FAQs: Pre-Sales Sauna Questions

FAQ About Mechanical Exhaust and Trumpkin Sauna Heights

We often get these questions about the Trumpkin sauna design details and hope these comments help.

We do NOT find that mechanical exhaust to be a game changer. In fact, it promotes the feeling of more convective heat which heats the skin more, instead of the radiant heat which warms the bones.

As a point of reference, traditional wood burning sauna heaters provide primarily deep radiant heat. Which for sauna bathers who have experienced both, rave about the “deep” heat.

As long as you have the intake and exit vents, we have found this to be adequate over the decades. Vents ensure air draw which is critical for the sauna heater appliance.  If there’s too many sauna bathers and poor venting, then it can become quite stuffy. Vents provide fresh oxygen — a good thing! Vents also help the heat roll in the sauna — called Löyly, by the Norse.

What we do stress is that you slightly oversize the heater’s wattage to ensure that you have plenty of power to get the sauna room good and hot, the main goal!!!

The Trumpkin design features are all sound, however they make the sauna larger and a more expensive. In terms of size, the sauna can be indoor or outdoor, but the Trumpkin design is out of scale unless the room 6×7′ or larger (See our 6×7 Outdoor Trumpkin Sauna Kit / Freestanding Pre-Fab Modular).  If the room is small, it is just too tall and looks like a tower, not a sauna.

We often suggest that people follow some of the Trumpkin design elements but bring it down to say a 5×7′ sauna footprint and a height of 7′0″- 7′6″ high. This is a good compromise.

Having the entire body above the stones when reclined on the high bench is perhaps the most important Trumpkin design element. We prefer the low bench to be down in the slightly cooler zone, so when you feel overheated but want to extend the sauna bathing session, just lay down on the lowest bench. For good working ergonomic bench heights, we suggest 18-22″ off the floor and similar distances between the low and high benches. Though note, for many of us a bench height of over 18 inches means our feet do not touch.

Hope you find this summary logical and helpful. Thanks for reading and thank you for your sauna and steam business.

We do NOT build barrel saunas and here’s a few reasons why you should reconsider your options

CONs of Barrel Saunas

NO UPPER BENCH — The curved walls of a barrel sauna simply do NOT allow for higher levels of benches. You can’t lay down on any top bench because is there is NO top bench. There is only one level of benches.

POOR INSULATION — Many report a slow warming time. There is no insulation batting or vapor barrier to stop the transfer of moist air between the inside and outside of the structure. Every board is a potential seam that leaks heat. By design, they lose a lot of heat when the door opens (solvable with a changing room). Barrels work OK in temperate weather — not sure we’d want to use one in the winter in North Dakota.

CRAMPED SPACE — Typically, their websites ONLY show one view: the exterior (never the interior) because it’s SO SMALL. And the sauna’s curved wall design means you can ONLY lean against the back wall, NOT the side walls. Additionally, you can only stand in the middle. If you’re tall, it may find it difficult to stand inside a barrel in full height, i.e., you’ll be ducking everywhere except the very top of the circle. With the circular sauna design, with no corners, barrel sauna companies can rightly boast the benefit of a rolling heat. Yet because of this design, some sauna bathers can feel cramped in a barrel sauna.

SAFETY CLEARANCES — Conventional sauna manufacturers point out that barrel saunas may NOT meet safety clearances for electric heaters (44″ of clearance above the heater to the curved ceiling). When using wood burning heaters, these sauna definitely do NOT meet the clearances that stove manufacturers recommend. We’d hope that barrel stove companies have this figured out and accounted for, but it is worth mentioning to check the manual for the heater (probably solvable by adding metal protection barrier on the ceiling).

DURABILITY AFTER ONE YEAR — From water damage, cold spots, drafts and barrel saunas just look worn out after a year of weathered use. Because of their design (milled 2×4’s), these saunas can often develop leaks between the milled cedar boards from rain and snow melt (freezing, melting, expanding contracting at the seams). Often times, the roof is only a membrane meaning you may have to cover it when not in use or build another roof above. In four season climates, They’re prone to serious maintenance issues.

