How To Build A Traditional Finnish Sauna

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Күн бұрын

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@HannuPulkkinen49 12 күн бұрын

In a good sauna, the surface of the lower benches should be at the same level as the stones in the sauna. Good ventilation is an essential part of a good sauna experience. Is it sufficient in your sauna?

@coachpyry 12 күн бұрын

Did you watch the video? :) The ventilation is excellent, there is a gap between the floor and the walls surrounding the entire building. Secondly, "in a good sauna, the lower benches should be at the same level as the stones of the sauna" might work if you have a room the height of a cathedral. Having been in dozens of great saunas in Finland, more often than not, this is not the case.

@HannuPulkkinen49 11 күн бұрын

@@coachpyry I have build several saunas in my life and noticed that sauna must be big enough, have to had good ventilation, benches have to be high enough, toes higher than kiuas stones and you have to use whisk. All my saunas haven't been like cathedral. Also the amount of stones must be at least 80 - 100 kilograms. There should also be a nice cooling area and a lake or hot tub nearby. Of course, you can compromise on something if you don't strive for perfection.

@Xydroos Ай бұрын

If you want to go with Finnish sauna. You should have air inlet below heater and outlet opposite side of sauna on wall quite high up.. When sauna is heating fresh cold air rises from inlet and spreads around sauna! Also if it's wooden heater it needs fresh air also, so it won't suck air that you are breathing.. You can have adjustable cover over outlet, but probably should not close it all the way.. As fresh air flow it really important for good sauna experience! When you throw Löyly, always some water seeps through heater to floor. So it's recommended to have a floor drain. Also you should clean "lauteet" the wooden platform you sit on, quite often. Depending how often you use sauna (weekly to monthly). Best practice would be to spray water over them after every use, as sauna is still warm they will dry quite fast. There are product made for cleaning saunas, as they don't use harmful chemicals which later evaporates into the breathing. As for spray water over "lauteet", it's mainly to wash out sweat which will make them last longer.

@Xydroos Ай бұрын

As for actual use of sauna, stay in as long as it feels good, then go outside to cool down. For us Finns it's quite common to go back and fort between sauna and lake to swim (summer or frozen hole in lake or sea). If there is no lake/sea near by just sit outside and cool down and then go back in. Some of us like to drink water while inside and outside of sauna, as it will make you last longer (quite recommended). Quite often that water is beer, especially when sauna:ing with a group of friends. Some might say it's not recommended drink beer while using sauna. IF it would be catastrophically bad, Finns would have gone extinct, as common it is.

@coachpyry Ай бұрын

Actually we have an air inlet all over the sauna because there is a 2cm gap between the wall and the floors. There is also an outlet on the opposite corner from the heater. This works amazingly well here in the tropics, where the temperatures rarely go below 15 degrees celsius. The tropical humidity makes the löyly incredibly pleasant

@markl4528 2 ай бұрын

Did you look at using pine or spruce? They seem cheap here in aust

@coachpyry 2 ай бұрын

No, I did not look at those options. Are you looking to build a sauna?

@markl4528 2 ай бұрын

@@coachpyry yeah i am, live in perth but materials will be similar to qld, more similar than to finland at least haha Im trying to read/watch content from the Scandinavians etc as it seems a lot of stuff is wrong compared to what you guys have to say! Apart from the ventilation, seat height, head room, speccing the right size heater- are there any other obscure things to consider(apart from the method of building)?

@coachpyry 2 ай бұрын

@@markl4528 I would wholeheartedly recommend choosing a wood-fired heater vs an electric one if possible logistically

@coachpyry 2 ай бұрын

@@markl4528 Which one are you thinking of going for?

@alexklim76 4 ай бұрын

forgive me my curiosity, did you not use any insulation and vapour barrier in this build and why?

@coachpyry 4 ай бұрын

Fantastic question. We did use a vapour barrier but no insulation. No insulation for two reasons, both related to the fact that I live in the tropics. Firstly, it's quite humid here. The ambient humidity is great for the löyly. Secondly, the annual lowest temperatures are around 10 degrees at night. I usually use the sauna in the evenings and the Harvia heater has more than enough horsepower to heat the room even on the coldest day of the year. What kind of a sauna build are you planning on?

@alexklim76 4 ай бұрын

@@coachpyrymakes sense. I live in Ireland where there is summer only a couple of days per year. My small build is insulated with 6kw electrical heater. All good.

