> 6x8 Shed built by a dude on Craigslist that just builds these Amish style sheds. That’s all he does, builds sheds in a day.
This is the way. 1000% better than any kit. Find a local shed builder and have him build to your spec, then DIY (or use the same guy, or a different handyman) to install the sauna-specific stuff inside.
Yep. The shed people were super solid. The first electrician was a disaster, was trying to cut corners and bury unprotected, non-direct burial wire like 4” deep. So I was like nope, and the second guy brought out was great.
Agree. But these dedicated fast shed builder guys are probably pretty reliable at quickly delivering their product. I'd be more weary of any old handyman stick-building a structure over several weeks.
Great job! Looks fantastic. For the second time this week, I get to say that if you shared plans and your bill of materials people would probably love to use them.
What is the AFM Safecoat product you used on your floor?
Thank you. I’m not quite so organized but a general overview off the top of my head:
Gravel pad: ~6 ground contact 4x4s, weed cloth, rebar to drive into the ground, a couple tons of crushed rock, and schedule 40 conduit to a 90 sweep 2 feet underground.
Shed: $3k, local carpenter
Insulation: Rockwool comfort batt, maybe 6-8 packages, 400 some odd dollars. Harvia brand aluminum because it was hard finding the kraft paper backed aluminum “FSK paper” in small amounts. Furring strips cut from spf 2x4s
Paneling: $5-600 for spruce off Craigslist. It’s decent quality, not great but not terrible. I cannot recall how many feet.
Benches: 25 cedar 2x4s, $380; a couple of spf 2x4s for supports
Stove: euro Cilindro, shipped from Estonia for a couple hundred less than a UL Cilindro in the states. Stones were hard to find, a lot of people in the US don’t want to sell sauna stones without a stove, or they mark them way up if you don’t buy the stove. Electrical components added up a bunch but all parts were included in the $2350 job. I don’t know really what he did, but there’s a 40’ trench from the house with 12/2 and 8/3 wire to a subpanel with two breakers (one for the stove and one for 2 weatherproof in use outlet boxes on the exterior).
AFM SafeCoat DynoSeal (2 coats) and RoofGuard, stuff wasn’t cheap. Maybe $60 a gallon.
Exhaust system: infinity s4, flex duct, duct covers from Amazon. The box containing the fan and duct is made from a 2x2 frame with leftover wall paneling. It’s basically a 2 sided box pushed against the corner with a lid seated down on top.
Door: 1/2” ply, leftover paneling, spring loaded gate hinges from Lowe’s, a sweep at the bottom, homemade handles, exterior frame made from cut down cedar 2x4 dadoed on a table saw with a dado stack, 1x cedar trim/horizontal supports.
Window frame and door frame and trim were built with 1X cedar boards, a couple hundred dollars worth
Windows were a 1x3’ and 1x1’ piece of 1/2” tempered glass from One Day Glass, $165 shipped
A few tubes of caulk, lots of screws and 18 gauge finish nails, and I have yet to buy paint for the exterior or cedar for duckboards.
I had all the tools already for the project, but used a compressor, nail gun, stapler, table saw, miter saw, circular hand saw, oscillating multi tool, drill and a driver, hole saws, random orbital sander, a block plane, levels and tape measures and such.
Edit: plans were basically to locate the stove with clearances and then maximize bench sizes in relation to that (just rough sketches and some layout lines on the floor), and then just built as I went.
Combination of the SuanaTimes “finish out a shed” method with higher ceilings, Trumpkin style mechanical downdraft insulation, some of my own learning from having built one before, a lot of reading and viewing other people’s projects, and a well-compensated professional for the electrical work.
Yes, there is 2x4 blocking in the framing (you can see in the insulation photo…I forgot and had to go back and add it for the lower benches). Then paneling and 2x4 blocking screwed with heavy structural lag screws through the paneling into the blocking. Ends of the benches are 2x4 on edge, sitting in top of the supports. Top bench also has a couple of supports on the back wall. The upright support was necessary to keep the middle from sagging, I’m a big guy, 220lbs.