And  READ THEIR WARRANTY! … “This does not include damage from normal weathering and wear-and-tear, improper use or assembly, or weather events.”

IMPORTED — You’re buying from a reseller. They don’t actually manufacturer anything. Most are actually built in China and usually there is NO warranty for any reason. Typically, the manufacturers of these saunas will make it very clear that once it leaves their facility, they are off the hook for any problems.

ONE CONFIGURATION ONLY  — There is ONLY ONE way to arrange benches in a barrel sauna: Two LOW benches at the sides (i.e., NO upper bench), heater on the back wall and the sauna door on the front wall.

PROs of Barrel Saunas

LOW PRICE — No doubt the price is attractive, but sacrifices must be made for any product that is cheap. When it comes to cheap, fast and good… the old adage is you only get two out of three.

SIMPLE ASSEMBLY — No doubt, barrel saunas are a clever design. They require NO major tools for cutting or assembly. They’re assembled on site by placing the milled 2×4 cedar boards along the circumference of the two circular end walls, then strapping everything in place with the set of locking rings provided. One need not be handy to assemble a them and they relocate somewhat easily.

BEST USED INDOORS — If built indoors, many of the poor insulation, leak and roofing issues are then mute.

SHIPS EASY — Barrel saunas ship unassembled as materials. There’s a pallet stack of 2x4s, door, stove, benches and a set of circular end rings. This is a key reason why companies like My Sauna World can shrink wrap, sell, and distribute the Almost Heaven barrel sauna nationally.

Our Conclusion about Barrel Saunas

We have built and customized saunas when the market place demands it… IF we know it’s NOT going to result in complaints and returns. The main reason we’ve come to dislike barrel saunas is that most of the owners we’ve talked to had nothing good to say about them. Case in point, the Trumpkin sauna design; we build these for sauna purists and they’re happy.

Mainly, we think saunas should be built like a house

Cedarbrooks’ 4″ sauna wall construction contains all the important elements essential for the functionality of any standard building — something barrel saunas simply cannot offer, e.g.:

• Water-shedding cedar beveled-siding
• Waterproof membrane
• Formaldehyde-free insulation batting
• Framed with cedar too!
• Sauna foil vapor barrier
• Lined with epic western red cedar

The difference between hot and cold conditions allow the transfer of moist air through the wall if these elements are skipped in the barrel design. A barrel sauna would never pass building code standards. The building code was designed to protect your investment from potential problems and stand up to years of weather and climate conditions.

Our custom saunas involve customers’ preferred ceiling heights, door heights, windows, light position and bench widths and configurations and more! Again, there’s NO upper bench. For most of our customers, this is a deal breaker. Barrel saunas have only one bench height.

Our sauna kits work well as the sauna bather can choose to sit on an upper bench for good heat, or sit on the lower bench where the heat is nice warm. Further, the introduction of loly (steam from water on the rocks) is more intense up high. Often this is desired, but some folks, especially children, do better on a lower bench. There’s no flexibility regarding benches with a barrel sauna.

Enjoy! Thanks for reading.

Create Quote in our Website

Basically, creating an order on our website is EXACTLY the same as creating a quote:

• Add your products to the cart
• Set your billing and ship to address
• On the check out page, click “Convert Order to a Quote” (bottom of the page)

If you’re in Canada -OR- You want to pick up your sauna from any state, use our Showroom address as your shipping address:

21326 State Route 9
Woodinville, WA 98072

Later, you can call us an make a deposit or full payment

How to Measure when ordering a Sauna Materials Package

If converting or remodeling a spare room to a sauna room, i.e., this is NOT a kit — you’re ordering one of our Sauna Materials Packages. To be clear, this a construction sauna project, NOT a kit you would assemble.