@coachpyry 4 ай бұрын

@@alexklim76 Got you. Yep, it's a completely different story.

@Jason-rk4xc 6 ай бұрын

Hi, Great video thanks, I’m about to start a Finnish Sauna build in my garden in Wales on a concrete slab. What did you seal the floor with and were you worried about the heat and off gassing of any chemicals from it?

@coachpyry 6 ай бұрын

I'm glad to hear that; that's awesome! We sealed it with Dulux Concrete & Paving Stages 1, 2, and 3. That's a good point, but as long as you have good ventilation at the bottom, the floor will never get that hot. Especially in Wales, the ambient air should be cool enough year-round. Even here in the Australian tropics, the floor and the bottom rung of the sauna are significantly cooler than the top rung even when the room is at 75-80 degrees Celsius, and I'm throwing löyly. What heater are you going to use?

@Jason-rk4xc 6 ай бұрын

Ah brilliant that’s great thanks. The concrete slab goes down next week so I’ll get on it. I have to use a 9kw Electric heater, can’t burn logs unfortunately due to proximity of neighbours. I was thinking of a Harvia Cilindro or a Huum Drop because of the larger stone capacity. I have about the same height as you internally, about 2.2m and not sure if a tower heater would work or I should go with something lower to be sat more above it.

@coachpyry 6 ай бұрын

@@Jason-rk4xc Oh, that's a shame about wood burning. Can't recommend Harvia highly enough. The most important thing is 110cm from the top seat to the roof. I think that a tower heater would work perfectly. It's better to have too much horsepower than too little. You can easily adjust the settings if the löyly is too intense for your liking, but the opposite is not true if the heater is not strong enough for the size of the room/your liking. What is the m3 size of the room?

@Jason-rk4xc 6 ай бұрын

Got it, I’ll make sure it’s 110. The room is 8.8 m3. Small changing room and a cold plunge tub under a porch. No drain in the sauna room though, so I suppose I’ll just mop up. I see you don’t have one either?

@coachpyry 6 ай бұрын

@@Jason-rk4xc I don't, and haven't needed one because the airflow is so good (Notice how we left the entire bottom of the sauna open). Just make sure you throw most of the water on the rocks😀. Dripping from the could plunge will probably make it a bit wetter. I'm going to set up one too. Very excited!

@-PORK-CHOP- 6 ай бұрын

Where did you buy the interior lining boards from ?

@coachpyry 6 ай бұрын

Hey mate, I got them from maywood.com.au/

@-PORK-CHOP- 6 ай бұрын

@@coachpyry Thankyou, I'm a Chippie, and want to build a Sauna as well after using my mate's barrel sauna when I stayed the for a while, it also has a Harvia wood burner and it was amazing.

@coachpyry 6 ай бұрын

@@-PORK-CHOP- Nice! Harvia heaters are the best. So far very strong recommendation for the paulownia boards, I really like the fact that they stay cool to touch even though the sauna is running very hot. Are you going to get a wood burner or an electric heater?

@-PORK-CHOP- 6 ай бұрын

@@coachpyry Wood Burner Mate, the only way to go, I will look for the paulownia boards, thanks for the recommendation, we are unfortunately not blessed with any reasonably priced timbers in AU for Sauna's like the Nordic Countries or North America, I have also found Baltic Pine is good for Sauna as it also doesn't hold heat, and luckily we can get this a a decent price here, unlike Cedar which you need to sell a kidney to buy 🤣🤣, This is why you can't use Australian Hardwoods to Sauna because they are too dense and store the heat making it uncomfortable to sit on them, what timber are you burning in it ? if you can find properly dried Blackbutt or Spotted gum try them, they are so much better then most other timbers for heat output, when I was minding my mates house, I would use offcuts from decks we were building, Merbau was not bad but had nothing on Blackbutt or Spotted gum for heat output, the difference was measurable at around 30C hotter using Spotted or Blackbutt.

@coachpyry 6 ай бұрын

@@-PORK-CHOP- That's so true; Australia is way behind regarding saunas. Currently, I'm using lychee, which I cut down from my yard, and Bloodwood, which I bought. Both burn very nice and hot, super dense stuff! I've had some challenges drying the timber properly as I'm based near Cairns, but now that the dry season has kicked in, the wood is drying nice and fast. I'll keep an eye on Blackbutt and Spotted Gum for my next batch! Glad to hear you're going with a wood burner! I've come across a few decent electric ones and they were Harvias, but if you can, wood-fired is definitely the show.