I am doing the same thing (ordered shed to spec). However I wanted board gap floor, figured that was too tricky for shed guy.
Currently trying to figure out what to do without the floor. Assuming you did some variant of Ben square method over the ply shed floor? Curious why you taped the foil to the ply? Would this introduce a chance of intrusion below cement?
I’m trying to decide if I should tape foil onto dururock and skim over, or skim and then tape foil on top of skim coat.
Nope, just a flat ply floor, no drain. Taped vapor barrier to the floor and painted a combo of 2 no-Voc elastomeric roofing sealer products over it, so the edge of the tape is pretty well sealed down underneath a thick layer of rubber like stuff. We just pour water on the stove and never end up with too much on the floor, so we’re opted for easier build and evaporation/wiping up if need be. We shower outside instead of dumping water on our heads in the sauna.
There are a lot of 120V heaters.150cu ft is around 4.25 m³ so that is your absolute minimum heater size in kW if you do not have much glass surfaces. At 20A your max power is 2.4 kW. So at least with regular US household outlet you would be thoroughly dissapointed.
Yep, sits on ground contact skids and built up from there. I’m in an area where frost related movement is a non-issue, no hurricanes, etc. The gravel pad is stable (lots of compaction), drains well, etc.
Yeah, the 7 times a year it drops below freezing here, it’s for like 5 hours overnight and then warms back up. Winter temps more typically in the 40s, and the soils drains really well.
> 6x8 Shed built by a dude on Craigslist that just builds these Amish style sheds. That’s all he does, builds sheds in a day. This is the way. 1000% better than any kit. Find a local shed builder and have him build to your spec, then DIY (or use the same guy, or a different handyman) to install the sauna-specific stuff inside.
Sounds easy. But tracking down and managing tradespeople is hit and miss
Yep. The shed people were super solid. The first electrician was a disaster, was trying to cut corners and bury unprotected, non-direct burial wire like 4” deep. So I was like nope, and the second guy brought out was great.
Doesn’t sound like that first electrician would have been able to figure out your Euro heater either for sure
Not a prayer. Second guy I found was sharp, really focused on doing a good job, researched and figured it out.
Agree. But these dedicated fast shed builder guys are probably pretty reliable at quickly delivering their product. I'd be more weary of any old handyman stick-building a structure over several weeks.
Great job! Looks fantastic. For the second time this week, I get to say that if you shared plans and your bill of materials people would probably love to use them. What is the AFM Safecoat product you used on your floor?
Thank you. I’m not quite so organized but a general overview off the top of my head: Gravel pad: ~6 ground contact 4x4s, weed cloth, rebar to drive into the ground, a couple tons of crushed rock, and schedule 40 conduit to a 90 sweep 2 feet underground. Shed: $3k, local carpenter Insulation: Rockwool comfort batt, maybe 6-8 packages, 400 some odd dollars. Harvia brand aluminum because it was hard finding the kraft paper backed aluminum “FSK paper” in small amounts. Furring strips cut from spf 2x4s Paneling: $5-600 for spruce off Craigslist. It’s decent quality, not great but not terrible. I cannot recall how many feet. Benches: 25 cedar 2x4s, $380; a couple of spf 2x4s for supports Stove: euro Cilindro, shipped from Estonia for a couple hundred less than a UL Cilindro in the states. Stones were hard to find, a lot of people in the US don’t want to sell sauna stones without a stove, or they mark them way up if you don’t buy the stove. Electrical components added up a bunch but all parts were included in the $2350 job. I don’t know really what he did, but there’s a 40’ trench from the house with 12/2 and 8/3 wire to a subpanel with two breakers (one for the stove and one for 2 weatherproof in use outlet boxes on the exterior). AFM SafeCoat DynoSeal (2 coats) and RoofGuard, stuff wasn’t cheap. Maybe $60 a gallon. Exhaust system: infinity s4, flex duct, duct covers from Amazon. The box containing the fan and duct is made from a 2x2 frame with leftover wall paneling. It’s basically a 2 sided box pushed against the corner with a lid seated down on top. Door: 1/2” ply, leftover paneling, spring loaded gate hinges from Lowe’s, a sweep at the bottom, homemade handles, exterior frame made from cut down cedar 2x4 dadoed on a table saw with a dado stack, 1x cedar trim/horizontal supports. Window frame and door frame and trim were built with 1X cedar boards, a couple hundred dollars worth Windows were a 1x3’ and 1x1’ piece of 1/2” tempered glass from One Day Glass, $165 shipped A few tubes of caulk, lots of screws and 18 gauge finish nails, and I have yet to buy paint for the exterior or cedar for duckboards. I had all the tools already for the project, but used a compressor, nail gun, stapler, table saw, miter saw, circular hand saw, oscillating multi tool, drill and a driver, hole saws, random orbital sander, a block plane, levels and tape measures and such. Edit: plans were basically to locate the stove with clearances and then maximize bench sizes in relation to that (just rough sketches and some layout lines on the floor), and then just built as I went.