NOTE: we don’t need these measures while ordering or creating a quote, but if you make a deposit then at some point during our “Drawing Review” phase, we’ll need those measurements

See the steps below, when ordering your sauna or creating a quote

1. MEASURE – You’ll need to measure the existing room when converting it to a sauna. You can add these stud-t0-stud measurement to your quote or order
2. VIEW SAUNA SIZE LIST – See our Sauna Materials Packages List. Generic Floor Plans are shown in step 1 of every sauna size
3. PICK YOUR SAUNA SIZE – Pick the sauna package that best fits your room. If you measured a wall at 5 ft 9 inches, then round up to 6′ foot). We’ll send you a six foot boards ready to trim on site.
4. CREATE A QUOTE ONLINE or CALL – You can build a sauna quote online.
   On the check out page,  create quote from the items in your cart by clicking “Convert order to a quote” (last button)

JOIST DIRECTION

When building a quote or ordering, you’ll see this required question  in Step 4 > Walls. If you don’t know, just pick one and we can change it as needed or send you nailers which allow you to change the direction

Q: When standing in your sauna door facing the sauna … which direction do your joists run: Front to Back or Side to Side?

Electric Work is Best Performed by an Electrician

Plenty of home owners do their own electrical work. Electrical preparation involves reviewing the electrical capacity of your service panel for available amps. For example 4×6 sauna room uses: 6kW sauna heater / 240V / 30 amp breaker / 10 gauge wire. Run electrical wire planning for the heater, lights, switch and external controls (optional).

Electric saunas require a dedicated breaker and circuit and electric work. Safety first!

Most home saunas require 4.5kW, 6kW or an 8kW sauna heater unless of course, you prefer wood-fired all-natural, then NO you wouldn’t any electricity necessarily. Though you might still want a light bulb, but lanterns work was well or the flash light on your phone. Wood-fired saunas in the city may sometimes encounter burn ban days, so consider your options.

Typically, then sauna installations will require a dedicated 240 volt, 30 or 40 amp GFI-protected circuit. If you pull an electrical permit, it covers the sauna heater, light and switch and possibly a wall-mounted control panel, etc. Commercial saunas often have two 40 amp circuits (240 V).

If you’re renovating a room and constructing a sauna in your home, and you do your own electrical permit. Then when you sell your home, you’ve covered your responsibility when you declare on Form 17 any work that was done without permits.

Structural permits are usually NOT required

Commonly, an outdoor sauna and structures of 120 sq. ft. or less do not require permits (in the U.S.). Some counties allow larger structures of up to 200 sq. ft. without permits. You may run into some problems if you put your sauna right on the property line you share with a neighbor, a parking strip or an access easement.

An example sauna will best serve our question better …

What’s the maximum dimensions 5×7′ sauna material package?

FAQ: What’s the MAXIMUM stud-to-stud-to-joist measurement that fits this 5x7x7 Sauna Materials Package?

Set your wall spans at:

• WIDTH = 5′1⁵/₈″*
• LENGTH = 7′1⁵/₈″
• HEIGHT = 7′ ³/₄″ *

* Why are studs 1⁵/₈″ further apart than the sauna’s W x L ??

Since ³/₄″ is the standard thickness of our standard cedar material and we’re adding it to two opposing walls. This reduces the room size by 1¹/₂″. But now consider we’re going to ship 5 ft and 7 ft benches, exactly. You want those benches to angle and drop into place without scratching your new soft cedar wood walls. So you want ¹/₈″ – ¹/₄″ for wiggle room.

IMPORTANT! When maximizing coverage, center your boards on each wall leaving a mostly hidden gap in all corners — the trim kit provided will cover all corner gaps!

