How to Build a Sauna
Unless you purchase a convenient kit, building a sauna is a major undertaking. You have to find and buy (and likely have to special order) a very high quality cedar wood. You'll have to purchase or design a plan to build your sauna. You have to very carefully measure and cut the wood. Remember, the special cedar wood required is expensive, so any mistakes in measuring or cutting will require that you have to buy more wood.
To achieve the tight joints required in building a sauna, you'll have to make tongue-and-groove joints in the sides of the wood for strength and tight seals. This requires a special tool. You have to either label all of your pieces or constantly go back to cutting as you assemble. You will still either have to purchase or build a special insulated door for your sauna. Even with a small work crew, the job of building a sauna could take a couple of weeks!
A much easier, less expensive, and faster alternative is to purchase a sauna kit. The special, high quality wood has already been found. The wood and joints have already been cut for you. All of the pieces are already there. You won't have to make a thousand trips to home improvement stores hoping that this time you got the part you needed. Your kit includes everything, even the special door and heater. All you have to do is follow the incredibly simple instructions that come with the kit to properly assemble it.
Traditional saunas are square or rectangular buildings with concrete foundations. Once thought to make the sauna more durable, these techniques are now outdated. Square and rectangular saunas lose a lot of heat to corners that don't benefit the user at all. This means that you are wasting energy. Not only does a square or rectangular sauna cost more in energy to operate, it also takes longer to heat up, so you have to wait for those useless corners to heat. Cement pads only require even more surface space for the heater to heat. It's just not very time or energy efficient.
A much better alternative is a round sauna. Circular saunas use the same technology used to make barrels. Barrels, of course, are tightly constructed to the point they can even hold liquids. Barrel saunas are constructed that durably. Most importantly, you aren't wasting the time, money, and energy heating those useless corners and cement pads. You have the same amount of room for people to sit and relax without the added empty space to heat. Besides, circular saunas look great. They are much more beautiful, interesting, and modern than traditional square saunas.
It's obvious when you want to build a sauna that you should purchase a barrel sauna kit. It takes three people to assemble, and it's an easy weekend project. You will need a licensed electrician for the electrical hookup. Other than that, you can get a couple of friends to help with their reward being time in the relaxing sauna. In five easy steps, you can be in your new sauna after work on Monday!