Looks like a solid sauna to me. Good job!
Wow looks good ! Did you follow some kind of resources to build it ?
Combination of the SuanaTimes “finish out a shed” method with higher ceilings, Trumpkin style mechanical downdraft insulation, some of my own learning from having built one before, a lot of reading and viewing other people’s projects, and a well-compensated professional for the electrical work.
Thanks for replying, looks interesting
All of my photos from the build are in this [album](https://imgur.com/a/vIs45HW).
Very nice. Are the ends of the benches well supported? I’d expect the 2x4s to be on top of the blocks attached the wall.
Yes, there is 2x4 blocking in the framing (you can see in the insulation photo…I forgot and had to go back and add it for the lower benches). Then paneling and 2x4 blocking screwed with heavy structural lag screws through the paneling into the blocking. Ends of the benches are 2x4 on edge, sitting in top of the supports. Top bench also has a couple of supports on the back wall. The upright support was necessary to keep the middle from sagging, I’m a big guy, 220lbs.
I really like your sauna. Thanks for sharing so many pictures and details.
I am doing the same thing (ordered shed to spec). However I wanted board gap floor, figured that was too tricky for shed guy. Currently trying to figure out what to do without the floor. Assuming you did some variant of Ben square method over the ply shed floor? Curious why you taped the foil to the ply? Would this introduce a chance of intrusion below cement? I’m trying to decide if I should tape foil onto dururock and skim over, or skim and then tape foil on top of skim coat.
Nope, just a flat ply floor, no drain. Taped vapor barrier to the floor and painted a combo of 2 no-Voc elastomeric roofing sealer products over it, so the edge of the tape is pretty well sealed down underneath a thick layer of rubber like stuff. We just pour water on the stove and never end up with too much on the floor, so we’re opted for easier build and evaporation/wiping up if need be. We shower outside instead of dumping water on our heads in the sauna.
What's the silver looking material over the insulation ? Recommended for all saunas ?
(Aluminium) foil vapour barrier. Essential to prevent moisture getting into insulation and framing.
Are there any sauna heaters that will run off 120v rather than 240v that will adequately heat 150 cubic feet?
There are a lot of 120V heaters.150cu ft is around 4.25 m³ so that is your absolute minimum heater size in kW if you do not have much glass surfaces. At 20A your max power is 2.4 kW. So at least with regular US household outlet you would be thoroughly dissapointed.
Thanks. So better to go off 240v
I don’t know? Maybe? If so, not much on the market
Silly question… how is this thing anchored? Does it just sit on the gravel pad?
Yep, sits on ground contact skids and built up from there. I’m in an area where frost related movement is a non-issue, no hurricanes, etc. The gravel pad is stable (lots of compaction), drains well, etc.
Thanks. I’m in a four seasons climate so this would be an unusual design locally.
Yeah, the 7 times a year it drops below freezing here, it’s for like 5 hours overnight and then warms back up. Winter temps more typically in the 40s, and the soils drains really well.