Decrease wall spans by ¹/₂″, IF you selected ¹/₂″ material (this option only available IF WxL = 4×4, 4×6, 6×6, 6×8 or 8×8)

At these dimensions, the sauna benches will fit perfectly with ~¹/₈″ on each side* — NO need to trim your benches and cutting the cedar boards is minimal. At these dimensions, sauna benches will drop in at an angle without scratching your cedar walls

Mount Sauna Heater 23″ Off the Floor

Mount my sauna heater instructions

ALLOWS CHECK YOUR SAUNA INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR MOUNTING HEIGHT

At right is an exposed sauna wall showing blocking to mount the sauna heater and the intake vent. This is our method for most wall-mounted sauna heaters with 50 lbs of rocks

• Add blocking between your studs, so it’s ready for your installer or electrician to hang the sauna heater on the wall.
  NOTE: IF your sauna is a DROP 4.5, 7.5o 9 OR a Spirit 6 or 8 weighing about 150 lbs., consider doubling the studs!
• Below the heater blocking is the intake vent opening. It sits right on the bottom plate of the wall. So very close to your hard floor. Generally, we make a 4×6″ vent opening IF the heater is 8kW or less, and 6×8″ vent opening if 9kW or bigger
• The intake vent does NOT need to be under the heater. It can be within 3 feet. In small saunas ≤ 4×6, you can also vent under the door (ie., the gap)

Later the sauna wall will be filled with R-13 insulation — excepting for the vent opening! Air will flow through the intake vent and into the sauna. The exit vent allows some air to exit the sauna. We cover the exterior of the vent with a grill and the intake with a sliding door.

Sauna heater installation / Hanging a wall-mounted sauna heater

Set your heater’s top mounting nuts at 23 inches off the hard floor (tile, cement, linoleum, etc.). This should leave between 6 ½–8″ from the hard floor to the bottom of the heater’s shroud.

Sauna Venting | We get these questions a lot:

• Can I vent my sauna heat back into my house?
• Or should I vent the sauna to the outside?

It is best to vent the sauna heat back inside the house rather than to the outdoors. Why?

• The main reason is that the barometric pressure outside is often different than indoors and this can create reverse flow bringing air from the outside in back through the exit vent. Also, you always want to minimize penetrations to the outdoors – it’s just more labor.
• Though it might seem like a great way to add heat to your house, a sauna will add very little positive heat to your home as by design; it is meant to heat a small enclosed space and contain that heat.
• Also FYI, the sauna will not add any significant moisture to the adjoining air space. Even when you ladle water over the sauna heater rocks you add very little actual humidity to the air. Saunas provide very dry air. The added humidity of a sauna ranges from 10-35%.

Most importantly, the air coming into the sauna through the intake opening should be fresh and cooler than the heated sauna air

Fresh air also affects the sauna heater’s thermostat and high limit sensors. Otherwise, the sauna heater may sense that the room is prematurely hot and thus shut the heater down before the desired temperature is reached. Fresh air air has slightly more oxygen but do not be concerned with oxygen levels as the sauna rooms are no where near air tight.

Many saunas do just fine with a wide gap (about 1″) at the bottom of the door serving as the intake vent too. If you’re sauna is in an out building though, careful as small critters may find the warmth and shelter an inviting place to nest or warm up.

We use sliders to control airflow and grills to cover the vents

The cedar grills are beautiful, decorative and you can just as easily match heat registers in your house to the same affect. Sliders are important to control air flow. Many leave their intake vent fully open all the time and prefer a grill to cover the interior side of the intake vent ensuring constant intake air flow.

Vents and grills do not include hardware as customers have different size nail guns or preferences on screws. We use 1 ½” galvanized (or stainless) finish nails.

Air flow is very important for the sauna heater appliance

Your sauna appliance needs fresh cooler air AND so do you! It ensures the air in the sauna does NOT get stuffy, especially as more bathers enter. So … 6 ½–8″ from the hard floor is plenty of space for the sauna heater to pull fresh cool air through through the intake vent AND some hot air will leave out the exit vent (up top, about 4-6″ from the ceiling on the wall) and fresh air with more oxygen can enter. The intake vent will be covered with this 4×6″ Sliding Door Sauna Vent Cover on the inside. (NOTE: bigger heaters > 8kW should get the bigger 6×8″ Sliding Door Sauna Vent Cover.)  And on the outside, you’ll cover the vent with this exterior sauna vent grill.

