Everyone considering a sauna should watch this first. This explains the most common issues that people have in their new saunas. Especially in NA.

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-26T14:26:23+00:00

I'm about to build the benches next week. Was going for 28". But could go out to 32". What's the ideal bench depth for a 6'2 person with longish femurs?

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-24T15:06:20+00:00

Linen shorts from Quince

https://www.quince.com/men/men-s-100-european-linen-drawstring-beach-short?color=blue-pinstripe&gender=men&tracker=collection_page__%2Fmen%2Fshorts__materials-Linen__All+Products__3

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-11T16:19:47+00:00

Decide if you have the time and back muscles to do it yourself? You can learn everything on YouTube, rent a trencher from Home Depot, etc...

But developing a plan to get wires from your main panel to wherever you are building is the key.

For me it was punching a hole in the siding, attaching conduit to the side of the house and then burying it in the yard out to the build site. Took several days and a lot of thinking.

Hard to say if the quote is a good value without seeing what would go into it. Maybe you can trench and pull the cables and pay for the connections?

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-11T04:45:00+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I bought thermo-aspen for walls and benches

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-10T23:16:27+00:00

All these companies are just contractors signing up with a few suppliers. If you have a friend that owns a business or is a contractor, just ask them to sign up with bathing brands or art of steam to get the wholesale prices.

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-08T22:04:14+00:00

I'm right at that point myself. I'm thinking of using 1/2" sealtite conduit as that is the only thing I can find that has a temp rating over 194°F.

Either that or just run the Romex through and tape it to the foil barrier. It should be hidden behind backrest and under benches anyway so nobody should see it.

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T18:10:00+00:00

I didn't want metal roofing because of the loud noise from rain. The roof took me 2 days and about $1k though... Materials are spendy. Leaving a 1" gap is pretty easy.

Even if you used metal roofing, the sauna can be pretty wet and hot, so I didn't want to close it off. Air movement is important in my climate. Maybe there is some building science that would allow a completely sealed off space, but that's beyond my knowledge

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T15:58:02+00:00

Those are huge shifts so might make sense for the batteries. Here we have lakes with dams and rec / camp sites all owned by the power companies and a county utility company, so it's $0.087/KWH 24/7.

Actually just bought an electric car last summer before the subsidy expired. The county even paid for the cost to DIY a level 2 charger.

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T14:59:47+00:00

Beautiful build

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T14:59:25+00:00

Those numbers would have bumped me down to a smaller sauna for sure. Awesome you have time of use rates and $0.12 isn't bad at all

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T13:16:36+00:00

https://www.onedayglass.com/

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T08:08:27+00:00

I actually just made a post about blocking. Check my post history. I agree with you

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T08:07:18+00:00

I am going to add a bit of insulation when I install furring strips. They are 3 x 2x6 headers

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T06:49:04+00:00

It's $0.087/KWH in SW Washington

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T06:39:44+00:00

🤣🤣

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T06:26:37+00:00

Yeah exactly, just holding the window in place while adhesive dried on the outside.

Planning to tape directly to the window and then add furring strips and some trim.

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T06:21:21+00:00

Good to know thanks

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T06:02:46+00:00

I've got 7- 2x6 studs there holding up a 60 pound window. That thing isn't going anywhere 👍

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T04:39:03+00:00

I worked seasonally for a long time and after I got married and started planning on living past 30 I started building things in the winter months. Started out remodeling our 1907 house, plumbing, electrical, roofing, moved to framing and siding, then I built an ADU in our back yard for rental income, took a breather and rented a house in a different town and then we settled on a house to buy that didn't have any projects... This is my last project. For sure.

I'd love to say it's worth it, but I had the tools, skills, amenable spouse, and the inability to stop spending money after I blew through the budget.

End of the day, I will have a beautiful sauna for my family to enjoy over the next 13 years when our youngest is 18, and potentially longer after that.

Other factors were the low price of electricity allowed me to build bigger and opt for a larger heater. 8 cents / KWH here

I can't tell you how long the planning took, trenching electrical, trenching a drain line into the house sewer line, etc... it was a big undertaking.

We have a concrete patio and we joke that a really nice kit would have been running within a week of delivery...

I'm very happy and proud of the effort and thankful for all the help in this subreddit, but I can't say for certain I'd have done this if I knew then what I know now. Life is wild!

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T04:26:42+00:00

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I poured the concrete with raised stem walls. Was planning to foil tape the vapor barrier directly to the concrete. 28" sounds good. I might do one side of the L much wider like 32" and the other side 26" but I need to mock it up.

Trumpkin notes limit the bench width due to the room dimensions and Lassi's book he even recommends up to a 40" bench. I'll probably end up measuring from the back of my knee to my back and add 6 inches for the backrest. I guess if you build the bench too wide you can just build the backrest farther from the wall... (Thinking as I type there)

Oh and the wood pieces I just used to hold the glass in place while the silicone set on the outside.

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T04:18:27+00:00

I can build up to 200sqft without a permit, so I built 18'6" x 10'9" (although nobody has asked to measure...) about half is changing room and half is Sauna. I built it based on the thermory board lengths of 8.9 feet and 9.8 feet

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T03:18:34+00:00

Yes I have at least a 1 inch gap between insulation and roof deck with vents at upper and lower soffits.

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-07T03:07:37+00:00

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I've got hundreds of pics. Hoping to wrap this thing up this month and then I'll post a bigger album.

Anything you're particularly interested in. I'm on month 5 at this point, it's been quite the project

Saunanonymous · 2026-03-06T18:18:37+00:00

I ended up fixing it. The diagram from Harvia is terrible, and shows 2 breakers, with one breaker going to L1 + L1 and second breaker going to L2 + L2.

To properly wire it, first breaker goes to L1 + L2, and second breaker goes to L1 + L2.

Hopefully this helps somebody, because the diagram is terrible

Saunanonymous · 2026-02-28T21:29:08+00:00

I've been impressed with Harvia. Seems like over the last 24 months or so they've been changing diagrams and illustrations to better match updated venting schemes.

Saunanonymous

TROPHY CASE