2 cedar t&g inside and it has worked well for a long time.....

It may work but structural wood should be isolated.

Sauna wall shall consist of several layers:
sauna interior
T&G
heat reflexing material (aluminium foil)
at least 1.5" insulator (mineral wool)
another constructions

This is a common way we do it in Europe.

Michal

Thanks for the replies. I especially like the idea of showing the frame to the exterior.
My final question regards insulation and enclosure. I'm not crazy about fiberglas or foam. It might just be uninsulated until a better idea comes along, with red cedar t&g on the interior.
Thanks again.

Zach

Regarding to insulation. Please, forget about foam. It is safe for outside walls but we are talking about high temperature in sauna. I was not actually suggesting fiberglass. The insulating material I was talking about is made of greystone/basalt (special kind of rock) which extrudes at very high temperature and formes a wool - rock wool. Surprisingly, the commercial name in Europe is RockWool

Anyway, I suggest you to insulate your sauna if you do not want to spend fortune on electricity.

Don't forget proper air ventilation
Good Luck!
Michal
www.tfdesign.cz

Thanks, Michal.

I'll look into Rockwool.
I think I may end up using thicker red cedar t&g in lieu of insulation, as wood is plentiful here.
Regarding efficiency, the heat will be wood, too.
Thanks again,

Zach