How to Build a Sauna: Adding tongue and groove cedar paneling

Begin on one side of your ceiling and nail your cedar panel boards perpendicular to the joists. Move across the ceiling until covered. As needed, cut a hole around the light box. Best if your light and switch are wet-rated.

Next, nail the clear cedar paneling boards over the insulation and foil barrier. Nail your first row of tongue and groove wall boards to your studs horizontally, tongue up, groove down. Start from the bottom and move up. Generally, you only need nail the tongue after fitting it snugly over the prior row. This way the nail is hidden by the groove covering it. Vertical paneling is possible, but requires either plywood sheeting over the studs or some strategically spaced horizontal studs over the vertical studs.

Add your cedar panel boards in rows, checking for level every 4th board or so. Fit the grooves over the tongues and continue up the wall. Along the way, you may need to cut for electrical junction boxes for lights, switches, etc. That’s the beauty of cedar, it’s soft to work with and cuts easily. Continue installing your panel boards until your insulated walls are covered. At the last row butting the ceiling, remember you need not be perfect. If you’re within a quarter inch you’re fine. The trim pieces will cover any gaps.

See our videos and article here: How to Build a Sauna | Converting a Room to a Sauna

Tips when applying your sauna vapor barrier to your sauna

A sauna vapor barrier is very important and a step that should never be skipped

• A sauna foil vapor barrier is very important and a step that should never be skipped and do NOT use a substitute — it could melt at sauna temperatures. The foil will never melt and is odorless.
• See our installation step: How to Build a Sauna: Foil to Reflect the Heat for installation tips. See our list of sauna foil sizes.
• It’s worth noting that the sauna foil vapor barrier adds a R-1 value to your insulation factor, and acts as a reflective barrier, protecting your wood

The techniques we follow are:

• Start with the ceiling then the walls
• Staple the foil vapor barrier to all interior surfaces; the wall and ceiling, not the floor. Overlap your wall foil over the 3″ of the ceiling, helping to keep rising heat near the ceiling

A vapor barrier protects your walls from absorbing vapor. Some steam in your sauna is great to help bring on a sweat, but it creates humidity that should not seep into the walls. Venting a sauna into your house is fine.

To best answer, you may want to see: How are home sauna kits built? | Explain Precut vs Prefab.

Also we provide these sauna How-To articles plus a comparison of ALL the most common sauna kit options:

• Home Sauna Kits | What Are the Differences Between Precut, Prefab, Modular & Infrared?
• How to Build a Sauna | Converting a Room to a Sauna
• How to Build a Freestanding Sauna | Setting up the DIY Prefab Modular Sauna Kit

Generally, NO you do NOT need to remove drywall when installing a sauna build

However, it’s important to mention you still ABSOLUTELY MUST …

• Add insulation batting between studs in the walls — formaldehyde-free is best
• Affix sauna foil vapor barrier over the drywall
• Then, mark your studs so you know their location to affix T&G cedar paneling to the walls
• Use longer nails to reach studs when attaching your cedar paneling to the walls and ceiling

All said, of course you must still wire for the sauna heater, lights and switch and add intake and exhaust vents per your design

We offer generic sauna plans on all of our sauna product pages. Just pick your sauna type (Modular PreFab Kit or Materials Package) and then choose a size, e.g. 4×6, 5×7, etc. You’ll see plans you can design on Step 1.

So sometimes, it makes more sense to remove all drywall to accomplish the list of tasks above. And when removed, you have about 1 more inch of space. Not a big deal in larger saunas, still it may be helpful when installing a bench to have that extra inch.

See our sauna videos regarding:

• Must I remove drywall when installing a sauna? (on our site)
• Vimeo: Must I remove drywall when installing a sauna? (same video on Vimeo platform)

ADA-compliant means your sauna meets the requirements to ensure those needing wheel chair access have the necessary room to maneuver

An ADA-Compliant Sauna Requires

• A 5×5′ turning radius — thus a 7×7′ sauna with 2 benches is basically the minimum size available
• A 36″ wide door. We’ll build your door choice at 38×72″, 38×76″ or 38×82″ RO. ONLY the clad T&G and solid core doors can be built at 36″ width or we can work with you on some other choices
• No threshold. A threshold acts as an impasse for wheelchairs and is NOT allowed

RO = Rough Opening

T&G = Tongue and Groove. This is the cedar panel cladding covering both sides of the door

No, a floor drain is not common in a sauna

Of course, if you are planning to take a cold quick rinse in your sauna, then yes, you will want one.

Adding several ladles of water to your heater or to the walls is fine

Yes, we encourage our sauna customers to add water to the HOT sauna rocks one ladle at a time. Sometimes, mixed with eucalyptus. Helps open the lungs and the steam will warm you to your bones and it just feels good.

Also, a little splashing in the sauna is fine. It’s common in many sauna cultures to throw water on the walls too. The cedar will quickly dry it out. Cedar is very porous — increase the humidity in the sauna room.

If you’re concerned about moisture remaining, then leave the sauna heater on an extra 20 minutes but you’ll see saunas contain the heat very well. All the moisture will evaporate in about 5-10 minutes. Sometimes, right before your eyes.

Some of our customers have installed indoor sinks with a drain in the wall too!

Bases for outdoor saunas

IMPORTANT: First note that the exterior size of our prefab modular saunas is 8″ wider and deeper than the size in the title. For example, a 5×7′ outdoor home sauna kit footprint measures 5’8′ x 7’8″.

See our gallery of suitable sauna bases for our outdoor saunas

Also please see our Video: Build Paver Base | Outdoor Sauna Kit

The outdoor modular sauna kit will sit well on any of these bases:

• Pour a concrete slab. Leave concrete surface bare or lay tile over the top.
• Patio pavers: Tamp down gravel and lay patio pavers over.
• Gravel with pressure treated wood works well also. In fact, if you know you will be relocating your sauna, it’s even easier to bring your base with you
• If building on a wood deck (with air gaps between the slats) , then it’ll require a floor tray for insulation. Then put tile or sheet vinyl on the plywood for a water proof surface.

Yes we do ship via freight forwarders to barge line terminals in Seattle for our Alaska, Hawaii and Canadian customers

Indeed we are happy to provide this service. We will charge you a $350 fee to package and deliver your products to the terminal in Seattle and the carrier will collect the charges for their portion of the shipping from their dock to your residence. You can save even more money if you pick up your freight at the carriers destination dock!

For Hawaii, we use:

Honolulu Freight Service
https://www.honolulufreightservice.com/
(206) 622-0955
1905 Lincoln Ave, Tacoma, WA 98421
(Do NOT put this address as your SHIP TO address*)

For Alaska, we use:

Alaska Marine Lines
https://www.lynden.com/aml/
(800) 326-8346
5615 W Marginal Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106
(Do NOT put this address as your SHIP TO address*)

For Puerto Rico, we have not yet used one, but consider:

https://www.freightcenter.com/shipping-to-puerto-rico-tips-requirements/
These sites will ask what are the weight and dimensions of your pallet.
The Total weight you will see on your Shopping Cart page just above the “Proceed to Checkout” button
For dimensions, generally assume: 4ft x 4ft x Length (this will be the length of your sauna kit + 1)
Important: You will need to get your SHIP TO address (from the freight forwarder) to use during checkout
Our system will generate a quote for their address

For Canada

We must use a broker. Please call us for more details. To generate a quote in our system, you can use our showroom address: 21326 WA-9, Woodinville, WA 98072

* = Hawaii and Alaska ONLY | We will automatically ship to the freight forwarder’s address and offer a preset calculation for shipments to Hawaii ($350) and Alaska ($350). Enter your destination address on the Check Out page — should be AK or HI, thx!